For several weeks the weather has been a little mixed. Even so the season has moved on! The spectacular almond blossom of February has been replaced by the lime green of new foliage and the suede almond husks. The apricot trees and cherries have both bloomed and small fruit are setting.
The last couple of days have been really fine and warm. Honey bees swarm over the flowers of the mint bush, and today I have seen my first poppy of the year. Soon the roadsides will be a riot of spring flowers and I am looking forward to taking a steep hike to the mountain tops to see the alpine meadows in full bloom.
My neighbour Mel arrived this morning with a dozen eggs - his poultry have started to lay again - so we will have omelettes for breakfast, made from bantams and peacock (pavo real) eggs!
Today, two weeks later than last year, I heard my first cuckoo, though the swallows have been around in sparse numbers for a couple of weeks now. I'm looking forward to the nightingales, bee eaters and golden orioles arriving too - but not just yet!
Spring is certainly here, and the sap is rising!
Miguel is around 70 years and lives down the Barranco at the small hamlet of Daimuz. Yesterday, I saw him trip up the camino mounted on his sprightly donkey, following the track around, until he arrived at Sandra's casa, who lives a couple of hundred metres across the valley from us. He jumped down from the donkey and started to examine all around - the vegetable garden; the fruit trees; the new stone wall and the olive grove - examining and inspecting everything. I thought I'd better telephone Sandra to let her know she had a visitor, who hadn't yet presented himself to the front door!
A little later I received a whispered response; - I'm hiding in the loo! Has he gone yet?
A long hour passed before a despondent Miguel trudged back down the camino on his donkey, leaving a box of biscuits fastened to the latch of the gate.
It’s primavera! Indeed sap is rising in the Barranco!
You have a wonderful, eclectic set of neighbours, all set in their idiosyncratic ways. superb. Natasha and I do an annual hiding with lights out every Halloween / Trick or Treat evening. Spring is on its way here too, though I suspect about a month behind you. The bears worry me as they will have empty tummies from the long hard winter. How vulnerable will my bees be?
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