The United States Natural Disasters Map

The United States Natural Disasters Map 

For those of you who know me well or who have read my posts for the past 10 years on this blog, you know that I'm very concerned by climate changes, global warming, pollution and natural disasters. 

I have explicitly and repeatedly expressed my opinions, fears and doubts on these subjects, countless times, as their ramifications are dangerous and disastrous for the health and safety of all beings, the environment and the whole planet overall. 

Like many of you, I have kids, and I'm worried, even scared, for their future, as these four types of events (climate changes, global warming, pollution and natural disasters) have increasingly occurred, more recurrently and more violently, over the last 15-20 years. 

Of course, sceptics and other anti-climate-change, as well as anti-global-warming people, will probably tell me that there is nothing to fear and that all of these are just a bunch of lies and nonsense. 

Well, whatever you believe, these four types of events are real and they are happening, even faster than what the scientists' computers and algorithms ever predicted. The situation has become quite critical and alarming. 

Yet, despite the distressful warning stated in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (read it here), about the rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of our society, that would be required to limit global warming to 1.5ºC, these changes are not ready to be made (and probably won't be made) by the leaders, politicians, economists, financial institutions, leading companies and lobbyists of the major developed countries, as it is not and would not be profitable, and might prove financially, economically and demographically impossible. 

Basically, they are leaving the problems as they are, rather than finding solutions, hoping maybe that things will take care of themselves on their own, with time, and surely thinking alike that wars, genocides, famines, epidemics, drugs and poverty have always been good things that helped (and still do today) regulating the population growth and thus the demographic part of the problem. Scary to think like this, but it is a sad reality, unfortunately (anybody thinking about Thanos right now?)... 

Therefore, and consequently, and instead of making the changes for the greater good of mankind and all life on earth, they will continue to do nothing, to be in total denial and to procrastinate, even if (or maybe, because) they know it is already too late and that we have already reached the point of no return, when/where it is no longer reversible unless drastic changes are made now, today, not in 2030 or 2050. But maybe doing nothing will serve their ambitions, as it won't be the law of the fittest or the smartest, but the law of the richest, the ones with the privileges of power and money like it has been described in many books and movies. Yesterday and today's fiction will become tomorrow's reality. 

And today's reality is quite scary has it is. Wars, genocides, famines, epidemics, drugs and poverty are even more present now than they were 50 years ago. The world is even more divided than it used to be back then. People are rioting and striking in the streets for their rights and their desire for changes. There is an increasing interest for people to think alike and vote for the extremist and nationalist parties (both side, left and right). We are living an age of communication where people communicate less and less. We have never been better connected than with nowadays technologies, yet most people feel lonelier, more desperate and miserable, lost in their own virtual world, oblivious to a reality they are trying to escape. 

We are now close to 8 billion people on earth. That's twice more than 60 years ago (we were about 4 billion back in the 50s-60s after the baby boom) and four times more than 110 years ago (we were only about 2 billion in the early 1900s). We are living on a planet that is shrinking by the day (that's a figure of speech), the victim of our over-production and over-consumption, as we are now consuming our supply of annually renewable resources in soon-to-be only half a year (currently 8 months, in fact, annually renewable resources are currently used up by August), forcing us to tap into non-annually-renewable resources a bit more each year. (have a quick at http://www.worldometers.info/ for more factual numbers).

However, this reality is catching up fast, and faster than we thought. And something has to be done in order to make these changes to save our little planet and thus save ourselves.

• Climate changes are occurring in most countries nowadays: seasons have changed and slightly shifted to earlier or later than they used to be, or even drastically decreased (and/or even disappeared in some parts of the globe) over the last 50 years, and even more rapidly over the last 15-20 years, more especially in the northern hemisphere. Winters are warmer at the poles but much colder and snowier than they used to be in other places, or are, now, insignificant in other places where they used to be more significant or longer. Spring seems to arrive earlier in some places, and later in others. Summers are hotter than they used to be, yet dryer in some parts of the globe with longer drought periods, while more humid and generating massive storms in other parts. These changes in global, national or regional climate patterns, have been even more apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and, beside being indirectly or directly related with global warming, they have largely been attributed to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels and energies (gas, oil and coal), resulting in an accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; in turn, generating and creating new weather patterns that are less stable, and less consistent, and thus less predictable. Basically, they could be resumed as a change in the statistical properties of the climate system, caused by sudden and drastic changes of the air pressure, of the temperatures and humidity levels in the air and other intricate factors in our atmosphere, leaving us less and less chance to predict or anticipate what could happen with the weather and climate conditions in the short and long term.  

