We're still here ...

... and my how time flies when you're having fun. Lots of small things happening, nothing major, and not much to say for ourselves. We've been to a quiz (second place) and a couple of concerts.

The weather has been cold and rainy, very hot, warm and rainy, etc. Right now it's kind of normal-ish summer weather at last, and we are fairly happy about it, hoping it will last.

The terrace is largely finished for now. Later in the summer, a friend will help Ed lay a concrete foundation (mid-left-edge below) on the spot prepared for the wood shed. At some point, maybe next spring, we'll build a framework (about in the unshadowed spot in the picture) for growing a grape vine which will shade our table and chairs in the summer. This pic was taken from the mezzanine window.

Round and long summer squashes are coming into the kitchen from the garden at an alarming rate. Tomatoes are just starting to ripen. (They are late everywhere this year.) Looks like we'll have three ears of corn before long, although we're not sure how to know when it's time to harvest them.

Pogo has had a doggy "hot spot," which healed pretty quickly. Worse, though, we've discovered he has congestive heart failure. He's started his medicine (twice a day) and is walking with more enthusiasm now, although we doubt he'll be able to do longish walks again. Sophie and Oscar are fine and barely tolerating each other.

Ed has been busy painting woodwork on the ground floor, the bathroom door, the closet under the stairs, and the kitchen door. For the first two, we chose what we thought would be a sort of burgundy color; that's turned out to be cherry red, a pretty color, but not quite what we planned and not matching the color chip at all. The kitchen door was meant to be a golden yellow and has turned out mustardy. We look a bit like a kindergarten, although it's definitely better than it was unfinished, just not what we wanted. Pictures one day.

We've had visitors from the Netherlands, who stayed several nights as part of a Grand Tour of France. We visited the nearby Château de la Tranchade, which was a fun outing, if not the most interesting chateau in the area. Here's the chateau:

And here's the toilet facilities over the moat:

After that another set of friends from the Netherlands camped in the area, so we walked and ate and visited a bric-à-brac (where Ed bought a second-hand leaf blower to clean leaves from the gravel terrace and Kaye bought a small cactus).

Yesterday we visited our nearby cave cooperative (at St Sornin) again with friends. We also got a tour of the cave, where the bottling apparatus was working. Empty bottles are coming in from the left on their way to be cleaned in the first plexiglass cube. In the second cube, they are filled, the level of wine is checked (any extra is siphoned off and, we suppose, any shortage is made up), and the cork inserted. The next stations drop on the foil wrapper and seal it. Real people stand at the end to pack the bottles into boxes and watch for problems along the way.

We again took a calèche ride into the vineyards, which sit quite high over the neighboring countryside, above the Tardoire valley.

Because we made this trip a month earlier this year than last, the grapes were only just barely beginning to ripen. Because of the rain earlier in the year, our guide explained, there are not as many grapes as usual. If the weather holds out for the next month, it could still be a good vintage, but there won't be as much of it.