The two-week heat wave brought extreme fire risk to Galicia and now Ourense province is on fire. 10% of it, 727 square kilometers, has already burned. The fires of Chandrexa and Maceda merged and is now the biggest fire ever on record. Neighbors are organizing volunteer groups via WhatsApp and some villages are left alone to battle the flames, without any firefighters. Many are feeling useless given the situation.
nature
Hot Dog
Alqo’s ola de calor ritual. We try to walk further in the mornings before the pavement heats up, but I make a point to pass this spot where he can get in to the river. Since my van is in the shop, we’ve exploring the places just outside of town but still reachable on foot. It’s nice how close the campo can feel here.
Faro Bregancio
Short trip to A Coruña to escape routine, walk aimlessly, and contemplate deeply.
Living Bridges
Seeing the storks return brings me a quiet joy. Besides being a link to Galicia and Upper Guinea, two places close to my heart, I love them for their grace. I enjoy the way they perch and build their massive nests on poles next to the railway and on old stone churches.
The town has a few pieces of street art with storks.
Edge of a Long Twilight
This Californian still struggles with winter. Instead of going inward, pressing pause on the outside world, and enjoying the slowness of things, I’ve found myself dealing with big things over the last few years; a breakup, a new town and melancholy, existential dread while watching the warmongering, immigration bureaucracy, etc.
This year isn’t any different, other than gaining some awareness that I can choose something different. I can go inside, allow myself to not immediately respond to that favor request from the other, wait an extra week to turn in that paper (it’s Christmas time in Spain after all, where everything is slowing down).
The temperatures drop to 0º and I gave myself permission to delete instagram, re-start mantra meditation, unsubscribe to the podcasts with their cháchara, journal more, turn the heater up a little more, and be kinder to my self.
I’m interested in writing more without the masks though I don’t know where to begin and how much to divulge. Let’s see what happens in next year.