Buzzing Bees, Chirping Crickets

Different weather in the valley.

Friends more experienced than us at living here have often mentioned the varying weather from valley to valley. If the weather is pants in the Jalón valley, try popping over the hills into the next one; it may be different. Today we experienced this localized weather effect.

The Jalón valley had a promising dawn; the mountain tops on the opposite side of the valley from us were once again visible after having been obscured for two days and there were sizable patches of blue. Out towards the coast still glowered, though. We drove over the hills behind us and headed towards Dénia with its interesting lighting shop in search of our last electrical fitments, two lights for the bathrooms. As soon as we crossed the high ground and descended into the next valley, the dark skies looked decidedly threatening.

An attack of sanity hit Francine in the lighting shop. There are some interesting “bathroom lighting solutions” available in the form of LED bar lights designed to clip on the top of mirrors. They range typically from 70€ to 100€ each and look quite stylish. On the verge of saying “sod it, let’s have them”, Francine spotted a notice on the box stating that the LEDs in these things could not be replaced. So, these stylish little “lighting solutions” are essentially 70€ to 100€ light bulbs – if/when they fail, throw them away and buy 70€ to 100€ replacements. In a fit of rational behaviour, we went for two 15€ clip-on fitments into which we could screw replaceable LED bulbs.

Rain began as we headed back with our new purchases. We climbed up the pass into our valley, descended and turned the corner at Alcalalí and there before us was Casa bathed in sunshine. Spirits lifted.

The critters spirits had lifted, too. After a couple of days of crap, I imagine some of the locals were getting a bit peckish. The Red Valerian on the hillside behind Casa was once again attracting the nectar feeders. There was a constant buzz of bees. On the larger side, two Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies were flitting about, one of which posed very advantageously for me. I did manage to snag a Hummingbird Hawkmoth (Macroglossum stellatarum), too, though it might’ve chosen to hover briefly in front of a background without two white diagonal streaks. Never happy, some photographers. 😉

The evening remained pleasant and, after darkness fell, I gazed from our balcony into the valley and noticed that a chirping sound of crickets was drifting up from the fields beneath. Now there’s a sound that evokes summer – soon, perhaps.