Back on Board. Catch-up News March and April

We have our main computer back now and...o, joy...they put Vista back on it, in Portuguese! So life has included a lot of pain getting it to: A. function in English and B. stop locking up every %$#"" five minutes.
Well, here we are at the start of May. Last night we had still got a fire going in the living room as it's chill, damp and...ick. It finally bucketed down yesterday but the sun shone today. So life and temperatures are looking up.

Anyroad up it's been a busy couple of months.

MARCH was awful weather wise although we had a couple of good days but so much rain it was incredible. Between bouts of rain we managed to collect all of the cut timber from our patch of forest, with the aid of a friend and their landrover,

and move it down to the woodshed to be processed and stored. We hope we have enough wood for next winter now!!!! Although these big buggers still need to be cut down to size. I burned off the rest of the tree trimmings.
It was friends Vanessa and Andy´s birthday on the same day so they had a camp out party by the lake. Sarah showed us how to use poyz I think they are called?and Sylvi had a go with a glowing ball, only managing to hit the back of her own head a couple of times! Had a fishing session in the pond to palm off some of the hundred fish we have to a friend for their tank. Iris (their daughter) tried to help but mainly managed to scare the fish into corners and catch weed!Sylvi went on a day out to learn how to make a willow basket with the withies from our trees. Amazingly it held together and we have pine cones in it by the fire ready for fire-lighting.

APRIL still raining..... and we left for UK to Cornwall for my niece Hannah and fiance Steve's wedding. Amazingly we had really good weather over the weekend and all in all, it was a gas. The venue was in the old fort at Rame Head and Hannah and Steve had us all sprucing it up ready for the event!
The May/Trevithick/Kelly familyJan and John (the Bride´s mum and her partner) worked hard to get everything stage managed and everyone lent a hand which made the day really special. We had a great time and in the evening lit paper lanterns which flew off into the dark. No fire engines so all seemed well.

We stayed in a small B&B cottage and our friendly host, Georgie, is an artist who makes wonderful mosaics. We hope that she will be visiting us this year to give us inspiration for our mosaic wall outside the barn. Look forward to it Georgie.

We met up with friends of ours, Phil and Kayti, from Prague who are now living in Plymouth in a wonderful new apartment for a brief but enjoyable reunion over lunch. We took the ferry from Cremyll and the weather was stunning.

Cornwall is so beautiful this time of year.... didn't want to leave!

Went back up to Bath after the wedding, saw old friends did some vital shopping (like Cheddar and gardening gloves!!!) and Sylvi popped up to London to see her boys, accompanied by long-time friend and boys´godmother, Malc. Wedding gifts were duely handed over and then Sylvi dragged Malc the length and breadth of Oxford Street looking for wedding gear. Sore feet and bad tempers due to lack of purchases ensued.

When we came back to Portugal did loads of gardening in dry spells, as the weeds and grass had enjoyed the rain. Sylvi's rockery got a new pathway and is looking quite spectacular now. The hedgerow by the drive also has a new pathway (only needed half a ton of gravel!!!!!) Started strimming the terraces as the grass is taking over rapidly

Started work on the patio outside the barn and spent a weekend down in the Algarve with Jenny and Steve.

Since then I have been nose down in the Studio working on my painting and finding it hard work but getting easier every day.

Finally we decided to start a new section to our blog to celebrate the infestation of roundabouts that have appeared over the last few years across our region. We will feature a roundabout a month for your delight and edification.

ROUNDABOUT OF THE MONTH - Our village roundabout and our favourite so far...

I bet you can´t wait for next month´s.

Mother Board crash prevents new post...shock horror

Our computer has died and is back with Hewlett Packard under warranty, in order to replace the mother board. (This apparently is a common fault so be warned!) Needless to say it has taken us a few weeks to adjust. We have managed to salvage most of our files, but sadly not our email. So I have to build all my files again unless the very nice man at the repair shop can copy them off for us.

All has been transferred to the current machine...a mature and less vigorous laptop, which is great for general email but just too under-powered to handle the creation of our monthly post and photos without pregnant pauses and much frustration.

So.... apologies to all but we will create a double wammy, super bonus extravaganza of a post for April when we return from the UK where we are attending our niece's wedding in Cornwall, so there will be lots of photos and news to follow.

Much maintenance, walls and fences

February started off cold and remains so - at night, anyway, we’re getting freezing temperatures again. The days, now that the rain has stopped for a while, are sunny and warm by noon, shirtsleeves warm at that. The terraces are turning green...Despite the cold, Spring is happening and flowers are coming up and blossom is breaking everywhere as I write...

Despite my and Chris’s efforts with plastic sheet, the roof still leaked in the last rains, so there was nothing for it; we called in Antonio the builder and his merry men to sort out the dodgy roof/wall junction. So the barn now looks posher than the house with it’s newly rendered walls. The roof tiles now project beyond the walls so we shouldn’t be getting wet walls again.

New friends Steve, Vanessa, Andy and Sarah were employed to help with a tad of tree pruning and felling – Two big diseased pines down and all the olives and willows cut back and sorted.

Andy impersonating a squirrel with a chainsaw...
While Steve nails a few long hanging bits

The crew plus Albie....

