Some days

Some days are better than others. And some are downright magic. Admittedly we’ve had a good run of good days here in Catalonia :) This whole chapter of life is pretty shiny. And I’m here for it. I’ve had plenty of crap days in my life, even crap years. Even some decades I look back on and reflect with compassion “boy, I was a bit lost”. Which is OK. Welcome to Life.

And amid all these very, very good days, we just had one of those extra-special magic days. For me, being outside, with people I love, surrounded by beauty, kindness and views, yes views, are all ingredients to creating an extra-special day. The inspiration for the day came from a postcard of all things. Hazel and I found a quirky sports store in town that sells postcards. It’s one of those stores where the lights are low and things look like they haven’t moved in a long time. The postcards look like they were printed 20 years ago. We went back to buy more postcards expecting … well expecting that nothing would have changed. But in fact the storekeeper was much cheerier (maybe he was having an extra-special day!!) and the postcard selection had grown. Which was odd since the new ones also looked 20 years old. Regardless, I was thrilled to see more postcards. One caught my eye with a gorgeous scene and the words “El Quer Foradat”. Honestly I didn’t know if that was a thing (“the cheese factory”?) or a place or a Catalonian term of affection. All seemed possible. The storekeeper told me it was a village nearby.

Before I knew it, I was falling in love with El Quer Foradat just from the postcard and a bit of map gazing. Not entirely weird since I dream in maps. OK, that might be weird. IYKYK my fellow map lovers. Naturally I planned a hike that started and ended at El Quer Foradat. Planted the seed with the family and a few days later Justin is driving up the most amazing twisty mountain road going high into the Cadi mountain range. The road ends at El Quer Foradat. Breathtaking.

It was the family hike of my dreams. There was a summit, variety of terrain, forest, vast open spaces, be-still-my-heart kind of views, glorious light, had it all to ourselves, good-but-not-crushing mileage and elevation (though Hazel might protest on that description). The beauty!! The peace!! The companionship!!

The views!!

When we hike Hazel and I sing the camp song “the other day I met a bear” about 100x. Then we move onto “99 bottles”. Sometimes we throw in some multiplication tables. Doing math on the trail is up to her. On this hike after doing all of the above, she somehow convinced me to ask her questions that weren’t allowed to be deep or serious. OK, that just emptied my basket of questions fast, ha ha. But I dug deep and we had a hoot talking about Paris, Taylor Swift, skincare, and well, more skincare, and Barcelona. Interestingly any question about “you can bring x things” (to the moon or wherever) she would always include a person, usually a friend. And often her answers included acts of kindness towards others. That kid!! My favorite answer was if she could get a backyard pool in any shape … it would be the shape of Taylor Swift with Taylor Swift on all the tiles.

On the way home, the sun just crushed the sunset.

Then Justin cooked the best vegetables and chicken. He’s an incredible cook and I’m on the receiving end of this culinary greatness all the time :) but with my hunger dial on high, at the end of a magical day, I tell you that broccoli, asparagus and beans were seriously other worldly.

Cerdanya, oh my.

And, here’s a hike description in Justin’s (very good) words!! Preach!! Love it!!