Extraordinary

Again, spoilt for choice on the beauty front. These were the holm oaks on the opposite hill when I walked out the door this morning.

Took the Lula walk alone tonight while Mike was still working on the stairs (he's making a landing for it). Sheep bells. Geese honking and flying off in formation. Ducks too, and a grey heron, and then a solitary stork. Sky a pastel pink and blue, reflected in the water. Huge carp leaping up for bugs. A line of cows coming to drink. Sun setting in a blaze of pink and gold. Full moon appearing silently from behind the trees. The lights of Monsaraz repeated in the Lake. Castle silhouetted against a lilac sky.

Gratefuls:
- our support group; they are so encouraging, never mind the fact that people give up a morning just to listen to us and pray for us
- going to market and talking to various folk, plus a load of fresh fruit and veggies
- Zé Carteiro and his family agreeing not only to pick our olives, but also to prune the trees, brilliant, it was worrying me

The Body, ch2 - The Outside: Skin and Hair, p17
A quote from Nina Jablonski in answer to Bill Bryson commenting how skin colour is all in about a millimetre of epidermis... 
It is extraordinary how such a small facet of our composition is given so much importance. People act as if skin colour is a determinant of character when all it is is a reaction to sunlight. Biologically, there is actually no such thing as race - nothing in terms of skin colour, facial features, hair type, bone structure, or anything else that is a defining quality among peoples. And yet look how many people have been enslaved or hated or lynched or deprived of fundamental rights through history because of the colour of their skin.