Spanish views from a small town

Last evening, I started to feel familiar twinges and decided to go to the clinic to forestall the coming urinary tract infection. I don't have them too often, but they are a big bother when they do appear. It was close to ten thirty when I drove down, the band of clouds to the west and southwest purple and peach against the greenish-blue sky. Where the sun had set, the sky was still a light pink. There were still plenty of people about, some had probably only recently left the beach.  I arrived at the primary care clinic and parked. I hadn't been to the clinic since before Covid. There were four people at the door, all wearing masks. I asked what had happened, and my cousin's wife, who was there with their youngest daughter, said that now we all had to wait outside. The procedure was to ring the bell, someone would come take our information and health card to register us, and then we wait outside. Inside I could see at least four chairs blocked off, to avoid people si

In small villages, a favorite topic of conversation is the crops. "How are your potatoes doing?" "Did the crows leave your corn alone?" "My tomatoes have been infected by beetles. Are yours okay?" We no longer live off what we plant; in most families, at least one person has a job. Yet, we continue planting because we prefer knowing where our produce comes from. We still buy fruits and vegetables at the grocer's, but larger crops that tend to last all year, like potatoes and corn, most still prefer to sow themselves.  Those that have chickens, or still have a pig, are the ones that sow the corn, to use as food for their livestock. But almost every house has a vegetable and a potato patch. The potatoes, the beans, and the onions are the crops that last well into the winter and the spring. The others, such as peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, peas, and watermerlons, are generally eaten off the plants, or frozen.  However, if p

Today is Gay Pride Day. In a normal year, there would have been celebrations and concerts all this month in Madrid, and a big parade at the beginning of July. As it is, there is a march online on the evening of Saturday, 4 July. Not the same at all, but these are the times we are living. Until this year, many town and city halls would hang the rainbow flag, but a Spanish Supreme Court judge ruled that unofficial flags cannot be hung on official buildings. Some hung it, anyway. In one town, neighbors got together and crocheted a very long rainbow flag, and then hung it covering a street, where it also acted as umbrella against the sun. In Madrid, Correos, the Spanish mail system, painted mailboxes and their small vans with the rainbow. They also issued a commemorative stamp. Of course, the right wing was the first to complain. Why, in these times of need, would the semi-public mail company waste money on painting the rainbow flag? This was not a time of celebration; this was a time

This summer is beginning to mirror last summer. After a warmer spring, where in May we had temperatures much above normal, now we're back to two days summer, four days spring. I doubt there will be drought this year, either. That's good, but I do like my summer days.  What's not so good is news on the devil virus. As countries open up, the virus says "yippee!" and starts infecting again. In Spain there are infections in Aragón and the province of Lleida, mostly among fruit pickers and packers. Here, about thirty kilometers away, a man returned from Brazil, and nine have been infected, over a hundred traced, and quite a few in quarantine, waiting and seeing.  The EU still hasn't officially made up its mind, but, when it opens outside borders on Wednesday, people from Russia, Brazil, and the U.S. will probably not be allowed in. Infections there are spiking all over the place. Personally, I think borders between the European countries should have been kept s

Since I've been writing every day, and using a number in the title, today's post has two numbers. I didn't write yesterday because I wasn't home, so today's post is a double feature, though talking mainly about yesterday. I did my day trip that I usually do at the end of June. Back at the beginning of the year I had started to think about choosing between visiting Luarca in Asturias, again, or Porto during Holy Week. It turned out that I visited my garden. I was thinking I wouldn't go out this month, either, but the New Normal has come with a quieter virus, so I decided to explore.   I did an almost three hour drive to the edge of Galicia, and over it into the province of Zamora, in the region of Castilla-León. All the times I drove to Madrid with my daughter, we passed the exit for Puebla de Sanabria, and I was always left with a little stirring to find out what it was like. So, yesterday, I found out. Since it is listed as one of the Beautiful Towns of S

