provence in spring...

as i watch a [setting] tuscan sun, and i sit and drink a montepulciano instead of a gigondas, i have been thinking about the differences between provence and tuscany. there are many similarities to be sure. the way that the intense midday light catches the silvery green tips of the olive trees, the lizards that can't be seen but always heard scampering away into the brush as i ride past, and the hilltop villages with their rich cobbled histories. but the hills are more frequent here. and the soils are richer [more clay content] which changes the landscape. the wheat fields take on a deeper amber colour, the foliage is a bit more lush and less resembling a desert...but provence in springtime was thriving too, before this midsummer heat....wow, the heat....