Late sunshine in Spain

I broke my camera on arrival at Cortijo Romero, ~perhaps overawed by the superb suite plus secluded garden with palms and pool allocated for my stay~ and using my mobile meant I took fewer photos than usual. I did grab some highlights, like our day trek high in the mountains foraging fruit and messing about with mulberries, and the trip into Orgiva on market day, but the real highlight was actually the group itself - both groups in fact, yogis and writers mingling indistinguishably at meals and free times. And I totally loved the sessions with my 'Self Expression through Writing' group, who were all supportive, responsive, exploring creatively and finding superb responses to share.

As Ted Hughes said: The progress of any writer is marked by those moments when he manages to outwit his own inner police system ~ and there was much successful outwitting this week. Oonagh Corrigan summed up beautifully in a last-day haiku, quoted here with permission:
No blame intended
when I speak of one who stood 
most in my way: Me.

Add into the mix the constants of Cortijo Romero ~ friendly staff and great meals, jasmine and starlight, dancing and song, those mesmeric mountains with contours shifting subtly as sun slowly fades from the dazzling sky... ~ and you can see why so many visitors return.

A change of pace at the end of the week: a small posse of our group found our late flights back from Malaga offered a chance to scamper into the old town to visit the Roman amphitheatre and the Picasso Museum, so I'll end with a quote from that Spanish genius which is as true for theatre as for art:
You have to wake people up. You've got to create images they won't accept. Force them to understand they're living in a very strange world - a world that is not soothing, a world that is not as they think.
... A painting - any painting - should bristle with razor blades.