Last night was St. John's Eve and we had our barbecue and our bonfire. Though the tradition is to roast sardines over the coals, they were a bit on the expensive side, and there were only thawed ones in the supermarket I ran through yesterday morning. I didn't really have the time to look for them elsewhere, so we barbecued some pork ribs and chicken wings on the regular fire in the lareira , the old-fashioned barbecue pit in the barn.  Earlier in the afternoon, my daughter and one of her friends went on the search for herbs and fragrant wildflowers. They are seven that have magical or medicinal properties, or that smell good. The original seven are St. John's wort, lemon verbena, ferns, broom, common mallow, rosemary, and fennel. Since they are not always easy to find, each community (and sometimes each family) has their own list. We pick rosemary (we have a bush), fennel, chamomile (found wild), hydrangea, rose, lemon verbena, and boton de ouro . This last is a local na

Outsiders tend to think of Spain as a religious country, where women clad all in black file into church on Sundays, and where on feast days, the priest comes out in procession with the parish parading behind him. There are areas where that is still a reality, but they are becoming infrequent. Spain, of all the Mediterranean countries, is abandoning the Church. Every year there are less and less parishioners attending Sunday Mass. There are fewer men who want to enter the priesthood, too, and as the older priests die, the ones left behind find themselves leading two or more parishes, sometimes many kilometers apart.  Fewer people are getting married. Those that do, are heading for the mayor's office and a civil ceremony. In the year 2000, over 160,000 couples tied the knot in a church. Last year, the number didn't even reach 42,000. Less children are being baptized, and less are receiving First Communion. What is rising in number, are Last Rites and funerals. The coming gene

As was to be expected, there is a surge in infections in nearby Ribeira and Pobra do Caramiñal. A person who lives in Ribeira returned from Brazil via Lisbon, at the beginning of the month. He was fine, but he infected nine people within his circle, and I think about fifteen others have been put in quarantine, just in case. From what I've read, it's a strange case. Apparently, he had a PCR test when he came and was negative, but when the cases appeared, he got an antibody test, and tested positive for IGg antibodies, which means he passed the infection a good while earlier. None of those infected are seriously ill, so the viral load must have been low.  One person and nine known infected. Yet, the borders to other countries in Europe have been opened yesterday, except for Portugal, which will open July 1st. Some of those countries have high rates of infection still, like the United Kingdom. I can just see the infection rate rise along the Mediterranean.  It's true we ca

We have our bread delivered daily by a local bakery. Every morning, around eight thirty, they drive up, the passenger comes out, hangs the bag with a loaf on our door, and continues. Every day, except Sunday. That day, we're on our own. So, either my husband or I drive to a bakery roundabouts. Today, I drove into Rianxo and went to one that has very good bread. The smell of fresh bread reached down the street and pleasingly lodged itself in my nose. So did the smell of fried onion that was being prepared for their empanadas . There was a line in the street, and as I was standing there, cars drove up and parked where they could, and people left them to join the line. It's a popular bakery. When it was my turn, I went in to the little cubicle (even without Covid-19, it can't take much more than three people), and put in my order for a loaf, and, while I was at it, asked about their empanadas . I was told they had only corn ones today, unless I wanted to order one and come

These days the weather is very temperate, not at all normal for June, especially after a rather warmer than usual winter and spring. The forecast for this summer is for weather drier than normal, and warm, but not asphyxiating, temperatures.  Another forecast is for hurricanes. In the past couple of years, various hurricanes have decided to head northeast instead of continuing westward. They were mostly extra-tropical, that is, formed just outside tropical waters. But in October of last year, Hurricane Paul formed off our waters in the middle latitudes of the North Atlantic. That's very extra-tropical.  Climate change is spurring such anomalies. If years ago, it was common to have a hurricane change track once every ten years, now, it's becoming common for western Europe to face a hurricane at least once every year. At the moment, they're mostly category 1, but if ocean waters keep getting warmer, they will grow in intensity, as well. I remember Hurricane David back i

