I know there have been devastating earthquakes all over, and tsunamis, and radiation leaks, and countries going broke, and that Kaddafi continues killing his people, that
Osama Bin Laden lies at the bottom of the ocean doing his last service to Earth
as fish food Continue reading
Salies de Béarn
SPRING… IS A VERB
I have just returned with a handful of wildflowers picked in the field by the vineyard behind the building where I live. I didn’t expect to find so many and so varied flowers that nearby. But spring is that, isn’t it? Continue reading
À TOUTE À L’HEURE
Wouldn’t you know it? Today was a beautiful day in Salies. Not a cloud in the sky, brisk chilly air with a slight spring breeze. And of course my first thought was: Why now? Continue reading
THREE MONTHS
It seems as if I have lived here always and yesterday it was barely three months. Three months ago I left my apartment in Madrid for the last time, climbed into a car loaded with everything I thought I would need minus what had already gone with the movers, headed north for my usual drive to Salies in an unusual month, got a speeding ticket upon drawing near to San Sebastian practically at the French border (was I in a hurry to get here?) and finally drew up to the Hotel Parc Casino where I was to spend my first two nights as a resident of Salies. Continue reading
MORNING MOMENTS
There are two moments of glory in the skies over Salies: one is at sunset and the other at sunrise. In the first the clouds –there are always clouds in my skies now- are tinged with pink and red and orange and gold; Continue reading
DESSERT A-LA-CARTE (2009)
Friday, after lunch, I decide to take a long walk, something that is easy and delightful around Salies. I will be taking the conversation class later on and then plan to go to the movies so it’s good to get Salome’s and my exercise in early. I set off on a highway I haven’t walked before, Continue reading
EATING OUT IN SALIES (summer)
It is the most beautiful summer’s day I have seen yet in Salies. The sun shines and lightly burns the skin, the sky is an almost painful blue without a cloud in sight and a light fresh breeze blows; there is no humidity. I take to the Jardin Public late, after chatting as is becoming the custom with the internet love of my life, Doug. It is eleven o’clock before I even take poor Salomé out for the morning duties. The quiet of the day, its perfectness hits me the moment I set foot in the street. Continue reading
MIST
Today a mist has floated down to sit in the streets and parks of Salies, and the hush that always accompanies mist cloaks the town. I love the humidity, the air that turns liquid on touching the cheeks, the cool wetness of it, but specially the hush. Continue reading
THE LOST DAY
I have misplaced a day. I don’t know where I put it or what I did with it: it’s gone. I’ve lost it. And what is worst: I don’t even know what day it was that got lost. Continue reading
WARM SALT WATER AND SWEET RASPBERRY SHERBET
Before Salies I would have thought that “Les Thèrmes” meant “the termites” and not thermal waters. Now I know. Salies is famous for its underground salt mines and the river that brings that treasure to the surface where it has been mined for centuries. Continue reading
Writing a life 