New Year

Goodbye 2014

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

We got back from the skiing trip on December 27th and did a quick turn around, leaving again the next day for the Costa Brava.

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Oh what a life!  I hear you say.

Yes it is great to have these places on our doorstep and I love travelling around but actually the ski trip was more to please the Resident Adolescent and I was much happier when driving up the AP7 to Figueres. I knew I would be able to relax in the calm beauty of Mas Sant Nicolau and it would be a good way to end this year.

We were sitting in a cafe near the port of Escala today, eating tapas and enjoying the wild sea-scape from a warm dry table and we talked about powerful moments of 2014.

Here are some of mine, in photos

January

The arrival of Phoenix, rescued from a life under a car in Peralada

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February

The day Bonnie died. She was very sick and disappeared in the early hours of the morning as we waited until it was time to ring the vet. Just as I began to fall to pieces after searching the woods for hours, I heard she was had been found at a  nearby farm.  It was like waking up from a nightmare, and remains my strongest moment from the year.

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March

My friend Janet came to visit.  We went to bathe in the mineral waters of Caldes de Montbui. The Balnearis are hot mineral water spas and there are still many to explore here!

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April

Minorca!  How can I choose just one photo?  It was all a paradise

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May

We went on the Tren dels Llacs and Thich Nhat Hanh came to lead a meditation in Barcelona but I have to choose two images of Lydia, my friend Tiffany’s daughter,  who has been a delight and a blessing all this year.

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June

I was in the UK and saw so many friends and family I can’t chose one day as better than another.  A wonderful month with one cloud.  My old cat Maisie died and I seriously fell out with one of my neighbours.  It made me question if I can live in that house again.    But nearby  the  3000 year old Merry Maidens give a sense of perspective.  See also the Scottish flag?

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July

Sunny days in Cornwall. I’m going to cheat and have three photos!

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The Barbara Hepworth garden in St Ives with my friend Elizabeth

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Then I flew back to Granollers for a week before  we drove up to Santander via the Basque Country.  We  danced a little tango in this pavilion in Pamplona

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August

Visiting cave paintings near Santander. There are still many caves open with original art

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September

Lots of work in the field at Lamorna. A wall had to be moved and so the digger came!

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We drove down through France were in Granollers to watch the Scottish Independence Referendum on TV.  I was disappointed with the result but not too surprised.

October

Amma came back to Granollers and I overcame my fear of wearing white. I started my project of recording what I am wearing by taking photos as often as possible and putting them on Instagram.

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And my sister came back to visit us!  We went to my favourite part of Catalunya – the Costa Brava!     I never stop trying to imagine ways I can live there.

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November

There was a vote on Independence in Catalunya – not an official one this time. This photo is of the huge demonstration in Barcelona in September calling for the right to vote.

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and then I went back to Cornwall to help some friends.

I don’t usually go in November so it was both strange and wonderful

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December

Here we are at the end of this year. My strongest moment was losing Bonnie.  We have just returned from Sant Nicolau which was the place she died, and where my older dog Blue is also buried. We walked the walk that Bonnie took when she disappeared and ended up at the farm where she was found. There is an Iberic Village there being  excavated.  The resident dog welcomed us back. She was good to Bonnie too so it was nice to go back and thank her

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I know that the change of year means leaving Bonnie in 2014 and it is time for me to walk on into the new mysterious and full of promise year of 2015

I have been sharing old photos on Facebook with my family and here is one of me, reminding me of time passing, of the vitality we enjoy when we are young and of how important it is to never stop living in the moment, exploring the world, laughing and being happy

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Bon Any Nou to all my readers and friends

 

Santa Susanna

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Such a strange place – a lovely long beach and a caravan and camping site right on the edge of the sand

Then a railway track. Then the main road and then a large nothingness and further inland a very new town which seems as if it was plonked here just to serve the coastal tourist part

But if you just stay close to the beach it’s very pleasant and I can imagine coming back again and trying to get a beach side plot so I can put my breakfast table outside the van to sit there watching the sea and the sun rise.
And it’s only 32km from Granollers.
There are hundreds of camper vans – some enormous – some even more basic than mine. Mostly they have come from Germany and Belgium. Because of this it wasn’t too noisy on New Years Eve – about an hour of petardos thrown by local children and then peaceful silence

Petardos are firecrackers and I wasn’t aware of them before coming to Catalunya where they are commonly used by children of all ages to celebrate such things as the feast of St John in midsummer, Barça winning a football match and on New Years Eve. I just discovered that firecrackers were invented in China in the 9th century and were banned in the UK from 1997. They are designed to make noise rather than light and some of them are mini explosions which you just have to get used to if you live in Spain!
Blue is pleased to report one great advantage of being deaf – she is no longer bothered by fireworks!

One of the closed restaurants has a resident colony of cats

Bonnie enjoyed the beach but continues to have battles with Duna who is struggling to accept the changes this last month has brought to her life