Who knew "Ze Fronch" had a history?

OK, as most of you are aware, Mrs J put together a wine cruise a few weeks ago that sponsored the winemaker from Untamed Wine Estates, a winery near our old hometown of Fredericksburg (TX for those who didn't know).  The river boat could hold about 140 guests, 50 or so of which were from our area of Texas.  The wine tastings were very well attended with our group and a growing group of other passengers.  The first session a few non-Texans came in and asked if they could join.  The winemaker said "of course".  Word got around pretty quick and the room filled up. Lots of fun and meeting new folks from around the world.  But when not tasting wine, we spent a lot of time in various French small towns.

We got on board the boat at Lyon France, sailed down the Rhone to Arles, France, got on a bus to Marseille and flew home.  Sounds boring doesn't it.  Well, yes, the flight over and back were boring. 

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 However....As an amateur historian at heart, I was looking forward to seeing the historical sites.  Suffice it to say there was an awful lot of history to be seen on the Rhone river.  Our ship was the AmaWaterways AmaKristina, a very nice comfortable ride with but few  guests on board (~140, the boat's limit).

 

Amakristina

 The views were awesome!

This was a typical view of the hillsides along the Rhone River.    Lots of castles like this one.  The vineyard is a lot (LOT, LOT) steeper than my phone could capture.

 

Below is a picture of the entry to a bridge across the Rhone near Lyon France.  If I recall correctly, and that's a big IF, this was build in the 12-1300's.  Impressive even now.

 

 

The picture below was of a battlement that guarded the gates to one of the early towns we stopped in.  Probably Viviers.  Notice the skinny gate below the towers.  Not many invaders could come through at any one time.

This was the other side of that gate.  Notice it's a fairly long, skinny passageway.  Again,  invaders would have a hard time getting through.  That would be Mrs. J in the photo.  If she'd have spread her arms, she'd be very close to touching both walls at once.

 

 

 

As we walked out the other side of the town wall, the pictures above were of the view of the castle where the battle would be fought, or at least where the town folks hoped it would be fought. This was the invaders point of view looking up at the castle.  

 

 

 As we walked up to the Castle, (which provided quite a bit of exercise to work off the excellent Cruise Food), we discovered a bit of middle ages artillery, a trebuchet.  Hadn't ever seen one in person, but recognized it from stories.  Very cool, unless you were on the receiving end.

 

 

Not sure exactly what this was there for (no plaque explaining anything) but it looked pretty cool. 

 

 

This was the view from the top, at least a thousand feet up, maybe more.  Yes, Sarge, we walked up.  Yes, I took a couple of extra-strength Tylenol that evening.

 

We did a bit of winery exploration and wine tasting over the next week or so.  Excellent wines, Unbelievable scenery with a nap or two included.  BP was quite low. 

The final morning of the cruise, we took a tour of our last town, Arles.  Our guide was very educated in the history of his region.  Kept me pretty enthralled and could answer all my questions. (And I asked a lot...an awful lot.)  

This isn't a great picture as I couldn't get it all in.  According to him, the top story (not shown in the picture. It didn't turn out) was built in the 1600's, the lighter story in the picture was built in the 1300s and the bottom story in the picture was in the 00s.  That was extremely thought provoking.  But we're on the edge of the Med and not very far from Rome, so quite probably true.

The guide also showed us this site.  If you notice in the center of the shot, there are some parallel lines.  According to the guide, those were likely caused by chariots, back in the day as it was at the same level as the lower levels above.

 

So, a very educational, relaxing, entertaining, restful, enjoyable trip.  Well.  Enjoyable except for the LOOONNNNNGGGG flights to and fro.  But we'd do it again.  3rd cruise on AMA Waterways....Highly recommended.

Peace out, y'all! 

On the Road, Yet Again ...

