hands on

This familiar sight of my city to country transition has returned to me after just two days in the beautiful soils of Portugal.

It's official, I'm in heaven.

The sun is so strong here at midday that I literally have to go inside or in the shade for legitimate fear of sunstroke. I now know what it feels like to get burnt on my lower back just from my shirt blowing up with the breeze once in awhile. I'm drinking liters and liters of water and feel forever thirsty. My hands look like this (and that's after washing them). And I'm still, all over again, the new kid in town.

But today, completely filthy, having already invested hours clearing the rampant chocolate mint (among other things) from the mandala garden with a hand tool, I thought to myself: this is it, this is happiness to me.

Trust me when I tell you that it really is.