I hadn’t walked up the hill to the Wishing Stone since last autumn. It’s just 20 minutes away but I’d got out of the habit of proper walks and then I was studying and working and running around, so I never seemed to have time.
The Wishing Stone was one of David’s favourite walks, with his wife Shujata and their dogs, Bonny and Max. Our dear friend, the architect and owner of Los Piedaos, died on 12 May, from prostate cancer.
David was one of the earliest British settlers here in the Alpujarras. He bought Los Piedaos with his then wife, Dorothy, in the late 1980s, and set about restoring the ruined farm workers’ cottages on the estate, transforming them into characterful guest ‘cortijos’. With Dot, and later Shujata, he also designed and built the home we’re lucky to live in and care for, using local materials and artefacts, respecting the wildness of the setting and the environment. Shujata’s passion for design complemented his, and together they added to the beauty of the cortijos and surrounding gardens.
By this time last year, David couldn’t make it to the Wishing Stone; by last November, he couldn’t walk at all. So last weekend I went up there ‘for him’. It had rained in the morning and the hillside was scented with the rosemary and thyme that covers it like a carpet at this time of year. After spring rains, it’s bursting with purple flowering thyme, thorny broom and pink stars of centaury. There are still a few of the small, deep blue iris splashed with yellow that I took to David when I went to say goodbye.
I was grateful all the way up the hill and all the way down. I appreciated my aching legs, the scratchy broom and getting caught in a shower on the way back. In the past few days Fred and I have done that walk three times; it seems right to make time for these simple pleasures on our doorstep.
In this house, where David lived for more than twenty years, I don’t feel his presence in any obvious way. But early this morning, when the first rays of sunshine came through the tiny window high up in the dressing room, put there just to capture that light, I felt that he’d always be here, in every playful detail of this beautiful home.
Thanks to David and Shujata for our life at Los Piedaos. Thanks to Fred for the beautiful photographs. And thanks to you for reading this post.
Hi Arpi, I´m delighted to have found and begun to read your wonderful site. You seem to live a truly beautiful life despite the loss of your friend David. I love the photography too and am pleased to see that prints are available. My own stay in Alcalá de Henares hasn´t been easy but you´ve reminded me of the wonder of the country we´re living in. I tend to get bogged down by bureacracy etc, but I have to try to enjoy what Spain has to give. Great work!
Posted by: Maureen Dolan | June 30, 2011 at 10:00 PM
Dear Alice, thanks for your kind thoughts. Well be happy to welcome Nancy in August and hope she enjoys it as much as you did. Warm regards, Arpy
Posted by: Arpi Shively | May 26, 2011 at 09:10 PM
Hi Arpy, So sorry to hear about David. My father died from prostate cancer at the age of 55.
So lovely you brought him irises. They ae the most amazing flower.
My cousin Nancy is coming to Los Piedaos in August as I have been singing it's praises to all my friends.
The wishing stone s a magical walk.
Much love
Alice
Posted by: Alicemason367 | May 26, 2011 at 05:31 PM