Incomplete By Design

Yesterday I took down the shade sail that has for the last few months provided our kitchen patio welcome respite from the Algarve's endless summer sunshine. Although the installation and removal of our canvas canopy is an annual event, I am still amazed when suddenly I regain the ability, upon exiting the kitchen, to see the sky, the vapour trail of planes still conveying visitors to and fro from Faro and stars, the amazing amount of stars visible in an Algarve sky when there are no streetlights within hundreds of metres.

The return into the light is both physical and symbolic. Just as the physical barrier between ourselves and the firmament has now been removed, our personal, invisible ceiling on how we plan our time and what tasks and activities we feel comfortable in taking on has likewise disolved. Unlike the summer, when remedial work is routinely postponed so as not to conflict with the need to socialise, to be accommodating toward friends & visitors, there is now nothing stopping me, no restrictions.

Except, of course, my penchant toward laziness!