WE ARE NOT ALL EARLY RISERSThursday morning: Time to gather my thoughts for the blog. It's not a nice day. An unruly, unrelenting wind is lashing the trees and doing its utmost to destroy Barbara's garden. It's been blowing for two days with no end in sight. We braved the gale - tugging at our jackets and snatching at our hats - to take the dogs walking. They didn't seem to mind.
L&L - BEFORE THE WIND BLEW UP
Our guests, Llewellyn and Lucia have taken themselves to town for refreshments. They feel instantly at home here in the Algarve, where they have long since learned enough Portuguese to get by. One morning they joined us on a trek through the hills.
IN THE ALGIBRE, JUST DOWN THE ROADThey had one day at the beach and a second touring the vast new developments that smear the coastal strip. Much of the construction has come to an abrupt halt, leaving a sea of forlorn concrete structures awaiting a decision on their fate. This is not a part of the Algarve that we choose to visit. Here in the hills, sanity still prevails.
VALIANT POPPYLooking back on the week!
Saturday: Andre, Slavic and I laboured in our field - Andre strimming and Slavic assisting me with clearing and pruning. The field looks good for our efforts. The almond trees are weighed down with nuts and the grafted fruit trees are also promising us a decent crop although I need to treat them for leaf-curl.
Before leaving, the lads carried down three sections of a large, heavy broken ceramic pot that Jones had acquired from neighbours. I glued the pieces together as best I could, which wasn't very good at all. But, apart from a missing chip on the rim, the pot will pass cursory inspection.
LUCIA SUNSETSaturday evening we sat down to watch La La Land, one of several movies that I had ordered from Amazon. (There was a time when we went to the cinema but that was before our fellow patrons began exploiting dull moments to consult their smart-phones!) Some 15 minutes into the movie Jones questioned whether we were watching the Oscar-grabbing musical.
Indeed, we were not; it turned out to be some TV-based production, sharing the title, in which an English actor plays multiple parts. Jones then inquired (somewhat condescendingly) whether I had not checked the actors before placing the order . You can probably work out the answer for yourself.
Sunday: We confined our afternoon walk to the park so that Pally could join us. He is both remarkably nimble and swift, showing no effects of the major surgery he underwent last Tuesday. It's a joy to watch him rolling in the grass. There's nothing wrong with his appetite either; he consumes with gusto the numerous spoonfuls of pate in which I bury his pills. The dog is due back to the vet at the end of the week to have his stitches out.
Both Russ and Mini have developed signs of the ear infection for which we have been treating Bobby. We clean their ears with cotton-wool buds dipped in disinfectant, followed by a squirt of muti from the vet. This is a process that they resist vigorously (although Mini submits if we simultaneously feed her a distracting succession of cat nibbles).
FLYING ANTS - STRANGE, THEY NORMALLY ARRIVE AFTER THE RAINPM: I sprayed our fruit trees with a (highly diluted) herbicide that Adrien gave me last week. He swore by it. I hope he swore truly. Jones immersed herself in small welcoming preparations for the arrival of Llewellyn and Lucia on the morrow.
Monday: We met our arriving guests at a snack-bar on Faro beach for a light lunch. The weather gods smiled on us. Across the estuary a procession of aircraft proclaimed the tourist season to be underway. Our waiter, discerning us to be foreigners, insisted on speaking to us in English. He declined to hand us the bill until we had let him know how happy we were with the meal. I informed him that the bill would determine our level of happiness.
Tuesday: L&L took themselves off to the beach. After our walk I drove down to the village square to meet Marc, a window cleaner recommended to us by a neighbour. Cleaning windows and shutters was a task that Natasha used to perform in her spare hours; regrettably (for us) she no longer has any.
After running the noisy gauntlet of the dogs, Marc sized up the house and reckoned on a three-hour job. He was a pro, with all the necessary gear including a standby tank of water in his van. He finished just before lunch, disappearing down the road as Natasha was arriving. He warned us that he was in high demand over summer and needed several weeks' notice of any future jobs.
PYRAMID ORCHIDS, NEWLY DISCOVERED IN THE PARKWhile out on the front patio of the house with my iPad, catching up on UK election news, I tripped over an object that I had neglected to put away, falling flat on my face. Fortunately I am well padded. Even so, I ache. I admitted the fall to Jones but not the cause; most damage was to my dignity - hoist with my own petard!
Wednesday: We joined the Davies family for lunch in Alte. As we emerged a butterfly settled on Jane's neck. I took this to be a very good sign. The world could do with more butterflies and fewer mosquitoes, especially of the sort that land on us. We crowded around Jane, taking pictures for the record.
I was grateful for the session with Jodi that followed. I'm still tender. However my sufferings barely register on the misery scale. Poor Olly, seen here at the gate with Marie, has damaged two ribs after coming off a ladder, an injury that has left him in greater discomfort than he admits. Their little dog, Poppy, (peering in, bottom right) is set to join us for a few days while they're away.
Friday evening: We took ourselves to Loule's famous chicken restaurant, the Jolibela. Here we are, snapped on Llewellyn's smart phone with the assistance of a clever remote device.
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