Four trees and the river - 17 March 2011
Thursday, 17th March, 2011
Joy of Joys! The sun came out for 10 minutes after breakfast. I was standing in the kitchen and suddenly the whole valley lit up. But what excited me most was four trees, which thanks to perspective appeared to touch each other and in so doing provided a picture of the four seasons:
Winter - The Cypress
Spring – The Mimosa
Summer – The Palm
Autumn – The Olive
It is winter here, and I’m glad of it. We wanted to be introduced to the land sans frills. We take the road from the house, down, down around the many twists and turns until we come to the River Loup at the bottom of the gorge. The river is its own Tsunami today, swollen beyond itself by a week of torrential rains, the trees along its banks naked and hard-bitten, the water rushing to the Mediterranean as if it can hardly wait to get there. In fact, when you look up-river the water is the grey of the mountains, whereas looking down river, toward the sea, this same water takes on a hint of the turquoise to come. The sun comes out for the second time today and we are surrounded by a million illuminated beads of rain clinging to branches, twigs and moss: the moss a strident green that pulses with the urgency of spring.