• Global warming is a fact, and has been increasing slowly over the last 50 years, and more rapidly over the last 10-15 years, with each year ending up being hotter than the previous one, more especially in the Northern atmosphere, where it seems that each year breaks new highest temperatures records to date. Temperatures are now rising earlier in the year, as early as February in some places, creating the illusion that winters are shorter and bringing warmer days than usual earlier in the season, thus destabilizing the nature, which usually ends up starting its budding and bourgeoning cycle way too early, faced with increasing risks of frost due to sudden temperature drops, as, in fact, winter is not finished yet and cold is not over yet either. Summers are getting hotter and dryer in some parts and more humid in others, these unbalanced conditions create massive super storms and typhoons as well as hail storm (all of these with direct and/or indirect relation and/or even as a consequence of global warming AND climate changes of course). You can read some very interesting articles on the subject, from Insideclimatenews.org here and from Science Magazine here and also this one from climatecentral.org here (these are just a few among so many others that have been written on the subject)  

• Pollution is a real disaster, a catastrophe for the environment, threatening our health and safety, and more importantly the future of the upcoming generations. As humans continue to pollute every day, and despite a minority fighting it, nothing is really done by most countries or governments to find concrete and efficient solutions for it. We have created and invented (and we still do today) without measuring or even anticipating the consequences and collateral damages of our creations and inventions in the long term. Although, nowadays, the trend is to go back to more natural methods and practices, to respect the environment and reverse the process to diminish the pollution of the air, ground and water, we continue to only develop alternatives to deal and handle the consequences, instead of tackling the problem at the source to eradicate it. Despite the fact that we are (and have been for decades) fully aware of the problem with plastics and other derivatives of fossil fuels and energies (gas, oil and coal), being none biodegradable, we still continue to produce it and in even greater quantities. And , although, we constantly see more and more campaigns and actions asking (begging I should say) us to refrain our use of plastics, to reduce the quantity and the use of single-use plastics and consequently diminish our production (or "beyond overproduction" should I say) of plastics; we continue to produce more and more plastics as they are cheaper to produce than to recycle. We are basically shooting a bullet in our own foot, while we know it hurts, but are trying to remain oblivious to the pain and suffering it causes us and ignore the loss of blood. That's crazy! Let's take fruit for example, like bananas, they are now available in supermarkets, individually wrapped up in plastic film in turn put into a plastic bag or box, isn't it insane? 

Producing more plastics and other none-biodegradable products is insane, more especially, when knowing that, (at the end of the day), we only have 3 solutions!!! Solutions that are harmful to our planet and far from being ideal as they generate health hazards and issues, but so far, they are the only solutions we have to get rid of our trash, rejects and other none-biodegradable stuff:  

• Burn them, but incinerate them pollutes the air (consequently the atmosphere)
• Bury them, but it pollutes the ground and the groundwater
• Sink them, but it pollutes the ocean, deltas and rivers and other bodies of water      

If you don't believe me, then you should read attentively the United Nations official reports then, at  https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/reports.shtml 

And the problem is that the causes and consequences of our everyday actions, as well as our bad decisions and habits (due to differences of cultures, traditions, beliefs and educations), which result in over-production and over-consumption, as well as over-construction, land reclaiming and destruction of the environment (forests, mines, agriculture, etc...), having direct and indirect consequences and ramifications generating Climate Changes (change in the air and atmosphere), Global Warming (fall and rise of the temperatures) and the increasing Pollution (due to a constant demographic growth requiring more production and more consumption of water, food, goods and energies), seem to have a direct effect, or at the least, a certain influence on Natural Disasters. 

Although Natural Disasters have always existed and will continue to exist long after the disappearance of the humans (and probably most life on earth), it seems that climate changes, global warming and pollution have something to do (directly and/or indirectly) with the strength (not to say "violence") and the rather increasing number and occurrence of these natural events (around the globe) over the last 15-20 years. 

Natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, mega-storms, typhoons, hail-storms, tornados, heavy rainstorms, electric storms, droughts, wildfires, volcanos, eruptions, and other geological processes, causing great damage and/or loss of life, have been occurring more often, more rapidly and more suddenly, and especially more dramatically, over the last 15-20 years, even happening in places where they previously very rarely happened or even where they never existed before. 

The climate changes and shifts of seasons, the rise of temperatures, the melting of the polar ice caps,  the rise of the water, the variation of salinity of the sea and oceans, the variations and slight deviations in the course of the warm and cold currents in the oceans, the natural and forced erosion due to human's reclaimed lands (land reclamation) and other constructions, the use of chemicals like silver iodide, potassium iodide and/or dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) or even liquid propane during cloud seeding, and many other factors induced by human's activities (actions and habits), seem to have had a direct impact on the Natural Disasters, their strength and their frequency.      

They are many websites and apps that you can check to get info and knowledge about Natural Disasters around the planet (globally, nationally and/or regionally). Yet to take a concrete example, I like to bring your attention to a particular website called www.ADT.com (a website specialized in security and safety accessories, systems and solutions for personal home, as well as commercial and businesses buildings).   

Phebe Opoku, Communications Specialist at www.ADT.com, contacted me via email (apparently) after reading one of my posts (from Jan 2011), where I was mentioning "natural disasters" and listing some websites and organisations links to take invite my readers to take some actions against climate change, global warming and encourage to converting agriculture especially viticulture to organic and biodynamic farming to help save our planets (read this post here), and thought I’d be interested in spreading awareness by including the following link to the main page or one of the posts on my blog:  

https://www.adt.com/natural-disasters    

At first, I found it a bit strange, but then I understood what was her intention, when I read her explanation saying "Our team at ADT has analyzed sixty­-five years of FEMA data (see FEMA website here for more details) and released an interactive disaster risk map that calculates the risk natural threats pose, across the United States. One can simply input a ZIP code and view the area’s exposure to natural hazards." 

Intrigued by her request, I clicked on the link she sent me (https://www.adt.com/natural-disasters) to better understand what this natural disaster map was, and once I browsed around this map for a little while, I found it so interesting that I obliged her request and it led me to write this post. 

United States Natural Disasters Map courtesy of www.adt.com 

Click on the link, then click anywhere on the map (the area in red being the ones with the most disasters) and you will quickly understand that this is an interactive map of the United States of America, allowing you to click on specific areas (understand that each state has been divided into numerous areas) to show the FEMA total count of natural disasters which occurred in each specific area since 1964.  

I personally found this map really interesting and eye-opening in terms of the data recorded and for the info, it provides for each area. It might not be of interest for people outside the US (which is understandable), but it seems to be particularly helpful for the people living in the US, more specifically the areas in red, which have been the most badly touched by natural disasters as per FEMA data recorded since 1964. 

Click on the link above and have a look, you'll see, it might give info about the disasters you had no clue happened in the area you're living in. 

That's all folks for today! Stay tuned for more post coming soon. 

And remember, do something every day to save the planet, even the most little gesture is significant. 

Step into the Green! Drink more Biodynamic, Biologique and Organic wines and spirits (and food) from sustainable culture and respect the environment! Support the right causes for the Planet and all the people suffering all around the globe! 

Also follow projects and products from the Fair Trade, an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries obtain better trading conditions and promote sustainability. 

Also support 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses that donate at least 1% of their annual revenues to environmental organizations worldwide. "Commerce Equitable" or "Fair Trade" is evidently and more than ever a needed movement connecting producers and customers, to be aware of others and their cultural and traditional products based on high quality, natural components and craftsmanship. 

Cheers! Santé!

LeDomduVin (a.k.a. Dominique Noel)

Memories of my grandfather and my childhood in the vineyards

Memories of my grandfather 

and my childhood in the vineyards 

My Grandfather old "Pressoir" at my mother's house @LeDomduVin2013

Not sure why, but I'm thinking about my grandfather and my childhood in the vineyards (*). Probably because I was recently looking at some old family pictures, like this old "Pressoir" at my mother's house (in the picture above). It was the one my great-grandfather and, in turn, my grandfather used back in the days, and it reminds me of this period of my life, growing up in a small village of the Côtes de Bourg, with my grandfather, surrounded by the countryside and vineyards.