We were left with huge piles of willow withies...and not being heavily into basket weaving (yet) we decided to build a bit of fencing with them, which also screens off the compost bin. I built a gate and some trellising for the other side of the gate…all very rustic.

Next up was building a front wall, as one day we intend to have a dog. To build this we used century old mud bricks (which were originally part of our barn) much to the amusement of our Portuguese builders. The damn things have been taking up a lot of space which we need for storing firewood – this winters big lesson.Since mud bricks aren’t exactly waterproof, the whole thing was then rendered in cement and will be painted, probably buff. The gate was made up from surplus floor boards.

Sylvi has been making a lot of her excellent Orange Marmalade. A friend gave us quite a lot of oranges and tangerines so, as we now have far more than we can eat, she's taking some up to the 'Feira dos Ladroes ' (theives' fair) held monthly at a local bar, with a view to selling some.She dried all the orange rind to make firelighter flakes. Works brilliantly.

She also took some patchwork stuff to a shop in Gois in the hope of selling some. She also managed to get her first commission for a cot quilt from one of the owners who runs the shop. That was a result!! Here´s a pic of one of her perfumed hearts.

Pancake Tuesday was also Carnival here and in Brasil, amongst other places, we went with friends to Tondela for a somewhat lower key carnival compared to Rio... There was a Brazilian dance troupe, but mostly it was local kids and floats, a gorgeous day for it anyway

The local Volunteer Firemen (and women) were out collecting too.

Our final job this month was the final work to level the back garden and build a new flower bed terrace with the help of our builder friend Rui!

Now for the planting and the patio!!! Aaargggh

Ill Winds & Blues

We are wondering whether to start building an Ark! But given the lack of a big booming voice from the sky giving detailed dimensions and instructions, it must be the rainy season! No s**t Sherlock.

Although December was wintry with minus temperatures at night and some rainy days, the promise of Christmas indulgence, fairy lights and all the glitter helped get through the worst. But now? Well January has been, wet,wet, wet. As I write we are in the middle of a gale and rain storm and we are watching the surrounding saplings with interest. We have found several branches snapped off and lying in various parts of the garden and pathway to the field. The forest around us is poorly managed and there are abundant spindly pines that really should have been pulled up to help healthy trees flourish. It is expedient to carry a bow saw and some rope in the bus to clear the track and local roads in the event of tree fall.

Two walls of the barn have wet patches growing daily inside since the roof apex and edges are leaking like a sieve because the roof work and finishing was just not good enough.

To cap it all we went to a town just 30 kms north of us last week and found ourselves in the middle of a snow storm. Well bugger that, thought I. Actually we think bears have got the right idea. Bring on hibernation!
To add to the joys we were both struck with the lurgy for a couple of weeks and Fraser has had to resort to anti-biotics to get rid of a persistent chest infection. We are lighting log fires every day to help keep the house dry as well as warm. The smoke and resulting dust doesn´t help Fraser´s condition.

At the start of the month, despite the chimney sweeping we had a chimney fire which was rather scary but easily put out. We reckon that it happened because we are burning a lot of old wormed rafters and wood from the original barn which was coated with some noxious stuff, probably old diesel oil or creosote. The resulting gunge that lined the cleanly swept chimney ignited as a result.

Just after Christmas we had the building rubble and stones removed from the back quad and a JCB started to create the levels for the rear garden and patio. It was only 5 degrees and bloody freezing!

Unfortunately, with three weeks of rain it looks like Passchendale without the bodies. The resultant mud is impressive and we have had to stop.However at least it is a start. We have a plan, Stan, so hopefully this year will see the patio and the beginning of landscaping happening.

There´s not much you can do when the field is waterlogged and the rain just keeps falling. So the bright side of the situation is that we are taking this time to do our own things as well consolidate jobs inside the barn and house. Just finished cleaning, sorting and clearing our utility area to make it easier to find things and to clear out the garbage. Very satisfying.
Also it has given Fraser more time to focus on painting now , although he says it is a bit like pulling teeth. He has been doing a number of small still life oil paintings and working on a few ideas for larger canvases. Here are a couple of samplesHopefully this will help release his artist block.

I haven´t done anything in the way of painting or drawing recently, although I did a few bits and pieces later last year in watercolour and pastels. I have spent the rainy days making James and Adela´s wedding gift, a patchwork bed spread. Hope you will like it Adela! Here is a sneak preview of a section..... and have also completed another smaller quilt for a friend.

Fraser´s niece´s wedding is in April in Cornwall and so I will start their quilt soon. Additionally I am hoping to sell some small patchwork and quilted items in a newly opened health food shop that wants to provide hand made gifts for customers. So will need to get on with more making.

In the meantime we are trying to keep up with our Tai Chi, which we started in November and trying to get fit and well for the time when the rains stop.

We have enjoyed communication with a number of people, particularly our good friend Marcia in the US, about Obama´s inauguration. The man is going to have so many enemies, since he has so many idealistic and revolutionary ideas and because basically what he says is right and terribly difficult to achieve without tears and loss of power for many. However we have been really inspired to see a leader for our times who is not afraid to tell it like it is. I hope that he will inspire other politicians to be proactive instead of reactive.

His eloquence and delivery is so redolent of Martin Luther King (I am guessing deliberately so). As our friend Marcia put it in a recent email before his inauguration.

"It's such a pleasure already to have an almost President who can say a FULL sentence."