a brief respite

Two weeks of constant rain makes one crave for clear skies. We were lucky that this happened yesterday during waking hours, and at a time of day of beautiful light. Our normal walk is north of the bridge on the picture bellow, through the woods and along the narrow, shallow and tranquil river. But the severe flooding lead us to explore a new path.

The might of the roaring river was breathtaking. 

The path lead to a lovely beach that made one think of warmer and drier times...

And then, after going up an oak covered hill, with its frighteningly slippery ground, one could see the meandering path of the river. Better to wait for the ground to get drier before carrying on exploring...

It was nice to see the Jalama again, the beautiful peak that dominates the sierra, and which I used to see from the balcony of my previous home:

I hope to write a little bit more in 2014!

48 hours away

When the continuous and oppressive heat, the crowds of holidaymakers in the village, the loud noise/music of the two bars next to my flat that go on until the early morning every single night, and the mosquito bites... when all of this became too much I just had to get into the car for a short break - a three hours drive last week that allowed me to enjoy 48 hours of peace and quiet.

Like the Spanish I have learned to live like a mole, in the dark, with my shutters down the whole day. Lighting a lamp means more heat, so no embroidery in the last two months. Today the temperature dropped a little and the night breeze lasted until midday. I came out of the slumber...

slowly, slowly

Trying to cope with the heat has been hard. Last week the temperature reached 40ºC, after slowly going up the previous weeks. It is likely to stay there for several days more. Things are moving very slowly around here.

My embroidery too is advancing at this slow pace. When not working or cooling out in the river I may even manage a few stitches - only to stop soon after to scratch the many mosquito bites; and if I can then add a few more I'll have to get up after a short interval to get ice cubes for my swollen feet...

But I have made a little progress, though. I just hope I'll manage to keep embroidering, even if at this very slow pace, a few stitches per week...

to the swimming pool I go...

Tomorrow there will be rain and the temperature will go down, but this week we had lovely hot weather here in the sierra, so I thought I should make the most of the beautiful day while the sunshine lasts. Walking 30 minutes from my flat towards the narrow end of the valley, with the Jalama to one's left,

one reaches the parking lot for the swimming pools.

There are two, a shallow and another very deep, which I prefer. To get there I walk past the drinking fountain, with its lovely icy cold water.

But I like to stay at the other end of the pool so that I can lie on the stones and hear the water.

The problem is that it is really hard to get in, as the water is PAINFULLY cold. One can go in little by little or just plunge, but to be honest it makes no difference as both ways are equally hard. 

But once in, after the initial cramps are gone, it is just so wonderful to swim and then, afterwards, lie on the hot stones to get warm,

listening to the birds, to the water, and being able to look at the beautiful peak in the background...

sneak peek

I've been busy. And after nearly two months of silence there's some catching up to do with my writing, which will probably not come that easily.

I'll try to work on that. But in the meantime I can't restrain my wish to share a view of my sampler so far. At the moment I'm trying to correct some uneven lines. When these are done I'll post 'proper' pictures.

to cut a long story short (or, revised colour palette # 52)

Of course that number 52 above is just a random figure that came to my mind... But the truth is that during the last few weeks of not very good health I tried many different purples, oranges and greys in different combinations, and all of them had the same effect: a sorry sight that looked dull, sad and sallow. They looked elegant and cool when laid over the cloth, but once I tried out stitching it was a different story. The scrolls on the centre of my sampler were actually embroidered 3 times (!), and only by the third I found I had achieved what I had  foreseen with my mind's eye: a joyful match of purples and oranges offset by the neutral grey.

'Electric', 'neon-like', 'synthetic', 'artificial', 'man-made'... In my personal vocabulary all of these words have connotations that are not exactly positive, and all of these adjective apply to the colours I finally settled on. Yes, I only use chemically died floss, but never before had I used such bright shades! I'm curious to see what the effect will be once I introduce the purples on the sampler...

Choosing colours is still a very intuitive affair for me. But I wish it were otherwise so that I wouldn't waste so much time. But maybe in the future I should try out using the chosen colours on a small piece of the chosen fabric first. I wonder if this would work as a short-cut...

bad decision #1

After my usual visit to the farmer's market Saturday morning, I headed to a very bumpy road high up in the valley which has amazing views. I had to take some pictures to use in a 'for sale' sign. The more beautiful the background the better, for the very old and unattractive item I have to sell really needs some loaned beauty to add some glamour to it.

The 'bad decision' of the post heading plus these pictures tell part of my story. This car is 18 years old, strong and sturdy, not a spot of rust, and perfect for some of the roads around here. But I think I've been badly misled. Three weeks into my ownership and it needed expensive repairs. Immediately after this there was the yearly inspection, which it didn't pass, and which required another batch of repairs - and very expensive ones. Well, now I feel it's not for me - even though I've grown fond of it.

Being misled and losing money aren't nice experiences. But the beauty of this place has healing powers which have made the upset much easier to bear. So when I wake up in the morning, open the shutters of my bedroom window and see this:

Or step out onto the balcony and gaze at the ever-changing appearance of the mighty peak:

Or face north to get a full view of the valley:

I can't help thinking that overall I'm fortunate to be able to be here living out my dream.

Yes, the times we live in are not meant to be easy, and there's no escaping it. So maybe experiencing this loss is a kind of compensation that I have to go through for just being in the place I want to be. The problem is that this bad decision wasn't the only one I made since I arrived here - but maybe I'll come back to this another day...