seasonal adjustment

It's been a bit of a strange time of adjustment, with R going to England for the Autumn and Laura and Isabella off to Bristol for two weeks, and Nuno working on making the ruin habitable and me whirling around having days off, days out and yoga and a women's group meeting.

First day out, I went and had lunch with Simone.  Deliscious sardines at Choupanas.

Second day out Monica and I went to Santa Clara to have lunch with Carol.  Home baked brown bread and salad from the garden and vinho verde.  Later we went down to the barragem and swam to an old oak tree that must have been growing before the barragem was built.  Huge, dead, sculpture in the water.

 This is one of Carol's views.  Cool.  It was actually so hot that we were indoors until four, when it started to cool.

These are some knitting needles I whittled from olive tree prunings.  They make lovely needles.  Smooth, light and strong.

This is what I've been doing during the days of work (as opposed to network).  Using builder;s cling fim and feed sack to insulate the roof. Then today I covered it in split cane. Begining to look better, even if I look worse, covered in dust and sweat.  It is so hot and the sun is lower down so it always seems to find a way into your eyes.

I went to an old abandoned farm that I used to pass often, and picked some sweet white grapes, and got some cuttings of vine, pomegranite and Swiss cheese plant (Monstera?). The wild red grapes are hanging out of the hedgerows.  They are so good.  They are called morangeiras due to there strawberry flavour.  They are good to eat and good to drink later :)

The women's group is a new thing.  I went there, dirty and tired, but curious and was happy I went. They usually bring food and share a meal after having a session. I didn't stay for that as I was dying to get home and shower.

Now it's friday night and something is biting my legs.

Picnic Sunday

We went to Pega das Pias on Sunday and spent the day lolling in the shade and swimming in the beautiful fresh water. It was a very hot day so it was the best place to be. Isabella and Nuno went upstream with a shrimping net and a bucket and came back with a crayfish.  We put it back so it could be with it's friends, after we had all had a look.

Here is a picture of the chair R has made for me. It's really comfortable and can be used on slopes.  Orders taken!

And here is a chair I found thrown away.  It was disgusting, covered in worm casts and other stuff, an old leather cover, but I saw it had potential, so I stripped it down and have given it a temporary cover. I will make a smart denim cover for it in the next few days.  It's good to do indoor stuff when it's too hot to be busy outside.

The cherry tomatoes continue in abundance.  I have dried some and also dried some plum tomates. Very satisfying to preserve stuff only using the sun, especially since we have so much of it at the moment.

Finally, here is a photo of a cork oak that has been peeled this year.  You can see it goes a lovely pink colour to start with.  They are beautiful trees, full of grace and movement.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

This evening I joined four other women of a certain age and sang as a backing group for Heike Floy who is a great blues and soul singer.  We had a blast!  It was a brilliant experiance, to be doowa doowa-ing in the sunset on the terrace at the Hotel Social with friends family and guests all enjoying caiperinhos and even getting up and dancing to the groove!  We jokingly called ourselves the Jealous Bitches, but I'm not sure I want to keep that name.  But I definately want to do it again!

Life on the land is slow. I have run out of mud and inspiration for the moment. The heat has not abated, though the mornings are fresher and the evenings are lovely.  Weeds are beginning to pop up their heads and I can feel a good gardening session brewing.  I feel I'm getting the hang of the sheet mulching and raised beds.  I get sacks of straw and horse manure and make a bed at a time, then plant it with something and wait and see.  The great thing is it really cuts down the watering from daily to every three or four days.  That is a big saving, of time and water.

Here's a view from the top of the hill in the late afternoon, with the dome catching the last of the rays.

The big full moon, which is called a 'blue' moon as it has been full twice in the same month, is still nearly full and I went for a walk along the beach after the show was over.  The tide was out and you could hear the water rushing down the estuary, glinting silver. Now I'm at home alone wondering what tomorrow will bring.  More heat, no doubt.  I found an old armchair by the rubbish and have renovated it, so I may make a new loose cover for it.  It is too hot to work outside during the day.

So that is how it is for the moment.  

Mud, Glorious Mud

I know, It just looks like a heap of mud.  Well, it is!  Now I'm building a gutter around it, near the top, to take rainwater away from the back of the building.  It is so nice to work with.  Also doing the finishing touches, to smooth out the dips and humps a bit.  Then, the lime render.  More mixing in the wheel barrow.  Sigh.

