Spring, Fever, The Birds and The Bees

From "First Poems," Rainer Maria Rilke

Understand, I'll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks
I'll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come too.

Spring is finally here...Blossoms are pushing their way through the moist soil, the Mediterranean sun is gleaming and already our skins are tinged with a golden glow of pleasure. It is incredible how weather is capable of transmitting this wonderful disease of happiness and growth! The sparrows, like every year have appeared out of nowhere and fly swiftly at dawn and dusk to announce their arrival. Luckily our building is tall and attracts them to us. On weekends, they are my alarm clock reminding me to enjoy the day. I've been watching people on the street and it seems that overnight people have put on their lighter jackets and colorful scarves, a warm smile and I've caught more than one person looking up to the sky and smiling, when just two weeks ago we were still wrapped up in thick sweaters and foreheads weary of confronting the cold winds and drizzles. Not that it gets that cold here, but cold enough so when it's finally warm we metamorphosize. I'm ready. Bring it on!

Amazingly and metaphorically, this winter was filled with the sadness that sometimes winters bring along with the blue fog and with the idea that there are things that need to be let go of in order to welcome new and vibrant experiences. If you've kept up to date with my sporadic blogging, you'll remember that when I came back from the States, Molly had gotten ill and we feared the worst. Sometime in mid-February those fears visited us and we had to bid farewell to our best friend. Although it was completely unexpected ( we really believed that she had gotten better) she decided to wait until all three of us were home, the sun was just about to set and her bowl was full with food. She had her last munch and even a moment for a petting session and then said, "Ciao"! Of course, it caught us off guard completely but as I look back I couldn't be happier having shared these brief two years with her. I do have to admit that there continues to be that quiet nudge of her presence or lack of it (I still find bones under the couch and a single dog hair pierced to a sweater).

El Cingle

But now that the sun is shining we have dedicated ourselves to improving our garden (Oriol has started working on an urban rooftop vegetable garden!), we bought a super duper grill and are looking forward to shedding our winter scales and living outdoors again. And really there is no better way of doing that then having gathered some friends, buying kilos of tender onions known as calçots and heading to Vacarisses. We had a mini slumber party and poker till 4 am (my interest lasted 20 minutes, however enticed by the enthusiasm of my buddies to teach me) and the following day a walk through the red mountains only to find wild asparagus, rosemary in bloom and thyme leading the path. Lunch was a feast of wood grilled onion, locally grown lamb, wine on the table and homemade romesco (a lovely roasted pepper, garlic and almond sauce) to accompany the onions and anything else you wanted.

The table and its guests

Lluis and Vermut time before lunch!

The Queen of the grill: Marta!Annette, our lovely neighbor, chilling

Rolling up Calcots...good job Alex!

And so, with the energy of a bee I welcome Spring and all its possibilities...next off a long weekend, Easter, and a blooming garden! If I can keep up you will be posted!