warm winter solstace

I suppose it's easy to welcome the first day of winter while wearing a tank top and smiling in the sun. It was downright hot today. The coolness that the rain brought has passed, leaving the island clean and bright and bursting with new green. When I get a glimpse of Tiede it is absolutely striking as it is covered with brilliant snow. Tiede is the tallest mountain on these islands and in fact the tallest mountain in all the EU ... or so I've heard. How strange to look around this island that is in every way tropical except that there's a huge snow-covered peak looming over the not at all distant horizon.

I hardly have a sense that Christmas is coming, but little reminders keep popping up here and there to tell me that this holiday will be here soon. There are some decorations along the autopista, and I can see colored lights blinking in the town below from my window at my finca. Today I switched on the radio and heard "Santa Baby". It's quite nice to be this far away from a sense of time. I wear no watch but I listen for the half-hourly chiming of the church bells. I use no callendar but I'm aware of bits of conversation that tell of a change coming. One fellow from a farm up the road told me today, "I'll be seeing you on Monday because I'm coming to your finca to use the phone. You know, to call home for Christmas and all ..." So Monday is Christmas ... or Christmas Eve? And what day is it today, anyway? Well, I can say for certain that I hope you're enjoying your RIGHT NOW, whenever that is.