Week 46 of our new life

Monday, strange waking up to only us in the house again, a cloudy day with some scattered showers, you can tell everybody has gone home. Danny and Lesa and Miss Madison arrived home very late last night, and he was working today so I guess they will be having an early night.  Had to go and order my contact lenses and get some lens solution, also grab some bread and rolls, then it was back to the house to get the cleaning done.  Managed to get all the washing done and dried, got all the rooms cleaned, hoovered and floors washed.  Douglas done the hoovering and also mopped the kitchen floor and half of the living room so he did contribute, after three weeks of basic house cleaning it needed it.  Strolled around the garden, everything is coming into bloom and is starting to look good, a pink rose has blossomed, yes it was supposed to be pink and my red centrepiece rose has also bloomed.  I bought a new Lemon Tree at the market yesterday so will have to get that planted. Douglas is away to the 5 o clock club and I have Spaghetti Bolognese on a slow heat and am sitting on the terrace enjoying a lovely evening.  Will now have to start thinking about lighter meals due to the good weather, and as Douglas does not like Salad this could prove a bit tricky.  BBQ springs to mind.

Tuesday, cooler today with no sunshine.  Zumba this morning so a good workout and then out for lunch with the girls to Kebab and More, Sao Bras.  Took away any good work done at Zumba LOL.  The food was excellent as usual, a 3 course meal with Sangria for 10 Euros.  Starter was small bites of meat, cheese with Honey and Pitta Bread, Main Course was choice, I had the Durum Kebab which was stacked full of meat and vegetables, kind of healthy and dessert was Fresh Fruit Salad in a wonderful juice.  Carmen opted for a toastie, well this toastie arrived and was absolutely enormous she nearly fainted, filled with mushrooms, cheese, kebab meat, onions etc etc, luckily Sue said she would share it otherwise poor Carmen would never have got up out of her seat.  It was so funny as Carmen is Tiny and this Toastie was huge.  The lunch with the food, drink and company was very good and well worth value for money.  Next lunch booked for June.  Douglas picked me up and then it was off to Tom and Linda's to feed their cats, they are away to Lisbon again today so it is easy for us to pop in and make sure the cats are fed.  Job done, back home so Douglas could work on his Quiz for the quiz night in May.  Got a nice message from Danny and have a couple of phone calls to do then that is me chilled out on the terrace for the evening.

Sue & Elaine

Carmen & Elaine

One big Toastie

Wednesday, woke up to a beautiful day, so off to Albufeira to pick up a birthday present for Carly.  She had spotted a flamenco dress when she was here that she really wanted for dressing up, so we bought her the dress, the shoes, the fan and the piece for her hair, so I am guessing that she will be one happy girl on her birthday next week. Then it was on to Sao Bras to top Douglass phone up then home to catch a bit of sun and have a swim in the pool.  It is so good to have the pool warm enough to swim now so I can get back t.o 30 lengths a day, will do more once I am back in the rhythm.  Sad news from Tom and Linda one of their cats died, when they text I thought OMG we only fed them yesterday hope I didn't do something wrong, but it was a tumour in the mouth and she had to be put down, what a shame, Linda is devastated. Some good news from home today, Laura Andrew and Eilidh are visiting in June, looking forward to that, maybe some granny duties will be called for!!!  Good news also from Pauline, she has now been given the all clear from her Pneumonia so can start socialising again. Beautiful Red Moon tonight.

Birthday present on its way

The Red moon at night

Thursday, Portuguese lesson today, numbers, numbers and verbs, conversation which is good while I am in class then I try it out and get all mixed up.  Good to see Pauline, back in circulation again, only four of us left in the class now, but we all get on well so that's fine. Went to Cafe Pinto for lunch and then home to swim and catch some sun.  Toms birthday today, so we all went to Restaurant de Campo in Sao Bras, lovely restaurant and again really good food with plenty of wine.  Of course we all headed back to Toms for a few more drinks and a sing song, home about 1.30am which is early for us but another good night had by all.

Ready to smooch

Move your hands

Happy Birthday Tom

The usual suspects

Friday, early start today as getting my hair and nails done this morning, that took me up to lunchtime.  Got the Lemon tree planted and a couple of cuttings that Pauline had given me, we also went into the Jungle and discovered we have a big Fig tree which is blooming, didn't get any inspiration as to what we are going to do with that piece of land, will just have to keep thinking.  It was obviously all planted up at one time as a garden but everything is so overgrown we need to really chop it all back and start again, only problem with it is that it is on a slope so makes things quite difficult as to what to do with it.  Time then to go food shopping, as the weather is now much nicer it will be lighter foods such as salads etc and tomorrow I will go and buy meat mainly for BBQ,s now.  Then we went to the cinema to see Doze anos estrevo - 12 years a slave, a brilliant film, quite sad in places and must admit to the ending bringing a tear to my eye.  Home to a couple of drinks on the terrace.

A very big Fig Tree

Small roots to big Lemons

Saturday, early start to go to market this morning, and it was busy, bought Sole and Mackerel, Steaks, Quail and Mince all for the BBQ and now settled in the freezer.  Then it was of to Olhao to see James and Valentina to make the headboards for our beds.  They are so welcoming we had coffee and cake whilst poring over all of the different fabrics.  Douglas has chosen the nearest thing to tartan for each room that we could get, so fingers crossed they all go together when finished.  It is funny as Douglas has never really had an opinion before but now it is all change, it is good just takes some getting used to.  They will be ready in about three weeks, cannot wait to see the end results.  Back home to a lovely afternoon, so caught a bit more sun and done our swimming, we are doing 30 lengths a day at the moment, will add on another couple again next week, so good being able to get in the pool again, and earlier this year the cover has made such a difference. Cut Douglas hair so now he feels like a new man.  Weather is forecast rain for sunday and Monday, hope not as we have plans and rain was not part of the plan.

Double Room

Twin Room

Master Bedroom

Mackerel bagged for the freezer

Sunday, early start today as going to the Flower Torch Festival in Sao Bras, the streets are lined with flowers and the balconies are all decorated and a full procession starts off from the church and walks along the flower lined streets, this was an amazing sight to see and the smell of the flowers and the torches was absolutely beautiful, we were there for a good 4 hours and this is an annual event to do with the resurrection of Christ, just what Easter is supposed to be about.  The start of the morning was fine weather which soon turned into torrential rain along with some thunder, but this did not deter the Portuguese and of course the visitors from raising their umbrellas and enjoying the spectacle. Thankfully the rain stopped and we enjoyed the rest of the festival dry with a tiny bit of sun, the streets were filled with people along with the cafes and a good time had by all.  After that we found a little cafe in Santa Barbara for a late lunch, a nice place called Doce Mania and enjoyed a Bifana and a Beer. Homeward bound and the rain has decided to come down again in torrents, along with a thunder and lightning show, so guess this will be us for the rest of the night watching the light show with a beer or two.  A good end to another good week.