I close my eyes and put my arms around you...

There are times when a shadow falls upon our lives, dark  shadow  full  of    moments when we feel sad, when our days are blue, when there is not much  we can do, and most of all when  we feel helpless. Those days are longer than usual, and the nights seem endless...yet we say that time flies, it does, but then when our hands are empty, when we can not reach out, when we are not there to help, to offer our supporting words, when we can not ease the pain, when we look up in the sky and whisper...I wish I could take away the pain, I wish I could be there for you, I wish....I just wish... If I could be two places at one time, I'd be with you. I'd give you my strength, I'll hold your hand while you try to rest and your body aches while your eyes desire to close and get some sleep...and the pain takes your sleep away, the pain echoes through every nerve of your tired body ....you try to fight it, but it doesn't come and go, its just there, taking your breath away , drawing lines on your face. I wish I could jently touch those lines with my fingertips and smooth them, jently stroke your hair and ...just be there. A clear and stary night, every star I see is but one of your painful stars,  my thoughts are thunderstorms filled with dark clouds, lightnings and heavy drops of rain falling on my face as I lift it towards the sky and feel the spring breez through my hair...and the drops keep falling, sliding down my cheeks, helplessly I cry, reaching with my arms towards the sky, hoping they would fade away...as every star is yet another pain. I slowly go back inside and lay on my bed, hugging my pillow, my thoughts are flashes of memories and your words,  your voice echoes in my mind, as I helplessly stare in the darkness of my room...you told me: in my worryless life I worry about you...and I whisper back: ...and I feel your pain.                                                                                                         I close my eyes and put my arms around you...

Humble photo sceenery of my village in Gran Canaria

Just a part of my humble island.  Road towards the mountains and my village Valsequillo. 

Valley and sheep

This valley will not be green in a month or two, it will dry into a yellowish-brown colour, its only green during winter.

All of you who have been reading my blogs will remember the sheep ...'ding...ding...ding'

Rotonda or a round about, a note to my dear friend Edd, I promised some photos on architecture 'style' of the island, if it can be called that at all, not only did I go '..duh..' and speechless, but I also came to a conclusion that people build whatever 'fits' the plot of land they have /small-island-no-land-to-expensive/ and another fact is who ever wanted to finish architecture in the Peninsula / Spain and couldn't...they came to the Canary Island and did it...so I guess they are still practising...and it can hardly be called 'architecture' at all..***sight***most of these attached houses have rooms with no windows at all, only the rich and lucky ones who have a larger plot of land can afford 'windows' to all of their rooms.

No water / all houses have water tanks on their roofs....water can be as expensive as electricity, and btw the island gets its electricity 70% from the wind mills on the East Coast.

 

Mirador, or a mountain with a view, next photos show the view from there towards the sea and towards the mountains 

I have spoken in my previous blogs about the BARRANCO / WADI / CANYONS...where some thousand of years back lava use to flow, some 50 years back women used to wash clothes there, and today, just a small stream forms if luckily we had enough rain during the winter months....thats when they take children on excursions to show them 'what a stream is ? !!!

This doesn't look so bad kinda 'rural' but ok... and for the end of this humble photo show just a butterfly...

Hope you all enjoyed...CIAO!

Important but unnecessary bits and pieces I can't live without

Today, I was supposed to go to the beach with my elder son, but the weather turned out a bit more cloudy, so the beach was postponed for some other day. As I have already made up my mind to 'leave' the house today, looking at the fairly cloudy sky, there was only one place that came to my mind. Right! The perfect place where one can spend as much as half-a-day wondering just to end up buying all those soooo-important-but-unnecessary-things-that -make-me-happy....have a clue?   Well let me tell you, the store is called IKEA!

Not only do they have the ugliest and horrible commercial on the TV, but they also came up with this unique idea of making the whole store in a ONE-WAY direction. You have to enter 'only' at the door where the ENTRANCE is, go ONE-WAY and pass the whole shop, which, cleverly enough, has the restaurant situated in the middle of it and the super market at the end! Sure, I have gone in the opposite direction, and it wasn't even for a bet...I just like doing things the other way around!