In any case, I always think about my grandfather and will always remember him. He was like a father figure to me and taught me so much about life, food, and wine, and so much more. He taught me invaluable principles, values, and morals about life and people and how I should try to conduct myself with myself and others, with respect and humility.  He taught me that simple things in life are always the best and that a happy life is not the result of what you can earn or buy, but what you make of it.  

Growing up in a lower-middle-class family, we did not have much money and were not doing much traveling, but we had a decent life overall, without extras or excess. We did not need any extras or excess anyway, or any other superfluous things money can buy, as we were happy, our own way, and thankful for what we had. We had each other and life was simple. It was the life of the countryside rhythmed by the seasons and the vineyard's life cycle. 

My grandfather holding some bottles and his dog in front of his garden @LeDomduVin 2010

Despite having worked as a construction worker, my grandfather was also a "vigneron", a person who tend the vines and take care of the vineyards, as well as a winemaker, in the region of the "Côtes de Bourg" (north-east of Bordeaux on the northern part of the right bank), where I grew up.

Originally from Vendée (a department in the Pays-de-la-Loire region in west-central France, south of Nantes, facing the Atlantic Ocean), he moved further south to the Gironde department later on to live the rest of his life. He has lived all of his life in the countryside and never really liked the big cities. In fact, even if only 50 kilometers away, going to Bordeaux was a chore to him and he seldom driving there if he could avoid it.

He was a man of simple taste and small needs. He had been a blue-collar his whole life, and his daily attire consisted of his "Bleu de travail" (commonly known as the French worker jacket or "chore" jacket... coming back in fashion by the way), that he was wearing on all occasions, seven days a week, even well after retiring, as in fact he never really stopped working, and at the end of the day it was the only clothes he really felt comfortable in.

As you probably noticed on the picture above, another essential part of his daily outfit was his "Béret", (from the word "berret" in Occitan (Gascon) meaning “cap”), the unavoidable soft, round, flat-crowned black hat worn by most countrymen (and even women sometimes) in the southwest of France (and other regions of France too). This traditional Basque Béret never left his head no matter what he was doing or wearing (except maybe at night). He very rarely dressed in a suit, only on special occasions, weddings and funerals mainly, and it was a real burden for him to have to dress up. However, even wearing a suit, the Béret had to be on too. Most men of his age that I knew or met at that time dressed the part the way he did.

Côtes de Bourg Old Map - 1949 © by L. Larmat

Throughout his life, he lived in different houses prior to settling in the house I've always known. He even lived in the dependency of a Chateau at some point, when he was working at Chateau La Grolet, a 17th-century manor house producing a classic Côtes de Bourg wine, with a very good ratio value for money, where my mother and her siblings grew up for the most part of their childhood.

He settled down in the little village of "Comps" (you can see it on the above map), near the house of my great-grandfather on my mother side (a house that my mother inherited at some point when I was still a toddler and where I spent most of my life between the age of 10 and 18 years old, and she is still living here nowadays).

Back in the days of my youth, Comps was a charming and tranquil "bourgade" of less than 300 inhabitants living in houses outspread in the vineyards, with a few patches of green fields where cows, cheeps, horses, and even a donkey were grazing quietly. There was even a wild-boar farm, where one could stop by to feed them through the fence. The village has a quaint little church in which (I can proudly say) I got married back in 2005. It felt very intimate and private.

The quaint little church of Comps - Photo courtesy of Jack Ma

My mother's house (also in Comps as mentioned above), was only a few parcels of vineyards away from my grandfather's house and therefore I was often at his house. My grandfather's house was rustic and showed sign of the passage of time, but I felt comfortable there with him.

It was a decent size farmhouse with quite a few dependencies, surrounded by a garden comprising lots of varieties of fruit trees (Apple, Pear, Cherry, Fig, Plums, Nuts, Chestnut, Lemon, and even Kiwi), a vegetable garden where you could find pretty much all vegetables as well as a wild variety of flowers, plants, and herbs too. (You can see some of the pictures I took of his garden in a previous post I wrote back in 2010 where I was also writing about my grandfather, read it here)

Some of the vegetables and fruits of my grandfather's garden @leDomduVin 2007

This collage of pictures of some of the vegetables and fruits from my grandfather's garden brings back some sweet memories of him and of my childhood. Even the blue dots (or drop stains), on the tomatoes above, bring a smile to my face, as it is what we call, in Bordeaux, "La Bouillie Bordelaise", a blue-colored mixture of  "Sulfate de Cuivre" (copper sulfate) and some "Chaux" (lime), that my grandfather used to prepare himself prior to using his old portable copper "sulfateuse" to spray it around, while I was watching all of it with big eyes hoping that he would let me try....

