Editing and hiking. :-)

Song of the day: “Democracy is coming” by Leonard Cohen. It’s an oldie, really. I grew up with Cohen so those lyrics will probably stick with me ‘till the end of time.

Feeling dreadfully lazy this morning, and more than a little too comfortable, I oversleep a solid forty minutes and take my time stretching and yawning before finally getting out of bed. I know that there were dreams, I was rather enjoying one while dozing, but regretfully the details slip from my mind by the time I go through the morning rituals and make my way down to the house.

The day starts up with pleasant sunshine and fresh air, which makes me hopeful of the intended hike, later today when we bring our bimonthly visitor home. We just might be in time to explore some of the nature preserve located some odd miles out of Marbella; it will be quite a trip to get there, sure, but also worth our while in the end.

First, there are the morning chores, breakfast and the read-through edit. I’m actually looking forward to this read through, now that the hard stuff is over, and as we make our way through the prologue and first chapter we are positively thrilled with the progress that was made during the rewrite. Only some typos and some tiny punctuation issues pop up in those first fifteen pages, so when it’s time to depart I’m in a cheery mood, to say the least.

During the drive, two separate conversations are held-loudly-and the trip is halfway through before we know it. Our guest gets dropped off at home and we (both sisters) head for the preserve. First place we hit is a small and very rustic hotel, located in the center of the preserve. What with the heat, we have a hankering for a cool drink followed up by a rare ice cream. Hah.

There are trees everywhere, and for the first time since living in this particular area of Spain I gaze upon a forest of chestnut trees.
I knew they were around somewhere…in autumn they are considered a treat ‘round here…and now the mystery is solved. It is rather beautiful to behold, after being used to pine woods, or cork oaks. The bright green is a rare thing around these parts that’s a fact.

We have only little time for the hike and considering that it is rather hot-summer’s definitely very near-we don’t actually mind. Some pictures get snapped, one mountain gets climbed and then we’re back in the car starting on our way home. Land inward (due to road constructions we have to swerve away from the sea quite a bit) the air is dry and feels like a hair blower hitting our faces full force. And to imagine that this will only get worse during the summer, hah.

Once at home, the tasks that have been planned these past few weeks, for when summer hits, are set into motion. What with the transferal of the washing machine to the courtyard, the pantry has been fully transformed for storage. For this a large closet was placed inside and a new rack put together.

The old closet misses the top, and since the old shelves that used to stand there, have suffered greatly from a large number of floods during winter, I decide to saw off the damaged part so it will fit on the bare top. Considering the shelving is narrower, I use the remainder of the cut off section to close up the rest of the closet, and nod my approval at the knowledge that a lot will fit now that storage is aplenty.

Bottles of soda, boxes of cleaning detergent and several boxes with a collection of chemical aids, soon fill up the new shelves, creating a rather pretty and organized atmosphere. What with the old door that we transformed into a window recently, the place is finally rat free, while allowing for ventilation through the grilled parts of the window.

That done it is time to head out for more rocks. I know, I already said that we were going to stop with that for a bit, but considering the wall that will need to be made come fall, we need to have many, many more. Due to shifting ground, there is a narrow break forming along the bottom of our enclosed veranda (a big cactus below it died last year, so we think that this is the cause) and to rectify the structural error we decided that some serious fortification. It will be a lot of work, sure, but since it is inevitable-and part of a long forgotten plan-it’s just the way things are; no sense complaining about it.

Anyways, we decide to try a different section of the road under construction this time…it’s ridiculous what they are doing, really. Here we have three tiny little villages, and they go and spend around 15 million Euros on putting down an actual highway between them. And for what? The hundred cars or so that cross there in a year? Nice to see how hard-earned tax money is being use. Hah.

We find a rather good load today, with many places to get more in the near future, so that is definitely good news for us. It takes only about an hour to drive there, load up and return home and after the rocks have been unloaded, we head inside to attempt another quick edit…for the synopsis this time.

This one too, is looking rather good at the moment, and while working on it, rearranging a sentence or two we’re discussing the variety of options that lay ahead. For sending the story to on particular publisher we might chose to go with the title change, making it “Broken” (it’s a romance publishers nonetheless) while with several others we’ll stick with the familiar “Saving Nina” just because that is the title that suits best after all. Hah.

There is a little mishap with Knight II (the elephant in disguise, hah) who decided to start a fight with Koefnoen, one of little brother’s dogs, and bit me in the shoulder instead. Bloody idiot! He’s just so hapless ones he gets excited.

So, with that the day has come to an end. The night is mild and pleasant, and I feel nicely tired. Can’t wait to get some shuteye. Hah.