Delta party

Yesterday was too hot to do much, apart from walking into town for exercise in the afternoon. The beaches were crowded, and I took some photos of two lads practising tightrope walking on the edge of the beach. I sat in the shade to listen outside the Vinaros Escuela de la Musica. Inside a band rehearsal was taking place, definitely a beginners band. The two young lads were learning by doing, and that captured all my attention.

This morning, another visit to L'Ampolla Pitch and Putt club house for Robert and Gerda's party, a combined celebration of 65 years of marriage and Robert's 94th birthday. About twenty people were there to congratulate them, family, neighbours, church members. A buffet lunch was provided, with a wonderful array of cakes to follow. It was such a happy occasion, with a much loved couple. I felt privileged to be there with them, and asked to pray a blessing on the gathering.

At the end of the party, I had a couple of hours free. The club house is near one of the peripheral villages of the Delta de lEbre, so it was simply a matter of heading east through rice fields to reach the north facing sea shore, opposite L'Ampolla across the bay. The geographical configuration of the Delta is a complex testimony to the interplay of river, ocean, weather and terrain over millennia, so there more to explore than is at first obvious.

I ended up at the Restaurant Vascos, which sits at the conjunction of two beaches. Here, there are miles of open sand, and right behind a thin line of dunes are vast acres of rice paddies. I took only a few photos. In the heat of the day, there weren't too many birds around, only biting insects, so I paid a price for my little expedition.

Then I drove inland to El Perello and visited John again in his residencia. We talked about T S Eliot's poetry. He's running a poetry discussion group, and was puzzling over a particular image of a white horse, and wondering if there might be a biblical cross reference. I could only think of one in the Revelation to John, and as it turned out, when I checked, there are two. Both are symbols of the conqueror's status. In Revelation 6 it refers to the Antichrist and in chapter 19 refers to the ultimate victory of Christ. If I ever knew that consciously, it's not information I've ever had to use before. That's the marvellous thing about scripture. It contains so much, but not all of it has relevance and connects with one's experience at the same time.

  

Encanyissada

Today, my last assignments in this tour of locum duty. First, celebrating the Eucharist at L'Ampolla for a dozen people. I was delighted to find that in one of the south aisle side chapels, the altar was taken up with a Belen, composed entirely of paper figures, many made from toilet roll centres. A remarkable work of imaginative art, during catechism sessions by local parish workers, no doubt!

On my way home for lunch, I made a big diversion through Delta de l'Ebre returning to Els Muntells, where the car broke down on my first visit this time around, and then driving south along narrow roads through flooded rice fields to Poblenou del Delta, the remarkably modern designed township built as a social project during the time of the Generalissimo, now serving as a key tourist venue for the southern sector of the region. 

Outside the town is a huge lagoon, remarkable for its tall reed beds and wetland wildlife. There's a Natural Park visitor centre and restuarant at the heart of it, with several observation posts overlooking vast expanses of open water and reed beds, which have been enclosed for centuries and used for fish stocks as will as rice growing. The lagoon's name is 'Encanyissada', of Catalunyan origins, referring to the abundance of tall cane type reeds which flourish here.

What a treat to discover this on my last outing, on a beautiful afternoon, filled with glimpses of some remarkable birds, especially several kinds of heron I didn't know existed until I read the wildlife identification panels at the visitor centre, and mostly elusive to camera, as they startle so easily when you drive along. Still, I now know for the first time what a lapwing looks like. There were lots of them in one flooded field, and I even managed to get a close-up.

At the evening Eucharist in the Vinaros Fishermen's chapel, there were ten of us. With there being no priest available to celebrate the Nativity, and most people being away, it was important to finish on the right accent, so we sang a few Christmas carols after Communion, before making our farewells. 

Although there's only been Sunday service while I've been here this time, it's been quite busy in a way, as there's been a need to work with the lay worship leaders and Readers in training on developing their ministry as a team. Fortunately, this is something which I greatly enjoy, and willingly do. It's good to be able to re-cycle some of what I learned from my time tutoring at St Mike's.