One of the best things about living on a quinta is that we’re surrounded by green. Nothing but nature to the east, west, north and south. Right below our courtyard is a tree farm belonging to one of the local nurseries. During the warmer months the field is always filled with rows of trees sprinkled [...]
We all have quirky things that irritate us and my favourite client in Vancouver is no exception. It happened whenever he completed an electronic form. Rather than scrolling down a long list of 195 countries in a drop-down list, he would press “C” for CANADA. His pet peeve was that, nine times out of ten, [...]
Looking at this week’s chick<8000clicks>chick you’d think djbeat and I had swapped places. I’m whispering sweet nothings into plastic ears on the left while djbeat is cooing in hushed pink tones on the right. . PS: Muito obrigada to daisyfae, DaddyP, emma, Shannon, Alice, KPX, penfold, Esta(!), Sue, and stinkypaw for their kind comments on Wind at [...]
It’s been five years since my radical change in perspective. Every now and then I catch myself slipping back into old habits but I try very hard to appreciate every single day. This morning’s gentle breeze reminded me why. My older sister stayed in ICU (intensive care unit) for more than twelve weeks after the [...]
Cabril sits nestled in a tiny valley with both houses overlooking the tree farm below. This week rows and rows of orange trees appeared below us as os trabalhadors revealed a neatly striped landscape. The only signs of modern civilization are the telephone poles that hang dangerously low across the field. We are free and [...]
We took a short break but I’m so happy that chick<8000clicks>chick is back. A city chick and a country chick, together in spirit but separated by more than 8000 km. This week’s theme was “glow” and I love the way Cabril’s country glimmer contrasts with Vancouver’s urban neon. I’m glowing with the season’s first roses on the [...]
A blog in motion stays in motion? April was a blog-free month. It was entirely unintentional, I just wasn’t feeling the bloggy love. So here’s a quick summary of last month’s events: It rained. A lot. The DaddyP Gang stopped by on their way to the Algarve bearing gifts of Humax and cheddar cheese. We [...]
The sun has finally decided to stay for a while so we’ve been working in the front garden this week. Yesterday, as I was digging in the rocky dirt in an old pair of jeans and sensible shoes, I remembered buying a lemon picking outfit in Vancouver with djbeat just days before moving here. The [...]
It must be Easter because my head is filled with lyrics from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1973 masterpiece, Jesus Christ Superstar. Religion was fairly subdued in the Bravo family, the focus was definitely more on the loopholes of hell than on the obstacles of heaven. So JCS served as the total of my education about this [...]
Huzzah! Hooray! Yippee! Yahoo! The long, dark, wet winter is over — spring has finally arrived! As soon as I arrived home in Cabril I noticed the first blossoms on one of our plum trees. The same plum tree that sadly limped through the seasons in 2009, bearing only six sad plums. Penfold went a [...]
