those shriveled little grapes may not look like much, and i know i never would have tried one before spending time in france, but if you pick grapes with french people, you will notice that when they stop to munch a grape or two, they will always choose the grapes that have just started to shrivel. those grapes have a higher sugar content, a concentrated flavor, and a cooked fruit aroma like raisins that most americans would find aesthetically suspicous. until this year, i, too, would always grab the big plump juicy sweet grapes from the bunch. but this year, the darker, sweeter flavors of just past-their-prime grapes began to appeal to me, and now when i look at a bunch of grapes, i find myself searching for a bit of pucker on the skin.
grape leaf, grapes, and vine tendril
autignac, france
i love our french neighbors . . . all of them. at 42 avenue de la liberté we have extended the hoffman open door policy that was instituted years ago in our home in minnesota. these guys have all accepted the implicit invitation of open doors and windows. we have welcomed them with varying degrees of hospitality. emphasis on varying.
collection of languedocian critters we’ve come across since mid-august
autignac, france
these little bottle brushes formed out of one of my favorite flat, blue-violet flowers. it was only two months ago that we arrived here, and that those flowers were in bloom. the remaining three months of this trip feel suddenly so fragile and evanescent.
la scabieuse rouge sombre stems with fruit heads
autignac, france
there’s a food rule that says if it grows together it goes together, meaning foods that grow in the same region tend to work well together on the plate. apparently it is also an aesthetic rule. i don’t know how the silver and sage green of this olive tree could go any better with the fish that was caught practically in its shadow.
loup (branzino) and an olive branch
autignac, france
you know how a camel or a goat or a horse carefully drops down from a standing position by folding one leg at a time into the right spot, and then slowly, slowly lowering itself down to the ground? i found this spider in my bathtub, and it was, and i’m not exaggerating, the size of my palm. i asked my husband to take care of it, and i would like to think that it simply folded itself slowly and peacefully into this position, but i’m pretty sure that’s not how it happened. i feel a little bad. and a little good.
dead spider
found in my bathtub, autignac, france