I left a note at home that I'll be gone for a while, by this time, they are quite capable of serving themselves and cleaning after them, as my plan seems to be working to my joy and their disgust!

Driving down from my village towards the high way, I was having a 'talk' with Mr.Murphy-Law, saying : 'I WILL FIND A PARKING-PLACE RIGHT INFRONT OF THE STORE'....when my cell phone started 'talking' : 'Hey pick it up, hey, common, it could be important!!' /see http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/article|10001|10051|/Hallma... - downlouds/ so answering the  call, and knowing that a policeman could realy give me a ticket for doing so....but as Hoops said, it could be important, I heard my husband, who has just come home for lunch, asking me where am I off too?   I thought of just telling him something like...I'm going to Madrid for a couple of days, or Hi, I'm in Tenerife...so whats new.....but I decided to be nice and tell him I was off to IKEA, so he said...oh , ok, don't forget to buy some bulbs.....Yeah, ok,I'll buy some bulbs!

Maybe because I was so nice and polite, Murphy-the-law decided to grant me with a parking space right infront of the entrance..HAH!

Yeah, I'm being 'good' today, and I won't go in the opposite direction, and 'no thank you, I already have the IKEA card', so I proceeded in, took a glance at the yellow-plastic-bags-with-IKEA-written-in-blue, wondered if I'm going to realy buy something, then just decided to take one, as you never know..right?

Now, when you enter this store, they always put something right at the beginning of the store, so if you don't decide that you realy need that unnecessary thing...and later on you keep thinking about it, the whole time, you end up going that opposite direction, just to get the damn unnecessary thing that you can't live without.

But, as I mentioned, I was in a good mood, and made up my mind to be NICE.  Being a GEMINI, I can hardly stick to this decission, as besides MYSELF there is another 'self' working against me all the time.

I stroll along the first part, where mostly furniture and stuff for your living room is displayed, and as an architect and interior designer, I usually end up criticizing and wondering who the hell would buy all that crap...wow...and for THAT price...common...are those Vikings crazy¿¿¿¿ No, they are actually clever, as most , if not all the things, are made in Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand...etc, so ...clever ..eh, they give their design, and the low-payed-workers do the rest.

OMG, look at that blanket, its sooooo  soft, and no it doesn't matter that I already have more than 10 similar ones at home, but this colour...wow, its so cute! Right, and that other one too...whooop, they enter that yellow plastic bag, and I start feeling the urge to continue whoooping other stuff in that bag.

WOW, now, I haven't seen those pillows yet, must be new, and omg, they are sooo big, I could put them on the floor....now, common Lila, says that other 'self' , you don't need THAT!  Its just that 'he-or-she' always starts nagging and complaining when I start having fun! OK OK, no pillows...and YOU, shut up!

Sheets, beddings, duvet-covevers.....ahhhhhhh! Oh, this is soooo much like 'what-my-grandmother-used-to-have', whooop goes that duvet-cover in the plastic bag. Oh, and that burgundy-red is so soft like velvet...but, ok, I've got one already...but its sooooo nice....no no no no no, enought. Rite!

Plain white candles, rite, oh and some that smell real nice, wow! And that glass holder for the candle, yeah, Napkins, wow look at that Dino-like-spoon-for-spagetti, must have!!!! Ok, and look at this, you klick it, it opens, you dipp it in your tea-bag, klick it again, and voala, it goes straight to your hot cup of water...and you get tea...nice! Mmmmmmm  now this is REAL cute, you can use it as a cork for your bottles, it even has a spiral and a star at the end of it and its yellow....cute! A pack of round mats for glasses, yeah, one always needs those, and these are from a type of Japanese-paper-with-apple-blossom-flowers, yeah, can't resist.  Omg, istn't he just awsom, a gray coudly sheep with white legs and face,,,,awwwwwwww. Hey, this is a cute wooden-'thing' for the bathroom to place soap, and that wooden frame, and that other glass frame, hey, its got 2-of'em-in-a-pack, rite.