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I will be out of pocket for a couple of days, interpret "couple" here to be "at least two, maybe more." The completion of my 73rd orbit around this star is almost upon me (Friday) and there's no place I'd rather be than with family. So it's off to Maryland I go. No doubt I'll be eating from that pictured establishment at some point in the immediate future. While their meat is very good, their baked beans and slaw are to die for.

Seriously good eats.

Please accept my apologies for being such a cranky arschloch yesterday. I get cranky when I don't get enough sleep. It is what it is I suppose. I don't know how to do anything gracefully, let alone age. Sigh ...

So behave, the usual caveats apply: read those folks on the sidebar, talk quietly among yourselves, and try not to trash the place.

Juvat, you have the conn.

De mauvaise humeur, peut-être¹ ...

Interior of a library, from Boethius

So if no one reads it, why bother to write it?

I do appreciate the few who actually stop by here daily², but ...

Be back in a day or so, or not. This blogging thing is becoming wearisome.

Perhaps I'm just in a bad mood.

We'll see what a good night's sleep does.

Going on the road Sunday, grandchildren are involved. Might help my morale.

Who knows?

Ciao.

¹ I n a bad mood, maybe ...

² All 90 of you as of 1830 Friday ...

Before and After

Spring 2000 - Before
SW Photo

Twenty seven tears ago next month, I retired from the United States Air Force. Did twenty four, which I felt was enough. They offered to waive high year of tenure for a Master Sergeant (which is, surprise, surprise, 24 years) and let me stay in until twenty six.

"Cool. Can I stay in Germany?"

"Uh, no, you'll have to PCS stateside."

A quick mental calculation ran something like this: when I arrive at the new base with two years to go, they're not going to give me a decent job. Maybe they would but no, I doubt it. Long story short, I said "No." Never looked back, never regretted that decision.

Anyhoo.

We lived with my parents for a couple of months while I looked for work. Which I finally found, right here in Little Rhody. Another no regret call there, loved the company, loved the job (until the wrong people took over), did twenty five years there.

We bought Chez Sarge in September of 1999, moved in in October of 1999. Nice house which needed some work, we knew that, if I had that to do over again, the old owners would have done some work before we moved in. A lot of work actually, or knocked ten grand off the price.

Anyhoo.

You see that opening photo? That's the backyard when The Missus Herself started working on it. You can see her in the background digging, preparing what we call the Oval Garden. (Duh, it's an oval. You can see it in the next photo, with the two dwarf maples, which are, surprise, surprise, 26 years old.)

That stretch of dirt with the rocks piled to the left, that's where the koi pond sits now. I had rented a powered sod cutter to strip off the crab grass which inhabited that region. (We used the sod rolls we dug up to raise the Oval Garden by a foot or more above the surrounding terrain.) The Missus Herself asked, "What are we going to do there? Plant new grass?"

Me? I saw the rocks, and thought, hey, let's do a rock garden.

Which we did, which grew a pond a couple of years later. The first pond was a single piece of molded plastic, maybe a foot and a half deep which was discovered, and occupied by, a couple of frogs. Later The Missus Herself decided we should have koi, so the pond was tripled in size. Didn't bother the frogs at all, in fact I think the local frog population views it as a resort. We have at least one full time resident and during the summer we'll see as many as two others sunning themselves on the rocks next to the water.

Spring 2026 - After
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All the chain link fences are gone, the shed has been redone, though the bones of the current shed are the same as when we moved in. New siding and a new roof really made a difference. The maple in the northeast corner of our lot was there when we moved in. It has grown a bit since then. (Both photos are looking roughly northward.)

FWIW, the house was originally the same color scheme as the shed, not particularly attractive but not all that bad. With real estate it's all about location, and really, it was the town we fell in love with and our neighborhood isn't far from downtown (a mile or so, walkable, I've done it) and the neighbors are nice. Even though at times we think we live in Portugal, 80% of the neighbors are indeed first and second generation Portuguese, mostly from the Azores. Not a problem, their food is awesome, as is their bread and wine. DAMHIK.

