Blue Paper Boats

One of the days in La Manga was especially fun.
Despite the fact it started a little slow with four hours of wandering around the house half-starved to death, it all started looking up when Little Doggy arrived home, calling out in Japanese, “I’m home!” to which I replied “Welcome back!”
As she saw me, leaning towards the oven in a little blue skirt, she laughed and happily pointed out how I looked like a wife at work, and said that the funny image made her day.

We went to the beach after lunch, where we spent most of the day. Firstly communing again with the sea, in which we caught waves whilst I said very truthfully, ‘being in the sea makes me want to purr,” which Little Doggy proclaimed the strange phrase of the day.

(Mira Lola, me estoy mojando)

We saw a giant fish surfing and as Little Doggy left to take a nap I stayed, floating easily even though the waves were a little rough by putting the back of my head towards them, tilting and swaying under the blue sky like a boat, peering at the clouds in the distance.
There was a wonderful moment underwater when the sea was pushing me towards the shore and I was swimming deeper in and as I closed my eyes is seemed as if I were moving but going nowhere at all. As if I were suspended, caught in a dream, and, strangely and confusingly I thought ‘Take me with you. No, don’t steal me. No, take me with you,’ And it was especially strange because I really meant it.
We had a little adventure after lying in the sun listening to music for a while as we took a walk with my camera and I photographed whatever we found was interesting, the best of which were two boys sitting crossed legged with even their hands posed in the meditating position and a ball of sand on each of their heads. The Zen Kids. Also, a large man lounging in a hole he had made, who we later found out was their father and looked like a big tanuki.
The day was absolutely filled with bursts of laughter between me and Little Doggy which would scare anyone looking at us, and was topped off with the delicious meal in a Chinese restaurant with an orgasmic fried-ice cream dessert which caused a very...interesting conversation.

Once back in the farm my other cousins, my brother, his friends and I went to another beach which was also loads of fun. At the end I took loads of photographs which turned out great. I may even do another only-photographic post for you guys :3 Some of the other days were a little more turbulent as I seemed to somehow always get hurt/sick but it was always the consequence of having too much fun.

Then there was the Jazz concert, which was amazing. We started on the seats, and technically should have stayed there as it was a sort of stadium/auditorium, but a hippy girl started dancing at the base of the stage and more people went down and in the end the two of my cousins and I that had gone to the concert were dancing to the sound of the low, amazing voices, the great instruments, the mind-blowing combinations. Even a cricket joined the fray, scuttling around in the stage, painted in the blue lights. We laughed and I loved the expressions we could see up close, the way the second jazz singer imitated the guitar with his voice, the way the bassist danced. There was a point when a video cameraman pointed his camera at us and I grinned widely and did the peace sign and I saw him laugh as I turned back to dancing. At the end my feet were killing me but we all had an ear-to-ear grin on our faces.

Despite all the good stuff that’s happening, though, the best thing about this place is that I’ve always got something to look forward to. Go Karts, beach escapades, shopping in the stands, clubbing, cinema, dining out, great walks, and even the lazy days are worth mentioning.
Aaaah, good old summer. What would I do without you?

the easiest place

It’s kind of amazing how much I just fit here. I slip into this style of life as if I had never left. Doing things that link directly to every other summer and making it feel so much like home, I don’t know what else to call it. Made up of little moments that are testimony of why this is the best place on Earth.

Mermaids
As always, as soon as I got the farm, after all the crushing hugs and shouts of greeting and peals of laughter, we threw ourselves into the pool even though it was one in the morning. We attempted to play volleyball which is more like we divided into two on either side of the pool and failed miserably at throwing the ball at each other. Little Doggy’s throw was especially spectacular, explained by the fact that she closed her eyes every time the ball neared her.

Oldschool
We spend the few hours after lunch and the late evening in ‘Club Nintendo’ where we are glued to the computer or connected to the Wii, racing in Mario Kart or battling it out in Super Smash Brothers (Brawl), laughing our heads off as we pause the game and look at our characters frozen in the funniest positions and expressions. It’s especially cool because it isn’t just us kids (that’s what we are, always) but also our uncle ‘El Tato’ who’s porch guards the Nintendo room and is as infantile and fun as any of us.

The Dark Room
I think I would love the process of revealing photographs, because I have far too many good memories in dark rooms. In the farm we have a particular tradition.
Usually its starts with Big Doggy and my brother ‘jamming’, her on the bass, him on the guitar, as we giggle at their songs or lay on the bed listening to them play along to things like System of a Down and Greenday and Kill Bill and Blink. As they run out of songs we turn out the lights- I’m never really sure how it even happens, but at the end of it it’s dark, sight useless in that world- and we are pressed together on the bed, listening to music. To songs that will reach us, that will dig deep inside and silence us and make us farther united, if that’s possible. Pidgeon said ‘We are so close...’ and it’s so true.

Ockham’s razor
Surprisingly, it ins’t t all sunshine and heat over here. It was cloudy and I was pissed off with the sky for betraying me, but it was made worth it. Partly because of the sunsets. The large clouds made the sky a spectacle; letting the sunrays through so that the blue was streaked with beams of light like a photoshopped picture. I took a walk with one of my cousins to pick flowers in one of the greenhouses and couldn’t stop staring above.
And then there was last night, which was amazing. It was dark and overhead it was saturated with clouds but there was thunder in the air, lighting up pieces up of the sky. My mouth opened and eyes widened as flashes flickered the world white and visible and then turned the lights out. I took my MP3 and sat on a swing, one of those long-limbed ones that hang from massive trees, and listened to my songs as it started to rain. Not the measly Jersey rain, but summer rain. Thick and sudden and soaking me through in mere seconds. The wind was making everything sway, even me, and veins of light were appearing in the clouds in tempo with the flashes. Two of my cousins curled up in a hammock beside me and if it had been almost anybody else it would have bothered me, for them to interrupt that moment, when everything was crazy and alive and singing. But it didn’t, not even when my little cousin jumped around with a towel on his back saying ‘superman!!!’
I let myself shiver wetly, closing my eyes and the rain stream down on my face and the wind swing me and the music blare and it was perfect. It was as if we were part of something...not bigger than us, but at the same time as if it were everything there is in the simplest way.
Sometimes Ockham’s razor cuts things just right.

Over here I’m just me. Stripped down bare. The first night in the pool my mum attempted to start the game off my throwing the ball in the air and hitting it, but she missed ridiculously and we all burst out laughing and I laughed hard, the sound transforming into something from my stomach instead of just lungs so that I was cackling and all my cousins giggled, saying ‘the witch the witch!’ and it’s not that I’m less me anywhere else, or that I laugh less or have less fun in Jersey, but I realized in that moment that I hadn’t laughed like that in ages because, maybe there’s something in the air, in the trees, in the crickets and the frogs and the wind, but I can just let go here.
And it’s the best feeling ever.

On Sunday I’m off to La Manga and from Wednesday I’m living alone with Little Doggy for three weeks. I have no doubt we have many adventures in store for us and will keep you guys updated with my seasalt and laid-back world.

Always

See you all in a few weeks. I’m just a pond away,

and you all know how to swim.