slow starts

Very sleepy day here in the village. As the curtain in the TV lounge flaps in the breeze, there are few sounds entering the window, chirping songbirds, the occasional scrape of a wooden chair across the marble tile floor. The balmy temperatures from yesterday remain (75 F!), but the sun has been replaced with another thick layer of clouds, which perhaps is buffering the cheery children's voices and the women gossiping on their way back from the market. I too am sleepy today. One of the side effects caused by one of my new meds is restlessness, and this kept me awake hours after my normal bedtime last night. I managed to pull myself out of bed at a fairly respectable 9:30 this morning, but it has been slow going since then. M.A. called yesterday to see whether I wanted to have dinner with her last night. Of course, I said. She came to meet me just before 8 and said she had just run into I. and R., our friends from Norway who are here for a three-week holiday, and that they would be joining us. Was very glad to hear this because I was hoping to see them soon; their thrice-yearly visits always seem to pass too quickly. M.A. and I walked down into the center of town and found I. and R. sitting at a table outside the Bodega waiting for us. They had just been to the restaurant where we had planned to go and found it unexpectedly closed. So we sat to regroup and come up with a plan B. M.A. suggested we go to Lauri's right across the street. After three years in the village, I still had never been to Lauri's. It is set on a tiny, tiny side street with a fairly large covered terrace in the back. During the daytime, the outside tables are all occupied by expat Germans drinking very large beers. I have always found this a bit strange, the way English people in the village go to certain bars, Germans others, etc. I suppose Lauri's patio has the most beer garden-like setting, so perhaps this has been the attraction for the German community. At this time I suggest readers who only approve of eating certain small animals that tend to be molded into chocolate and served up in Easter baskets at this time of year skip down a paragraph. The reason M.A. wanted to go to Lauri's was that she was hungry for rabbit, and this is the chef's specialty. So off we went. Inside, the restaurant was surprisingly cozy. Only a few tables, and all except ours occupied by local Spanish. My kind of place. The menu was short but covered all the basics. I. and R. joined M.A. and ordered the rabbit. I was the party pooper and decided on chicken. I don't think I have actually ever ordered rabbit from a menu, and I know I have never made it myself. But I often do sneak a piece when Big Jim has it when were are out and last night gladly accepted an offering from M.A. And then I understood her insistence that we go to Lauri's. Wow was that rabbit tasty. Must remember to take Big Jim there on his next trip back. After dinner, I. and R. went back to M.A.'s for a nightcap, but as it was almost midnight, I headed home. If I known that the pills were going to keep me up past three this morning, I would have joined them. Ah, asi es la vida. Big Jim also is having an offish day. He skyped me earlier this morning to say that he had just been to the homeopath and was taking the afternoon off because he wasn't feeling well. His past couple of workdays have also been cut short by monsoon-like rains and major thunderstorms, not exactly the best weather if one is working around 60-foot cell phone masts. My spring clean and garden planting have been going well. I spent the better part of the weekend repotting and starting new seeds. Even though I know the seeds will take at least ten days to sprout, I can't help but check their progress already every morning. Sunday afternoon, I pulled out all the dead plants from the pots in front of the house and swept up the fallen leaves. When I went out to the post office yesterday morning, Almendena, who was out chatting with the Herb Thief (who I am again tempting with new pots of basil and cilantro outside the kitchen window), commented how clean the area was. I knew my efforts would not go unnoticed. :-) I replied, Si, que milagro! (What a miracle!), which got a big chuckle from the ladies. Okay, enough procrastinating on my part for one day. It's time to get this show on the road.... hasta pronto, mylifeinspain