In the summer, to keep the house cooler, I close the shutters on the south side of the house most of the way, waiting until 5 PM or so before I open them. If it get really hot, I will turn on the air conditioner for a few hours. We are really happy with how fresh and cool our house stays.

The shutters partially closed with the door open but screen closed.

I love seeing those yellow flowers in the sun.

Seen every morning in the clover down the hill from our house:

Can you see him? I don’t know why I call the rabbit a he. I’ve never seen a mate.

Not a great photo but I think you can see “his” long legs-what we would call a jack rabbit in the States, so named because they had long ears like a jack ass. He’s really huge, almost 2 feet high if you count his ears.

There’s always something interesting to see from the TGV on the way from Paris to Provence. In the Spring, many fields are filled with these flowers, used to make cooking oil. I love the TGV. It is much less of a hassle than flying-no long lines, no security hassles. The only hard part is lugging your suitcases up the stairs.

PS-we are in Montreal right now, a short distance across the border into Canada from New York State.

A posting done and saved before I left for the States. I am sending this from beautiful Lake Placid and staying in a hotel overlooking Mirror Lake. It’s a gorgeous area. I am trying to keep up with everyone’s blogs but for some reason am unable to leave comments using my husband’s computer.

Someone had painted this mural on the side of a building in Valensole. I saw it the last time I was at the lavender festival there.

Posts on life in France while I’m in the States. At the moment I am in Rhinebeck, New York, a delightful little town. We spent the night at the Beekman Arms, the oldest continually operating hotel in America. We made a quick trip to Rhinecliff last night to watch a spectacular sunset and have dinner at a place on the Hudson River. Perfect weather too.

The Melon Kid

I don’t know if my 3 year old grandson loves anything more than melons. He calls them canteloops and any time I talk to him on the phone he mentions them. The last time he and his family visited I had a big bowl all cut up ready to go and he started in on them immediately. The melons of Cavaillon in Provence are famous for their sweet taste and I think that’s why he always wants them when here. I’m going to have to find something else to feed him and his brothers when winter comes.

Continuing a little series I’m doing while in the States.

Clocks

I’m always fascinated by old clocks, especially sun dials.

Normally, I can’t always tell the time and I wonder what it must have been like hundreds of years ago when all you had was a clock like this or just the position of the sun in the sky.

This is on the same wall of a building as the sun dial, both in Aix en Provence.