Tails From Provence

Sunday Stills – Lone Tree

Just one shot to choose from this week, my camera battery has been misbehaving.

Here’s a lone tree in the middle of a field with a white horse to keep it company :

Visit Sunday Stills for more “Lone Tree” photos.

The horses, I hear you shout, what about the horses?? We’re back in Provence five days now and I haven’t mentioned the horses, in fact it is (GASP!) THIRTY-SIX DAYS since I did a proper horse post and in fact it’s just as long since either Flurry or Aero were ridden.

Before I talk about my beloved equine quadrupeds, I must mention jetlag. In my youth, I shrugged off jetlag as being like “A couple of all-nighters.” If only it was so simple now.

I was shagged when we got to California. My stomach was in bits and I couldn’t sleep, but in the excitement of it all, I kept going. There were a couple of mornings when I looked in the mirror and thought “jeez, I look like death warmed over” but family and the festive season helped me over the worst of it.

Jetlag is always worse in the other direction. We’ve been waking up at 2, 3, or 4 am since we got back, unable to get back to sleep (him) until 6 or 7 am (me). I’ve visited the horses every day but had no energy for anything other than picking out their feet and grooming.

Even grooming was a bit much for me – both horses were plastered in mud, sporting dreadlocks and dags throughout their manes, tails and extra-long coats. Every day, I chipped off another layer, and every day they did their best to replace what I had removed. The plan was to hack out on Saturday, and to be fair, by Saturday morning, they were reasonably clean – my hard work was worth it!

The weather was glorious – about 15C, with the sun shining non-stop. We decided to do one of the easy, one-hour routes that we all know well, heading across the road, through the woods towards the Couvent de Notre Dame, then back up, crossing the road again and looping around at the back of the farm.

Coming back up towards the road from the Couvent de Notre Dame

Bearing in mind that Aero is probably more horse than I need at the age of fifty, was I nervous about riding him again for the first time in ages? I actually can’t remember when I rode him last, I’m sure I rode him since the osteopath visited, but I didn’t mention it in the blog so I can’t be precise about when, where or for how long. Anyway, no, I wasn’t nervous – if Aero is going to be silly (nervous/tense/jumpy/excited) then it won’t make any difference whether he was ridden the day before or three months before, he’ll get wound up no matter what. Before we set off, I said that if he was getting silly, then I would just lead him the whole way around, but both boys were so relaxed with the warm weather that I was pretty sure it wouldn’t come to that.

I was right (I love it when I can say that!!), they were both very relaxed but very happy to be going out and doing things. Flurry led most of the way, but Aero went in front a couple of times with no issues whatsoever. We had a perfect First Hack of the New Year, and we agreed that if all our hacks are like this in 2013 we’ll… ehhh… be complaining of boredom!!

Approaching the back of the farm,
with the snow-covered Alps in the distance

My camera is having battery issues at the moment so the LSH was on photography duty. You can probably tell from the improved quality!

Looking back to the Alps through the forest

Me & Aero posing with the Montagne de Lure in the background

We did the serious French trekker thing of leading the horses at the beginning and at the end of the ride. It does make sense, it surely helps them warm up and cool down properly, but it also gave us a chance to ease out our tired and cramping legs after an hour’s riding.

After riding, we came home, had a quick lunch (a glass of 7Up and a banana!!) and went out again to the Montagne de Lure. We’ve been threatening to go there for the last three months to try to catch a view of the Alps bathed in the evening sun. We were surprised to find that there’s a ski station near the top – it seems to be a very easy, family oriented slope, with lots of kids and learners around. We went for a short walk with the dogs. Cookie was crazy in the snow, rolling and wriggling in it to her heart’s content. We found it tougher walking in the snow than the dogs, and turned around after about fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, we never got the amazing view of the Alps that the LSH is looking for, the road was closed after the Ski Station and the view eastwards was blocked by the mountain’s peak. We’ll have to try again, using an approach road on the eastern side of the mountain.

