Waking up the first morning in Karabortlen

When I opened my eyes, I suddenly remembered where I was - I jumped out of my bed in delight - I'd slept like a dazed apparatchik, stumbling through unsettling dreams - I woke up in a blue bedroom flooded with sunlight - I could feel the warmth of a different sun upon every part of my body -

I raced over to the balcony - my feet hardly touched the marble floor - I thought - I shall make each day before me into a procession of marvels - 

I looked out upon the garden - I could see newly mown lawns, sweeping down from the terrace - two glorious spiky palm trees rose up from beds of roses and flowering shrubs - I could just see the margins of the swimming pool, a hint of its shining water - 

Terracotta roof tiles sloped down below me - swallows made their nests under the eaves of the roofs - beyond the varied trees of the garden, and the floor of the valley, rose hills and mountains, thickly forested with dark pines - I could see the dark torches of a grove of cypress trees  -

Next door was the muhtar's house - Pasha, the muhtar's dog, kept guard in his kennel - wood smoke drifted over small strangely shaped fields of winter wheat - 

The sky was the mildest and kindest of blues - I felt as I'd felt when as a guileless boy I'd woken up on the first day of my summer holidays - 

Whatever happened to me, I would always have this early morning wakening -

I could hear Jane and Ken moving around downstairs - I suddenly thought of marmalade - Jane's grapefruit marmalade was the best I'd ever tasted - each spoonful was a spoonful of happiness -