A seat in the shade

This flat piece of stone, criss-crossed with lines of white quartz, has been placed as a seat outside a mazet near Roquessels. It reminded me of freespiral's pebbles. The vines in the background here are the same ones that I blipped in January - quite a change! The grapes on the vines all around have turned ripe and black and in a couple of weeks' time the vendange will start. Harvesting of white grapes has begun already, at night to keep the grapes cool. Last night was the first time this year I'd heard the machines and tractors leaving the village at 3 a.m.

It's my father's birthday, so this is in memory of him. He would have been 108 - impossible, of course, but I still think of him on his birthday and on most other days too. I can imagine him sitting on this stone step (he was a very good dry-stone-waller) and watching his vines grow - he did like wine very much.

While I was taking photos of vines and stones, LoJ said there was a butterfly on his hand. It stayed while I took several photos - one here - and I've identified it as an Amanda's Blue which apparently gets its minerals from human sweat....and there's plenty of that around today. Another muggy day, waiting for a thunderstorm, and it was nice to come home to eat gazpacho for lunch, that LoJ had made with red peppers from the garden.

Edit: I've just been reminded by my year-ago thumbnail that my blip then was about my father's and my links with Libya, a country that has dropped out of the news lately but I hope that's a good sign for peace there.