Gravel sickness.

Having spent the entire summer looking out the window at a pile of rubble and weeds we have finally begun to carve a bit of sanity into our outside space.... with a little help from our lovely neighbour Bernard and his JCB and a 10 ton delivery of gravel.....

It was a bit of a challenge (on both parts) to explain exactly what we wanted to the guy on the JCB, but we found that once I gave up trying to communicate in Portuguese (poor bloke)...and relied on a bit of improvised sign language it was pretty much plain sailing!

With the exception of an unearthed soakaway pipe, it was a breeze...

Having shifted about 8.5 tons, in a wheelbarrow (yes seriously) I am feeling a bit 'gravel sick' : S

But its a good start and the summer is not over yet.... ! 

Falgoroso do Maio

We spent the best part of the day at Falgoroso do Maio on Sunday... Sienna and I relaxed, paddled and read, whilst the boys did a bit of fishing.... Really pretty little place and very quiet. Just 10 minutes away from us.

 A couple of fella's arrived just after us, launched their boat and disappeared and one other family arrived in the late afternoon, so it was very peaceful. It was hot too.. in the mid 30's.

The fish count was zero, a Montpellier snake was the only catch of the day! (put me right off swimming)...

Very Miscellanious.

 So three months seem to have passed me by... I feel like I have been very busy but would hate to attempt to justify three whole months.. ! The kids go back to School tomorrow and next Monday respectively.... kind of looking forward to the structure and routine now... Tashan's School have a whopping 11 week holiday.... no comment.  

Well, my boy managed to break his arm back in July so that was the end of his pool/lake/water/cycling/............. and so on... which was a bit of a bugger to put it mildly. That whole ordeal was a bit of an event ... not going to go into it now but if you need a hospital urgently and you are close to Penacova.... they don't have one... (long story) but the childrens hospital in Coimbra is amazing so just go straight there ! We have a new kitten called Millie, who is very, very noisy ALL of the time, but pretty cute and four new egg laying chickens. Buster the pig is growing nicely, we are hoping Freckles the goat might have a bun in the oven and Archie the donkey is still looking like he needs a good dinner if I am honest.
 

The adega has finally been renovated and is now out lovely cool front room, it is wonderful to be reacquainted with television and just dance on the Wii ! and we so needed extra the space.. especially with the brats home every day.

 Much shovelling of mud, rubble and new gravel has occurred and we now have a piece of outside space which vaguely resembles order. It is seriously hard work this renovation malarkey.... The balcony has recently had an overhaul and I am in the process of staining/treating the wood.
Generally the house still looks hideous outside   though and is in desperate need of TLC.

We had some lovely visitors in August who almost killed me with black vodka. Revolting stuff. (You know who you are) !! For the first time in my life I managed to break a heel - I have always feared the shame of that happening.... : S Thankfully I was too gone to give a monkeys at that point and redesigned myself as a rhino..... won't go into that...

So this last shot is the joy of skype... Sienna and her Cousin Lia from London, having a catch up natter with Cousin Laila in Sydney. How wonderful is that... ?

36 degrees here today.. not bad for mid September - although the weather has been a little unpredictable this summer at times... should be able to fit in a few more barbeques.. Xau. x

Purchasing a pig in your pj's......

Sunday morning I was busy making banana pancakes in my pj's and minding my own business when the bell rang... a guy had turned up with three piggies for us as a result of a conversation with neighbours many moons ago...... much to my surprise.... !   So this is Buster. He had great fun running around the garden yesterday eating fallen peaches, pears and apples and even enjoyed a nice mud bath ! So now I have had a coffee, I am coming round to the idea of owning a pig...

The trees are full of peaches and apples and there are tons of blackberries, so we have been enjoying lots of fresh fruit and fruit cobblers.. yesterday I made a huge jar of spiced peaches too, they are seriously gorgeous.

Have been incredibly busy trying to complete our front room ... it has been a hard slog but the tiles are going down now and there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.....

Vimieiro

Vimieiro has to be one of our favorite river beaches, it also has a great Restaurante - Bar overlooking the river run by Susana and Nuno. It is close to Sao Pedro de Alva...

coord:      W 8 11' 52"     N 40  16' 36"

A good spot for a picnic in the shade too, there are plenty of picnic benches under the trees.

I find the water at Vimieiro extremely fff .... frio and don't tend to swim there unless my head feels like it is about to burst into flames,  but the kids seem to enjoy it !

Piri Piri Chicken (again).

I do love chicken.... :o) especially Piri Piri....

We recently checked out the Market at Tabua which is every Sunday morning.. It is a large market with all the usual Portuguese market malarkey you would expect. It has a good selection of plants, a very BAD lady selling tiny puppy dogs "come here little girl..... look at these cute little puppies, tell your Mummy you want one"..... (you know the type). grrr .

And last but not least.... some very delicious Chicken.

Black Cherries.... :o)

Amandio invited us to help ourselves to some black cherries from his tree which is taller than my house ! so we took a bag and filled it with a ton of cherries.... he was shocked when he saw the 'small' amount we had and asked if we didn't like them !! they are incredible... we are now stuffing ourselves and Sienna looks like she has been in a serious accident of some kind - she is wearing most of them.. WOW.. delicious..  It is these small things that make me feel incredibly lucky..... x

I planted two nectarine trees today.. cannot wait to get some more fruit trees in the ground.. I love Portugal (and my neighbours)