Quarantine
Granada, Spain
So, who hasn't started a blog during the quarantine? The absolute gift of the silence and solitude of seclusion is realizing the rich inner life we have. We are not just humans walking around polluting the planet (although we are also that.) We are receptacles of magic: 5 senses, smell, touch, taste, sound and sight...AlGhazalli, the great Sufi 12th century, Iraqi philosopher, wrote eloquently about how we were given senses to interpret the world. Our senses lead us through this great mystery, that is much bigger than all of us.
My sister and Co Blogger, Susan, has been studying to be a certified naturalist. She does not like to sleep on the ground..i.e. camping and backpacking (like me)..but is a great observer of the world around her..her background...the park down the street..and urban alley. She gave me the idea to start a nature journal..so..wa..la....here we are.
Today is truly the second day of summer...it seems the summer solstice brought the heat down in southern Spain overnight....100 degrees..merciless sun..but nature adapts.
On my early morning bike ride, down a cobblestone corridor..through 5 miles of serpentine, rolling hills, up the river Darro (gold, in Spanish-Arabic), up a trail, along a Roman canal...I had the following observations;
WATER
What a miracle! This river corridor comes from the snow melt in the high peaks of the Sierra Nevada, towering 14,000 feet above Granada, Spain. The Romans, Visigoths, and later the Spanish (800 years) Moors built and maintained a system of canals to bring this wealth of water down to the city..the the Alhambra Palace and beyond.. Called acequias in Spanish. they are taken care of, and revered all over Spain....in the mountains the man who watches the water flow sleeps with one foot in the canal...when the water comes...he comes running to tell each person to open up their reservoirs.
I crash my back along these lumbering routes that follow the water...listening to the life giving gurgle..and feel...GRATITUDE.
LIZARDS
I have lived in many deserts in my life.. I can only take my hat off to these little dinasaurs,,, one tiny little trooper went scuttling across the road in front of my bike..heading for a century year old agave...it's cute little tail swooshing behind.
DEATH
There is one small farm I pass where there is often the smell of a dead animal...for sure they toss the dead remains in that spot. It lead me to ponder why death smells so horrid? Disgust is an important evolutionary emotion that teaches us not to eat spoiled things.....Death is so much a part of this landscape...I feel happy I don't have to confront it for now.
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