One of the beloved staples of a Galician summer is the festivals in honor of different patron saints in small parishes. Garish lights are strung from one side of the road to the other, sometimes just the bulbs, sometimes forming a design. The open area of the parish is occupied by, generally, two large trailers that open up to form a complete stage. First, one will play, and after a couple of hours, the other. In the evening, usually after ten thirty, the show begins. And that's what it is now, really, a show that looks like a cross between a concert and a television show. The music doesn't seem to matter as much anymore, though one of the travelling bands, the Combo Dominicano, with strictly Latin music, brings the crowds. Another one is the Panorama, though their music is more generic. Over the past years, to avoid sounding like second-rate musicians, these bands have stopped playing English-language pop songs, and concentrated more on Spanish-language popular music. But, a

Yesterday afternoon, I tackled a corner of the back garden next to the house. There's a bush there of false jasmine that flowers in May, with fragrant flowers that lead, after a couple of weeks, to the headiness of the orange blossoms nearby. The only problem it has, is that it grows.  Also, there are grape vines my parents planted close to sixty years earlier, after building this house, that grow to form an arbor under which shade we spend pleasant summer evenings. It helps to keep the house cool during heat waves. But the vines sometimes have shoots close to the ground that seem to grow various centimeters per day, until, if you let it go long enough, the arbor seems to be growing from the ground up.  Unfortunately, hidden in the green maze, are brambles. Those pesky little buggers forced stern language from me yesterday. But, even if I did have decent gardening gloves, they are so long, that they hit me all over when I pull out a sucker, making me the sucker. I think I still

I had planned to go cut my hair and turn it blue again this month, once it was safe to do so. I'll have to put it on hold again, at least until next month. It's the same old story of deciding which purchases are the more urgent, and which can take a back seat. Or deciding between this pleasure and that pleasure. The pleasure of having my hair at a decent length that doesn't get in my eyes, tends to go to the back of the line. The pleasure of a different color even further back. The lockdown has not helped our finances, nor those of many, many others. Thankfully, my husband has not had to apply for unemployment. During the two weeks everybody except strictly essential workers were at home, his pay was guaranteed. But my classes and my income stopped, resuming by phone at a fraction of what they had been earlier. Our daughter still had to pay the rent and eat. Now, she's taking up driving lessons in one final push to see if she gets coordinated enough to pass the driv

In April there were supposed to have been regional elections in Galicia and Euskadi. Thanks to the devil virus, they were postponed. I keep forgetting about them, since the parties aren't really campaigning except for their perpetual claims that each one is the only one to do right by the public. But, yes, elections are now on for July 12th. July is not a good month for voter turnout. Normally, people prefer to spend a lazy Sunday in July on picnics, at the beach, or just lazing by the pool or on the balcony, instead of getting dressed and going to the polls. Yes, getting dressed, because it's much like a Sunday walk, in which you go to see and be seen. The last time there were elections of any kind in Spain in July was back in 1839, apparently. Even then, summer was bad for the polls. This year, thanks to social distancing, there are no big rallies planned. Nor are the campaign pushers going to distribute pamphlets, not even pens, candy, or lighters. One year, campaigners

This new continuation of my blog of the plague year will continue with numbers. Until when, I don't know. Perhaps until there's a change in the situation one way or another. Or perhaps until I'm fed up with it, and you, too. Let's admit it, these are not normal times. Meanwhile, life, and its usual problems, continues. Language problems, for example, and I'm not talking about the difficulty to learn English or other foreign languages. People tend to refer to the language spoken in Spain as "Spanish", but it's not. The majority language spoken here is Castilian. The idea of "Spanish" was encouraged by Franco to maintain the image of unity and One Spain . There are many other languages spoken here, and they all make up the Spanish languages of Spain.  There are three other co-official languages in Spain: Galician, Catalonian, and Basque. (Galego, Catalán, and Euskera.) Galego looks like a cross between Portuguese and Castilian, Catalán like