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.
Verde ~ Green
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 with a smattering of loud tree farmers. So when I saw this week’s theme for chick<8000clicks>chick I just opened the door and stepped outside.
I’m lost in the endless rows of tiny orange trees on the left while djbeat is on the right cuddling with Baby W’s furry green frog in Vancouver (that is a frog, isn’t it?).
.tNb
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PS: Obrigada to djbeat, DaddyP, stinkypaw, KPX, daisyfae, Alice and John C for their comments on From Cambodia to Peru.
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, pressing “C” would land him in CAMBODIA. It never really bothered me but now I smirk in honour of his quirk every time I land in PERU.
Regreso a la ciudad de la montaña by Simon Wilches on Flickr
It’s been a long winter and Quinta do Cabril remains in various stages of completion. There is still so much work to be done, I’m often overwhelmed by a heavy sense of frustration and guilt. My thumbs are anything but green and the art of landscaping escapes me completely. It turns out I am missing the Martha gene.
In the last few weeks Penfold and I have started feeling antsy and restless. It didn’t take long for me to recognize the onset of wanderlust.
Machu Picchu anyone?
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PS: Obrigada to daisyfae, DaddyP, Somnambulist, stinkypaw, djbeat, KPX and JohnC for their quiet comments on Whisper.
Looking at this week’s chick<8000clicks>chick you’d think djbeat and I had swapped places.
Sussurro ~ Whisper
I’m whispering sweet nothings into plastic ears on the left while djbeat is cooing in hushed pink tones on the right.
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PS: Muito obrigada to daisyfae, DaddyP, emma, Shannon, Alice, KPX, penfold, Esta(!), Sue, and stinkypaw for their kind comments on Wind at my Back.
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 liver transplant as her body tried to accommodate a poorly matched organ. Progress was slower than molasses through a feeding tube and the ICU staff had a hard time hiding their concern. But we were incredibly optimistic, busy making plans for the future. After the surprise of a transplant at the 11th hour (11:58, more precisely) we knew that miracles were possible.
It had been several weeks of being confined to a bed by countless machines to help her eat, breathe and keep all bodily functions going. Kilo* was eager for a taste of the outdoors. She had already managed to invite the sun into her room by finding the perfect angle to hold a pocket mirror up to the window above her bed. She wasn’t able to speak yet but I knew that she always felt better when she could see the sun. When news arrived that a trip to the parking lot was planned I thought we would both burst with excitement. It took 2-1/2 hours to unhook and rehook the various tubes and machines. It took another 45 minutes to get her into a wheelchair, followed by a 20-minute rest and an excruciating 30-minute convoy of nurses and machines until we reached the outside door. Everyone was exhausted.
But then I saw the slow smile that gently changed Kilo’s face and the single tear that escaped when she felt the cool wind against her cheek. And I knew that it had been worth every minute.
Kilo, Tango and some other morose-looking Bravo (from L to R)
This post (and most of this blog) is in memory of Kilo Romeo Bravo (May 27, 1966 – May 26, 2005).
.tNb
* Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent
PS: Obrigada to DaddyP, Esta(!), penfold, daisyfae and KPX for their totally awesome comments on Because it’s, like, Thursday.
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 safe from the constant barrage of commercialism, urban decline and moral decay.
What. Ever.
In true Valley Girl fashion I’m embracing this, like, social media wave to the max. Thank god that old telephone pole gives us ADSL so I can Facebook. So, like, OMG these are some of this week’s totally awesome fan pages. They’re fer shur bitchin’.
Brought to you by this most gnarly fan page:
Spread the like.
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PS: Obrigada to daisyfae and penfold for their comments on Glow.
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.
fulgor ~ glow
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 left while djbeat does bright lights in the big city on the right.
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PS: Muito obrigada to daisyfae, penfold, emma and stinkypaw for their comments on In a Siesta State of Mind.
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 practiced land husbandry and set fire to things.
- The rains stopped and the temperature rose. A lot.
Not much blog fodder …
Siesta? by mbac on Flickr
Alas progress has been slow in Cabril, much like in the rest of the country. Indeed Portugal has been getting a bad rap from other members of the EU:
“Its feckless and uneconomic farmers should continue to soak up the hard-earned wealth of the north, while it lives the life of Riley, or at least the life of a Swede, with a welfare state which its economy cannot even dream of supporting.”
(from It’s not just the Greeks – beware of all the siesta states by Rod Liddle)
So it’s time to pull up our socks and get back to work. Time to increase productivity and get this place back on its economic feet. Time to work hard, dig deep and produce results. Time to get busy!
Ooooh but the loverly birds are singing, the sun is shining and it’s really too hot to work outside. Maybe just a little siesta first …
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PS: Obrigadinha to Daddy P, Sue, KPX, Penfold and Alice for their comments on Jardim de Abril.
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 perfect outfit for living the dream, living in a place where people pick lemons in the sunshine from the veranda and retire with a gin & tonic under a shadey canopy of vine leaves and bouganville.
Cleaning out winter leftovers ...
However, the dream brochure left out the part where you’re schlepping hundreds of ancient clay roof tiles and tijolo bricks back and forth. The part where ridiculously heavy stones get heaved around and coaxed into place until they form garden steps.* The part where the perfect lemon picking outfit will hang in the closet until you actually build that veranda, grow those vines and plant that bouganville.
Living the dream is hard work. I’m popping Advil like candy today. But hey, the sun is shining and we’re outside. And after a few more hundred hours of landscaping and growing lemons I might actually fit into that perfect outfit.
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* obviously Penfold does the heaving and coaxing while I do the test stepping …
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PS: Muito obrigada to Daddy P, daisyfae, KPX and stinkypaw for their comments on What’s the Buzz? And special thanks to Ted Neeley for being Jesus.
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 mysterious crucifixion that resulted in annual chocolate bunnies and multi-coloured eggs.
To this day I can’t imagine Jesus not looking like Ted Neeley.
Feliz Páscoa to all and remember … chocolate calories won’t be resurrected until the third day after you try on your new spring bikini.
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PS: Obrigadinha to Daddy P, Penfold, Alice, KPX and stinkypaw for their comments on A Primaveira!
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 bit overboard with some tough-love winter pruning and left it looking even sadder than before.
But now look! Each sad little branch is covered with these gorgous, tiny white blossoms. And that’s exactly why I love this ugly plum tree – he’s a feisty little bugger.
May the sneezefest begin …
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PS: Obrigada to daisyfae, djbeat and Daddy P for their comments on ReboundTAG.