In case you don't know, "La Bouillie Bordelaise" is still used as a fungicide sprayed in vineyards and gardens to prevent eventual damages caused by downy mildew, powdery mildew, and other fungi.

Old Copper "Sulfateuse" to spray "La Bouillie Bordelaise" ©LeDomduVin 2007

Apart from a multitude of vegetables and fruits in his garden, his farmhouse was also full of animals. Hens and roosters, rabbits, guinea pigs, turtledoves, goldfishes, cats and a dog were all living in harmony in this peaceful garden of heaven on earth. It was really fun for a child growing up in the countryside like me. I liked to pet them and feed them. Although all well fed, the hens were always hungry, running after me when I visited their "enclos à poule" (chicken coop) and always checking what I had in my hands for grains or other stuff to eat. The rabbits and more especially the guinea pigs were the same, you couldn't enter their coop without being harassed for food. And evidently, they eventually ended up on the table for the Sunday lunch or in Patés jars...  (hehehe...  evil mischievous quiet laugh... well, sorry, not my fault if we, as humans, are at the top of the food chain... I love these animals... in my plate too 😊)

As you can start to understand (after reading the above), I did not grow up like some kids from rich parents, going on vacations, by the beach all summer long and skying in winter and traveling all the time (and whatever else rich kids used to do). Nope. In fact, I was rich too, not of money, but of what Mother Nature had to offer and the freedom of doing pretty much all I wanted, as I spent most of my school year's vacations and summer vacation, often alone at my mother house and visiting my grandfather leaving nearby, while both my parents were working. My parents divorced when I was 6 and half years old, and therefore school days were usually at my father's house and weekends and vacations were at my mother's house (for the most part).

And despite part of my family and a few cousins, I did not have many friends living around in the countryside, but I did not mind either.

• If raining, I usually spent my days drawing all sort of things or writing stories and poems (that I never published, unfortunately...), while listening to vinyl discs or the radio. Or otherwise, I was reading French/Belgium Bandes Dessinées and American comics, and eventually some books too... but not too many... (as I preferred to write stories rather than reading stories).  I was also watching a bit of TV sometimes, but when I was young only 3-5 channels were available and the programs were not that great - and I did not have Canal + either - so, I was not watching much TV after all - and I did not have a computer or a Minitel either... and smartphone did not exist... sigh....  Nowadays city kids will never understand... 

"Les Carrières" (or stone-pits in English) near Prignac-et-Marcamps and Tauriac (Gironde) -
Photo courtesy ofwww.sudouest.fr

• And if sunny, I was riding my bike everywhere in the neighboring villages (and further away, up to Bordeaux sometimes - roughly 50 kilometers far). Sometimes stopping by the Gironde river bank, near Prignac-et-Marcamps and Tauriac, to admire the scenery and landscape. Sometimes walking in a nearby forest overlooking the river bank to access and get lost in "Les Carrières", the numerous stone-pits found everywhere along the famous limestone plateau going roughly from the Côtes de Blaye (to the north) down to the Côtes de Castillon (to the south), from which the world renown "Pièrre de Bordeaux" was extracted to build the beautiful city of Bordeaux as well as most villages of the Gironde (Saint-Emilion being probably the most famous village built entirely with these limestone stones). Covering kilometers of galleries carved by men and running deep underground, the "carrières" (stone-pits)  were my hideouts (very similar to the one on the above picture courtesy of www.sudouest.fr).  

However, whatever I did, after a few hours I usually ended up visiting my grandfather for lunch and spent most of the rest of the day with him, most days. That is how I spent most of my vacations (including summer vacations). For some people, it must not sound very exciting, but back then that's all I knew and could do anyway, as we did not have the money for me to go anywhere else or do anything else. I had my bike, my freedom and the countryside and vineyards to myself and was keeping my grandfather company. 

