Flaming September

September got off to a hot start. The fires got rather closer, just across the river. The first couple of weeks were spent wandering around in a haze of smoke, with ash falling like snowflakes in our back garden.

With help from Steve and Vanessa we dragged our big petrol powered water pump over the field and up the terraces to pump water from our irrigation well down to the holding tank in the field so that we could then hook up the fire hose to the pump and defend the house if the fire got to our section of the forest. Luckily we didn’t need to use it.

From my point of view, there was one plus point to the fires – the non-stop airshow. Since we are so close to the river where the aircraft and helicopters fill up they were flying over the whole day and I took some really close shots from the Tábua bridge.

In all 100,00 hectares burnt and 6 People died in the fires, Bombeiros (fire fighters) and civilians and all due to ‘human agency’… One of the fire choppers crashed as well, due to an engine failure, fortunately without serious injury to the crew.

You can see more about this at this site if you are interested

http://bombeirosparasempre.blogspot.pt/2012/09/helicopteros-kamov-cessam-operacoes-de.html

The drought continued until last week when we finally got a few days very welcome rain. We need more but at least it reduced the fire risk back to something like reasonable!

Despite all the excitement we still had a lot of fruit to harvest – Bugsy amused himself burying dried windfall peaches around the place…we are hoping for a peach orchard in the future.

When she was not doing her fabric work Sylvi got very busy making chutneys pickles and jams from the produce.

The big house project this month was tiling the front Armizem and Laundry floor.

We were given a load of unwanted tiles, courtesy of friends Josh and Veronika so down they went to cover the dusty and very uneven concrete floor. It was backbreaking work and the floor was incredibly uneven. Of course it also meant planing quite a strip off the bottom of the Laundry door. It was worth it though as the whole area looks so much more finished and stays much cleaner. I tidied up the sink area by closing in the open framework and making a door to fit. Sylvi is very pleased. Brownie points all round.

I also re-did my modelling area in the studio by buying a really cheap computer desk and relegating the old 2 meter school desk to a work bench, so now I have a rather more compact area to make a mess in. Also put down some very thin bright blue carpet…model parts are normally either bits of wood or grey plastic which, when dropped will be rather easier to find on the blue…

As it is the time of year for the grape harvest our friends had our grapes this year to help boost their limited crop and we were surprised at the amount we had. Matt, Anita and Phil came over and picked them and they are now crushed and in the fermenting vat at their place waiting to be pressed and finally processed. It’s great to be able to share produce and not let it go to waste.

So now we just have to transport the firewood from our forest patch split and stack it ready for winter and pick the olives in November. But that’s for another blog.

Active August

One of our local goats.....

...and her owner Manuel

A few pics to start with from August.

Bugsy on guard

Our view of the fire at Avo that took out 250 hectares of forest

Start of the produce glut

So where to begin?..............we feel like we just haven't stopped this month and it's not even over really yet. Sod's law that everything needed doing at once for one reason or another. We hardly got to see any of the Olympics although we did watch the opening ceremony.

Paul and Cris, having finished the roof and built the frame for the attic divider, (left)  managed to get all the materials ready to complete it..so the wall went up and the door went in and then of course we needed to paint the whole section on the inside of the new room and decided that the other side need to be white too.

Fraser said it felt like the kind of task you might get to do in Hell---painting white over dark varnished paneling (with added fluted strips to add interest.) and then do it again, forever... It was a bit of a nightmare to be honest but I am glad we have done it at last. Now just needs a good clear out, clean and new curtains.

So...that finished Fraser and Paul and Cris decided that it was time to do something about making the steps from the patio to the barn safe.(We  constructed them in 2009 but really badly ) You can see them here.
The plan ended up being to completely remove the granite entry steps to the verandah by hand and construct a platform at a level with the top step to the barn door by filling in, and then put the steps back further out into the entry way and up to the platform.
 I was secretly having nightmares about the dust and noise and disruption but agreed that it was a great solution to the problem.
 

Low and behold what was originally estimated as about 5 days work ended up being only 3 and having removed the steps, filled the hole and laid the remaining decking from the roof job; the results are astounding and a totally safe entryway. Great Job! The dogs love the new space and platform where they can view the world.

Meanwhile, the fruit and veg is coming in from our land and from friends and I am spending an inordinate amount of time making jams and chutneys and pickles, hoping to be able to sell most of them before Christmas at the annual fair held by our international gardening group.
I have also started making fabric advent calendars to sell, both here and in London if I can.

Plus the drawing course is now coming to an end and keeping the blog going is another time consuming activity each week. You can look here Drawing Diaries to see how they are doing if you are interested

We have had to remove three more dead trees from our little forest. Steve and Ness came to take down the biggest one on the edge of the front terrace. Ness had to climb it as it was such a big one. It was expertly done and took several hours to cut off the top section drop and cut up into cords that could sit out to dry for the rest of the year.
 

We had a break from all this so we could spend time with our friends from Lisbon..Pedro and Nani,who came to stay overnight on their way home from a trip to northern Portugal and Spain. It was great to see them and to have them stay. Haven't seen them for many years so we had a good long dinner and catch up.

Well, it's noticeable that the evenings are drawing in and the early mornings are a bit chilly and very misty!  Summer is on the wane... Now watch it hit 40c in September!


Lastly our Lexa Pie had her second birthday on 27th. A week after her Daddy's birthday so happy birthday to Rich from us too.
Lexa is talking and being her usual busy and bustling self. She is growing and changing faster than ever. Really looking forward to her coming to stay in October with Mummy and Daddy and doing lots of fun things with us here.

Hoping you are all well and had a pleasant if not particularly sunny summer break wherever you are. Do come and see us sometime you will be very welcome.