Week 47 of our new life

Monday, more torrential rain today and Douglas was playing golf.  I got all the housework done, the ironing, made two batches of soup for the freezer, printed off some documents for Douglas for the quiz night and prepared Monk fish with Black Olive Sauce for tea.  Which one of us had the better day.  The sun has come out at tea time and the forecast for the rest of the week is better, thank goodness.  Going to sit on the terrace and enjoy the rest of the evening.

Tomato and Basil

Carrot & Coriander 

Monkfish

Black Olive Sauce

Tuesday, Up early it is Zumba day today, just love it makes me smile for the rest of the day, and of course it is a good workout.  Douglas has nothing on on Friday so will be doing two sessions this week.  Home for a shower and lunch and then away to feed Linda´s cats, sad as there are only two to feed this week.  We then decided to go for a drive and then on the way back had to pick up my new contact lenses and some rolls. The weather is brighter today although a slight wind,but the sun is out, hopefully no more rain just now anyway.  It is a quieter week for us this week which is good as it means we can recharge the batteries.
Wednesday, took a trip to Carvoeiro today, this is a lovely resort with a beach, lots of shops and restaurants, hotel, villas etc.  Had a wander around and a light lunch, you can tell they cater for tourists which is good but such a shame as tourists miss out on so much just by being in these places, but a nice place to spend a holiday.  The weather was still a bit cloudy, but the sun came out and there is plenty to do in the evenings as plenty of places to eat and plenty of bars.  We visited an art exhibition in the local hotel, the hotel was lovely but although the art was nice I am not into boats and beaches. Have to go to our lawyers this week sometime as they have our electricity contract which we have to sign and return, not sure why it has gone there, hopefully she wont charge us for the privilege!!!  Carly's birthday today so phoned her this morning, they are going out for tea tonight and she seems to have had a good day planned, not received our parcel yet so a bit disappointing.  Also waiting for news on my niece who is due her baby anytime now, my sister will be a granny for the first time LOL will be interesting to see her reaction, although I think she is very excited.

Welcome to Carvoeiro

Carvoeiro Beach

Some View

Main Square

Bit Cloudy

Birthday Girl

Thursday, Portuguese lesson this morning, getting used to starting with conversation now, not saying that I am understanding all of it though.  Then it was off to the garden centre, Linda's birthday today so thought I would buy her a plant for the garden and probably get one for us while we are there, LOL. Bought us both a Bottle Brush Plant which actually becomes a tree within 10 years, will be interesting, it has Red flowers that do actually look like Bottle brushes, very unusual. Ten of us going out for dinner tonight, so should be a good night at Mr Freddies, we have been there before so although slightly more expensive excellent food.  Linda and Tom have friends over for the week so they will be there, although didn't realise that it was Lynsey's birthday as well.  Had a great night with free desserts, free champagne and a bottle of Port free, so yes was rather a late night but a very good one.

Bottle Brush Plant

Lynsey & Linda

Birthday Girls

The Crowd

Friday, Zumba this morning, have now started two sessions a week, bit of a cloudy tired head but felt great afterwards.  Pauline and Bernadette also started today so two more to add to the crowd.  It is a very invigorating, feel good class and Emma the Zumba teacher is fantastic, so bubbly and obviously enjoys what she is doing, waiting on her rolling out a 3rd class.  Back home for a shower and some R&R, before going out to Chicken Louis with Linda and Tom and Lynsey and Billy, and then of course back to Cafe Pinto so another late night. David and Ann also turned up a bit later so they joined us at Cafe Pinto also.  It was a Bank Holiday today to celebrate 40 years of Democracy and Freedom in Portugal so everybody was in festive mode, the locals know how to celebrate. Got the Bottle Brush plant planted today, in the garden where it has plenty of space to eventually grow and spread.  Weather has also been very good, although some cloud still around, but hot, we now need to get some umbrellas for the terrace as we can only do a little time in the sun and then need a bit of shade, think that will be a job for next week. When we got home Lizzy the Lizard was on the terrace, first time we have seen her since Danielle, Katie and Carly went home, maybe she doesn't like too much quiet!!!

Lizzy on the Roof

Saturday, out two nights in a row, not good for the soul.  Went to the market to get Some Ribs and Black Pig chops for the freezer.  Am preparing Ribs tonight for tomorrow as we are going out with Mick and Pauline so will invite them back for something to eat.  Spent the rest of the afternoon in the Sun and then cooked Steak with Salad for Tea.  What you could call a lazy day. Still waiting for some news from my sister regarding Baby arriving, nothing as yet.  Carly's birthday present finally arrived today and from what I can gather she was very happy with her dressing up outfit, so success with that one.

Just look at me

Look at me dance

Sunday, a very hot day dawned today.  Off to Querenca with Mick and Pauline, there was an Easter fair on so the town square was filled with stalls selling all different types of local crafts, I bought a large jar of Honey, as having discovered the taste of Portuguese Honey find it to be absolutely delicious.  Then we decided to have lunch, Wild Boar Stew, really gorgeous but far too big a portion and also too hot a day to be eating Stew, but we all done our best to polish it off, knowing that it would be the only meal of the day as after eating all that there would be no room later on for anything else. After about 5 hours we headed back to Micks to collect some Fish Soup and then back to ours for a couple of drinks before calling it a day.  Pauline also gave me another couple of plants for the garden, so we had a good day.  Texts and phone calls later on from the family, Lynne has decided to come back in August, Ann is coming in September and Laura is coming in either June or July, my sister also wants to come in June, so we wont be short of visitors this year, just hoping Richard might venture over also.  Have to also say a big congratulations to my niece on the birth of her baby boy Louis on Friday weighing 7lb 6oz, my sister is a first time granny now and is loving it already.  It has been a good week, and started off quiet but ended up being quite busy again, next week is also busy so having a quiet night on the terrace. Another congratulations goes to Allan Fury who retired from Fife Council after 36 years on Wednesday, hoping that Allan and Sheena enjoy the restful days that they are going to have exploring Scotland even more and perhaps we will see them over here sometime in the future.

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.