It was instructive to be with him, as he was doing pretty much everything himself and knew how to do pretty much everything (more/less). He was part of these old generations who grow up and lived during the war. He lived through hard times with far less than what our society of consumption imposes us to have or buy (directly or indirectly) for our daily needs nowadays. 

Dominique Noel (me) in my grandfather's garden at the back of the house @LeDomduVin2007

All (or most should I say) fruits, vegetables and herbs we ate at his house came directly from his own garden, where he nurtured them daily with careful and close attention. It was great to have to wait for the right season to eat certain fruits and vegetables, it makes you fancy them even more (not like nowadays where you can buy pretty much anything you want the whole year long and at any seasons).

Here, this little table shows you the vegetables and fruits you should expect to find only in season at a French Market. Stop buying imported food, buy local and buy what's in season, it healthier for you and better for the environment.

Vegetables and fruits you should expect to find only in season at a French Market by ©LeDomduVin 2018 

My grandfather rarely bought his vegetables or fruits at the local Saturday or Sunday market (as he had pretty much everything he needed in his own backyard), yet it was still going there regularly to buy meat and fish, talk with friends and other people he knew, and often ended up buying a few vegetables and fruits to help the little "artisans" 😊. Sacré Papi, he was a genuine and generous man, always trying to help and please people, one way or another.

The eggs came from his hens. The "Paté de Lapin" came from his rabbits (mixed with pork meat he used to buy from a local butcher or at the market). I loved his "Paté de Lapin" and helped him a few times to prepare it. It was my favorite food in the world. He was not necessarily following a recipe either, he was more preparing it on instinct and depending on the meat supply too (sometimes more rabbit, sometimes more porc).

He also used to make his own jams from various fruits found in his garden, his eau-de-vie of plums and/or pears, as well as all of his "bocaux de legumes" (vegetable conserves), "bocaux de fruits" and Patés for winter.

There was always a "Jambon de Bayonne" (cured ham leg) hanging and slowly curing "dans la remise" (the dependency behind his house where he stored all kinds of things), in a cured ham cage made especially to prevent flies and other bugs to get in while allowing for plenty of ventilation for the ham to properly age. This Jambon was always coming handy for afternoon snacks or when it was time to take "L'Apéro".

Cured Ham Leg - Photo courtesy of here

L'Apéro (short for "apéritif") is a typical French traditional and cultural ritual, consisting of a non-formal gathering before dinner, marking the end of the day and usually inviting the family and friends or guests present in the house to stop all activities and have drinks and snacks while casually conversing about anything and everything prior the dinner... It is a great way to talk, open up, relax and cool down after a hard day at work or full of activities...

Just imagine, you leave your smartphone, tablet, TV, and computer aside and you communicate to and with "real" people while enjoying a drink or two and snacking goodies (charcuterie, cheese, pickles, olives, nuts) as a prelude to the dinner. You've got to love the French way of living... just for that... 😊  ...you should try it some days, it is usually a cheerful moment worth having at least 3 times a week (Fri, Sat, and Sun).


Sunday lunch was traditionally a family lunch and usually the day of my grandfather's classic roasted chicken, or his famous sauteed rabbit with garlic and parsley, or the popular "Entrecôte Echalottes" (with shallots on top) grilled on the Sarments (the vines shouts cut then collected into ballots during winter), usually served with vegetables fresh from his garden. The french fries made with his potatoes were so rich and tasty and a delight with the Entrecôte (I remember picking them in "La Remise", then washing them, peeling them and cutting them prior frying them). Everyone invited was giving a hand to prepare Sunday lunch, and we always ended up being 6 to 8 to 10 people sometimes around the table. Family gatherings were always fun (I miss these days deeply....).

My grandfather cooking his very popular "Entrecôte Echalottes" (with shallots on top)
grilled on the Sarments (the vines shouts cut then collected into ballots during winter) ©LeDomduVin 2007  

Look at those rugged hands... I love these hands. My grandfather hands. These are the hands of a man who worked hard all of his life, in construction at first, then in the vineyards, showing signs of the passage of time as he was handling everything with his bare hands (on the construction sites, in the vineyards and at the cellar, in his garden, with his animals, repairing tools and machines when broken, etc..). Like most countryside men, he was not afraid to get his hands dirty and was accustomed to physical labor since his very early age.  

