The Pyrenees VII

Castle walls lit golden against violet hills.  Brambles grew in every direction and blocked our way home.  Princesses lost in a darkening wood.

The Pyrenees VI

A chorus of jingle bells exploded over the hillside. We braced ourselves, expecting dancing bears, or herded sheep. The beast exploded out of pine and privet. It’s weapon drooled, leaving a trail. A slug trail, dripping on grass like dew, as it hunted its master’s meal.

The Pyrenees V

We purchased warm baguettes. Steam rising from crusty exteriors. Using the bread like a rusty sword we fought off the demons that had gnawed our insides raw.

The Pyrenees IV

Half shrouded in dappled sunlight, half in blue mist. I lay in dead leaves and inhaled a breath of fungal spores. Musty and earthen. Humus destroyed hubris and let me just be.

The Pyrenees III

Huddled under blankets in a 30 degree hotel room. Breath freezing with every exhale. I looked through pale curtains at a palm tree. How did it survive these temperatures while I struggled, shivering, to drag myself into the day.

The Pyrenees II

Hand-knit atrocities. Screaming at me from wooden racks. Sweaters in their crocheted reveries, longing to keep the wind off of someone’s back.

The Pyrenees I

The daylight began. Melting dewdrops, setting them loose in the morning fog. We climbed on mossy ground. On sponges and stone.

Monaco VI

I learned how to ice fish from a miniature sailor. He wore sheep’s wool and torn rubber boots. The heat reached seventy degrees, but we managed anyhow.

Monaco V

Even the seagulls here have modeling contracts. I paid him in change and gold plated gum wrappers.

Monaco IV

We were children in a candy store. Eye candy. Bite size fish in technicolor. Swimming in our retinas. Reminding us of forgotten dreams.