So before and after, that's how Chez Sarge evolved, and is still evolving. Thought some of you would like to see what came before.

Man, that was a long time ago ...

New Birds

OAFS Photo

As many of you know, Chez Sarge has a koi pond. Something that Virgil Xenophon¹ always took an interest in, though I think he meant to eat the koi, not admire them. There are other things out there who want to eat my fish. Wading birds: herons, egrets, cranes, and other long skinny feathered beings of that ilk.

We took to stringing a net over the deep part of the pond. The fish view that as a sanctuary as that's where they "sleep" in the winter. (I say sleep but they actually enter a semi-dormant state where they don't move much and they don't eat.) That sort of works, but then the flying koi-menace will watch and occasionally nab a fish in the shallow end. The koi like that end as it's sunny and warmer than the other end.

So we expected a bit of predation of our piscine friends. And it did happen, though not as often. Then one day The Missus Herself found these life-size bird statues on Amazon. I was hesitant at first, as they were not cheap. I also remembered the plastic life-sized coyotes my old employer set up around our facilities to keep the geese away. (The geese weren't a danger to life and limb, usually, but they did shit everywhere. And I mean everywhere, see here.)

The problem with the fake coyotes is that someone had to move them periodically, otherwise the geese would eventually be on to the scheme.

One Christmas break, no one moved the coyotes. Guess what? Yup, the geese returned to defecating at will, everywhere.

So I was concerned that the metal birds, not moving at all, wouldn't fool the real birds. Well, it seems, so far, to be working. Over a year and no predation of our aquatic neighbors.

Now one thing about the original pair of metal birds The Missus Herself purchased, seems that they are Black Necked White Canes. Native to the Tibetan plateau, not New England.

So far, the native wildlife hasn't figured that out yet. (You can see the one of the original birds below, closest to the camera. The other is across the pond. No not the Atlantic, my pond.)

OAFS Photo

Now the new birds, which I ordered because ...

Well, because I thought they looked cool. And (bonus) they are native to the region. They arrived Wednesday while I was working in the fields cutting the grass. I think they look pretty cool.

I picture the scene above as the new birds (Great White Herons) are telling the Black Necked White Cranes to take a hike, "Y'all ain't even native to this area!" (Yells the one with the outstretched wings.)

The new guys need to be careful though, the non-native birds are a good ten inches taller than the new guys, heavier too. Might be interesting. (As long as they keep the real birds away, I'm happy.)

Yet another reason to enjoy my backyard!

¹ Has anyone seen or heard of Virgil? Haven't seen him around any of the blogs for quite some time. Let me know.

As the World Goes Insane ...

Neuville défense de la porte de Longboyau
Alphonse de Neuville
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Just when I think I know where I'm going with a story, I start reading and learn new things. It's going to take a day or two to fit my newly gained knowledge into the tale of the Franco-Prussian War. So be cool, we'll get there, I hope.

In the meantime, let's hope the world slows down for a bit and people try harder not to do, say, or think very stupid things.

I know that's asking a lot, but ya never know.

Talk quietly among yourselves, don't break the windows, scratch the floors, or empty the liquor cabinet, such as it is. And this time, replace the freakin' keg under the bar, you know who I'm talking about.

In other words, have fun, but don't break my stuff.

I need a vacation!

What Mulch?

This is all that remains of ...
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... That
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Okay, so I thought about doing another piece of historical fiction, but ...

Monday was so frigging beautiful, we spent most of the afternoon in the yard, and (drum roll please) we finished mulching the gardens around Chez Sarge. Okay, it ain't Versailles but we like it a lot.

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The Missus Herself has turned our yard into something approximating Paradise. Works for me at any rate. And at the end of the day ...

OAFS Photo

Nothing like an adult beverage to wash down the dust from the mulching.

My Mondays are so much better than they used to be. A fellow could get used to this retirement thing. Personally? Five stars, no doubts.

Ciao!