How did 3 months slide by? a quick recap:
march was spent in cotherstone, trying to sort out my health and the cottage… I finally got an appointment to see a cardiologist, for the day I left – classic. But I was feeling much better, so wotthehell archie, there’s a dance in the old dame yet…
meanwhile, I had a great hang with sam. I wrote a new tune (and then some). I finally found a really old Fylde mandola, right there in Barney – Bob Jordan’s, it had been upstairs of the antique shop all this time, and Luke had finally brought it down and put it in the shop, thinking to sell it. It needs work but has a lovely sound, and it would be great to keep it “in the family”… I spent a whole week cleaning the rental cottage and making trips to the dump. I got someone to come and paint the place from top to bottom, I had all the carpets replaced, and finally I decided i wasn’t cut out to be a landlord, particularly an absentee one, so with diana’s agreement, I put the place on the market to sell rather than rent… jesus me beads, as mum would say… then I went back to new york…
my 5 weeks back in westbeth were glorious. I suppose since my time there was finite, everyone stepped up to the plate, and I saw everyone (lunches, dinners, walks, gigs) and played with almost everyone (kgc being the exception) – I did in 5 weeks what normally would take 5 months… and it was spring… I was sorry to leave…
and leave again I did, may 7th. back to cotherstone for a week, no sign of sam, a possible buyer for the cottage, and then on to menorca for 10 days with sis before she took off for CA to see her kids. And a great 10 days it was – it went a long way to making up for the ghastly time over the winter… poc a poc… the island is dry dry dry, the earth cracked like mid-july rather than mid-may. but the huerto was in and with much watering I am already eating from it – lettuce, calabacin, beans, first pepper, first aubergine… tomatoes and onions coming on… the lack of the giant pines right by the house changes the landscape utterly – back to lots of sky – and lots of heat… but the caña is up, and I am planting succulents and cacti, cuttings from friends and neighbours, chiefly Rob and Bernard… B also brings drinking water from his well, and plant and herb advice… and we did have a wonderful thunderstorm earlier this week that gave everything a much needed drenching…
with diana gone, I have moved back upstairs, which I love (it is truly home to me) and have painted my downstairs room… the joy of being alone here is largely due to knowing that the time is finite… the sale of the rental cottage is still hanging fire – the buyers continue to balk at this and that, I try to possess my soul in patience… and meanwhile I have discovered I am in potentially deep shit with my american taxes, which has put a giant cloud over my time here – I may lose westbeth apart from anything else – but I am looking for a tax attorney, trying to deal, and to remain present at the same time…. steep learning curve… life is short and one needs to seize the carp… I am grateful for all the blessings and hope to learn from all the mistakes… the sun is hot, the sea still muy frescita but bliss… ¡empieza el verrano!