Where to Live?

April 15, 2011November 19, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

We went up to Montseny again today to give a friend a lift to her old home in the hills. Everywhere I go at the moment leads to thoughts about where we can live. Where can we find a home with a garden? Do we want to be near the sea? In the mountains? Close to Granollers? Is it best to buy or rent? What about the boy?
And so on and so on…..
Nice place today with friendly cats, a national footpath going past the garden, beautiful views over the vallley and beds of iris. But it wasn’t a possibe home, just a chance to dream

To get there you drive up a windy road and then along bumpy unmade tracks. It is quite isolated although there are some other houses which are only visited at weekends. There is a river running down the hill with beautiful pools and waterfalls.
Duna was ecstatic – how much she wants to live somewhere more in nature!

It’s good to imagine Blue and Bonnie and Duna sleeping happily on the terrace while we potter in the garden, make things and listen to the birds. But for the moment it is only a dream

The Swallows have arrived!

April 4, 2011November 28, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

I know I have already written two posts today and one on Falset is pending but I can’t not mention that the swallows have arrived in Granollers!
Orenetes! Lots of them swooping down by the river. So exciting.
I walked with Duna down to the river – as you can see it’s not exactly rural heaven, there is a field of long grass and some ramshackle allotments but it is backed by large blocks of flats and you have to pick your way around the rubbish and dog shit.

However…wherever there are birds there is beauty.

And something else happened – the collie that I always greet as I pass, the one who is tied up in a hen yard and who wags his tail when I call Hola Guapo!, this beautiful black and white collie was out for a free walk and it turns out should be called Guapa. She was dancing around me and Duna and the other dogs who were also out for the evening. She was obviously on heat and luckily the little one who was most interested couldn’t reach. Her owner seemed pleasant but fairly clueless about the facts of life and worried me by saying he wants to exercise her and let her run free but doesn’t want to have to kill puppies.
All I could do was tell him I think the next week is the most dangerous and then have a long stroking session with her and a chat about not letting other dogs get too close. She seemed to listen.

It’s hard – you have to accept that’s how it is. I always keep an eye on her and she was one of the most friendly and calm collies I have ever met. It was good to meet her at last.

A Few Weeks in Lamorna

March 25, 2011December 30, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

It’s not all been vets and impossible lists of things to do.
There have been many happy days in Lamorna.
So many sunny days too – living in a place where you can’t rely on the weather it feels like a gift every day when you wake to blue sky and sunshine and birdsong.

A line of collies in the field.

Waiting for the ball

Building an inipi for a sweat lodge that we did on the night of the Spring equinox. From outside it looks small but when covered with rugs and blankets (and dog towels as we ran out of stuff to use) it transformed into a magical cave with plenty of room inside for up to 8 people. But in the end there were the two of us.

The bonfire that heated up the stones to put inside the inipi.

A daytime bonfire.
Clearing an alleyway of light through the trees I planted over ten years ago. It’s so therapeutic to burn a big mountain of brambles and twigs. The bigger branches were cut up and stored for firewood.

In the midst of so many unanswered questions it has been wonderful to be outside, cutting and chopping the wood and brambles and after a few hours of work – seeing a result.
It really begins to look and feel like a wood.

Sant Josep

March 19, 2011December 30, 2014 ~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

If your name is Joseph or Josep or Josephine or Joe then today is your Saints Day. As I am not a Catholic this is something that I only found out about recently. I wrote about it rather wearily at Christmas in relation to Sant Esteve or Saint Stephen whose day is on Boxing Day. However March 19th is the special day of my partner who doesn’t want presents and isn’t interested in the Catholic significance of the day but is nevertheless happy to celebrate all things Josep and to enjoy the connection with all the others who share his name.
It’s a bit like a birthday – you can have special things on your saints day and people who know you send messages to wish you Felicitats (Happiness)
The Catalan tradition has been for many generations to name the first born son after his paternal grandfather and the second after his maternal grandfather. So if you are a Josep it is highly likely you will have a grandparent who was also Josep and for years perhaps you celebrated your saints days together with a family meal. If he in his turn was named after his grandfather and so on then you can see how the long line of namesakes brings a special energy to the name. Perhaps it links you in other ways too – personality traits or physical attributes. Naming is such a mysterious thing.

Joseph of course is the father of Jesus so this saint is special for fatherhood, and for carpenters, and perhaps for men whose wife has been chosen by God? Some people believe that if you put a statue of St Joseph in a house it will help you sell it – could be something useful in these times.
In Valencia there is an important celebration on Sant Josep called The Falles with processions, music and lots of fireworks.
It is traditional in Catalunya to eat Crema Catalana on Sant Josep which is what we are going to do tonight. For supper we had fish and chips in Penzance and as it was such a glorious day we celebrated by taking the dogs for a walk with some friends along the cliffs at Porthgwarra.