Ummmmm, restaurant, do I or don't I? Errrrrr...ummmmmmm, thinking of that apple cake and Almondy, and meat-balls, and sandwiches, salad...maybe....nawwwwwwww will get at the end a hot dog, and buy meat-balls at the end of the store in their supermarket. Yeah, rite...leeetttmmmeeesseeee, Raspberry jam, meat-balls, ginger cookies, and that other box of cookies...yeah the-can't-resist-box / have tons of them at home...but/  ok...now don't pile up, so no caviar, horseradish /the only place to find horseradish is Ikean on this island, they don't even know what horseradish is..strange/ salmon-paste-in-a-tube, WASA crackers, dill /another thing they don't know about, but IKEA sells it/, Almondy, apple cake, friend onions, no no no no no, I have all that at home, now, Lila, don't be silly....yeah, sure, am I good today or ain't I...I AM!....WOW, A small bottle with RUDOLF...OMG, what kind of drink is that...do they make drinks from Rudolf????? MUST TRY!

So my shoulder aching from that heavy yellow bag, I reached the end of the ONE-WAY-IKEA-STREET, waiting to pay......OMG, wth, I must have bought quite a lot of things, welllll, looking at those hot dogs, I needed one and oh boy, was I thirsty!

A couple of IKEA bags in one hand and a couple of IKEA bags in the other , holding my vallet, and trying not to spill all the change at the counter, while waiting for that hot dog...oh , right, and one of those flavoured-waters, please! Thank you.

Trying to eat the hot dog, and not getting all the mustard dripping at my clothes, holding the bags in the same hand, and in the other a few more bags and a bottle of flavoured water, where the hell are my car keys....yeah, I'm leaving, could you just wait till I find my car keys, and let me get rid of those bags in the car....common, you want Murphy-Law too, eh, well  WAIT!!!!!!!!!!

Driving back home, eating the rest of the hot dog and drinking that special flavoured water...ahhhhhhhhh, finnaly I reach home.  I enter and yell....'Stefan, get those things out of the car.....please! 

I found my husband in the living room, wathcing TV /where else/...he looked up and asked:

-' Did you get the bulbs?'

- 'What bulbs?'

 

 

From Corfu to Mykonos

Corfu or Kerkira how the Greeks call it, was a wonderful break, and the couple of days we spent there were realy wonderful, maybe because I bought there not one but 3 fur coats, beside everything else, and they also say after spending 7 days at sea one tends to get into some kind of crisis....so mine was shopping...apparently everyone elses  too.

So having spent considerably serious amount of money, and having in mind this was just the beginning of our trip, it was time to move on.

From Kerkira /Corfu/ we sailed on the north-west coast towards Lefkada, between the island of Kafalonia to Petraikos Kolpos to Patra - one of the major ports in the western part of Greece, then to Lutraki and through the Korinthos channel - which was a fascinating experience. When we reached the end of the Korinthos channel, all the boats were lined up at the pier and everyone just  jumped into the vast deep blue waters, which was a custom - like being baptized in the river Jordan, or getting a Diploma after flying over the equator.

Just leaving the Korinthos channel, we were hit by the winds of the Aegean sea, so once again the Genoa was  ready to be pulled up...and there's a funny story about this one.

My very dear and close friend, as well as God-father to my youngest child was together with his family and mine on this sailing trip. We two go a long way back, both being architects and having spent most of our lives having fun, injoying our time and spending it in numerous bars, pubs, cafes, discos...etc, always joking and talking ..and talking...and talking.... we had a discussion on the issue of the name Genova. Finding that the city was not worth  so much as a sail to be named after, we both decide, as well as made everyone else, including our skipper,  to  call it Firenza. So there , at that moment Genoa was therefor rebaptized into Firenza, for all of you sailors who have not yet learned of this important event, please reffere to it as mentioned earlier. How can any one calle a sail Genoa...common, do you know what Genoa looks like...well if you did, you would never call the sail Genoa, so Firenza it is .

Now,another situation on our sailing boat, was exactly always having to do with the raising of Firenza /see how it even sounds nicer...eh/. Whenever the Firenza was mentioned, I either went for a drink or 2 or 3 or......or just sank down to my cabin...right , in that 9<-->3 position and fell asleep. I guess even having it re-named, I wasn't very amused of the factor of sailing  *bent* in a 30 degree or whatever degree that was!