We drove home in the middle of a superb sunset, so much so that the LSH parked at the side of the road, leaped out of the car and snapped this lovely shot of the nearby village of Lincel.

It’s good to be back.

January 5, 2013
Aero, Flurry, Horses, Montagne de Lure, Provençe
6 Comments

Thank Friday it’s Lunchtime – Taqueria 3 Hermanos, 1122 1st St, Napa, California

Here’s something a little different for Thank Friday It’s Lunchtime!

While in California for Christmas, we spent a pleasant day touring and wine-tasting in the Napa Valley. My sister’s son, The Nephew, was our driver and had planned our itinerary for the day. He had even come up with some suggestions for lunch, one of which was Taqueria 3 Hermanos in Napa. It was recommended by some of the wine-touring sites, and to be honest when we heard “Mexican” we all said Yes Please!

We made our way into Napa, figured out where the restaurant was, parked the Minibus and made our way back to it on foot.

The exterior could be described as “modest” and to be honest the interior should be described as “basic” – a couple of tables on either side of the square room, a TV in one corner and a counter where you place your order in another corner, with the kitchen area in full view behind it. It’s located in a little square in the middle of the town with a couple of bigger and posher eateries nearby, but I am beginning to understand that “bigger and posher” does not necessarily mean better.

Having just left a winery, we steered clear of the alcohol on offer, although I have to say the very best thing to have with Mexican food (and Indian food for that matter) is beer. I was tempted by the Dos Equis, but only momentarily – I needed a clear head for the rest of the day’s wine-tasting!

You place your order at the counter, take a number, help yourself to cutlery, water and salsa, then sit down and wait to be served. Fast food, basically – it was served within five minutes of us sitting down.

I ordered the Chicken Nachos Special. It was very tasty, not too spicy for my sensitive Irish palate, but there was a wide range of salsas available to spice things up for those who wanted to be more adventurous. On the downside, the nachos went soggy quickly and the guacamole was a bit bland, but on the whole I was happy with it.

Special Nachos with Chicken

The YD ordered a vegetable burrito. The burritos in Taqueria 3 Hermanos were the biggest I’ve ever seen – giant rolls of spicy goodness! The vegetarian version was packed with beans, rice, sweetcorn, rice, lettuce, rice, tomatoes, rice, salsa and rice. Very tasty, but very, very filling. It’s probably the perfect lunch for a vegetarian who has been toiling in the vineyards all morning, but it was too much for my petite YD, who only managed to eat half of it. Too much rice, she said. Really?

Veg burrito

The Nephew, our trusty driver and tour-guide for the day, had the Super Burrito with beef. This was even bigger than the YD’s veggy burrito and it had proportionately less rice in it. The Nephew was happy with it, anyway, as was the Brother-in-Law, who also ordered it.

Super Burrito

Another Super Burrito. All it needs is red underpants and a cape…

My sister ordered a Chicken Chimichanga, which was a little more dainty than the giant burritos. It came with lettuce and salsa on the side, all of which went down well.

Chimichanga

The LSH ordered the Super Burrito 49er with Beef. This burrito came with The Works – tomato sauce poured over it, melted cheese on top with salsa, lettuce, guacamole and sour cream all crammed onto the plate beside it. He managed to eat it all. He’s a growing boy, after all.

Super Burrito 49er

The main courses all worked out somewhere between $7/8$ per head. None of us went for starters or dessert – thank goodness, I think we would have exploded – but I reckon that $8 (€6) was amazing value. Yeah, the ambiance was very Fast Food, but the food itself was excellent.

We waddled back to the Minibus and carried on to the next vineyard. Strangely, those wines were our least favourite of the day. Hmm, perhaps the spicy food killed our sensitive wine-tasting palates. Oh well, it was worth it!

Food – ✮✮✮✮

Service – ✮✮✮✮

Ambiance – ✮

Value – ✮✮✮✮✮