Summer nights

This evening it was my friend Carlos's birthday picnic (always celebrated in the Retiro park and always on 26th July). It was a lovely night, and we had full moon, which made it specially atmospheric. As ever, there was a Galician touch with Ribeiro wine, empanada (tuna patties) and a tarta de santiago. Walking home it ocurred to me that the Retiro was truly beautiful by night, devoid of people, the moonlight making the topiary trees look almost fairy-tale like... that was until this huge marauding alsation (spelling?) came hurtling towards me. Luckily my friend Catherine is much less of a scaredy-cat when it comes to big dogs and she literally held my hand and stood in front of me, thus protecting me from the moon-crazed animal. Or perhaps I'm exagerrating the whole incident with the 'happy' dog and I'm the moon-crazed one. Happy days :-)