Weather Report

It's kind of dull to talk about the weather, no “if”s “and”s or “but”s about it. But I am having a very difficult time letting go of summer this year for some strange reason. I never had this problem in Seattle where the summers are very short and not very hot. I was always ready for the change in seasons which usually happened around the end of September. I have been lamenting the end of summer well before summer has even officially ended this year. I remember back in late August when the really hot weather came to a rather abrupt end and almost overnight it cooled down a few degrees. I really liked those hot, hot days. Don't get me wrong, I was bitching about the heat along with everyone else, but I knew that when the temperature had reached its apex then it was only a matter of time before I would be forced to turn on a bit of hot water with my showers. After that comes wearing long pants, and eventually I would need to start wearing shoes again.

I have yet to wear shoes, even when I cycle I still wear flip-flops. I don't think that my feet are going to like being shod again. I have only worn long pants on one occasion thus far. We had about a week and a half of rain and crappy weather there in late September but now it is sunny again and summer is still showing some vital signs. I rode to the beach yesterday without a shirt. There was barely a soul along the entire route. People here just stop going to the beach as soon as they go back to work after summer vacations. Even if the weather is spectacular on weekends, most folks don't think about going to the beach. I can never get enough of it. It is also the best bike ride in my repertoire.

I know the beach ride so well that I could probably tell you what season we are in just by the smells that I happen upon while riding past the dunes and under the shade of the sea pines. Autumn is a time when everything is coming back to life along the beach after the scorching dry season. After almost two weeks of heavy rain the canes are trying to take over sections of the bike path. The wild flowers in the dunes are gradually springing back to life. The beach itself is purging itself of a summer's worth of hard abuse from the thousands of bathers that covered every square inch of sand for three months. Now there is barely a footprint to be found along long stretches of not-very-remote areas.

The short cold snap we went through completely changed my energy level, for the worse. I missed about five days of riding because of the rain. My blood seemed to get thicker and just slowed...way...down. My turtle has also noticed the change. I don't know if it is because of his new tank or the cooler weather but he doesn't eat much these days. He also seems to be reverting to some sort of crazy migration instinct because he swims his little ass off 24 hours a day. It wears me out just watching him. Trying to regain my own inertia was rough but I think I am back to almost normal training...normal summer training.

I took the picture from the patio of my friends' home out in the countryside. We spent almost an entire day just sitting out there watching a huge thunder storm roll in from over the mountains. We had all gone out the night before in the little village of Catadau until early the next morning. The next day I made lunch for all of us. Yo can always count on Spanish people to have the ingredients for a tortilla de patatas—a great hangover food, by the way. So we stayed out on the patio under the roof and watched the storm while eating the tortilla, a Caprese salad, olives, and a bit of wine. We were getting a little wet but you have to enjoy these outdoor meals while you can. Summer doesn't last forever here. What a shame.