TB SELFIE (IN RECLINER) - NEW PHONE IN ACTION
While we have had quite a busy week one way and another, we have not exactly set the world on fire. In fact all that's been set on fire is the kindling in the stove each afternoon, generally just after lunch, to raise the ambient temperature from the chilly lower teens to their comfortable upper cousins. That way Mini and I get to take a cozier siesta in the upstairs recliner.
MINI'S SIESTA
The busy bits of the week included my first English lesson of the year and an attempt to make a neighbour's laptop talk to her newly-acquired printer. In this I failed, mainly because the laptop refused stubbornly to install the necessary drivers. Then I tried to hitch up my old Sony Vaio laptop (which has languished several years in the cupboard) . Once again I failed, this time because I couldn't revive the laptop. After testing it, Inforomba informed me that the board was shot. At my request they extracted the hard disk (which I retained) and sent the computer for recycling.
It was a neat little machine of which I was rather fond, even though it had long since been abandoned for the ease of instant iPads. Another thing I've done is to trot along to Fatima for a haircut. The advantage of haircuts is that they dispense with the necessity to run a comb through one's remaining hair before going out. The disadvantage is that they reveal how little of that hair still remains. In fact, when I saw the picture (below) that Barbara snapped of me against the light, for a moment I didn't recognise myself.
The harsh facts of advancing baldness stare one brazenly in the face. The options are to live with it, to over-comb one's tonsure, to invest in a wig or to live in a hat . I'm still considering them but the real choice is either one or four. I asked Fatima whether she couldn't glue some of my hair back on to the bald bits but she said this wasn't a service she offered. (Try the Chinese shop, she suggested.)
This is not a problem that Barbara faces. Indeed, her hair remains both abundant and naturally blond(ish). She too has been quite a busy person. One of her tasks has been to pay cheer-up visits to Mrs Casanova, a widow in her 80s who lives on the village square. She had the misfortune a few days ago to fall and break her shoulder, an injury that has left her semi-incapacitated and very miserable. I should add that Barbara pays monthly visits to several elderly Portuguese neighbours.
We have a sunny week behind us and the prospect of another ahead. As glorious as the weather is, it's rain we need rather than idyllic sunny days, for the Algibre river course remains stony and dry. Which raises another thought. The rain that falls on the house runs down a gutter and through an underground pipe to the cisterna at the bottom of the garden (which is our back-up for the rare occasions when the mains supply fails).
SLIGHTLY EXTENDED CONCRETE BASE
I've been wondering whether (when next it rains) we might divert the flow to fill (partly, at least) the pool that we plan to install on the concrete base that we've been building. As things stand, we've been along to Leroy Merlin to order the pool and we now await the visit of a installer to get a quote. If it's pricey, I'll resort to the services of Slavic and Andre. I don't doubt that we'll manage. Last week Slavic and I slightly extended one edge of the concrete base in order to give ourselves just a little more room to play with.
Apart from these activities, I have been picking almond nuts from the few trees that produced a half-decent crop. The rain last year destroyed most of the blossom. Nonetheless, several trees - presumably those that blossomed earlier or later than most - have delivered the goods.
Such pickings have required either the spreading of nets below the trees to catch the nuts that one knocks down or athletic clambering on to the tractor box to access the productive upper branches of the smaller trees by hand.
A tub of nuts attests to our efforts. The shells' flimsy husks make good fire starters. The nuts themselves we share with the dogs, who roll the shells around in their teeth until they find a crunch point. The only downside is the sharp bits of shell that lie around the cobbles.
For her part, Barbara joined Leonilde in picking persimmons from a tree in the latter's garden. I am not partial to persimmons although Barbara assures me that once they have ripened and softened in the sun, they are delicious. She spoons the contents out.
Also busy have been neighbours, Sarah and David (trying to embarrass the rest of us by extending their tiled patio themselves). David was shovelling sand into the maw of a clanking concrete mixer when we dropped by to offer them a few persimmons. We gazed on as he wheeled the muck around to the yard where Sarah lays the tiles. Their industry reminded me that there's a path below Casa Nada that I've been intending to tile. (I use "I" in the broadest possible sense.)
THREE-LEGGED LEG-LIFT
An hour each day is devoted to reading through the extensive manual for my new phone. The section devoted to the camera alone has required lengthy study. In-between times I've been snapping away at whatever presents itself, mainly our animals and my wife (as you may have noticed), numerous pictures of whom you will have to forgive. So far I'm most impressed - with the camera's potential that is, not the photographer's skills.
There's a few other bits and bobs that we've achieved between times but I don't want to sound boastful or to depress less active souls. So we'll leave things there for the week.
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