08/02/2022 - 12 Years of Blogging Today..

 The maximum temperature here today is 13⁰C, minimum 0⁰C. Dry but cloudy. Wind 10km/h North-Easterly with gusts up to 21 km/h.   

This blog will be a bit different today, as I am reminiscing on 12 years of blogging!

When we first bought the house in France in September 2005, we had no internet at all, but after a year or so I managed to get dial-up!  Wow, it was many years ago that we had dial-up in South Africa, so I had forgotten just how slow it was.  I was only coming to the house for 7 months a year from March until September, as at that time Nigel was still working in the UK. Later on, we got 'a proper' internet connection, although that was very slow and so it remains today, at a prehistoric 0.5mbps!  There are rumours we might have fibre by the end of 2022, but I will only believe it when it happens!!

To cut a long story short, I started my first blog as My Life in the Charente on 08/02/2010. That was about the restoration of our house and all the lovely places that we visited in the surrounding area. 

The Chateau of La Rochefoucauld

It also included a few of our holidays overseas and a fabulous Mediterranean cruise on the Liberty of the Seas, arranged by our great friend Gunter, who was working on the ship as Hotel Director (second in command only to the captain!)

Gunter and I at the Captain's Table!!

By March 2018 this blog was so slow (possibly too full) I started My Life in the Charente 2.  Because this was supposed to be mainly about the Charente, the last few years have seen very few entries, as thanks to COVID we have just not been anywhere!

A visit to nearby Balluet cognac distillery

I mustn't forget of course my third blog My Life Before the Charente which includes our overland trip from the UK to what was then Rhodesia, in 1953! 

On 22 January 1953, leaving the UK to drive to Rhodesia. David my brother, Mum Dulcie, myself and Dad Don.

While these 3 blogs were ongoing, I started up Photodiarydps which originally had daily entries, but this got a bit too much and I never had enough time!  More recently, since COVID the updates have been even less than that; I seem to spend a lot more time in the kitchen! I am only managing  2 to 3  entries a month but it is still alive and the subjects are mostly nature around the garden, except on the rare occasion we now go out for a drive.

White Admiral - (Limenitis camilla)...

Just a few years back, I decided to take the bird photos from the photodiary and start a fifth blog that was just birds!  Again I have been struggling to keep it up to date weekly, but most of the time I have managed, with help from Christelle who has sent me photos of birds from South Africa. Sadly we do not visit there often enough, and COVID has certainly prevented visits/holidays anywhere!

Little owl (Athene noctua)

I also joined Blipfoto on 14 September 2012 on which I enter one photo every single day. It is very seldom that I miss this one daily entry under the name of "Charente"  It is a great community and I now have so many Blip friends from around the world as well as blog friends! So much easier to blip a single photo!!

Blog friends that I have met are very special, and outside of France, I have had the pleasure of meeting bloggers from Australia, UK, USA and most importantly South Africa.

A few of my favourite photos from photodiarydps follow :-

Green Lizard (Lacerta viridis). We used to have a number of these about the garden, but a few years ago they suddenly disappeared 😢

Broad Bordered Bee Hawk-moth (Hemaris fuciformis)...

European green woodpecker (Picus viridis).

Our delightful birdseed thief, Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus).

Elephant twins, a rare sight while on holiday in South Africa.

Our 40th Wedding anniversary last year.

I am so grateful for all the help, editing at times and encouragement Nigel has given me over the past 12 years of blogging, and my learning curve with new cameras and lenses.

I would just like to say thank you to all my followers, many of who have been with me right from the beginning.  Some of you I have met, some I feel as if I have met, and some I still hope to meet.  Thanks for being here, and for all the great comments that I have had over the years.

P.S.  Oops also forgot my recipe blog - My Favourite Recipes.  Probably the one I use most these days!

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 02/12/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.

A trip to look at a Vineyard.

Maximum temperature here today 31⁰C, minimum 14⁰C. Dry.  13km/h North-Easterly winds with gusts up to 25 km/h.

A day trip in the Charente, while hopefully avoiding the virus! This is a copy of my blog on My Life in the Charente for those followers of only the photodiary.

Before the motorways came, much long distance travel through France involved the use of long, straight, two way roads, often lined with plane trees for considerable stretches. Low morning or afternoon sun flickering between the trees caused vision problems for drivers  and accidents were, I believe, far from rare!

Fields of sunflowers everywhere. In this time of the season, their "sunny" seed heads are beginning to die off and dry out.

The most unprepossessing main entrance to Balluet, a family run cognac producer since 1845!! The quality is within!

This alambic is a kind of pot still, hand made in copper sheet, of a design peculiar to the Charente department. In simple terms, white wine (usually made using the ugni white grape) is boiled in the left hand pot and the alcohol vapour rises in the top tube and  distils in the centre section, which has a downward spiral pipe inside. The distillate cools in the spiral and runs out to collect in the end tank. The first and last thirds of the produce in this tank are discarded; only the middle third is kept, transferred to oak barrels for aging.

Old and disused boilers. Despite the basic and industrial design, the builders had taken the trouble to apply moulded mortar gods' heads with beards of grape bunches.

Barrels of different sizes are used for aging. These barrels are 3000 litres, but Balluet use barrels varying in sizes from 600 litres to 25,000 litres! Often old red wine barrels are used, to add different attributes to the finished cognac.

These barrels hold, i think, about 12,000 litres each. Plenty of storage here, but aging can last from 5 years to 40 years and more for the older cognacs, so plenty is essential! We were told at another firm that cognac stops maturing after 80 years, at which point it can be decanted into glass jars!

This is a view of the chateau in the village (Neuvicq_le_Chateau, which is actually in the neighbouring department, Charente Maritime) taken from the top of the  20 metre high tower on the adjoining Balluet premises. There is quite a climb to the top, up several flights of a very narrow staircase and not for the faint hearted!

This neat little 360 degree panoramic map of the landscape visible from the tower. The altitude of 95 metres refers to the height of the village above sea level. It's an accurate painting, as can be seen by comparing the features on the photograph below!

Another view from the tower, showing the cognac sheds surrounded by vineyards of the ugni blanc grape, ripening and ready for harvest in the autumn.

Twenty year old cognac. It is only brandy made near the town of Cognac which can be named "cognac". We were fortunate to meet and have a quick chat with the current Monsieur Balluet. A very pleasant, but down to earth, gentleman with a serious and long term responsibility on his shoulders!

My local list of wildflowers. (89 Species 20/07/2020).

See also my

 Bird blog