May 21st

Days of heavy rain, with intermittent intense sunshine and warmth… many hours of glorious sleep, with Ratonera to keep me company (she showed up the night I arrived, as always) – I feel her weight on the bed and think of Sam, hoping he’s enjoying his liberty in the garden and the studio, with angela to feed him… he finally figured out the cat flap, so now he can come and go as he pleases, with the studio as his sanctuary, and the garden and the rest of cotherstone as his playground – how bad can it be? The ‘phone here is still blissfully on the blink, I do the odd bit of gardening between bouts of slumber, making war on the plumbago roots that have taken over everywhere…

Sunday the sun finally came out, blazing in a clear blue sky, so I hung everything out to dry, bedding, clothes, shoes, the works, and went off to have sunday lunch of grilled rabbit at La Rueda – on the Moby, no less, which is running like a champ, Begonia must have fixed it along with the car, bless her – only to find when I returned that it had rained heavily and everything was soaked – and I mean everything… oh well… managed to get the bedding dry enough to sleep in – thank heavens for the long hours of daylight, and thank you Julia for the loan of an electric blanket – and the rest can wait… sleep is all I care for… but so saying, aside from the occasional gardening I have taken a couple of lovely walks, one by the sea, one through the fields around and about… by god, I love this island…