Offical Springtime today

We went to the quinta on Sunday since Monday was a national holiday; all the orange trees are in bloom and the air is redolent with the fragrance of the flowers.  Birds sang, roosters crowed, sheep baaahed, horses neighed, and insects buzzed.  Even our favorite toads were out after the sun went down.

Just so this doesn't seem like some kind of earthly paradise--it almost is--we came back with mosquito bites bigger than anything in the whole history of blood.  The danged insects could only be heard as they buzzed around our ears deep in the night, but by then it was too late.  I'm surprised we didn't find them in the morning, the size of sparrows, staggering around on the floor filled with several liters of blood--our blood.

They shouldn't have been in the house, but there is no way to guard against them during the moments of carelessness when a door is left open--this is what happened, too, as we hauled in the books I mentioned on my last post.  We have the Asian mosquitoes, that bite during the day, and the familiar variety, that attack you at night.  We spend small fortunes on insect repellent, including what we get for the horses. 

A great wind is blowing outside on this first day of spring, which means we are having a change in the weather.  The plants in my garden are sprouting--peas and squash for the moment.  I love springtime--it's one of the two times a year you can actually sit outdoors comfortably, as long as you have mosquito netting...