Letter from Espargal: 29 March 2014

This is the state of play. A dry month is coming to a damp end. We've had coffee and toast (we take our own jam) at the snack bar in Benafim - along with a wondrous dram of medronho from Jose, the tractor man. The snack bar was crowded as lots of people were walking back into town from the funeral of a young woman who had reportedly died of cancer. The cemetery, as usual in Portuguese villages, is located on the outskirts and the church in the centre.

I am being forced once again to dictate my blog as tendonitis still possesses my elbow like a determined demon. And I am not a natural dictator.

For inspiration Beethoven tinkles away on the Apple TV. Jones is outside endeavouring to repair the damage that the dogs have done to her garden before the rain starts. They seem to have engaged in wrestling matches before trying to dig out a couple of (imaginary) moles. (We discovered long ago that dogs and gardens did not go well together. I offered to fence off the garden but she declined.)

What you see here is Barbara's peony. It is the first flower from a plant that Olly and Marie dug up from the river bank and gave to her three years ago. Ann (Benson) says peonies take a year to sleep, a year to creep and a year to leap; only in their third year may you hope for a flower. This one has certainly brought my wife a great deal of pleasure. She loves it when her plants thrive and is pained when they die.

Before sitting down to talk to my iPad, I built a fire and used a warm cloth to rub off most of the poop that Russ has been rolling in. Russ seemed puzzled after all the trouble he had gone to. Some things are hard to explain to a dog.

WELCOMING COMMITTEE

On Monday, I plucked the first tick of the season off my neck, fortunately before it had bitten in. On Tuesday I put new tick collars on all the dogs. The recommended Seresto flea and tick collars are wickedly expensive, even from the pet discount store, although not as expensive as losing a dog to tick fever. The manufacturers say they are good for 7 to 8 months. The ticks that I subsequently removed from Russ and Raymond were clearly not aware of their potency. Jones says maybe the little biters were already feeling ill. Maybe!

IT'S JUST ME

Our morning walks of been accompanied by clanking noises from a large site across the valley where machines have been clearing an area of rocky scrubland. The rocks are piled up in great heaps. There are a number of citrus farms in the parish and I suspect that it's going to be another one. (More likely carobs, says Jones.) This is not a good time to go into citrus production. Farmers have been complaining bitterly about the low prices they're getting.

Also on Tuesday, I took Jones to the dentist to get her new tooth fitted and Slavic came to work. He's been building a series of steps up through the terraces in the park. That's meant trekking into the countryside on the tractor to look for rocks and ferrying supplies of sand, gravel, cement and water to the site.

Slavic's steps are a great improvement on the stepping stones that I had previously embedded in the steep earth. Going up the steps wasn't too bad; coming down could be a bit hazardous, especially in wet weather.

It's a great advantage that I have only to tell Slavic what I have in mind and then safely leave him to it. The results have never disappointed us.

MIRROR ORCHIDS

For lunch, we joined May and Ken at the Angolana. The salmon steaks are unbeatable. I left an extra tip for our young waiter, Tiago, who had been there only two weeks and did very well. By the way, Jones is happy with her new tooth and even happier, after two tough sessions, that the fitting was brief and easy. The receptionist had re-completed the (previously reversed) claims forms, which should help us recover a morsel of the mega outlay. Not that I'm moaning. Crowns don't come cheap - and my three new molars eclipsed her single canine.

Jones gave vent to her irritation with our new bed when she last changed the linen. She found it a struggle to stretch the fitted sheet over the heavy mattress. (Thank you Cathy; it's a lovely sheet.) My offers of assistance did nothing to assuage her frustration. For myself, I continue to be delighted with the new queen-sized bed, particularly the mattress. At least most of us now get a good night's sleep. (Jones says she's as little space as ever.)

I'm aware that the proximity of humans and pets may give rise to certain health issues. The animals seem prepared to take the risks involved.

I am also pleased to report that following the various expensive installations earlier this month, all our new technology is functioning well - unlike my elbow. At Llewellyn's suggestion I've downloaded several new apps onto the iPad.

The most impressive of these is an app called Multi Measures HD, a device that measures just about anything. Try it and see.

I have yet to work out how to transfer the Wi-Fi connection on the printer from my old router to the new one but that can await Lewellyn and Lucia's arrival next month.