Sometimes, if I open the window and close my eyes, the intermittent gusts of wind in this narrow valley remind me of the ocean. Spring has certainly arrived at Valea Chintaului, and we are enjoying every moment of it. Every day the grass gets greener, filling in our view from the bedroom. As much as the brownness of winter was depressing, the greens, whites and pinks of the budding expanse at our feet is encouraging and uplifting. We lived in Silicon Valley for seven years, sure there were cold days (sort-of) and hot days, but nothing to the extent of watching a snowy and dead winter, gradually explode into the color and life of spring.
The birds are returning, and so is my childlike excitement in watching them, and recording their names in my little journal. Their songs provide the backdrop for our hikes.
The soil is rich here in the valley, and farming is popular, whether it involves a tractor or a horse to plow, or just a small plot in your backyard. Almost everyone is out these days, planting and tending. Yet another smell the wind carries past us on its way to the city. Even some of the Riveranilor have rented plots nearby to tend. It’s not something that I ever really explored, or desired, but I’m beginning to see the attraction to it.
It rained last night, and probably will later today as well, but we’re sitting here on the couch with the balcony door open, letting in the current (we’re not That Romanian yet…) enjoying our coffee and feeling the gusts of wind carry through the room over our feet. Nobody is on the road, and fewer have even gotten out of bed. It’s a rare time of day to enjoy, in this peace. It’s the serenity of times like these that I can’t imagine staying where we were.
It seems the more time I have to sit and think, the more this place sinks in to me.