a new quotidian

The first bird this morning, a gilded flicker in the palms by the little terrace where I will drink my coffee as soon as it’s made. It’s a world made new this morning. The light, the tumble of magenta and peach bougainvillea over the walls, the sound of the surf booming all night in my dreams. We stayed overnight in Vancouver on Tuesday in order to make our early flight to San Juan del Cabo and we rose in the dark. Mid-afternoon we were greeted by John’s cousin Peter and taken home, after picking up Sharon, to this paradise just south of Todos Santos. First things first. We went for a, well, not a swim, because the rollers were so wild and high, surfers riding the waves like a species not quite sea animal, not quite human. But we plunged in and the water was so wonderful. When it got dark, Orion appeared on his side right above us and when I woke in the night, briefly, and went out on the little balcony by my bedroom, the sky was pricked with a million stars. Today I want to walk the long sandy beach and swim and eat more of the shrimp we had last night after a (small) martini, the salad bright with cilantro. There’s a rooftop terrace where they’ve been watching whales.