Spain

"Suddenly I realize

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom."

from

A Blessing

  by  Jame Wright

Spain

“The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”
 
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek 

Spain 2020

"But it is a mild, mild wind, and a mild looking sky; 

and the air smells now, as if it blew from a far-away meadow; 

they have been making hay somewhere under the slopes 

of the Andes, Starbuck, and the mowers are sleeping among the 

new-mown hay."

from Moby Dick

 By Herman Melville

When the pandemic started my sister was travelling in Spain with friends. They were unable to fly home before the borders closed and spent the first 6 weeks in a high-rise apartment under lockdown. The people there treated them well. But it was justifiably quite restricted. When things loosened up in early May they were able to move to rented house in the country. When they got there the farmers were cutting hay an activity I associate with late July or August in Saskatchewan. A recent email indicated they had hoopoe in the area. They are certainly a beautiful bird and it looks like a lovely area. We are very happy that our friends and family are doing okay. 

https://www.andaluciabirdsociety.org/article-library/about-birds/171-hoopoe/