Cleansing the Palate with a Little Adventure

It’s been a weird few days. Another one of those days. Things being harder than they really need to be. Dumb stuff.

We went to the ITV in Lugo to get the new hitch inspection, They failed us saying the reverse lights don’t work. But we got home, before taking it back to the mechanic, and it turns out they work just fine. Ugh. Another 80 km round trip into Lugo next week.

But I’m ready to shake all this off. In philosophical terms I look at it this way. When you plant a garden you get dirty. Soil under your nails. Muddy knees. All because you have faith that the seeds you are planting, with proper care, will blossom into beautiful flowers, or fruit into crops that will feed you. You have no evidence of this. Just faith that it will all work out. These last few days have been the muddy knees phase of our vision for all that Happiness Enterprises will become over the next year. With proper care and feeding it is all possible. Gardening, like so much in life, is about patience.

As part of my changing focus and redirecting energy, today at 5:30am Jeff drove me over the mountains to Ponferrada. So I could catch a bus to Salamanca and then another to a resort two hours south of the city in the mountains.

Pre-pandemic, we traveled a lot. And packing was second nature, after all the travels I did for years for work. But it felt strange last night getting a suitcase down from the barn and filling it up. Like muscles that hadn’t been used in a long time. But soon, my mental checklist from before kicked in. I got it all covered. I will spend the next 9 days helping Spanish execs learn Ingles, just like we speak it in the old country – Seattle. I am to bring all my colloquialism and silliness. Tell jokes and help them understand subtleties. Wait! That’s not my strong suit. But I will do my best.

It is a frosty morning. -1c here. I pulled out my Canada Goose Expedition coat from super secret coat storage 😉. Haven’t worn it since very cold Iceland in 2016. Not much call for Canada Goose in Valencia in the past four years. It will snow where I am staying in the mountains next week. I’ve got my FairIsle wool hat I bought in Dublin from our Irish Christmas pre-pandemia. And my sheepskin gloves. I should be warm and toasty.

The sunrise driving on the winding roads through the mountains around Ponferrada was beautiful. Clear and cold. Passed through Astorga.

I have one day alone in the resort before my compatriots from other English-speaking counties all arrive tomorrow. Ireland, New Zealand, UK, Canada and the US. So a solitary day. Jeff, my introverted husband, gets ten days alone. The first time in two years. Who knows what he will get up to while I’m away. It will be good for both of us to miss each other without a hospital being involved. And good for me to have a new view and some fresh experiences. Reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be living here.