In fact, my grandfather was a humble and quiet man, more comfortable working with his hands than delivering a speech or writing an essay. A man of a few words in general, except when he was talking about the good and bad memories of his life prior, during and even after World War II. He had countless stories about this period of time, which fascinated me. The hideouts, the resistance, the Nazis, the wine, the scarcity of the food and supplies, how some people help to quietly fight, their own way, and how some people collaborated with the enemy. How difficult things were back then and how people learn how to be strong, how to do everything themselves and learned how to survive and continue living despite a certain danger at their door.

Picture of an American commissioned officer with farmers and bottles of wine in Normandie WWII -
Photo courtesy of www.histomil.com 

I loved my grandfather for who he was and what he represented to me, for his knowledge and skills. He learned a lot of things through age and experiences of course, like anybody else. However, most of his knowledge came from the fact that when he was young, growing up in a farm during the war, he only had a dictionary, a few books and some volumes of a collection of something similar to Encyclopedia Britannica to read. (Imagine how smart your kid will be if he or she had to read the dictionary and/or Encyclopedia Britannica every day?). I was always learning just by listening to him talk. 

As you surely understood by reading some of the paragraphs above, my grandfather was an excellent cook (he raised his 3 kids practically alone, so he had time to experiment...). He was always preparing more food than needed (because he was a generous man first, but also probably as the result of not having had enough during the war) and his door was always opened for impromptu guests passing by to say hello or trying their luck by inviting themselves. Life in the countryside always brings people together, and usually, family and friends do not live far. Moreover, in a small village like "Comps", everybody knew each other back in those days, so visits around lunch or dinner by family members, neighbors or friends were quite common and, in fact, necessary to keep up with the latest gossips and stories.

Impromptu guest for the lunch by ©LeDomduVin 2018

My love for food first, and, then later, for wine, definitely came from him. As he was also a winemaker, making his own wine and wine for other sometimes too, consequently I have been introduced to and acquainted with wine since my very early age. I remember having my first sip of wine when I was about 6 years old.

It was a beautiful and warm day, in the afternoon, a Saturday or maybe a Sunday, as the family was around. My uncle, my grandfather's son, was sipping a glass of red wine and I was watching him lifting his elbow to bring the glass to his lips and sip it slowly. He looked at me and asked me if I wanted some. I said yes, and I guess the members of my family gathered around me, surely waiting for my reaction (something like that in the US will probably be denounced/reported, but in France, it is a common tradition, maybe not that early though....). So, I put the glass to my nose... it was fragrant and nearly made me sneeze. Then, I brought the glass to my lips and drank too fast a generous sip of that red wine, which made me cough for at least half an hour after that. Of course, I ridiculized myself and my whole family around was laughing out loud about this risible situation. But I kept a great souvenir of it.

I must admit that my grandfather's wine was not a "very good" wine. It was one these Cotes de Bourg wines of the late 70s, early 80s, made in quantity not necessarily in quality (like it was common practice back then). It was what we call in France "du picrate" or  "de la vinasse", basically a simple, "not-necessarily-bad" but "not-that-great" either, everyday wine. Drinkable it was, sure... but most importantly it served its purpose, being an accompaniment to the food on the table. My grandfather himself even used to cut it with a bit of water to cut the edges of it (acidity, tannins, bitterness, etc...), and finally, it was not so bad after all. We got used to it. 😊

My grandfather wine eduction or how kids get acquainted with wine in France by ©LeDomduVin 2018

And that's how from the age of 10 or 12 years old, I (and most of the kids I knew back then) started to have some wine in my glass when eating at my grandfather's house. First, I filled up my glass with water to which my grandfather added a few drops of wine to add color and some taste. I found it acidic and sour, but with food, it wasn't so bad. The older I got, the less water and the more wine the glass contained. By the time I reached 15 years old, I was drinking wine with no more water in it.

Same for beer, around the same age I started to have a touch of wine in a glass of water (10-12 years old), my grandfather also offered me to occasionally drink "Panaché" (a.k.a. "Shandy", basically a mix of beer and "limonade" quite famous back then in France, Belgium and Switzerland), a good alternative to beer, as it tastes more like a carbonated lemonade and the alcohol content is usually about 2% max (usually more about 1-1.5%), instead of 5% (and much higher) in general for beers. Anyone remembers "Panaché Chopp" made by the brewery "Kanterbräu"?.... no?... It was a classic back then in the early 80s. That is what I used to drink during the hot summer afternoons with my grandfather, seating on the bench in front of his house.

