This week, for a change, there are lots of animals and flowers in the blog, along with the humans. (Yes, it's more of the same but some of the pictures are quite good.) As you may have noticed, the animals are gradually taking over. Power has gone to their heads.
Life is tolerable when they are prepared to share a seat. But it gets really complicated when Squinty cat (the barely visible black blob on my lap) makes it plain to Mini dog at my side that three is going to be a crowd. It's no easy matter keeping the critters apart while trying to follow the skulduggery in the House of Cards.
We left the animals behind last Saturday to catch up with Cathy and Rolf, with whom we spent a few hours between the end of their Spanish holiday and their flight home to Berlin. Here Rolf and I discuss the meaning of life while strolling at Quinta do Lago.
Thursday Slavic and I set about a bunch of tasks. By far the trickiest of these was replacing the cotton filter in the water filtration system. (That's the white bit just visible inside the glass bowl below the plastic cap.) The problem was the tiny spring-loaded black plastic pressure valve, peeping out above the digit 3 in the photo. It had snapped. We've stuck it in place for the moment but if it gives way, we'll have a fountain! The whole unit needs to be replaced asap.
Other tasks included strimming the areas close to the house. New fire regulations mean that mid-March is the official deadline for clearing the ground within 50 metres of one's abode. Although the date isn't strictly enforced, come summer the police hand out fines to any laggards. The ominous drought we're suffering means that it's a good idea anyhow.
The main job was to prepare a new grave, having buried Carachinho in the last one. Those are Barbara's flowers to his memory that you can see in the bowl to the left of Slavic. We have - praise be! - no faltering pets at the moment. But if - when - we do lose another, things have to be ready.
The option is to leave the disposal of the remains to a cremation service that the vets use. The few occasions that we've had to resort to it have proved far harder on our emotions and our purses. Much better that our animals remain with us in death as in life. Barbara visits the graves each day.
It was she who spotted this beauty on one of our walks, the first sawfly orchid of the season. The Algarve is an orchid lover's paradise in March and April.
It was also Barbara who worked out the mystery surrounding the water bowl that sits just outside our gates. We put it there for the exterior cats and any other passing animals. What you can't see is that the area around the bowl is permanently wet. We couldn't figure it. The bowl wasn't leaking yet the surrounding concrete was going green with algae. Then Jones had a flash of inspiration. The birds were bathing in it. As if on cue, a visiting blackbird proved her right.
So there you have it. Sufficient unto the week.
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