I have been to the beach, with Laura, Isabella and Monica and Simone.  Had a lovely morning
swimming and playing in the cool air down by the sea.  When we left at one-ish we could feel the heat as we left the beach.  Phew.  It is very relaxing just to be at sea level and watch people and tide lines.

R has gone to UK. He left this morning.

It was Laura's birthday today.  She came in to my house wearing the dress Isabella and Nuno had bought for her, and her new shoes, looking like a fashion model.  Later we all went out to eat in the local restaurant and I brought the cake I'd made earlier (peaches and cream) which we shared with the folk at the other table and the family in the kitchen. Happy birthday, darling daughter. 

I slept with a tree frog

.  The other night I stayed in the new, improved, bender, with Ginger (my dear old dog).  As I was getting ready to tuck myself into the mosquito net I found a sweet green tree frog sitting on the curtain.  They are so beautiful.  The way their legs tuck into the sides of their body. It jumped onto a frying pan hanging by the cooker and stayed there while I took flash photos of it.  Didn't even blink.  What a cool character.  Who needs a prince when you can have this for company?
  I also found a huge rubbery spider, but I chose to put him out, although I'm sure he made his way back in later.
  I have had a few days off the cobbing as I am getting a bit sick of it.  Well, not the putting on, but the mixing of the stuff.  It is hard work!  And in this heat.  No fun.  But I am very nearly finished.  Next is to cover the dome in a lime render.

 Me being a builder

 My frog prince

 A typical country view

  Laura and Nuno and Isabella had a great party to celebrate their engagement.  We could hear music and drumming after we went home, across the road, late into the night!
  

Most sensible folk take August Off!

Yup, it's just too darn hot.  We got up early this morning and it was delightfully cool and fresh for an hour.  Then the blazing heat made us sweat our shirts off.  The mud is going on well.  Nearly done.  It's too hot for me to go and get the camera to upload some photos.  Sorry.  But believe me it looks great - Like some weird lumpy haystack!
It's even too hot on the beach, but in the late afternoon it is deliscious.  The other day we went and watched the moon rise on Malhao beach.  Just ourselves on the big stretch of sand.  The tide was so low it was scary.  We drank a beer and listened to the sea as it began to make it's way up the beach.  Cool .

Here's the weird and wonderful spider bender I'm building.. using rebar, chickenwire and cob.  It needs reinforcement so I've put it on hold until I've finished the earthbag dome.
Last weekend we had 'Tasquinas' in Sao Luis.  This is an annual three day event up by the junta, where restaurants and bars set up outdoor kitchens and the whole area is laid out with long tables and chairs and the people from all over come and eat and drink and talk and dance in the cool night air.  A lovely atmosphere and good food and yummy sangria.

 Here are Lura and Isabella making a tree trunk for Isa's ballet show.
Yoga... I need to get back into yoga.  I've been telling myself that I work so physically at the moment that I don't need it, but I do.  I miss it so.  It's more than a physical thing.  

Cob. marvelous Cob!

It really is marvelous.  It dries to a hard surface and looks and feels like a luscious biscuit.  I think it's great.  It feels lovely to work with, also.  I have covered half of the earthbag dome.  The hard work is in digging up the earth and sieving it, as the earth is very stoney.  Schist-like stones that cut the hand when you smooth the stuff over the dome. Ouch! Oh, and also mixing it in the wheel barrow with the enxada (hoe-type tool used for everything).  I'm not mixing it with my feet cos I'm doing it in small batches.  Maybe I should have a go, though...
The intense heat has abated somewhat. Now it is a balmy 30 degrees with a fresh breeze. Very pleasant to work most of the time.  The interior of the dome stays cool during the day.  Now it is beginning to look like a strange haystack.  The builders who are doing up the windmill above us are very curious as to what it is we are making???
Some sheep have been making night raids to the garden.  The swiss chard and the cabbages and the sweetcorn have been muched down to the ground.  Grrr.  Looks like we may have to fence in the garden area, but I'm reluctant to do so because ... well, because I guess I don't want to feel that that's just where the garden is. 
So I hope to finish the dome soon and I will post pictures of it soon.

 The lovely Laura on the beach

 beginning the cob

This is my failed cob bender.  It is beautiful, like a bouncy spider with a crusty cob top!

Meanwhile, we enjoy the lovely warm summer evenings, with children playing in the street and windows open wide and chilled fizzy white wine... Ah, the good life.