Beginning Over, 14. May Days.

Easter has come, and Easter has gone. It was a very uneventful week's vacation for me. I didn't go anywhere on my own, just for a drive in the mountains with my husband. The following week, masks came off, and I didn't wear them on the first day of freedom, but I had to put them back on after that because my husband came down with Covid.

He has no idea how he got it; perhaps an evening he spent with friends was the culprit. He still doesn't understand how, because he kept on his mask the entire time. None of the others were wearing one, though. He didn't have such an easy time of it as I did, however, because his lungs were affected with a wracking cough. Even now, over a week since he was negative on the test, he still has shortness of breath, though he is finally expelling the phlegm that had lodged in his chest. His recovery is slower than mine, since he still feels fatigued.

Cases are on the rise, again. It was only normal, seeing how crowded Holy Week celebrations were, with no one wearing a mask. However, pressure on hospitals is not rising at a similar rate. The amount of people hospitalized with Covid is quite low, compared to earlier in the pandemic. It's still higher than other illnesses, but not as much as earlier, which means that it has become an easier illness to bear. Let's see what happens.

Today is May Day, or Beltane, the first day of summer for the ancient Europeans. Yesterday evening, we hung branches of flowering broom on our gates, doors, and cars, to ward off evil spirits this past night. It's also International Workers' Day, only it falls on a Sunday this year, so there is no holiday. And, because it's the first Sunday in May, it's Mother's Day. I have already received my present from my daughter, and we ate at my mother-in-law's today.

The weather was beautiful until yesterday evening, when the sea breeze came in, and brought low clouds off the ocean. Those clouds are still with us, and the temperature has gone down. Yesterday was a nice foretaste of the best summer weather; not too hot and not too cool, and breezy enough to dry various loads of wash on the line, leaving it with the fresh smell that only air-dried clothes has. Today we were thinking about lighting the fire in the evening, though we didn't, in the end.

The world is continuing in its mad race to the bottom. The war in Ukraine is consuming the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. The official count is lower, but possible mass graves are appearing in satellite pictures that are more appalling than those the Nazis left behind, eighty years ago. Already, some of the stories coming out make one realize that present day Russian soldiers are as brutish and cruel as the German SS were. But then, the Germans hiding out in Berlin in May, 1945, most of them women and children, tried to hide specifically from the invading Russian shock troopers. Those that were caught also had horrible tales to tell.

The far right is gaining traction in more countries. It was defeated in the presidential elections of France, but the legislative ones are coming up. The defeat was not that great, though, considering that the far right candidate reached the second elections, and over forty percent of those that voted, voted for her. Here, Vox is now co-governing the regional government of Castilla-León. High on their to-do list is striking down LGBTQ laws, as well as the Historical Memory law. They might strike down any regional amendments made to those laws, but the basic laws are national, and can't be touched. But, this is a reflection of what they want for Spain as a whole, a "return" to the "traditional Spain" that only existed, by force, under Franco. 

The good side of things is that it's May, one of the most beautiful months of the year. I will try to concentrate on the beauty outside, that will still be there after all our petty wars are gone.

Life continues.