Friday, November 28, 2014

Too many Christmas balls?


I had too many leftover Christmas balls after i set up our decors.  So I made a Christmas tree mobile to hand outside our door.  It's easy to do. Just make a circular frame and attach the Christmas balls with nylon thread.  Ho-Ho-Ho!


Monday, November 24, 2014

Chateau Villemaurine



The Chateau Villemaurine is near the medieval town in St. Emillion. I went to visit their cellars and was surprised that aside from their lovely vineyards, they had quarries of limestone underground which you could explore with a lantern. These quarries existed way back in the 18th century. At the end of the quarry I saw light coming through and took a quick picture before leaving the tunnel. The Chateau Villemaurine also has a monolithic warehouse that houses some of the finest wines in St. Emilion.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Roses and Vineyards

Chateau Villemaurine, St. Emillion

At  the wineries of Bordeaux you will find roses at the end of the vineyard rows.  I always thought they were planted to make the vineyards look more beautiful.  Apparently not.  These roses are like guardian angels to the grape vines.  Making sure that the vines are taken care of.  Apparently both the roses and the grapes are sensitive to the same mildew that kills these plants.  So if anything happens to these roses, it would be indicative of something wrong in the vineyards and serve as an early warning to the wine growers.

The vineyards at Chateau Villamaurine, St. Emillion


Friday, November 7, 2014

Monte Carlo golf

Monte Carlo Golf Club

La Turbie is the the site for paragliding in Monaco.  The forecast for the day was strong winds.  That ruled out paragliding for sure.  So the next best thing to do?  No, not shopping.  Golfing!  I didn't bring any clubs with me and ended up renting a 20 year old golf set which was a mix of Callaway's Biggest Big Berta, some Taylor made irons and a Zebra putter in a Ping golf bag.  There were no caddies and no golf carts but what a gorgeous view!  It was pure bliss to be 900 meters above sea level in a heavenly golf setting between the French and Italian Riviera.