Articles by Gina Leishman

Life on the finca… how to describe it? like the curate’s egg, good in parts? I will cast a veil of forgetfulness over the bad bits and remember the good…

…a visit to Alexander’s studio in Mao – he’s a luthier who specializes in early (baroque) instruments, absolutely beautiful work. I only caught one of this year’s early music concerts that he organizes, but it was great, as always… a slowly burgeoning friendship, always nice… he and his upstairs neighbor often used to walk out to biniparrell of a spring morning, arriving unannounced but bringing pastries for breakfast – invariably I would still be in my nightgown, but it was always a lovely way to start the day…

… the opening concert in the Lithica this season, harp and galss armonica of all things – I was so excited… in the event it was a shock… two world class musicians (the harpist from the Berlin Philharmonic, a Swiss armonica player who did all the playing for the ‘Amadeus’ film, and many others) who individually played really well (tho’ I must say it was an awful lot of notes but not much music) – but when they played together I had to put my fingers in my ears – they were not in tune… whether they couldn’t tell or just thought the natives wouldnt’ notice, I don’t know, but I left at intermission…. BUT, a month later I went to another oncert there and this time was totally inspired: a 17-piece Catalan band called Coetus – 10 percussionist, 3 singers and 4 instrumentalists – wow… an incredible experience, and the perfect venue… they are mostly young, tho’ some veterans as well, and obviously a tribe – soooo great… I bought all 3 of their CDs!

… a great hike with June, who came for brief 4-day visit from seeing Annie in Torino… Christian had told me about this stretch of the north coast, just west of Fornells, that is supposedly the oldest rock in Europe – muy impresionante, and great to get in a hike with June, who has such a good eye for these things…

What a difference 10 days can make… a renewed appreciation of my various lives, resolving to do better this time… hope springs eternal…

I left in mid-spring, and have returned to high summer – 30 degrees and rising, the garden bone dry… but still so beautiful, and swimming in the big blue bathtub is ecstatic (as long as the wind holds to the north!).  The bougainvillea were barely starting to flower when I left, 10 days later they are in full white-throated bloom, what an explosion… wildflowers are over but now I can clear and let the beautiful red earth return to being the basic landscape… except for the morning glories, which have finally really taken hold and are absolutely loving the morning sun created by the big prune this past winter. And speaking of which, the ullastres podados have also exploded with new growth since I’ve been gone, quite astonishing!

The day after I got back saw a huge harvest of green beans, and the 2nd half of the potatoes dug up, plus the first aubergine and a ton of green peppers – even a few tomatoes, brave souls!  We feasted al fresco on the solstice, my first evening meal outside, hard to believe – garden-to-table potatoes and green beans, the best ever… bon profit!