A little slower

I took my morning walk a little slower today.  I am doing a detoxification cleanse with a friend of mine so my body is not in-taking the same amount of energy as it normally does, so I'm taking it easy on the physical exertion.  It is amazing to make a change to your lifestyle and watch the effects on the body.  

There must have been rain at some point in the night because the sandy path on which I walk was wet and smooth - it no longer bore witness to creatures' foot steps.  I liked that my foot steps were the first to break the wet, sandy shell that covered the path.  It was chilly and windy, but nothing like the violent winds of yesterday that awoke me in the night - the sound of branches breaking and leaves rustling.  The ocean was a deeper blue today and there was a soft pink haze above the horizon.  The waves crashed with meaning, rotating mechanically, one after the other, after the other...I thought isn't it mechanics that mimics nature, not the other way around?  

Morning flowers

Let me first start off by saying I'm a creature of habit. I have this tendency of finding something I like and obsessing over it.  I'm that person who plays her favorite song (of the week) on repeat until all my roommates, friends, neighbors, classmates, etc. are well aware that (insert catchy pop song of the week) is my (current) favorite song and can no longer listen to it without cringing and thinking of me.  Maybe it's my own form of "friend-security." (:

My current obsession is the meaning of flowers.  I have always admired flowers but this book I'm reading (The Language of Flowers) has taken this admiration to a new level.  On my morning walk there was a garden filled with lavender and rosemary.  Both soft purple flowers.  I thought to myself, what could lavender mean? Whatever it means, I love it.  I love it for its fragrance and beauty.  I also love it because a past amante had fields upon fields of it and would bring me sachets of lavender buds.  If you're curious, lavender means both devotion and distrust.  Those seem like contradictory meanings but I guess both can be involuntary, one can be devoted to something and distrustful simultaneously?  Devotion is a state and distrust a feeling?  I'm still pondering this one.

I kept on my way and stumbled upon a purple iris.  They're everywhere in the forest!  I looked that one up to, it means good news.  The superstitious in me thought, maybe I have some good news in my future?! The logical thought, irises bloom in Spring and it's spring.  I'll stick to superstition. 

It was much more clear today and as I turned the bend, exiting the path and onto the road parallel to the ocean, I looked back and saw the sunrise over the silhouette of cypress trees.  The ocean was still and speckled with brown seaweed, a little head popped up and I smiled at the otter.  I passed the house with the bench in the fence, the one I mentioned yesterday with all that lavender, except today I noticed another thing, behind the bench were several yellow narcissus.  Narcissus means unrequited love and selfishness.  Well that's fitting, one sits on a bench surrounded by remembrance of her/his selfishness.  That's a sad thought.  But it's also reality - people can be selfish and selfishness stems from fear.  Protecting the self is easier, safer than being vulnerable to another.

Yellow and purple flowers.  I have a theory that plants producing these colored flowers have some sort of symbiotic relationship with one another because I have observed that they grow in close proximity regularly and not only in California, I observed this in Spain, too.  Maybe the types of plants that grow in coastal environments have this characteristic.  I have not investigated the biology behind it but I stand by my theory, science could only prove this theory correct (or disprove it altogether).  But take for example the lavender and narcissus, or even a purple iris with yellow stripes on its petals, ice plant with yellow and purple flowers, etc.  

I passed a yellow mimosa (in Spanish) (and not the champagne mimosa although that conjures a beautiful image, too).  I came home and found out the name in English, silver wattle or better known by its scientific name, the acacia tree.  I looked this up and it means secret love.  How beautiful.  You could send your secret admirer a sprig of yellow mimosa. 

Mimosa or Acacia (thanks wikipedia!)

Have a beautiful day!

Galician Cherries

I am always surprised by the fertility of the land here. Well, it rains all the time and for a person coming from California and Syria, this abundant water is incredible to me.

Sunday I went to a friend´s house and she showed me their garden. They had planted (and growing) there: lettuce, spinach, leeks, onions, blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes, cherries, apples, nectarines, hazelnuts, walnuts, oranges, olives, rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, squash, pumpkins, eggplant, artichokes, and I´m sure I´m forgetting something but you get the picture. This further proves that water is life. There is water here and sun as well, along with good soil, and voilá...food!

Yesterday I went to have lunch with one of my Galician Mommies, I have two :). She brought me a plastic bag full of cherries from her tree. After my lunch of tortilla española with fresh bread, tuna and peppers, I had a café con leche and then sat in the sun with my mamita and ate fresh, homegrown cherries! I just wanted to share that with everybody because I keep getting requests for updates and you guys just want to know about my life, so there you have it, a small detalle (detail) of my life here.

Un beso.