April Showers, May flowers and Pilgrims

April showers bring May flowers...

And what do Mayflowers bring?

Pilgrims! 

The last week in April, after a straight 31 days with no precipitation of any kind and record high temperatures for the season, we got rain.  Not much, but it was damp for a few days anyway.  The fields were already browning mid-April, so I'm not sure about the promised flowers in May.  In my patio at least the flowers have taken a beating, but not for lack of water.

Don't worry, there are still plenty of blossoms.  My roses are budding out and a few are blooming.  My California poppies have been at it for about a month now and I've got bushes of daisies.  But there is one bed in my patio that I've been thinking about replanting for some time.  It was full of calla lillies, which are beautiful, but only have flowers for a month or two and then their huge green leaves seem to weigh down those crispy stalks and rather than a nice neat bed of plants, it becomes a tangled jungle of green-going to yellow.  Then in September-October, we've got to cut back all the dead (now completely brown) leftovers and the bed is completely "empty" until around January when little shoots start coming up again.

Such is the life of a bulb, I suppose, but it just seemed a waste of space in my opinion, so last weekend I went to town and ripped out the whole bed.  Those of you who garden will be pleased to know that I gave the bulbs to my neighbor who has a beautiful flower garden outside her house.  She was very happy and my conscious was clear--it wasn't outright "plant"icide.

I have since added new soil and planted six little tomato plants. :)  For some time now I have been wanting to plant veggies.  Having such a big patio in a place with such a looooong growing season (provided you have a sprinkler and some shade, that is!), it seemed a pitty not to take advantage and grow some good vegetables.  Now that I've got my 'mayters, I'm thinking of going really crazy and planting some peppers and maybe eggplant, too, in some of the pots that are currenly inhabited by ailing flowers.  I'm looking forward to homegrown gazpacho!

May flowers also come in other forms in La Roda, namely in bouquets.  This weekend is the romería, pilgrimage for Saint Pancras and we have purchased a flower offering for him.  As you might remember, he's the patron saint of work, health, youth and bread...a good guy to give flowers to, if you ask me.  Tomorrow we'll accompany him from the church out into the countryside and up to his chappel.  Emily and I will be getting dressed up in our flamenco garb for the occasion so I promise some pictures later.

Tonight is the pre-pilgrimage party...but in typical Spanish style it didn't begin until 10 pm and as much as you all may think I'm raising a wild child with total disregard for what could reasonably be called a "normal" schedule, she does in fact have a bed time (around 10:30ish) and so we had to skip the party.  I was tempted to make an exception and take her out anyway, but tomorrow we'll be getting up early to go with "Pantancasio" (how Emily says, San Pancracio) and so she wouldn't be able to sleep in, nor will she get a nap tomorrow since we'll be out in olives all day picnicking and merry-making.  So you see, I am in fact a responsible mother...just leaning a bit more towards a Spanish definition, rather than an American one in this respect. ;)

¡Viva San Pancracio!