A Gift from the Clouds

Water, water, everywhere. It´s in us, in our food, our air, and completely essential to the manifestation of life. So simple, and so important. It is often used to represent our emotions; it can be calm and reflective, or turbulent and agressive. A heavy rain can bring either disaster or the most beautiful blessing. Right now it is the latter. It´s so different because in Canada, rain comes often and is usually something that inhibits activity; ¨The picnic is cancelled, it´s raining.¨

Here in the Canaries it is so precious, so joyful when the sky gives an offering of rain to the plants and the animals. The thick layer of dusy covering the houses, leaves, and animals is washed away, and the plants swell with greenery. Roser and Alfredo have built some kind of system, which recyles the water that goes down the sink drains and from the washing machine, to be put into permanent hose systems, which water the plants overnight, and to be used from the hoses. Water, ye precious commodity.

It seems that lately in life, the big lesson for me, the big thing to learn and to adopt, is moderation. It is very interesting, this idea of rain. At the same time that it is such a blessing here, too much is always a bad thing. The Barranco, this area was are in, is like a long crack, a valley between two tall and steep mountain ranges. The valley area is only the width of a road in most places, so all the houses are on the mountainsides. And when the rains come, there is always a danger of a river washing through the Barranco, flooding away the cars and sheds parked along the valley.

Over the past two days I have worked hard, my project being to dig up this tremendously overgrown garden that was planted with tall pots into the soil... there were about 50 of such pots, grown over by vines, grass, and a few trees taller than I was. At first it seemed so futile, literally scratching at the earth with a pronged tool, but soon I was deep into the soil, and I have been covered in it since yesterday morning. It was satisfying. I thought a lot about life and truth, and my mind has cleared, just as I have cleared this little patch of land on such a big earth, ready to be filled with some seed and growth.

Also worth mentioning is a dance group I attended with Roser, they practise traditional Canarian, Macedonian, and all kinds of folk dance. I didn´t understand the words, but I learned the steps... I love dancing, I really do.
¨Dancing is what to do,
Dancin´s is when I think of you.
Dancin´s what clears my soul,
Dancin´s what makes me whole¨
-Dancing, by Aaron Smith (feat. Luvli)