So, hitting the Aegean sea and new winds, Firenza was brought up as a normal proceeding factor, and my friend said:

-' Lila, care for a drink'?

-'Huh....yeah , why not..'

He went on, : 'Firenza, baby...Firenza'

'OMG....yeah , sure, lets go down', and I ran down the steps to our salon.

Now what continued is not very nice, or lady-like at all, so all of you who don't want to continue, I will understand....but never the less I'll keep on writting.

The problem was we haven't been shopping for a day or two..and our drinks were just at the level of a couple of beers and a bottle of Metaxa....but, Firenza  is still a Firenza, so the beers and Metaxa were following one another untill I didn't give a damn anymore for the fact of 30 degrees  bent sailing, as I stood  like a statue /have in mind, sailing on a ship, only those who are drunk walk straight, everyone else goes from one side to the other/ but not for very long....one fly from one-side-bent to the other-side-bent...trew me right into my toilet....where they found me as we reached the Port of Pireas, huging the toilet seat and sleeping.

Believe me, you don't want to know how it feels getting drunk from Metaxa by itself, not to mention it been pushed by some beer.

Good reason, enough, to decide to stay a couple of days in Athens, we all checked in Hotel Grande Bretagne, spent our days sitting in Kolonaki and watched our children spend our money at Harley Davidson shop...then upon slow recovery and having bought a couple pairs of shoes and boots I was all ready to continue our trip to the ilsand of Mykonos.

All ready, but not having an idea what great surprise is waiting for me on the way to Mykonos.

In the month of August, in these waters there is a well known wind / which I never heard before/ called Meltemi, and, oh boy, the sailors love it, but as I was just becoming a sailor, it wasn't appreciated and left me more then once huging my toilet, but as I don't ever give up, I go by the saying, 'if you can't win them-join them' I did go out of the cabin eventualy and fought through my 'fright of Firenza-bent-sailing'...not only did I come to the stage of 'I wouldn't care less' but to show you the effect of spending so many days sailing at sea, going through many crisis, I ended up completely num....as by reaching the island of Mykonos, there is a bay with a narrow passage, on one side you see rocks on the other side a huge mountain...an enormous ferry coming towards you, we are all outside on    the deck and watching, we have pulled down all sails and using our engine....suddenly the engine stops. We look at each other...then at the skipper whos head is diving into the engine, only to come out holding a belt...a very broken belt...evryone was in dead silence, the ferry was approaching us  in  a rather fast way, the Meltemi wind was slowly pushing us towards the rocks, I was wondering where the hell were our safety jackets, and where the hell were all our kids, and the skipper was sewing the belt, having a glove on his hand and a funny needle...just like no big deal is happening......just to place it after a while start the engine somehow miss the ferry and the rocks and find the only one place left to 'park' our sailboat.

As we were 'parked' he opened the engine and found that the belt was once again thorn apart......

It took us just a couple of minutes to make a decission, we would check into a hotel, after a couple of days send the skipper back...with most of our shopping, stay in Mykonos for another 2 weeks and take a plane back!

A misty dawn in Greek waters

Going through my memories and analysing my life, so far, I found it always good to be alone for a while , visit one of many places that bring memories of long lost days, and place them in that special compartment, never to be forgotten again.

On one of many trips through Italy, I was standing at the tall, balconied window of a five star hotel gazing down at the Ticino river, where swans were gliding about in the untroubled flow, and small children were throwing in bread. I was in Sesto Calende, a small picturesque town, some fifty miles north-west of Milano, and no more then two from the southern shore of Lake Maggiore.

I was in a corner room on the third floor, whose other window overlooked a small piazza, which the day before was transformed into a bustling market offering everything from fruit and veg, to salamis and cheese, to lace and cast iron kitchenware.I had no room for bric-a-brac...but my thoughts went back some 15 years, when together with my family and our friends we went sailing across the Adriatic to Brindisi, then followed on to Otranto, the narrowest part of the Adriatic coast, and from Otranto back across to the Island of Corfu - Greece. We were spending one whole month on the sea and the aim was reaching the Island of Mykonos.

