Spanish views from a small town

So, I was wrong and Putin did attack Ukraine. The man isn't a rational, thinking human; he's a megalomaniac who doesn't care about anyone but himself and the "glory" only he can bring to his country.  The problem for Putin isn't so much that Ukraine looks to the West, and wants to join NATO, and perhaps the European Union. If we look at that angle, we can see that the Baltic states and Poland belong to the Union, and to NATO. But Poland's government is leaning away from the rest of the Union, and slowly becoming less liberal, less open. Ukraine was opening up. Belarus, in between, has been taken over by a tiny dictator that is bosom buddies with Putin. Putin wants Ukraine to become another Belarus, easily molded to Russia's (Putin's) needs and wants. Putin was happy when a puppet dictator was in Kyiv, but the Ukrainian people don't want anything to do with another dictatorship, so Putin is punishing them, before he puts in place his own handpic

Day 7, and it's over.  I tested myself this morning, and I was negative, so, even though today I should still have isolated myself, by the rules in place, this afternoon I went out for some much needed groceries.  Now, I am free from Covid for at least the next four or five months, according to researchers. It seems that this variant is acting more like the human coronavirus that gives us colds. Whenever we get a cold, we are then immune from that virus for the next few months. It's good that it is slowly becoming much less serious, though there are still people it can kill. As of yesterday, masks are no longer necessary outside, unless large groups of people are gathered together with little chance of separation. As of tomorrow, hostelry will go back to their normal capacities, and normal hours. Numbers of sick and hospitalized are going down, and things are starting to look better.  Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I can pick up the car and just go for a drive. Gas prices

Day 6. I can say I'm perfectly fine today. Tomorrow is still my last day of quarantine, and I can't wait to go out on Saturday, just in time for the long-awaited rain to come. It's supposed to rain this afternoon, but tomorrow it'll clear up. Among the different ways of occupying my time, is TikTok. I opened an account a while back, but not with the intention of posting anything. I simply follow interesting creators, talking about different topics (no challenges, I don't follow stupidities), including archeology, urban gems, ancient languages, and a stop-motion creator who uses felt instead of clay. A couple of those I follow are actual survivors of the Holocaust.  One of them made a duet video with a Black poet, who talked about Black Germans in the Holocaust. I never realized there was a Black German population at the beginning of the twentieth century, and earlier. Nor did I know that many of them were caught up in the ethnic cleansing the Nazis had set up. We al

Day 5. My throat is now almost completely clear. My nose is dry, but that's because of the lack of humidity in the air. My voice is still a touch gravelly, but it's very recognizably mine. I declare this Covid finished, though I won't waste a test until Friday, when my seven days are up. I am running out of ideas on what to make to eat. My husband has been eating at his mother's, or making for himself next door, so I get to eat things he normally doesn't like. Except, I stocked the fridge and pantry thinking he would be quarantined with me. So, I don't have all the exotic ingredients I would otherwise need. My husband did give me two avocadoes last week, passed to him by someone who has an avocado tree. They went to one of my healthier meals at the beginning of my quarantine, homemade guacamole with bread. I also did vegetable soup on my worst day, salads, chick peas in sauce with chourizo and vegetables, and Oriental-style stir fries with plenty of vegetables.

Day 4. My symptoms are retreating. The only thing left is that I sometimes have to clear my throat, or give a small cough to do so.  The forecast is calling for some rain on Thursday night, and then a return to the sun. But only until Saturday. From Sunday on out, it's supposed to rain. So, this week I can't go walking because, despite being physically capable of doing so, I'm quarantined, and next week I won't be able to go walking because the long-awaited rain is coming. You just can't win. I finished a Donna Leon book last night, and started one by David Young, about East Germany in the 1970's. I have another book waiting. What I haven't been able to read in the past months, I'm reading now. It's good to have the television off at night. Unfortunately, that also means my husband isn't in the house in the evenings. He'll be back on Friday. By then, I will most likely test negative, and he will probably remain Covid-free. So, today I've

Day 3.  This is becoming the literary lockdown. I've gotten through two Ian Rankin books, the last one of Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano, have started one by Donna Leon, with another of hers in the wings, and have dug out a couple I want to re-read. The spring cleaning can wait, I suppose.  My symptoms are of a disappearing cold. My nose has stopped running, and is simply a little itchy, with partial blockage when I lie down. The back of my throat still has some phlegm, which is the result of the infection being put down by my immune system. I can take deep breaths with no problem at all. I could very easily be out and about, but I can't, ethically. So, my walks will have to wait. By the time I do get out, the buds will probably be swelling, and a leaf or two might have started to peep out. We have a fruit tree that has started to do just that, flower included. This has not been a harsh winter, at all. My hopes for a freak, late snowfall are fast disappearing in th

Day 2 of my imposed imprisonment. My husband has decided to live next door, in the house where my parents used to live. Whenever he comes over, he wears a mask. So far, he has tested negative, including this morning, which doesn't really surprise me. Whenever people around him are sick with colds or the flu, he never catches anything. His immune system is top-notch. Still, it is lonely without him, especially in the evenings and nights, when he's always been there. My nose is still a bit runny, though it's become a bit more stuffed up as this runs its course. My throat is mostly good, except for a small bit of phlegm that is more of a small bother than anything else. I get the suspicion, that with total numbers of infected going down across the country, that most people who are as sick, or less, as I am, simply either don't get tested, or ignore the positive result, and continue with their lives. Truth is, I probably won't be contagious after tomorrow or Tuesday, ye

I was expecting it, and I wasn't let down. I tested positive yesterday evening for Covid. Ever since I began my classes after Christmas break, I was expecting it. Children were falling like flies, including some of my students. This past week, three tested positive, including two the day right after they had been here. Despite the masks, the open window, and the air purifier, I decided to stock up supplies in case I couldn't go shopping today. In effect, yesterday morning I started noticing something wrong. I woke up with a slight headache that went away, and came back with more force at midday. I had had a slight sore throat in the night, and my body ached, though not too much. I did a test, and it was negative, but I decided to cancel yesterday's classes, all the same. Throughout the day, the headache went away with the help of paracetamol, and the sore throat was a mere tickle, but my nose began to run a bit, and I started running the slightest of fevers, at 37.1ºC/98.7º