easter 2005 and other things

Yesterday was a washout here. When I awoke and ventured outside with the pups, a cold and misty cloud had just made its way into the village. The cloud then opened up, and rain descended by the buckets for the next eight hours, the sun finally breaking through precisely in time to set again. After I hurried through my market errands, I made myself comfortable on the sofa, finishing two books I had started before the eye trouble and starting a third, and enjoying many a cup of tea as the rain pounded on the roof. A perfect lazy Saturday is exactly what I needed after the late nights and hectic Semana Santa schedule. At 3:16 pm (yes, I wrote down the time), I made an exciting discovery: after 9 weeks (63 days to be precise), the gas bubble put in my eye to keep the retina in place had finally vanished. I knew its days were numbered as it had become more of a doughnut shape of late. While exceedingly excited by this development, the bubble and I had become a team of sorts, my constant companion on the path to my (hopefully) restored vision. Now that it is gone, I hope the inflammation still troubling the underlayers of the retina starts to go down. I have not seen much improvement thus far. Lines on the printed page of a book appear slurried, as though I had drank an entire bottle of the local vino. And prednisone is not my friend. Even with the reduced dose this week, I need to drink a couple cups of mint tea after taking the pill to keep my stomach happy. But I still have two more weeks of meds before I next see Drs. Rubio and Marcos, so it is probably too early to make any judgments. After my restful Saturday, I was up early this morning, although an hour later than I thought because I had completely forgotten about turning the clocks ahead last night. Had my computer time not automatically updated itself, I would still be clueless. At 6:15 am (in reality 7:15 am), there were a couple roaring rocket blasts, followed by distant yells and singing. I am not certain if these were brought on by the secret sunrise mass attended only by the men of the village or by the early morning stragglers from the disco. Difficult to say really.... The weather is forecast to be much improved from yesterday, so the post-mass processions should be able to go off without a hitch. I am making my own Easter dinner: lamb chops, roasted parsnips, creamed spinach, and strawberries and cream for dessert. Just because I am on my own this year does not mean I am not going to eat well! Big Jim is only working part of the day, so that Nasir can go to church and spend Easter with his family. I also plan to do a bit of work on the roof garden this afternoon. I bought more plants from the local floristeria, plus some of my seeds have begun to sprout, including the broccoli rabe! How happy I will be if I can manage to actually grow this here. I have lamented before of its absence in Spain, so I figured my only hope was to raise it myself. :-) Happy Easter, everyone. Tomorrow, a couple recipes to help use up your leftover Easter eggs and ham.... hasta manana, mylifeinspain