Nature

Daily Rumi

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I can’t stop taking pictures of the blossom. I love this time of year

And Bonnie is always my favourite model – she attracts a lot of attention as we walk through town. It’s such a pity she doesn’t like strangers touching her.
Almost every day someone passes by saying ‘Que guapa!’  And they don’t mean me.

I have a new thing on my mobile phone called Daily Rumi. Quotes from Rumi are a lovely way to start or end the day. Here is the one I just read:
“It is love that holds everything together, and it is the everything also”

Happy Spring to you all!

March comes in

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

This week so far has been peaceful and quiet.
March has brought rain and colder weather but there are also signs of spring.
Walking up on the GR5 towards Turo´ de l’Home there was sunshine and puddles

The trees in our street are beginning to blossom with pink buds emerging

I am getting very good at seeing only the flowers and fading out the rubbish bins!

Up on the Montseny there was snow on the mountain tops at the weekend

so that today when the temperature rose a little, the river Congost was flowing fast and strong

I like these signs on the platform at Passeig de Gracia – top in Catalan and bottom in Castellano

I pass through there every Monday on my way to and from the swing class in Swing Maniacs. I had a very good twirl there this week – it is very enjoyable!

January Walk at Sant Nicolau

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

It is no secret that I love the Alt Empordà

My spirits rise when I see the mountains in the distance and the green fields spreading out on both sides on the road. This time I asked myself, at what point do I start to feel that shift in energy which tells me I am arriving?   I was travelling in the van with Bonnie up the AP7 and I think the change happened when I crossed the River Ter which flows from the mountains to the Aiguamolls.
Seeing the snow-peaked Pyranees gives me a similar shiver to the one I always get on seeing St Michaels Mount in Penzance.
Home again!

In the distance the Canigó is covered in snow

The almond blossom is out

There is flowering rosemary on the country lanes

and here are my favourite letters carved in stone on the lane to Sant Nicolau
 
One day I hope to live here – it’s a place that inspires you
Cap a la part del Pirineu,
vora els serrats i arran del mar
s’obre una plana riallera,
n’és l’Empordà !
Joan Maragall

Ordis Cats

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

It was a sunny afternoon so I prised myself off the sofa where I was quite happy with wine and the newspaper, and walked to Ordis. It is the nearest village and could be described as peaceful, or quiet, or even dead!  I saw noone all the time we wandered around  the streets. the church clock struck one quarter, then two, then three and not a curtain twitched or a door creaked open.
But the best bit of Ordis is the abandonned house where the cats live

There were kittens too

They do seem well and healthy and there were the usual plastic containers lying around showing that someone feeds them all regularly

I am in love with this kitten

If only we could!  I tried to imagine it living in Granollers, with a cat tray on the terrace and a flap in the door leading outside. But what about when we go to the UK?  Who would look after her?  I don’t think I could manage driving up through France with a dog and a cat on leads in the camper van.
I must wait till we live somewhere proper, in the countryside with neighbours who can come in and stroke and feed cats.
On the way home I met another mushroom hunter

That’s the word for it here in the Girona region. People go to caçar bolets.  We had a very long chat in Catalan. If I am honest she did most of the talking and clearly thought I was fluent. I smiled and frowned at all the right places and did understand about 50% but the other half was totally lost on me. She was a lovely woman and lives in Ordis. I was able to ask her about the cats house. Unfortunately I didn’t really understand the answer.
A lovely sky as we got close to home.

Back on the sofa now with wine and the newspaper!

La Molina

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

We took the train from Canovelles Granollers Nord on Saturday, risking snow and freezing temperatures to go to the mountains to look for mushrooms.
Ah the mushroom hunt!  It always takes place in wooded areas and you can’t walk along the main pathes but must bend and twist under branches and through thickets.
All very slowly!
For me it is an act of love to go along as I want to walk fast and forward, especially when it is so cold.  I don’t think I am a natural mushroom hunter and I am not crazy about eating them either.
But the colours were lovely

 The area around La Molina where we got off the train was almost deserted

 Except for fierce looking cows with large horns which would appear as if from nowhere to scare us

 The town itself is hardly a village and almost all the houses were shuttered up as it’s not skiiing season yet. I suppose this is what a resort looks like in the low/dead season

 There were three lonely cafes open and when we went into the one by the station we were the only customers.  When we came back to catch the train home the temperature had dropped radically and the station was as totally empty as the town. For about 20 minutes I considered the prospect of being marooned there – freezing to death without even a hotel or a taxi to save us.  But the train arrived and we were warm at last and Bonnie slept all the way back.
Bonnie had a lovely day and we found many mushrooms, some of which we ate on getting back home…..and survived.

And there was a Dolmen -always a nice reminder of Cornwall.   Next post will be more on the mushroom theme but here are some crocus I found on the way – such a surprise!