the springtime song, or compositions of a desperate preschool teacher, or aren't you jealous i have sung this 50 times today to a very enthused audience?

Myyyyyyyy....EYES CAN SEE IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME
MY EYES CAN SEE IT'S SPRINGTIME, THE GRASS IS SO GREEN
THE GREEN GRASS THE FLOWERS THE SUNSHINE AND SHOWERS
MY EYES CAN SEE IT'S SPRINGTIME AND I AM HAP-PY

MY EARS CAN HEAR IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME
MY EARS CAN HEAR IT'S SPRINGTIME, THE BIRDS SWEETLY SING
THE BIRDS SING THE DOGS BARK THE BEEZS BUZZ THE FROGS CROAK
MY EARS CAN HEAR IT'S SPRINGTIME AND I AM HAP-PY

MY NOSE CAN SMELL IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME
MY NOSE CAN SMELL IT'S SPRINGTIME THE FLOWERS SMELL SO GOOD
THE LILLIES THE ROSES THE DAISIES THE POSIES
MY NOSE CAN SMELL IT'S SPRINGTIME AND I AM HAP-PY

MY BODY CAN FEEL IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME IT'S SPRINGTIME
MY BODY CAN FEEL IT'S SPRINGTIME, THE AIR IS SO WARM
THE WARM AIR THE BREEZES NO FROSTS AND NO FREEZES
MY BODY CAN FEEL IT'S SPRINGTIME AND I AM HAP-PY



pant pant pant pant siiiiiiiiiigh

quiet monday

Today is Father's Day (aka Saint Joseph's Day) in Spain, and Madrid has decided to celebrate it as a legit no-work holiday this year. I generally prefer Fridays off (get out of some preschool that way), but three day weekends that don't start on Thursday evening but rather go beyond Sunday emit the illusion of being that much longer. I'm swimming in a sea of leisure and trying to ignore the coast I see in the distance...almost time to dock.

But until then, I think I will enjoy this afternoon seated at my desk that no longer looks out over dozens of adobe Spanish rooftops. After the 35345th time I stubbed my toe on my bedstand a few weeks ago, I decided that the view was not worth it. A few hours of nesting and wa-la, an infinitely spacier bedroom, sans a desk with a view. And in any case, that was never part of the criteria: I've got a room of my own and a room with a view, and I think that should suffice.

So now, I shall finally get to what I'm thinking about this quiet Monday afternoon.

I'm thinking about a one city called Madrid, and a one person named Renée, and how terrible of a couple they make.

Their relationship started long ago, but they were just acquaintances then. Renée knew she wanted to be with Madrid, and although Madrid seemed more or less indifferent, it was faintly calling to her in a way that any city calls to young people nearby. When she finally arrived, she felt the city pulsing inside and out, and began to fall in love.

But falling in love is deceiving. Although incredibly pleasurable and exciting, it is a false design of raging hormones, and therefore not at all related to that which is true love.

(Because the real thing is not perfect and it's filled with flaws and disappointments that are invisible to hormone-blinded eyes.......yet it is strong enough to withstand all.)

So anyway, Renée began to fall in love, but the euphoria didn't last long. There were some things about Madrid that just weren't up to par, and Renée realized that she would never truly come to love it. Madrid, as usual, was pretty indifferent, and in the end said to her:

"Look, I know my air is overly contaminated, and my river is shit, and you are not inspired by the charm I have to offer...but I'm not so bad, and in the end I provide shelter to a lot of nice people, so maybe we can make this work out."

Renée contemplated this and found the idea of compromise sweet. She also found that city or town, coast or mountain, forest or jungle, she could make things work with the companionship of the nice people she knew.

And she lived happily ever after. THE END

Just kidding. She didn't live happily ever after because she lives in a world of planes, trains, and automobiles, of modern-day nomads, and cannot be satisfied in one place nor the other, nor will she ever be, because the greener grass is ever-so-attainable. And the greener grass is never that green when you look up close, so all in all, the story ends like this:

And Renée spent the rest of her years roaming the world, constantly battling ups and downs of ecstasy and despair, because in no one place could she find all the nice people she knew, together. THE END

spring

Well it's not officially spring but it sure feels like it...

Last weekend I was so inspired by the nice weather that I had to buy a bike. It was an impulse decision, and one that I have not regretted.

As if it were fate, this adorable Italian bicycle fell into my hands for 80 euros and a walk down the street: upon calling the number listed on the ad, I found that the seller was not only a fellow American but also my new neighbor. Here is Lucas fixing it up...I thank the lord every day for handy men (and women--though I have yet to meet one of the sort):

Later in the weekend, this happend:

This is the face you make when you have 11 days of vacation coming up and still no plans.

