Spanish views from a small town

Yesterday was World Poetry Day. When I heard it, it was in the evening of a lazy day, so I didn't feel much like writing. It was one of those days in which I want to be where I am, but also somewhere else, only I don't know where. In the end, we went for a drive up in the hills. We discovered my husband's car can get through rocky paths more proper for tractors. The fact that today there is a brush fire near where we drove has nothing to do with us. I've always liked poetry. Short, concise ideas and emotions, read at a fell swoop that contain the entire truth of the world in a few syllables. Yet, poetry is falling more and more out of favor with the general reading public. How many have bought a book of poetry in the last year? How many even consider poetry true literature? It is merely skimmed over in most school curriculums. I dimly recall learning the different types of poems in primary school. By secondary, we were more into reading and understanding the message the...

Summer has abandoned us, and left us to the low pressure systems wandering in off the Atlantic. Yesterday, a holiday, it rained mostly in the morning, with breaks in the afternoon. But today, except for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, it's been raining continuously.  And it's going to rain for most of next week. The Azores high pressure has moved, and is now letting in all the low pressure systems. So far, I can't complain much about the summer. Except for the month of June, which was mostly grey, July and the first half of August have been beautiful. There were some hot days, but along our stretch of coast, the sea breeze held off the asphyxiating heat felt inland. This is the first stretch of rain we've had since June. I just hope any storm system we have doesn't get too strong. This year, the hurricane season is supposed to be quite active. As of this month, the hurricanes have reached the letter I, Isaias being the last one so far. At the moment, the...

I've abandoned my blog this month. This doesn't mean I haven't thought about things to write; I have some ideas in my head, and at least one in draft. Rather, I've been using my energy in other endeavors.  It's been a year of transition, really, which has affected me strangely, in a way I can't describe because I'm not sure yet of the effect. It's been my first full year trying to avoid salt (bwaa-ha-ha!), and of trying to walk every day (but not in the rain), of turning the half century mark (!), and of watching my daughter trying to find her way, post university (it's no country for young people).  I've been to some places this year. I've returned to Porto, my husband and I went to various different places within Galicia, including taking his mother to San Andrés de Teixido, where, according to the legend, if you don't go in life, you will go in death, reincarnated as anything, including a bug. Which is why you shouldn't kill an...