We’ve had a songster on our roof all week. We heard his song before Jones spotted him, perched high on our chimney where he likes to spend an hour or two trilling each day. The song is exquisite: three or four long clear notes on a descending scale followed by an extemporised medley.
I’d never heard a similar performance and wondered at first what kind of bird our visitor might be. Much to my surprise, he’s a blackbird (I assume he’s a he). I helped to steady Jones’s hand as she zoomed right in on him with the camera.
We’ve had blackbirds building nests in our trees and hedges for 10 years but none in his class. I recorded his song on my mobile phone and emailed the file to my computer, where – after a bit of fiddling around – I was able to play it. But I can't find any way of uploading it to the blog. It’s a song of joy. Now I understand why blackbirds are sometimes kept as songbirds.
Over the weekend we went to visit the townhouse that our friends, David and Dagmar, had planned to occupy before the sale of their house fell through. They will still rent the townhouse for the meanwhile in the hope of a quick sale. It’s ideally placed on the outskirts of Loule and perfect for their needs. The view is over a private garden and a park.
Monday’s English class starts early these days to compensate my pupils for the lessons they will lose while we're away. I leave Barbara and May to finish their lunch at a nearby restaurant and wander down to class. (I’m a quick eater, Barbara a reflective eater and May a slow eater – a very slow eater!)
At the class we discussed MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses. I hadn’t heard of them until I came across a report in the local press of an initiative to make them widely available across most of Europe - and free to boot.
After class, when I went to fetch Barbara and May from the supermarket, I found that both my wife and I had paid separately for our lunch – I the waitress, who'd then gone off duty, and she later the manager. The manager apologised when I reported it, not that it was his fault, and he readily agreed to compensate us.
On Tuesday we drove westward to Silves, the old Arab capital with its imposing castle, for an appointment with the dermatologist, who consults in a clinic there once a week. He nipped out my stitches back and front before zapping keratoses on Jones’s hand and ear. 
He also took a close look at the wound on her left leg, one that’s proving slow to heal after the dog attack nearly two months ago. He prescribed further medication to promote the healing process. The prognosis is good but, as he pointed out, lower leg wounds are nearly always the slowest to mend - and these were nasty wounds.
Wednesday was seriously busy. Armenio arrived early to continue grafting our bitter almond trees. I went to have a word with him as soon as we returned from our walk (after removing a tick that was busy breakfasting on my thigh). 
We chatted as Armenio deftly inserted plum cuttings into the almond shoots and bound them. Suddenly I felt my legs being bitten and looked down to find ants swarming up my pants. I had inadvertently stationed myself right on the entrance to their nest and they weren’t best pleased. Ants are not very inviting.
At 9,30 Natasha and Slavic arrived. The former spent most of the day ripping borage and other winter growth from the garden, piling it high on the cobbles from where Slavic and I hauled it away on the tractor to dump on our compost mountain. 
By the end of our labours, the results really showed. Slavic is a great worker.
In the course of the day he got through half a dozen jobs, burning off several piles of branches, strimming around the tree trunks where the tractor can’t reach, touching up the paintwork around the house and helping me put mulch down around our fruit trees. 
It’s not often that he’s available. On this occasion he had the day off from his normal construction job because of the May 1 holiday.
For my part, I have been oiling the deckchairs that have been hidden away in the shed all winter. They've given us good service and appreciate a little attention before going on duty in summer.
Jones has been buried in her garden for much of the week, trying to smarten it up before the arrival of our house-sitters this weekend. She started much later than usual because of the extensive March rains, rains that inspired the heaviest growth we’ve had in years.
RAFFLESIAIf you wanted to know what these are, you might take a brief look at Wikipedia, as I had to do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia
Although Jonesy still has a long list of tasks to be completed, the end is in sight. The Ferretts are due down on Saturday evening.
Barbara snapped this one during one of the “stay” exercises that the dogs and I practise during our morning walks. Although not enthused, the bigger dogs have learned to stay (for short periods, as long as they’re undisturbed by rabbits) but little Prickles completely fails to see the point. 
Here I am threatening him with death if he comes a step closer. Prickles, as you may imagine, is unimpressed, having survived numerous such threats unscathed.
So there you have it. The blog may be irregular for the next several weeks while we are away visiting family.
