Secret forest: September 2010

One Last Push

>> Wednesday, 29 September 2010

It's holiday in my city today and there's a general strike throughout the country in protest of cuts in salaries. So I have plenty of time to write something on Wednesday for a change. Lately I have written very little on my blog and posted instead the photos I took during the summer. This is because I've been working on my novella on my free time, and now I'm almost done with it. I just need one last push... While labor unions protest on the streets next to the music bands celebrating Saint Michael's Day, let me post a brief excerpt of my story (translated from Catalan) as I've done several times before. It always helps me. Then I will go out.

She knew the young man who took her son back home every night. It was À., the scrap merchant. He looked at her puzzled. In her light sleeveless nightgown she seemed to him younger than she was. She didn’t want to talk to him, but came closer with a shiver. She said "I hear you every night and know your family". À.’s first reaction was to go back to the truck and run away. But he grabbed her by the arm and thought You don't know what’s going on and said "If you ever speak to me again I will tell your son". In front of him, she still resembled a girl. He thought it was because her nightgown, or that time of night, or the loose hair over her shoulders. She did not want to be so close to that young man with a street smell on him. She thought Tell me why my son is drunk and you’re not and said "My son is at home and that’s enough". À. agreed. For now. He returned to the truck. She saw something glittering on the front passenger seat. The truck went down the road.

Other random excerpts of my novella can be found under the label "my book".

Grass And Stars

>> Sunday, 26 September 2010

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.
WALT WHITMAN

Bleu d'Été

>> Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Saint Jean de Luz, South-West of France, August 2010.

Visit more Wordless Wednesdays participants.

Nature's Way

>> Sunday, 19 September 2010

If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is Nature's way.
ARISTOTLE, Nichomachean Ethics

Trees near the Irabia reservoir in Selva de Irati, Northern Navarre.

I have never been interested in taking photos until I started to keep a blog. I love photoblogs, that's why on my last trip to Navarre and France I tried to make as many photos as I could. It was my first serious attempt! Today I'm posting some more Selva de Irati shots, following my first post on Irati trees.

I, Too, Am A Tree

>> Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Visit more Wordless Wednesdays participants.

Southern France: Saint Jean Pied de Port

>> Sunday, 12 September 2010

Old bridge over river Nive.

Geraniums on houses. Photos taken by me on August 2010.

For further info about this town you can visit this site.

September 11 Has Always Been A Bad Day

>> Saturday, 11 September 2010

You won't believe it. Today, September 11, is the Catalan National Day, the Diada. Yes, like the 4th of July in the USA or the Bastille Day in France. I know: it needs an explanation.

Let's go back to 1700. That year, Charles II, the last Spanish king of the House of Habsburg, died without issue, and left his possessions to a Bourbon, Phillip, the grandson of his half-sister and king Louis XIV of France. Since Phillip V of Spain was in the line of succession of the French throne, many countries allied to oppose a possible Spanish-French empire controlled by Louis XIV. Catalonia, Great Britain, and even something called the Holy Roman Empire were among the opposers. They favoured Archduke Charles, member of the House of Habsburg, who declared himself king of Spain. And so started the War of the Spanish Succession.

Now we can jump to 1714. The war concluded with two treaties by which Phillip remained king of Spain but was barred from the French line of succession to prevent the union of the two kingdoms.

Catalans were left alone by their mighty allies claiming Archduke Charles to the throne. On September 11 1714, took place the Siege of Barcelona, and Catalans were defeated. As a punishment for our rebellion, our rights and institutions were abolished, our language banished, and... well, the same as the dictator Franco did to us again two centuries later after the Spanish Civil War (because we were still there, much to Phillip V's regret).

September 11 1714 by A. Estruch (l.). Phillip V's portrait hung upside down in Xàtiva Museum (r.).

September 11 was proclamed our National Day in 1980, when our government was restored with the advent of democracy. Between the two wars I've mentioned here, we regained our rights in short periods of time, and we even proclaimed the Catalan Republic. But our longest period of peace have been the last thirty years. In a day like this, we peacefully commemorate our greatest defeat, and we put our flag on balconies, organize collective meals, lie wreaths for the fallen, enjoy our holiday, and we wish each other a happy September 11... Although this makes us look again, like back in 1714, the weirdest and loneliest guys on earth!

Now you can figure out what we Catalans thought on 9/11 2001.

Try Another Way

>> Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Navarre, August 2010.

Visit more Wordless Wednesdays participants.

The Woods Are Lovely, Dark And Deep

>> Saturday, 4 September 2010

A few days after i took these photos at the border between France and Spain in the Western Pyrenees I read on the net a poem by Robert Frost that speaks of a riding man who stops by woods to watch them, and lingers so long that his little horse shakes his harness bells "to ask if there is some mistake". I thought that, in some way, it could accompany well these images.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
ROBERT FROST, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (fragment)

You can click on the above link to read the full poem, and also take a look at these short essays on "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", I read the first ones and I enjoyed them a lot.