The owner of this house, or whoever buys the dvds, is in love with Jeremy Irons. The dvd player broke the other day, maybe a week ago, so I'd watched the first part of some Jeremy Irons movies, but had only got through one completely. It was awesome, I must say - The Merchant of Venice. So today, seeing as it was raining outside, I fixed the dvd player (I've been so fully immersed in Garrison Keillor I started believing I was in Minnesota) and watched the last part of several movies - The Mission, The French Lieutenant's Woman, something else...all wonderful. I think I was either a little young for the Jeremy Irons days, and missed them, or was too silly to watch things with serious titles when I was a teenager. Probably both - I've seen the light, and am a card carrying member of the J.Irons fan club starting now.
I got sick of reading about the same time I got tired of eating a continuous train of snacks and nothing like a meal. So in between my movies I cooked 2 meals today. So proud, so proud. Nothing hard, just sweet potato, zucchini, garlic, pasta and tomato sauce, but I felt full for a while, which was what I wanted.
After dinner I went out for a walk. No matter how many days I've been chilly and sort of hungry, all I have to do is walk two steps out the front door to feel truly awed and privileged. I took the trash down the road to the trash cans, and then took a right hand turn toward Colmenar. I only walked for about a half hour but it was transforming. I thought it was quiet at my place, but off the 'main road' it's just absolutely still, except for the sound of the creek down below the road, dogs in the distance, and the occasional clippety clop of hooves.
I can't describe the feeling up here, but I have to try. Vrtually everything is steeply sloped, so there are almost no flat places. On these slopes are almond and olive trees - sometimes a grove of one or the other, but often they are intermingled and there are very few trees of any other kind. The grass is very fine and soft - stuff that would last exactly one minute in the middle of Texas. It's not really in the form of blades, it's just those very soft shoots of grass that if you walk on them they're destroyed. The grass is sparse, because it grows in places that aren't shaded by trees...occasionally a vineyard punctuates the almond/olive scene. There are loads of prickly pear cactus gowing on the slopes, and an amazing amount of wild lavender and wild thyme. Between the almond blossoms and the lavender and thyme, it's pretty enchanting to breathe. The sky today was very gentle - the rain came down softly and steadily almmost all day, and when it cleared, the blue and white of the clouds and sky were very subdued, like in a painting. After the rain lots of little yellow wild flowers came out, too. Grey/green olive leaves, pink and white almond blossoms, purple lavender, tiny yellow flowers and a hint of green grass, blue sky and white clouds that come down almost to the tops of the mountains. To make it even more seductive, the ground is sandy, gravelly soil so it crunches underfoot.
It's now time to return to the movie binge - I'm getting a housemate next week so I feel totally justified in getting all my power lounging done. That way I can look productive or something when they're here.
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