I wasn't sure what triggered those memories, wether it was the lake, or the sunshine, but as in life things happen for a reason, I sat near my balcony, sipping Panache and eating long Grissini, and let my mind drift to one of the remarkable dawns in my life.

****

We were crossing the Adriatic on our way from Otranto to the island of Corfu. In those days, our sailing boat was not equipped with JPS / we later on bought one in Athens...then things were easier/ so it was maps, guides, rulers and our skipper, ofcours.

We sailed at night, so we could explore during the day. This special night, the sea was far from being calm, the waves were some 4m high and it was quite a ruff ride. The best thing was to go to my cabin, lie down on the fitted bed, but in a 9<--->3 position, pushing my feet agains the sides of the cabin, my head under some pillows and try to sleep...and I did.

I remebered waking up real early...needed just a few seconds to realize that the sailing boat was, what seemd to me, being in a motionless drift...it was very quiet. I jumped from my bed and open the cabin door, just to see the kids sleeping in the salon, which reminded me always of a pile of drunken sailors...ones legs on others heads, one nearly on the floor, and another in his sleeping sack just near the kitchen cabinet. This scene in the morning always brought a smile to my face...I klimbed out the salon, barefeet, and once out, I could smell the sea, it was a misty dawn, one of those moments just before the sunrise, quiet. The glittering fog just above the sea was moving slowly, the sea was waveless, smooth as dark blue velvet . I sat near the skipper and asked in a whisper...are we in Greek waters, he said, he was waiting to see any fisherman and hear the language they speak...if we were not in Greek waters , last nights wether could have taken us to the Albanian waters....so we sat and waited...

It was starting to brighten and the mist was clearing slowly, when we heard some voices in the distance...and we were anxious to hear the language. A fisherman in his boat appeared and looked at us...smiling he said Kalimera, and we both gave a sight and waved back.

I was still sitting and injoying the dawn when suddenly my eyes cought a sun ray, rising from behind the dark mountains, giving a shiny and colourful glitter to the surface of the smooth sea, I asked our skipper to slow down the engine...threw the rope into the sea, and dived into the blue surface.

I could still remember the cool and fresh deep blue, while I dived, reaching the surface head up and letting the sea drip over my face, feeling the sun rays...I turned around , made a few stokes and cought the rope...which slowly pulled me through the sea behind the sailboat.

It was one of those moments that will always have a place in my heart, the memory of my swim at dawn in Greek waters on our way to island of Corfu.

****

Turning away from the window I stared down the jazzy orange and blue covers on the skinny-mattressed beds, then going between them I lifted the lamp and phone off the nightstand, unplugged them, and connected my computer. After checking my e-mail and messages I decided to go out for a walk.

I was moving through the crowds on the Stresa landing stage, on the south-western shore of Lake Maggiore. When I reached the end I stood gazing out at the glistening blue beauty of the lake and lush green mountains beyond. It was the beauty of this place that triggered the memory of my dawn in Greek waters.

With some mixed sadness in my eyes and a smile on my face I turned to look back along the short pier to where the splendid five star hotels were lined up across the street, like silly vain women whose beauty would fade, and in some cases it had already started. One of them, I've learned from the guidebook, was the hotel that Hemingway had written about in A FAIRWELL TO ARMS. Like Fowles, Hemingway was an author I greatly admired.

I saw some tourists disembarking a pleasure boat, coming from the other end of this lake in Locarno, allowing my eyes to travel northwards again, across the shimmering blue miles that seemed to go on for ever, I wondered if I might be seeing as far as the places where the waters merged from one country into another, and Italian Alps became Swiss, but even if I were, Locarno was still a very long way away.

TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE - MY WAY

While I was taking my *break* and spending time with my daughter in Milano, I kept on thinking  about making some changes, getting out of the routine habbit, just letting go...I managed well with my daughter. I used to wake up when she did, make her some breakfast , while she was getting ready in the bathroom, make some coffee for me, and talk with her about our daily plans...meet  her at "Sunflower cafe" during her break...and come pick her up later in the evening....then we'd just see what happens. Worked out very well, indeed.

