A short sleeve kind of day....

I am proclaiming spring to have officially arrived because today I went out in just a short sleeved shirt. The sun was out all day long,  the sky was a deep blue and not one cloud could be seen. Even with abundant sunlight it was still very hazy in the valley which was even more evident when I made a trip up into the Vaucluse range. You could barely see the valley far below with only outlines of the landscape barely visible. My short sleeved shirt left a little to be desired at the higher elevations as it must have been about 10 degrees cooler by the time I arrived to the southern peak of the range. I will try and post some photos of the areas I visited sometime tomorrow.

Earlier in the day my landlord Bernard was trimming a vine at the top of a rock storage garage and he invited me over to take a look at it. Turns out this vine is actually a grape vine that has grown from the inside of the garage and found its way out into the sunlight. From the inside of the garage it looks more like a small tree that has grown straight up the wall and then found a crack in the rocks to continue its journey. Bernard said that over the years he has chipped away at some of the rock to allow the vine to grow larger and it does produce quite a few grapes every season. I couldn't help but to think of Jack and the Beanstalk while snapping a few photos of this very determined and resourceful grape vine. 

No class for me this week as my instructor is on vacation and skiing somewhere in the French Alps. I might try another trip up into the mountains tomorrow and if I do hopefully the haze will have given way to some crystal clear views in all directions. 

The grapevine snaking its way up the inside wall of the garage

Bernard putting his pruning skills to work 

Just had to include this photo I took last week. I rounded a corner in the road and there they were. Not one but TWO deluxe model trailers. The first ones I've seen since arriving here....for a moment I thought I was back home... :-)