My wife and I have been going on walks each day for some time now, sometimes during her lunch hour and sometimes in the evenings.
Last night we went in the evening and caught the sun shining on the wheat field near our home.
Some people call this time the golden hour. The time when the setting sun basks everything in a golden hue.
It's really quite beautiful if you can catch it at the right time.
There was a light evening breeze last night. It moved over the stalks making their tassels sway. It almost made them look like gently flowing water.
The field reminds me of the scene in the movie Gladiator, when Maximus runs his fingers through the wheat field near his home. You know the scene.
We pass by several fields on this walk before heading into the forest.
The next set of photos were taken on different days during our walk and a few weeks ago all of the bluebell flowers were in bloom in the forest.
They came right after the yellow daffodils and were just as abundant. There were probably millions of them all throughout the forest.
Unfortunately they are very small and my camera isn't powerful enough to capture them from a distance.
Some areas were completely covered in a blue haze though, which you can almost see in the photo above, though the picture isn't a good representation of it.
The next few photos were taken in our backyard about three weeks ago. The lilacs and small grass daisy's were just starting to bloom.
The daisy's are still out there but the lilacs are just about finished at this point. They maybe have a few more days on our bush.
I picked some from our backyard and put them in water. They lasted about two weeks but have since died, so I ended up tossing them.
I realized after a few days that lilacs smell great at first when they are picked but then they quickly take on an acrid smell, which is pretty unpleasant. I kept them for the look but actually hated the smell by day four.
We've been seeing some really cool stuff in the forest lately in terms of wildlife.
On the Sunday that just passed we heard a crashing in the trees and turned to see three deer bounding through the forest. Two of them crossed the trail a few meters in front of us followed closely by a Sheppard dog chasing after them.
The dog slipped on the path, got up and turned to go after the third in the other direction. The deer were way too fast for it and I don't think that it would have done anything if it caught them. I think the dog was just having some fun.
An even cooler sight happened about a month ago. We heard a commotion in the trees but this time it ended up being a family of 6-7 wild boar with babies walking in a line on an adjacent path. They seemed to be on a mission to get somewhere because they were completely unaware at how close we were to them. If that wasn't cool enough, 30 seconds later we saw 4-5 large deer following right behind the boar.
I had never seen anything like that before and I can only guess that something must have disturbed them to make them behave that way - following behind the boar.
After they all passed I looked back behind us and watched the horse trail we were walking on and sure enough the boar crossed over it followed directly by the deer. It was super strange but super cool.
Hunting season had just finished but they must have been spooked to act that way.
Our walk starts in our small town and I've been taking pictures of the different flowers I see as they come out. These pink trees are super pretty but the flowers have already been replaced by their standard red leaves.
The wisteria is just starting to come out now and each day the colors get more and more vibrant.
Wisteria is one of my favorite things about France. Its literally everywhere you go and its always really pretty.
I think the white and pink flowers are clematis but I'm not exactly sure about that.
The pink wisteria is a new color for me. It may turn out to be the usual purple but for not it's looking very pink.
Our hedgehog is back which is exciting.
We haven't seen it for a while now but it's good to know that it's still around.
I haven't seen any signs of our boar friend living in our backyard. I suspect that he has moved on and found a new home.