Sylvi talked her into the car and we took her home where she engulfed anything put in front of her. Obviously dehydrated and starved she was pathetically grateful. This area is rife with abandoned dogs. She spent the afternoon sniffing around and then just sleeping and sitting on an old pillow. She had terrible sores on her inside back legs and was covered in ticks. We also suspected she might have mange as she had lost a lot of her coat in patches around her body and her little paws were red raw.
We took her to the Vet, figuring that if she couldn't be saved at least she could go out with a bit of kindness. Well, apart from every parasite possible, malnutrition etc. the pup passed the Vet's scrutiny and we gave her an anti mite/flea/tick bath, to be repeated every two weeks, worm pills and ear mite cream and last week she got her first set of innoculations expensive buggers, dogs. We removed all the ticks we could find. She certainly looked and smelled better for the bath, well, actually she smelled like a chemical factory, but even that was an improvement... and after a couple of days she was getting stronger.
In just a week of feeding her four times a day we saw the improvement and she began to learn how to play. Her rear left leg troubles her still and we hope it isn´t her hips. Looks like we're stuck with her so we have bought her a collar and a bed and called her Scraps. Vet reckons she's about 3 or 4 months old. She now plays like a lunatic and put on a kilo in a week.This was her 7 days later....
And this is her now.... and boy does she have attitude! We haven't laughed so much in ages at her antics and she really will take some sorting out in the next few months.
Croquet, anyone? Fraser has been strimming the fields and terraces, it's a lot of work, aided somewhat this year by the loan of a lawn mower...sadly not a riding mower, but at least it was self-propelled! The field looks very civilised now. The bottom picture shows the tops of our New Zealand Cabbage palms which are currently in flower. Spectacular. 
We have finally managed the first stage of the barn patio after some initial trials. Using a variety of materials, sale price tiles, free slate from the roadside, beach pebbles and cast slabs helped us keep costs down. Now needs grouting and sealing in the central area.
With the rains we are finding lots of local amphibians in odd places like the front steps. Luckily the puppy didn't see this one.
Other news of the month is that our trip to the Algarve to see the gallery there was a great success. Fraser now has a painting there and has submitted two small paintings for an exhibition of small affordable works starting on May 30th. They also asked me to submit a watercolour for the exhibition too. They want Fraser to produce a number of canvases of skies, seas and Brazil so he is working on those as we write. If you are interested to see the place the web link is www.corterealarte.comSo we are off to Prague on 28th May for James and Adela's wedding on 30th. Guess what the blog will be about in June???
Roundabout of the Month
Tábua is our local town, with a corrupt mayor and has pretentions beyond its capabilities. Over the past year there have been new highways and bypasses constructed which all converge through Tábua. We now understand why we have this abomination of a roundabout which obviously signifies "All roads lead to Tábua". It appeared 4 years ago so obviously the local junta knew what was coming. The four crests are the town crests. Amusingly enough many of the local stray abandoned dogs, of which there are many, use it as their loo and resting place.
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.
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.
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 family
Jan 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 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 took the ferry from Cremyll and the weather was stunning. 
Cornwall is so beautiful this time of year.... didn't want to leave!
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
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
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.
The local Volunteer Firemen (and women) were out collecting too.
Now for the planting and the patio!!! Aaargggh