Here, this French Publicity below might remind you of something...  

French Publicity for "Chopp Panaché" back in the 80s - Photo Courtesy of ebay.fr

At the back of the house, "La Remise" (a huge dependency that he used as a room to store all sorts of stuff), was a real cavern of Alibaba. Once inside, it is was like an organized huge mess. Food (from the "patés" to the conserves, the ham to the potatoes, etc..), as well as some old mopeds (including the legendary "Solex" and other cyclo-motors like the classic "Peugeot 102" and the iconic "Peugeot 103" or even the "Motobecane AV79 and AV88" and other broken junks and detached pieces (kept just in case...), mingled with a mountain of coal "pour le poêle a charbon" (coal burning stove) and some wood logs for the "cheminées" in the various rooms, as well as some old barrels and a old "pressoir".

Without realizing it, my grandfather was surely affected by a hoarding disorder, as he had real difficulties to discard an impressive multitude of objects of all sorts that he accumulated over the last few decades. I could always hear him say that they could be useful one day, yet, that day never came and more junks and old stuff kept coming and piled up as I grew older. In fact, a museum of all these stuff could have been opened as he had such a huge collection of them, and some were real treasure for collectors and amateurs.

However, if you ventured a little further toward the back, this is where he established his cellar and put his barrels to age his wine. As the vines that he was tending at my mother's house, were uprooted when I was about 9 years old and that my grandfather did not have any other vines to tend to, he only kept 3-4 barrels only in the back of "la Remise". Once bottled, he had enough wine to last him for a good part of the year. The rest of the year, he was buying his wine by the "cubi" (old glass bottle or plastic bottle containing between 3 and 6 liters) from neighbors and friends that still owned some vineyards and were selling their wines as bulk rather than bottled.   

My grandfather and my son in the back of the dependency behind my grandfather's house ©LeDomduVin 2007

I love this picture above of my grandfather and my son in the back of "la Remise" back in 2007, or maybe was it in 2008?... not sure anymore, as my son would have been about 1 year old, but he seems bigger on that picture, maybe 2 years old?... maybe it is the "Afro" that makes his head bigger than it normally is 😊.. I'm only kidding, I love my son's hair, beautiful "Afro" style... for those of you who may not know, my wife is Afro-American and my kids are mixed. We have 2 beautiful kids with great curly hair and an arousing skin complexion. Love my kids.  

I want and I could write so much more about my grandfather and my childhood in the countryside and the vineyards, but I think that I will stop here for this post, which is already long enough as it is. I will write the following of this post in another post later on this year or next year, will see...

Meanwhile, you can always read a previous post I wrote back in 2010 where I was also talking about my grandfather, his garden and his famous "Escargots a la vinaigrette" recipe (read it here)

As for you, Papi, wherever you are now, I hope that you are resting in peace and that the wine is also good up there (wherever that is...). Simply know that I am thinking about you very often and I will never forget you. I'm ending this post with this classic posture of yours once you finished your meal... falling asleep on your chair for a little "siesta" after lunch... I love you Papi.

My grandfather falling asleep on your chair for a little "siesta" after lunch ©LeDomduVin 2007

That's all folks for today...!

Hope you enjoyed this post.... and always remember, that people only cease to exist in your heart and in your mind when you stop thinking or talking about them... so always remember and continue thinking and talking about the ones you loved and lost...

Cheers! Santé!

Dominique Noel a.k.a LeDomduVin

@ledomduvin #mygrandfather #mychildhood #memories #souvenirs #thoughts  #myfirstglassofwine #mychildhoodwithmygrandfather #mychildhoodinthecountrysideandvineyards #ledomduvin #lesphotosadom #lesdessinsadom #lesillustrationsadom #lesaventuresadom #wine #vin #wein #vino #cotesdebourg #bordeaux #france #food #vegetablesoftheseason  #fruits  #patedelapin #frenchmarketseasonalvegetablesandfruits

©LeDomduVin 2018

(*) Probably as well as it has been 21 years since I left France to live my life abroad, and it has been 5 years already that I have not been to France on my own or for work, and 7 years with my kids, for several reasons. Thinking of it, it is insane and sad for a French (American) guy like me. One day I will go back... one day... soon I hope...