Alles für den Laden!

my goal to cross the ocean evaporaded like the morning mist.  i was lying on a forest floor in france when i realised that i didn't want any more of my life to pass without seeing jenny again.  she was going to come to germany then she stayed in the cave and it was me who went to the cave.  the ferry from huelva arrived in santa cruz de tenerife in the middle of the night.  a young man i met on the ferry gave me a lift to the south and from there i continued walking through the night, getting to the cave just after the sun came up - so happy to see the coast again and the volcanic rocks and the cacti.  jenny was sleeping on the matress inside. she didn't even stir when i came through the cave door, nor did her dog chiqui give a cheep - although it had been coming on two years since i was last here.  i lay on the bed next to her and smiled at her sleeping face for a while then she opened her eyes slowly and saw my eyes and both of us smiled together it was so romantic.  the paradise of living in the cave again takes us often by surprise.  how can what otherwise would be described as a dreamworld actually be our reality?  i wanted to paint welcome to paradise outside the cave, but haven't got round to it, having recommenced the painting of the interior of the cave, and all the endless ideas we have for erecting a big bamboo cane roof over the patio and raising the kitchen roof and perhaps even setting up a little coffee or pancake stand at the side of the rocky barranco where the path goes by and there is a good view of the bay and the sea.   day by day we see more and more coastal hikers passing by and often they stop there to admire the view and take a photo.  we think some have even called "coffee?" to us down at the cave. julian - our neighbour who constructed a palm leaf dwelling up the hill from us - was very enthusiastic about our little shop idea.  for a while "alles für den laden!" became our catchy phrase whenever in the nearby village el puertito we found nice cushions and a sunshade being thrown out or had any idea pertaining to the laden.  i even wrote "alles für den laden!" on our chalkboard, which previously bore philosophical slogans of jenifer's like "es ist wie es ist" or "Jeder Jeck ist anders" i realised that alles für den laden had come to mean for us something like "Alles für das Leben!"  a resounding cry of enthusiasm for everything that we did or dreamed about doing.

paradise is in the head - jenifer knows that as much as i do.
we are doing our best.  we are still talking about getting hens sometime - getting real young ones and letting them get used to our voices and then they'll come to us when we call.