Day 2
As I bicycle through the cool, Andalusian morning, the dry hills and Alhambra Palace tower above the wild, river Darro,,,,,the caves of the native gitanos riddle the mountains. People are just waking up, peering out through their cave doors....singing, watering the plants....life as normal goes on in these COVID 19 times.
DATURA INOXIA
As I bicycle through the cool, Andalusian morning, the dry hills and Alhambra Palace tower above the wild, river Darro,,,,,the caves of the native gitanos riddle the mountains. People are just waking up, peering out through their cave doors....singing, watering the plants....life as normal goes on in these COVID 19 times.
BIRDS
During the strict, Spanish, 3 month quarantine, these woods had a rest. Birds seemed to flock in from Africa. Perhaps this is their normal migration, but the stillness offered them a quiet nesting place. The woods are full of birdsong, chickadees, woodpeckers, swallows and swifts....so many I can't identify, Now, they seem quite agitated from the increase movement in the woods, bicycles and hikers...
BUTTERFLIES
They love the water....here in these dry hills, mostly aromatic herbs grace the ground. Rosemary, thyme, marjoram, sage....but once in a while a wild purple flower emerges. There you will find the monarchs, the Papilionidae family; SWALLOWTAIL – Papilio machaon, SPANISH SWALLOWTAIL – Iphiclides feisthamelii , SPANISH FESTOON – Zerynthia rumina
Oh dear..I could go on and on. But I will let Voladya Nabokov do that..the Russian author obsessed with the little beauties.
BLACKBERRIES
Called moras in Spanish...they riddle the woods, It's curious that they seem to thrive in the arid mountains....giving life and sweetness to a hard, cactus environment.
LA MADRE SELVA
HONEYSUCKLE
Oh yes...literally "mother jungle" in Spanish...the scent...along with Azahar, orange blossom...everywhere.
Also known as moon flower...seen along the road. Fun fact: when I was a psychotherapist in Moab, UT, (home of the famous Moonflower Canyon), we had more than one traveler come into the mental health clinic with hallucinations, and apparent psychotic breaks, from eating this plant...a known hallucinogen.
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