A modest homage to Catalunya. In 2018 we left the small village of Mieres after thirty years, giving our beloved house Can Musquera to the community as a small return for all they had given us. Sandy spent most of those thirty years charting changes in how the Mierencs construed their history and imagined their futures, as the economy ebbed and flowed and the distribution of generations changed. Some who had lived in the shadow of civil war and dictatorship were cautious or pessimistic: if times were good today, for sure this could only be temporary. Others were optimists and activists, reviving old traditions or creating new ones.
A few weeks after we left we were delighted to see two contrasting projects for Can Mosquera as a centre for village community appear online, one officially temperate but full of hope, one full of joie de vivre. Funds had to be raised, Covid interrupted progress, but in 2024 the refurbished house opened for use. It houses planning meetings, the library, a children’s play space and practice space for the choir and for yoga groups. It is now provided with ground-pump heating, a lift, multiple wash-room facilities and other modern conveniences, yet its spaces still retain their charm, and we are delighted to see the bookcases that Ivana built for us housing the Mieres library collection, and our oak dining table laden with refreshments after pottery class. The official opening takes place this month.
We can’t thank our Mieres friends enough for the joy this brings us — and after all the freezing winters we spent in Can Mosquera when the only heating was a small woodstove in the kitchen, one graphic that warms our hearts is the chart of the power that the house gives back to the grid.
16 June 2025