I've been bad. Writing erratically, abusing the "this entry in progress" tag. All that and more. I intend to reform my slackish ways.
Meanwhile, I find myself amid the lush, nearly unearthly beauty of summertime northern Vermont. Whereas the background soundtrack in Madrid mostly has to do with traffic noise and people out in the street, here it's crickets, birdsong, the occasional vehicle passing out on the gravel road, 100, 150 feet away from the house. Madrid: big, active, sprawling out away from the city center, people everywhere, streets filled with human activity nearly 24 hours a day. Here: er... green mountains, critters, tranquility. Not many people, except in town, which doesn't sprawl away from its center as much as drift out along small roads, amid abundant greenery, occasional spectacular views.
Cultural contrasts abound, something I mostly encounter them when I go into Montpelier. The gym provides a strange concentration point of those differences, mostly in the people and their manner of interaction, and the music played on the in-house sound system (generally what gets called classic rock and big-hair metal).
Have been mighty selective in what little TV I've watched these last few days. No news, no primetime programming. DVDs, mostly (heavy on the Joss Whedon product). A little bit of LAW & ORDER, a little bit of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, maybe part of a film, part of something like The Daily Show. The little bit of the Eurocup soccer tournament that makes it over here -- spare, minimal coverage compared with what's available in Madrid. (*Sob!*) Yesterday morning at the gym, I found myself in a room with a flatscreen TV instead of music. All news, all the time, television types yelling IMPORTANT things at me about IMPORTANT people, IMPORTANT products. Obnoxious political ads -- blatantly dishonest, the yelling done with manipulative images and carefully chosen wording instead of volume. Reminding me all over again why I don't pollute the atmosphere at home with that stuff.
Blah blah blah.
Seen on the drive into town yesterday morning, along back roads:
-- In a field off a 4th class road: a doe and a fawn, a young doe by the look of her, though old enough to breed. The fawn vanished into long grass as my car approached. The doe stood and watched as I passed, alert, vigilant.
-- Three foxes, hanging out together in a small dirt road that branched off a gravel road I drove. After I passed, they moved carefully out into the gravel road to gaze after me.
-- Another doe, bigger than the first, taking off as I approached, crossing a long open field in strong, bounding leaps.
Madrid, te echo de menos.
rws 8:46 AM [+]
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