We arrived in our little village, Trasulfe, on Tuesday, May 9th, but the day was not beautiful, like this. It was overcast and rainy with chilly winds, and not welcoming, and our whole village had a water problem. (I wrote about it at length on my other blog, Victorian Scribbles,
HERE.) After roughing it a day and a half with bottle water, we succumbed and spent three nights at Torre de Vilariño, a
casa rural near Escairon, a nearby town we shop at. We've often eaten at Torre, but this time we had the pleasure of a cosy, charming room with the restaurant just a couple of doors away.
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| on the left, Mila, middle, Susana, right, Cristina |
Here are some examples of the beautiful setting — and the delightful staff whom we've enjoyed through the years.
By Saturday, the water problem was solved, but the weather still was fickle: mornings would start out clear and sunny, but the afternoons would turn chilly; mornings would start out chilly, but the afternoons would turn warm, then hot. And, through it all, a few sprinkles of rain would punctuate the day, or a dry wind. It was more typically April weather than May weather. But now we are finally having the spring weather we expected.
Spring in rural Galicia is especially beautiful. The country roadsides are ablaze with yellow broom. Purple foxglove, wild blue forget-me-nots, yellow butter cups are everywhere, as well as lacy ferns. I couldn't get a good picture of the foxgloves, but this will give some idea of the vistas:
I don't know what these meadow flowers are in the third photo, but they are everywhere — along with some purple field flowers in other meadows. They look like Impressionist paintings.
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| Buttercups |
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| Broom and ferns |
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Forget-me-nots, roses that were
planted against our wall, and some
sage that has a heavenly scent. |
There are also elderberry bushes nearby with flowers that remind me of Queen Anne's lace, and dozens of other plants I'm still learning to name.
Meanwhile, the late frost that occurred just days before we came damaged so many fruits and vegetables that were coming into fruition beforehand. The grape vines were affected badly in so many places, including Trasulfe. All our neighbors have said they will probably only get about half the usual yield to make their wine. Our neighbors down the road had their potatoes and tomatoes wiped out. It's so sad. They depend on these crops. Some of the fruit trees fared well, but the fig trees around here and the nut trees were also affected. Luckily, for our neighbor, Miguel, who uses one of our small fields to plant his potatoes, he planted late this year after the frost, and you can see that they are doing pretty well. We are very glad for his sake — and ours! He always gives us potatoes in the fall.
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| Miguel's potatoes in the field below our gate |
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| His potatoes to the left, one of his fields to the right. |
The neighbors are all wonderful that way, sharing wine, eggs, and whatever they grow. Today I've been baking cakes for them with some of those eggs for a simple "thank you," but really, it's impossible to thank them enough for how rewarding they make our life here when we come.
When I think of it, we've been blessed with good neighbors and friends here and at home in the States.
How about you? What makes you thankful?