So, now, some of you would be thinking, whats the big deal...where's the difference. Well, the difference is that I never had such routine with my daughter, and the experience was great. Real easy going , no stress, no worries...no big plans...just wait and see and let the day unfold. No watching the time...or asking myself did I do this or that...or is this ready and is that ok....is everything under controll....no  unnecessary questions and no unnecessary answers, no funny and surprised looks at me or the same kind of looks back from me...it was just smooth - easy - livin, and it felt GREAT.

Now, coming back home, finding the rest of the family / 3 men: 47, 23, 10 / in good health...no one went crazy cuz mom was not around, they ate well, they made their beds, they cleaned the house, did the laundry...the world didn't fall apart....so, mom was back, and they were back being themselves, waiting for the meals to be served, not making their beds, not cleaning the house and no laundry.

Fine! I gave them their old life back for two days...then I decided to make a difference.

Got up one morning, just glanced at the beds, having no intention of doing anything about it, I did make a meal , but left it on the cooker, I stayed in my pyjamas, I made un effort not to sit at my computer, but took some pillows and my favorite plaid and made myself confy on the sofa in the living room, with a pile of magazines beside me, I made sure the TV remote was hidden under my pillows...and waited.

47 and 10 come home first for lunch. Now the show beagan. It was hard staying cool-faced and not ROFL-ing.

First question was,: "Are you feeling well ?"

" Sure...just perfect", was my answer.

Some more walking around the house...the table was not set, the beds were not done, it took them quiet some time to realize, yet not realizing what was going on realy...the next question:

" Ummm, can we eat now?"

"Sure, help yourselves",......trying very hard to look real busy reading a magazine and hiding behind it...so they would not see me biting my lips.

So, they serve themselves, they eat. It took some real hard effort not to get up and see where they left the plates...but I managed to stick cuddled in my sofa.

10 goes direct to his Play Station and 47 comes to the sitting room, cuz this is the time to see the news or just doze of for 1/2 an hr. Well...no remote. Another question:

"Would you like anything, Shandy, maybe?"

"Oh, yes, tx, that would be nice"...so I get my Shandy, and now start realy to injoy my day.

47 sits at his own precious sofa...but looks like he can't doze off....something is buggin him...so questions just keep on commin.

" Are you sure, you'r ok, is there anything I did, common, Lila, this is freaking me out, I mean ever since we came home, your so quiet, you haven't even yelled at us or told us to do anything, or asked us anything......you sure you'r ok?"

"Yep"....turning the next page on my magazine.

47 goes back to work...and here comes 23.

"I'm home!!!!!", shouts 23.

"Mmmmmhhmmmm"....says  I .

Soon, seeing I'm not sitting at my computer, looks for me, and finaly finds me in the sitting room, all confy, reading magazines.

"Hey, you OK?"

"Mmmmhmmm".

Wonders off, enters the kitchen, and I hear:

" What the #%&* are all these plates doing at the table....MOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM?"

"Mmmmmmm?"

Now he's back in the sitting room both arms on the door way looking at me...

"You, sure you'r OK?"

"Yeah, fine, and you?"

"I'm hungry, can I eat now?"

"Sure, you can, go serve yourself."

I hear some weird sounds in the kitchen..plates going in the washer...*kling* and *klang* and #$%&......then the micro wave...ding...and silence.

After some time...again the *kling* and *klang* and ##%%@@ mumling, washing  or whatever sounds from the kitchen...I was now starting to injoy this day.

So 23 goes into the study and yells at  10:

"Get off that PS, don't ya have any homework to do!!"

10 says back:

" And what's wrong with you, today? Mom is weird, dad had to serve us lunch and  didn't watch TV today, and you never yell, MOM does that."

<<BAAANNGGG>  I could hear the entrance door slam and soon after 23's car wrooom , wrooom ,  wroooooooooooom.........

 

So, 10 realy knows how to take advantage of the situation, keeps on Playing his PS...47 comes back in the evening, finds me ...where he last saw me, 23 comes back too....they all prepare their dinner, 10 goes and finishes his homework, both 23 and 47 clean the kitchen and come to the sitting room...both standing like statues infront of me and staring at me. I look up at them , seeing that even 10 has joined the statue formation, so I say:

"Mmmmm?"

