EARLY MORNING EARTH, SEA AND SKY
I can't find a starting point for this blog. Each attempt to kick it off has been followed immediately by a blast on the ref's whistle. So, instead of starting it, I shall simply have to pick it up in the middle.
This past fortnight has been a busy one, a combination of visits to the physiotherapist and delightful walks or other outings. I know that these sound like ridiculous bedfellows. In short, my back continues to give me a hard time. I can't sit on chairs but I'm comfortable in my recliner and enjoy our twice or thrice daily walks.
I stand at the table to eat and at my desk to write, with the keyboard handily mounted on a box and the mouse on the old coffee maker.
Those walks and numerous visits to restaurants and snack bars have a great deal to do with the visit of (my sister) Cathy last week and the sudden arrival in the Algarve this week of (my brother in law) Llewellyn and his two dogs, Douglas and Roxy. Llewellyn took the opportunity to drive down from Lisbon while Lucia was away on one of her frequent business trips.
We caught up with him on Tuesday at Faro beach where, after sandwiches and conversation at a favourite snack bar, we strolled along the estuary bank. A cold easterly wind favoured warm jackets.
Douglas and Roxy engaged in high jinks on the beach or made intermittent dashes into the water. Both are well socialised. Occasional cautious encounters with local hounds proved little more than gentle tail-wagging and polite snifto affairs.
Wednesday's rendezvous was the Janela da Serra restaurant just below the church in Salir. Why my tummy has suddenly expanded to such gross proportions I can't tell you; I normally keep a hot water bottle in my back. If anything, my tummy should be on the wane as I have been back on the wagon all month.
Afterwards we strolled along the quiet back roads in the valley that lies between Espargal and Benafim.
It's an area we love, one we used to visit most days when we had only two or three dogs to care for. The expansion of the household - we had ten at one stage - ruled the area out. These days we head into the wilderness on the far side of our hill, a zone we share only with a rare neighbour or carob picker.
Which brings me to last week and the visit of my sister. Cathy flew down from Berlin to spend a few days with us while Rolf was hiking in Scotland, his favourite occupation in his favourite hiking country.
Cathy proved to be quite a good hiker herself when the mood took her and the weather played along. Note the poised cairn in front of them, the work - we think - of our Scottish neighbours.
On her last evening Cathy treated us to dinner at the Hamburgo. Manuel obliged with the photo. It was a quiet evening, quieter than Manuel would have liked. One of the problems restaurateurs face is seldom knowing how many diners may turn up.
Saturday was early up in order to be ready for the arrival of Slavic at eight. Jonesy is the usual early upperer in the house. But on such occasions as I rise with the sun, I love the play of light at dawn. The dogs welcome a leisurely exploration of the park.
We concentrated on trimming and then burning the dead branches from elderly fig trees and the prunings from our fruit trees. The pruning itself was a favour from our farmer neighbour, who had earlier grafted the fruit cuttings on to almond stock.
We can add several other credits to our list of accomplishments. Barbara continues to pay daily consolatory visits to Maria, who is hoping that the plaster cast will soon be removed from her broken shoulder. I patched two items of clothing, including the blue jacket with the hole that Mini had chewed in order to get at the biscuit within.
We found a carpenter to cut (moisture expanded) shelves back down to a size that fitted their frame. The do-it-yourself cupboard was one we bought in the UK some 30 years ago and has served us well. It's been resurrected in the work chalet where it's taking the spill-over from the house. There are more good deeds that we could relate but that's probably sufficient unto the day.
AND THE LION SHALL LIE WITH THE LAMB
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