New roof, new sink and new car.

My how time flies when you are having fun!

We have been up to our ears in everything it seems but we have achieved a lot.

The barn roof is now boarded out and the inside gallery beams are in place. The beam supports are in.. and two of the windows.The roof tiles arrived and were launched up to the roof for fixing and Mike and Ant, our builders completed the job except for putting in the vellux which we will do after the rains have stopped. It looks very shiny and new but great!

Inside the house we had to do major surgery on our ceramic sink in the kitchen, which cracked explosively in December
and continued to disintegrate over a period of months until we took it out a week ago, very sad! It had been the sink of my dreams! However we have now replaced it with a stainless steel sink (couldn´t face the same thing happening again) and Fraser has done a great job of completely changing the sink units and surround and it looks great too.
In November I decided to have the bodywork of my 2CV - Rosie - completely overhauled because she was looking very dull and jaded. We found a local guy who has done a great job of removing the dents, rust patches and knocks. She now has a fabulous new paintjob and body - wish I could say the same for her owner!!! We now have to get her registered in Portugal, which is a complete pain and nightmare to do but has to be done.

Our friends Jon and Annie came to stay this week and have helped us with terrace clearing, planting and renewing our grape supports. It was great to have them working with us and giving us the chance to complete some overdue jobs with their enthusiasm. So thanks guys.
As a reward we plied them with lots of food and wine and even took them out for a day by the sea at Figueria da Foz...and to Conimbriga Roman Ruins (But the weather was awful!)

Boar and blossom...must be spring!

We haven´t had a springtime here so it has been great to see everything coming out and colouring up. We discover something new every day and it´s like Christmas all over again!

Our new tiny fruit trees are budding and blossoming... I planted them out in October

and the peach, nectarine and plums have all blossomed!!!! It´s just sooooo exciting!


Around our water mine and reservoir we have wild strawberries and violets that we didn´t even know existed.

There are thousands of spring flowers appearing everywhere and the Mimosa are startling.
So the gardening bug has hit again and we have been to the local market buying stuff to plant out
The pond has begun to take shape..



Since the last post Fraser has planted a weeping willow to replace the old willow we cut down, two different papyrus plants and bamboo, bulrushes and we have a couple of water lilies in place. Around the edge we have transplanted agave, camomile daisies and four or five different creeping plants which we hope will soon cover all.

I have spent hours weeding the garden and reclaiming it from the wild
and the rain has replenished our lake which had become very low over the winter.
Then last week we discovered that the wild pigs had paid a visit to uproot a wild lily-like plant that they are particularly fond of......
on the terrace above my vegetable patch!

If only we could train them to turn over the rest of the terraces for us! Fraser is threatening to prepare some broad head arrows (we are both archers) and have a shot at them from our balcony!
We could always practice on our local shepherd´s flock that comes to graze on our upper terraces and strip of forest to keep the undergrowth clipped!!!

The left~hand half of barn has now been boarded out and insulated and on Wednesday the tiles are being put up and the Vellux put in at last! The gallery will go in next and then the final windows will be put in on that side. I can´t wait!