47 and 23 just leave the sitting room and 10 giggles saying:

"Oh boy, Mom, you realy gave it to THEM , today!!!"

I throw a magazine at him , jump  off  the sofa and chase him yelling:

"Hey u little smart ***  you'r next, don't you think I'm done yet, you'll see what I've got for you...just wait till I catch you...!!!!!!!!!"

Running and yelling at 10, and passing by 23 and 47 I could hear them say:

"Thank God, we're back to normal!" 

 

 

A DAY OF MIXED FEELINGS....and welcome to

Saturday was somewhat a very special day for me, that mixture of happy - sad feeling, that comes with a glimpse of a smile, while the eyes reflected the soul and just couldn't hide the emptyness within.

I decided to drive from my village down towards the ocean, breathing fresh air, with just slightly opened window of my car, listening to Van Morrison's Moondance and ..Have I told you lately...

The winter months are beautiful here on the island. That is the only time we get some rain,the only time when everything is green and almond trees are in full blossom. Strawberry season is just starting and my Village is famous for growing them. They actualy taste and smell like real strawberries not the fake-plastic-like-no-smell-ones you bye in big cities.

People here love horses...one of the rare things that connect this island to Peninsula, how they call mother Spain. They often ride them on weekends on our narrow, curvy roads...this all adds up to the "sounds of my island", something I never heard before in my life, being an urban-fast-lane-lady. Here you wake up with the sounds of *ding, ding, ding* coming from sheep  who roam freely in the valleys, at night my "howly-owly" comes to her favorite spot on the tree facing my bedroom window and greets me. Locals here, believe they bring luck...and oh, boy, was I freakin out until I got used to all this...it took some time...but eventualy I got used to it.

Its hard to get used to the silence, coming from urban, noisy cities, too far from the country side..you long for it...then you experience it and it takes a while to get used to it, it keeps you awake at night at first, maybe because one just doesn't believe in existance of such places. Taking a walk, just behind our urbanization, the sceenery is unbelievable...there is a huge pond, which they use for watering their near-by fields, my suprise was, that, one day sitting and staring at the still surface of the clear water...I actually saw carps...but huge ones. I asked my neighbour who owned the pond, if he knew he had big carps in his pond, he said : "Sure, whats the use of having sweet water for watering the fields if you don't have carps in it".....huh...I said: "Oh, sure, now why didn't I think  of  this ...????"  He clearly saw my surprised look...so he sat next to me on the grass and said: "Wait...".......so we sat for some time in silence and *waited*...I couldn't  help thinking *now what the hell are we waiting for*....but soon there was another surprise...two rabbits chasing and playing just infront of us....he said "See....shhhhhh"....sure I was *shhhhh* I couldn't believe my eyes....the rabbits ran off as soon as some sheep were heard approaching the valley...oh and not to mention a couple or, rather BIG lizards that were injoying the sun while *tanning* themselves on the near by rocks. He then told me a story which helped me understand this island and the people. /This was some 8 years ago, when my family and I just moved to the Canarys/....so he told me...:"I can see you are a new-comer, must be from a big urban city, well Señora, things here are different, life here is different. See , there, thats my house. Whenever you feel like, just drop in for a Cubata or some good wine and our local cheese and olives. I own some land here, and I grow potatoes, oranges, olives, watercress....I have my own sheep, 3 horses, and a number of chicken. I even have a donkey...but he's more like a pet...my grandkinds love him, ofcours, not to mention a couple of dogs and God knows how many cats. I've seen you come here and watched you from my house. I knew, you are trying to get accustomed to your new life-style, so,  when you said your *Buenas Dias*, today, and asked if I knew I had carps in my pond, I decided to join you and tell you about our life here on the island and some of our customs. Come, now we go to the house and you meet my family and we have some wine, cheese, and you  feel much better."

So I went to his house, met the family, had some wine, cheese, olives, local sausages and watercress salad.......since that day, every weekend I had a large basket waiting for me at my doorstep with fresh eggs, home-made cheese, potaoes, other vegetable, fruit....and  many times, I was even given chicken /you guys don't even know how REAL chiknen tastes/ ...oh and sure, we ate a couple of carps that were sooo good, and brought sweet memories of ol' Contintent- Europe.

