I’ve borrowed my title from a 1915 war poem by Julian Grenfell (1888-1915), called Into Battle. For some time, I’ve been aiming to write about my (daily) gratitude for the colours, the light, and the warmth. That line in Julian Grenfell’s poem captures my meaning well. Without our sun, there is no life.
My interest in this topic may well be the result of the dark days before Christmas. The good news is that it’s less than 50 days until the new year. Healthline: “Decreased sun exposure has been associated with a drop in your serotonin levels, which can lead to major depression with seasonal pattern.”
For some days, I’ve been researching spending the winter in southern Italy or Sicily (eg, my 2017 blog). Unfortunately, Italy has little winter sun vacation supply because consumer demand is (very) low. Apparently, one must go to Spain for a proper winter sun. Essentially, Spain is Europe’s Florida.
I’m considering visiting Córdoba; once the capital of Islamic Spain (711-1492). That period is also known as the Reconquista: “the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492″.
That visit will also (finally) allow me to visit the city of León (29 BC – today), “the capital of the Kingdom of León, which took active part in the Reconquista against the Moors, and came to be one of the fundamental kingdoms of medieval Spain.” History and architecture will bring me to Spain; not its beaches.
“The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or self-defined people. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica observed that the term had “no real ethnological value.” “
Excerpt from Wikipedia
I’m writing this while looking outside into the plane tree in front of my house, and the sunny, blue sky behind it. Today, there’s enough sunlight for my writing and no need for artificial electric light.
I’m happy and satisfied and grateful.
The naked earth is warm with Spring,
Excerpt of 1915 poem Into Battle by Julian Grenfell (1888-1915)
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun’s gaze glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze;
And life is Colour and Warmth and Light,
Solace of You (1990) by Living Colour
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Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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