For Jill, and for Mom

My mom was an amazing gardener, she could grow anything, and loved nothing better than to spend the days outside tending to her flowers, vegetables and fruit trees.  All of us kids inherited bits and pieces of her skill, but my brother Jerry's daughter, Jill, inherited the whole caboodle, and then some.  She is an artist in her garden with fabulous displays of color, texture, whimsey and an amazing sense of design, proportionality and composition. 

As we moved along the Canal de Briare a week or so ago, we entered a lock around 11:00 a.m.; the locks all close for lunch between noon and 1:00 p.m., so we thought we would tie up for lunch somewhere in between locks, have a bite to eat and get to the next lock some time after 1:00 p.m.  The lock keeper told us he didn't think we could make it through the next lock by noon, and I told him our plans.  He suggested he call the next lock keeper and ask if we could wait in the lock over the lunch hour - not something we've ever been able to do before, but we jumped at that chance since it would mean we could be out of the lock as soon as lunch was over. 

We cruised into the lock, and the lock keeper came riding up on his bike (he tends more than one lock), set the lock to fill ever so slowly, and went into his house for lunch.  As we ascended, we were treated to a spectacular show of flowers, beautiful beds, hanging baskets, groomed shrubery.  I immediately thought of Jill, and of course Mama.  So these pictures are for them.

Oh, and the lock keeper came out to take pictures of our boat in the lock as well!

The pictures are in the Jalbum to the right, Ecluse 20.

Jumping ahead to this past week

I have a lot of catching up to do - we haven't had the best internet connections in the countryside, so forgive me if I haven't responded to emails in the past month or so, or been able to post to this blog.  I'm fast forwarding to this past week.  We had a long-awaited visit from our Tucson friends, Bill and Mary Read, on their post-retirement trip to Europe.  We picked them up at the train station in Montargis, one of our favorite towns.  We had moved the boat the week before to Ouzouer-sur-Trezee on the Briare Canal, a lovely town a few kilometers away from Briare.  After cruelly forcing them to stay awake through an early dinner on the back deck so as to fight off jet lag, we spent the next day visiting the wine region of Sancerre, where the harvest had just ended.

Mary and Bill in Sancerre

The hilltop village of Sancerre

In the afternoon, we returned to Ouzouer, which was celebrating the annual national heritage weekend.  The old Romanesque church in town was open for tours in the afternoon, so we headed over to find a lovely local woman who took us on a tour of the church, the grounds, and pointed out some of the historic sites in town.  The Romanesque section of the church is from the 12th century, with a gothic section added later.  In 1961, as the pew of a section of the church were about to be refinished, paintings of the 12 apostles were discovered on the wood underneath the seats of the pews.  The paintings were removed and mounted on the walls of the church, and if I remember correctly, they are dated from the 16th century.  One building we had noticed every morning when heading out for a baguette has beautiful carvings, and a door much too short for Randy to go through without hitting his head.  This place also dates back to the 16th century.

The next morning we were underway, going through two locks, and crossing the Loire River on the Briare Viaduct. 

After we exited the lock, Bill noticed our big ball fender floating off behind us, so we nosed into the bank, I hopped off with the boat hook and ran back to retrieve it from the lockkeeper!  A nice morning jog for me!

Bill had a chance to drive while Mary joined me on the bow to enjoy the scenery as we cruised across the viaduct and into the town of Beaulieu.

On the viaduct over the Loire River

Although the weather is starting to turn chilly, we had another nice dinner served by Chef Randy, and the next morning, Bill and Mary were off to Paris to join a Rick Steves tour of France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.  Not a bad way to officially start your retirement!

After dropping Bill and Mary off at the train station in Briare, we moved the boat up to Sury-pre-Lere, a favorite spot, where we have high speed internet coverage, so I'm able to post a blog or two before we get underway again tomorrow.  We plan to be in port some time around October 15th but if the weather holds, we may just enjoy some of the anchorages on the Canal Roanne a Digoin!

Au Revoir Montargis

Au Revoir Montargis!
Today, as if to say no,
you cannot go,
you sent a swan.

But how can I leave this place
with its canals
and flowers
and people who adore their dogs?

Dachsund next to the bowl on top!

All along the canal
they promenade.

Bayeau, Rezzy and his shar pei.

Rezzy, an Iwok in a dog suit

Beloved, beloved French dogs!

We hope to return next year
with biscuits for you.

We'll be back when we have a better connection

We spent a wonderful 3 weeks in Montargis, visiting chateaus, marches, shopping, riding our bikes.  Last week, we cruised through Montargis to the turning basin to turn Alouette around so we could begin heading back to Roanne.  We are in Ouzouer-sur-Treeze but have a poor internet connection, so like all good Americans, we headed out to the local McDonalds in Gien, where we can access high speed internet.  I'll post more pictures once we're at a good wifi spot, probably Sury-pre-Lere.  We are excited to have our buddies from Tucson, Bill and Mary Read, arriving on Friday.  We'll pick them up at the train station in Montargis, visit Sancerre, and cruise with them to Sury-pre-Lere.  They will head back by train to Paris to join a Rick Steves' tour!  In the meantime, here are a couple of rare photos - Debbie driving, Randy handling the lines!

Sweet Home Colorado!

We are still in Montargis, planning to leave Sunday or Monday.  We have seen many hotel barges, but the Hotel Barge Princess, has been the prettiest  we've seen, with the hardest working crew.  Today as they coasted by into the lock, we heard American being spoken - - not just American, but Coloradan American - sweet sweet music to my ears!  This evening, before dinner, a sweet lady named Debbie - hey, I can remember that name - came by since we had hoisted our Colorado flag, and as a true Coloradan -- she noticed. She came on board with a few other folks on Princess, including John Schenden, who is pres. of Pro Jeep in Denver.  I am bad with names, but it was great to have people from home on board!  And I think I'm gonna need a Jeep when we eventually get back to the Big D!!  A Champie toast to all of you Mile Highers!