The Rain Near Spain

The mediaeval castle which can be seen from our window can also be viewed from the sunflower fields. Click to enlarge the picture.

Last time I mentioned the weather, it was to say that, almost at the end of June, summer had not yet arrived here in the South of France. We had already had more than a year's supply of rain and temperatures were well below 20 degrees Celsius. Things were not growing, either in the fields or in Gay's potager or vegetable garden.

We made a flying visit to England at the beginning of July and when we debarked from the plane at Carcassonne on our return it was hot and sunny. It has remained so ever since, except for some spectacular - and inevitable - thunderstorms which have really made the welkins ring (ancient English term - welkin, the vault of heaven).

Despite all the heat and occasional baptism of the ground during said storms, all the crops here are still well behind because of the slow start. Normally the sunflower crop, which seems to be more widespread than ever this year, would be in its dying-away phase, when the seeds, which are the real objective of the whole beautiful exercise, dry out and await harvesting. But this year the flowers are still with us and delighting the eye.