Early morning walks and talks

Because the temperature was supposed to hit the mid-thirties, and because I did not want to spend the entire day locked into my air conditioned nest, I took an early morning walk through the vegetable gardens that are so lush with tomatoes, beans, etc.
A grey-haired man straddled the brook across from the garden. He was trying to pull up the metal gate that allows the water to flow freely. He responded to my smile and we held a conversation in French.
“Are you looking for the beach?” he asked.
“No, just out for a walk.”
“You’re English?”
“You will find it hard to believe, but I’m Swiss.” I love doing that. It may be mean to enjoy people’s expressions so much when I say I’m Swiss. “But I grew up in America which explains the accent. Your ears were right.”
He smiled. He then explained how he wanted to get the water flowing, showing me where algae were growing and once the water flowed, it would stop.
We wished each other a pleasant day.
I passed the garden where a man sells his produce until 11 in the morning. Ahead on the path were a grandfather and his tins granddaughter. She had Shirley Temple curls and wore a green sundress.
He carried an old wicker basket with leeks and other greens sticking out. The scene could have taken place anytime in the last hundred years EXCEPT he was talking on a cell phone. It reminded me of the gaucho on horseback, wearing a cowboy hat over his ponytail and a long flowing sleeved shirt. We were searching in the Spanish forest for a house that had been occupied by deserters from both sides during the Civil War. The gaucho was talking on a mobile too.
As I headed back into the village, Emil was out on his bench next to the gate he’d painted of a Catalan dancer. His voice is now weak. Even with his cane he can no longer wander even the short distance to the bench in the village where “the senators” meet. They are old men and old friend and every morning after they finish their coffee they sit and solve the world’s problems.
Back in the air-conditioning, I think how much I love my life.