Yes, that's right...the most holiest of weeks grants me not only with Monday through Friday, but also the prior Friday and the following Monday. And no plans.

But if it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done. Yesterday finally booked tickets to Ibiza for the first half, for a birthday and beach and probably overdue rain, and the second half will be spent road-tripping around Extremadura, the forgotten Old West of Spain. Just like that, I have not only one awesome plan but TWO.

So now I'm like this:

EXCITED!

coffee family

When the neighbors move out...new coffee pots move in.

saturday ruminations

I was just sitting outside on the balcony enjoying this lovely springtime weather when I glanced at some of our cactuses that sit on a baby blue gardener's bench and thought....are you guys alive??

Then I thought I would take some pictures of them, because alive or not, they sure are cute. I got up to get my camera, which I keep on a shelf right inside the balcony sliding door. There is no rhyme or reason for this particular spot, but I find that leaving it in the same place is an easy way to not lose it.

But no!! Alas it is not there. Where could it possibly be?

Well, knowing me, a lot of places, despite my techniques..

I then proceeded to search the living room, not a lengthy process since I just mega-cleaned it this morning. When I couldn't find it, I tore apart my bedroom. Still no luck.

After a good while of searching, it occurred to me that it must have been stolen. From my very house!!

Rewind to Thursday morning, around 11 a.m; I am alone in my apartment. This man knocks on my door, saying he is an employee of the telephone company and he has come to fix something. Oddly enough our house phone has been broken since forever (it's never worked in all the time we've lived here) so I am thrilled by his presence. Finally! Carlos called the phone company!

But to make a long story short, this man was rather sketchy, first searching the whole house for the telephone line, which I kept telling him was in the living room, then demanding 80 euros as a deposit for the technician who would later come (when?), and finally filling out a tattered form with another telephone company's logo on it. I kicked him out after about 10 minutes, and when he left I looked at my cellphone which he had used to call the technician, realizing that he had made no phone call whatsoever. He was feigning a conversation right in front of me! How gullible I am!!

But I obviously didn't give him any money (even though I definitely considered it), nor was I violated in any way (a possibility that didn't occur to me until his departure). I actually giggled in a shrill, excited manner at my victory, an adrenaline rush from the brush of danger on a typical Thursday morning.

...Until now, that I realize he must have snagged my camera when I stupidly left him alone in the living room to call Carlos and ask him his advice.

This pocket-sized camera was a hand-me-down from my mom, probably some five years old, and not exactly in good physical shape. What I'm angry about, though, is the loss of the photos and videos I had there...the worst part being that I can't even remember them all...

Because I don't remember the existence of these photos, in reality I don't even know what I've lost...

Now this obsession has taken over...what other precious items have I lost, that I don't even know I've lost? How do I confirm that I have all that I once had, without knowing all that I once had? Throughout my whole life, how many things must have gone missing that to this day I still do not miss?!

Well, they say that stupidity is bliss...I'll calm myself with this mantra, that it is better to be left in the dark..

february

It took me a while to get over my fantasy that Harpo was mine. It's still taking me a while to get used to walking into an empty house...sigh.

We will unfortunately not be taking in another dog...let's just say there isn't general agreement on the subject. Such is life in shared apartments, I was disappointed but then again it's not all bad: saying goodbye TOTALLY SUCKED.

But I'd still do it again. Love can be rough sometimes.

Below I just posted a video they sent me from his new home (he was adopted last week by a family near Barcelona), and I'll leave it at that. I feel like I want to devote so many more words to him ("... how much I loved him!") but I think this is how every pet owner feels (foster or not!) and I think it might be rather obnoxious. Nobody loves your dog (foster or not!) as much as you do.

So, February is quickly coming to an end, its brevity never bothered me because all months after Christmas are just waves of crabby seasonal depression that we must encounter and traverse until April.

Luckily we've got global warming on our sides here in Spain... it's warm.. so sunny... maybe too sunny. It's customary here in Madrid for it to just not rain, and combined with the disgusting air, everyone in the city falls into a state of perpetual illness...good times! Oh well, at least we can enjoy the nice weather once we've swallowed our IB profen and sucked our throat-soothing cough drops.....

Lately I feel like taking off to some not-city-place and staying in this not-city-place for a long time. With my dog. My five dogs! Ha!

I wonder how the seasonal depression is there.

byebye

Harpo went to Barcelona, to become a Catalán.