Going native

Easter Sunday In LaMancha

When I was a girl growing up in New England, Easter Sunday was a big church day.  Easter bonnets and gloves were still worn, and I remember always having a new Easter dress to wear with a matching spring coat and shoes.  The church service was always longer than usual, but special treats served at coffee hour in the parish hall made it all worthwhile.

Here in Spain, Easter Sunday is preceeded by Holy Week events that begin on Palm Sunday.  There are processions through the streets, late-night masses and activities for the children.  By the time Easter Sunday rolls around, people seem overspent by the whole affair, and the festivities are much more relaxed.

In our town, after mass we all head down to the reservoir.  Friends get together in groups to have a picnic and spend the day enjoying nature.  Our group of friends traditionally prepare a paella for lunch, followed by a barbecue in the evening.  Children are not allowed near the reservoir but enjoy themselves immensely by playing in the streams that feed into the lake, catching small fish and pollywogs with their hands.  Extra pairs of pants, shoes and socks are a must!

Hard times call for drastic measures: instead of shellfish, this year's rice was chicken and veg.

Is your mouth watering, yet?

This Easter, we enjoyed perfect picnic weather: not windy at all, and not a cloud in the sky.  After recent rains and the sun we had last week, the fields were abloom with the tiniest of wildflowers.

               

The lavender is starting to bloom, often in the most impossible of places.

After lunch, it's time for a long walk around the lake.

 This little village is proud of its beautiful countryside.

Our house is down where the reservoir starts to narrow.

 So, if you stop by on Easter Sunday and we're not home, you can find us down by the reservoir in the shade of an old oak tree.  Bring your appetite! 

Spanish lavender and wildflowers

May is the time for Spanish lavender to bloom (lavandula stoechas), but you have to know where to look for it.  It loves growing near rocks, on rocky slopes, or even in the cracks of rock formations themselves.  It can survive in the poorest soil imaginable, and thrive!

  Here is lavandula stoechas in its natural habitat on a craggy incline behind our property.  The tall grasses are esparto, which are used in basket-weaving and to make the soles of espadrilles. 

Here is a plant next to a dirt road that seems to have been pruned into a topiary shape

by passing off-road vehicles.

 

 

Don't these little guys remind you of the Easter Bunny?

 

 

The first (and smallest) of the Spanish thistles are in bloom.

 

      

And just when you think that all of LaMancha's wildflowers are purple...

 

 

... you look up to find yourself in a sea of yellow.

 

 



 

Bloom Day, April 2013

Apparently, on the 15th of each month, many gardening bloggers publish photos of what plants are in bloom in their gardens on that specific day, known as Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  While I do not consider myself strictly a garden blogger (more like a garden don't-I-wisher), I find it interesting to compare what's blooming here in La Mancha compared to, say, Texas or Sweden.

Here's what's happening in my garden today:

Lavandula stoechas   

Lavender is one of my favorite spring-time flowers because of it's color, shape, disease-resistance and scented leaves.  Today, however, the wild Spanish lavender is still not in bloom, but this garden-center variety is really spectacular.  I love the transparency of the upper crown of petals.

 

Daffodils

 

The daffodils are doing very well this year since we've had so much rain.  I have no idea what varieties these are, but the ones in the bottom photo are minis.  You can see they are smaller than a salvia bud.

 

   My pear tree.  I planted this 7 years ago and we've only gotten 3 pears out of it.  Our hot summer winds seem to dry the fruit up, but I don't have the heart to cut it down... yet.   

Durillo

 

Remember the raspberry-pink buds on the Tinus?  Well, now they've open to tiny white flowers.

 

 





       

On the kitchen porch, there's a mixed pot with snapdragons and purple freesia in bloom.

 

 

 Brassica napus and Anchusa

... and the rest of my garden is run amuck with, um, wildflowers.

 

Happy Easter!

 

  

Although it is not a Spanish tradition, my kids paint Easter eggs every year, and the Easter Bunny somehow does manage to find us.

 

Did you know that the word Hispania, which is what the Romans called Spain, is derived from a Phoenician word meaning "land of rabbits".  In La Mancha, they're everywhere!

They keep Luna entertained, but she's afraid to go after them because they're as big as she is!

 

My garden is slowly awakening.  Luckily, the rabbits don't like eating daffodils....

 

 

 ...nor do they care for iris.

 

The rabbits are also completely oblivious to weeds (I mean, wildflowers).

 

 

Most likely, many of you back home will be having a ham for Easter dinner.  Here in this little corner of pork-loving Spain, we usually have a cookout down by the reservoir...

  with seafood paella for 50 people!

 

 

 Happy Easter!