Blossoms and Bare Feet

I haven't posted in a week or so and I was all set tonight to write out what I've been up to but then I got to chatting online with my bff and didn't see the time fly by. Next thing I know it's 11:30pm - and for this Mama, that's way past my bedtime.
So I'll just put up a few photos from the last couple of days so you can see how lovely it's been here in Mallorca and so you don't think I've abandoned my blog!

Strolling

I'm not particularly adventurous when it comes to walking with Rio in the stroller. Not around here, anyway. The roads surrounding Alaró are tertiary and usually only one lane wide so cars are forced to play chicken with each other around blind corners. One driver will invariably have to lunge ahead or back up into someone's driveway to let the other driver pass and there are no special paths or shoulders for pedestrians or cyclists - most roads have stone walls on either side. I've got the dogs with me when I go out, too, so I often find myself leaping out of the way of motorists and yanking Harpo and Artie with me as cars go roaring down the country roads.

I took a few photos today on my usual route. (I sound so seasoned!) Sadly my camera does not do the scenery justice. In reality, the greens are much greener and the sky much bluer. One of these days I'll get a camera that shows true but until then you'll have to use your imagination a little. Or better yet, come see for yourselves!





We walk North along the base of the Tramuntana mountains toward the two buttes or mesas (Puig d'Alaró and S'Alcadena) that are so iconic in the Raiguer - the district of which Alaró is a part. We have a great view of them from our garden as well and when we first arrived the entire sierra was covered in snow although it didn't last long. The two highest peaks, Puig Major and Massanella are still snow-capped but the only white stuff down here is the almond blossoms and the sheep. I wish you were here to walk next to me (ok, in front or behind) and hear the birds singing and the sheep bells ringing.

I'm a little lonely but it's amazing the shoes a little sunshine can fill.

Eponymous

Many Mallorcan village houses have if not a garden, a patio or corral. As far as I can tell, the vast majority of these contain a lemon tree, our own back garden being presided over by a squat but bountiful specimen. Not being much of a homemaker (yet!), I initially had a take-it-or-leave-it sentiment about our tree. Pretty, yes, but it was too cold to crave a tall glass of icy lemonade when we first arrived - I would have rather been gazing out at a palm for encouragement. But then I found that we were frequently nipping out to pick a lemon for our tea, or to squeeze over a salad or fish and I realized - they're really on to something.



The lemon (Citrus limon) is not originally native to the Northern shores of the Mediterranean but was introduced by the canny Moors around 900 - 1250AD and has infinite uses besides tarting up one's food. It can be used as an insecticide, to clean copper pots, whiten clothes and freckles, prevent colds and flu (scurvy, too!) and alleviate gingivitis. No job is too big or too small for this glorious fruit.

There are also plenty of orange trees in local gardens. O came home today for lunch with a huge sack of oranges and grapefruits from a coworker's property - they have far more than a single family can use and would go to waste if not shared. Contrary to popular belief, the Mallorcan people have proven incredibly warm and generous, not at all the walled-up stereotype I read about before coming here, the product of a long history of piracy, pillaging and siege. Our landlord/lady are some of the most helpful, thoughtful people I have ever met and Juana (landlady) told me their families are Mallorcan as far back as they can remember. As they say in Quebec, pure laine!

On another note, yesterday we drove Southeast to Cala Figuera, a little fishing village in a beautiful cove. The drive there was lovely but by the time we arrived, the sunshine was on the opposite side of the cove and we had the dogs with us so we couldn't really go inside anywhere to hang out. So back in the car and back home. It's so hard to get out of the house early when you have a baby but we really must make an effort - weekends go by so quickly when you want them to last forever.

The eagle has landed.

But I'm still missing my suitcase. Out of the seven we brought, the one with all my clothes in it is of course the one gone AWOL. I won't harp on that, though. Positive thinking. It will show. Until then, I'm wearing my husband's clothes. I've got Ellen DeGeneres's look down pat.

More importantly (?!), our little family is finally installed on the island of Mallorca after the long, hard struggle you probably know about already. We're setting up house in a three-bedroom casa de pueblo in the village of Alaró, population 4869 (make that 4872) - the first municipality on the island to have an electricity network in 1901. So my question is: When will they catch on to the concepts of central heating and insulation? Oh never mind. We're past that now. Our firewood has dried out somewhat and the technicians at Camper were compassionate enough to send O home with a bag of old wooden shoe lasts for us to burn.

I daydreamed in such detail about what our life would be like here but I didn't realize how rustic it would be. You just can't keep Mother Nature out, she's always sticking her foot in the door and prying it open while you try in vain to lock it. Millipedes, spiders, ants and some other curiosities I'll talk about some other time - we all live together at Carrer de Can Manyoles, No 91. As far as I can tell, the most recent census did not include any bedbugs so please come visit at your earliest convenience. Despite the crowd, I could use the company.

More photos to follow as soon as I get an adaptor. The one I need is in my suitcase.