So driving and listening to Van Morrison, injoying the  clear bule sky and colourful sceenery, all those thoughts came back to me in flashes...I remembered when we first moved to this island, I remembered the silence...my neighbour...I remember the good times and the bad times....then I saw this crossing ahead of me...which I knew was a short cut to one of my dear friends. I took the short cut which led me down to a *barranco - Spanish* , *wadi - Arabic*, *canyon - English*, ...the whole island is cut with those canyons, where once, some hundreds years ago, lava used to flow...after all,this is a volcanic island, oh and just imagine, last winter, after some real heavy rains which lasted for a week / a very rare thing to happen , here/ there was a little stream formed in the *barranco* and the local school took all the kids for excursion to SEE THAT???? Can you believe this...oh, well.....

My short cut lead me thru the *barranco* then klimbing  to the oder  side  of  the valley and into the mountains, very narrow road...but no traffic. I could see the hacienda of my dear friend, placed on a small hill, with the most wonderful view of the hills and valleys reaching the ocean....

My dear friend Francisco, born Canarian, owned a posh and stily restaurant in London for many years, then one day...out of the blue, decided to come back to his native island, redecorate his grandmother's hacienda, in such perfection /that even I was amazed/ , hah, with a gran terrase under the wine leaves...l'courbisie chairs, fancy tables ...a huge bar, facing the swimming pool, which was surrounded with all exotic plants, palms and bushes of bamboo....the house consists of various rooms, all decorated in a different style : Arabic room, Indian room, Ol' Europe room....just plain fabulous.....

It is not a public place, you may call and make a reservation for a lunch, dinner or *a-day-out*...you will be asked who recommended this place to you, what would you like to eat, how many people were coming with you....and with some luck...you'll manage to get a date in a moth or two...depending...LOL

Well, being a close friend of Francisco's, I have this advantage of just dropping in out of the blue...after all he is gay and I am his best girlfriend and he my best gayfriend...we go a long way back....some 25 years of true friendship, we know everything about each others lives, and we admire each other....a friend I can talk to, a friend I can sit in silence with, a friend I can cook with /which I find  highly honourable from his side/ and a friend who knows to distinguish the happy smile and the sad look in my eyes...immediately.

I walked up to the terrase.....empty, no people, yet,...maybe just too early...and gave one of my recognizable shouts: "FRANCISCOOOOOO" .......I saw him coming out of his kitchen....broad smile on his face...then he ran and huged me, kissing 2   times on cheek.http://planetlila.multiply.com/Canary custom/ ....oh , and btw, we have this deal between us, we speak only English.....

"Hey, Lady /just his style of talking/, I missed you, how was Milano???" ......but then his broad smile changed into a worried look...seeing my * mixed-feeling-face* , he put his arm around my shoulder and walked me to the terrase...

"So, what's up, Lady?"

"Oh, just shut up, Francisco, and I missed you too! "  , was the only thing I could answer.

"OK......so, what are we having....ummmm? " ....he said with all the patience in this world that you can think of.

" Just bring us a couple of martinis..."

He gave me a surprised look in silence, I rarely drink martini....so....the two of us know each other so well, no need to explain, no need for questions...we just understand each other..

The martinis came, he sat next to me, and we took our glasses. I looked at him over my glass of martini, smiling slightly, feeling slowly the tears gather in my eyes, but, yet, smiling, I said:

" I need to wish someone a happy birthday, today. "

So, we *chin-chin* our glasses, we both say "happy birthday"...a tear slides down my cheek, while I gaze from the top of this hill to the  ocean and even somewhere accross the ocean towards that horizon....what a place with a view.....what is beyond that horizon, I always wondered.

Francisco and I, together made a fruit cake....he made me laugh while throwing flour at me...we were like two kids making nonsense in the kitchen. From martini it was back to my Shandy...back to never ending talk about my life, of my recent trip to Milano visiting my daughter, to placing 45 candles on the cake, carrying it out to the terrase, which now was illuminated by side torches and glowed in the dark stary night over the Canarys......

I blew the candles and made a wish.