Midsummer Already???

36 degrees in the shade today. About time I say. But hopefully not for too long.
Fan's on in the bedroom at night to try to get some air moving through the place.



Midsummers Eve and the Supermoon event have come and gone already so I suppose we are heading for autumn now. 

We spent Midsummer's Eve at friends Judy and Nigel's house and the view from their window of the mountains was stunning (Fraser has a new camera by the way!)

Big events this month were:
 #1.  Sylvi hitting 64 (cue photo and Beatles song)...

#2.  Boules and Darts rematches...over 40 people came this year..all went a bit viral with the invitations but a good time had by all.

 

 The team from Sta Ovaia walked off with BOTH trophies this year!

 Second division teams for darts and boules were a mixed bunch!

Thanks everyone for coming and making it a fun day and to Steve and Jo for doing the BBQ!

 

The kids did some great painting during the evening and off their own bat decided to hold an exhibition the next day to 'sell' their paintings. It was a sellout!!!!

#3.  The reappearance of our turtle in the pond..much bigger now. It has been named Trixi by Julia the daughter of Fraser's Argentinian webpal Diego and the naming accompanied by a picture!!! Thank you Julia, the picture is a masterpiece. 

So  Trixi it is.

#4. Fraser finished the new back exit staircase, complete with new trellis ready to plant something there to climb up it...maybe next year though!

 #5. Our biggest surprise this month though was discovering that our 'empty' wren's nest was, in fact, occupied with two tiny hatchlings! We have spent a wonderful two to three weeks watching mum wren frantically feeding them and sadly they have now fledged. We really miss them!

Bugsy has been having a great time encountering some of our resident snakes in the garden and in the field but he missed this one...one of the watersnakes sunning himself on the top pond. And the little skink on the right had great problems crossing the tiles on the back patio.

 
The wild flower planting around the new fruit trees seems to have paid off and it is great to be over there listening to the mad hum of bees. It looks great too so we shall be continuing to develop more patches next year. Sadly we lost all the blossom from our plums, peaches and nectarine this year but it looks like we are going to have shedloads of apples. 

Having seen the photos of herself at the boules and darts day, Sylvi has decided to go on the major diet and lose 10 kilos in 10 weeks! Yikes!!!!
Seems to be on target since she has already lost 2! Adela has been helping sending short daily routine yoga videos for the fat and unfit!! 
Scraps is going for an xray on her hips on Monday but in the meantime has been joining in with Sylvi on the yoga front!

 Our good friend Crispin left Portugal this month to travel back to the States and seek his fortune there. We all will miss him but hope he has a brilliant time there and that his wish to buy a bike (motorbike of course) and travel the States comes to fruition!

 Finally, Sylvi is going back to the UK in a couple of weeks to look after this little lady. Leaving Fraser to take care of the ranch.

We hope you are having some better weather, wherever you are and that the next month is a sunnier one for you all.
 



Leaving you with this incredible cloud formation that entertained us the other evening while we were outside having dinner.