Christmas and other setbacks

We are done. Because of all this rain, nothing happened on our building site. We can not even plant these sweet azaleas now, as they are likely to wash down again from the slope.

The rental house we live in is chilly in wintertime. It is moist, there is no insulation, no ventilation, and there is no decent heating. It feels like living in a bathtub with all these tiles on the floors and walls. And worse: this house is sold! We have to leave again within 3 months and try to find yet another rental. Drama! It is not easy to find a new space, it will be another elsewhere we have to adjust to. Packing everything up, again. Make new adjustments to make it comfortable. Again. And yet continue to be flexible, enthusiastic and upbeat! Yes, we can! :-/ So. We’re done with it.

The good news is that we have now finally sifted through all the numbers, details and budgets of our project. We now have final details to work against, Luís has spent many many hours with Rodrigo, Sylvia and Fernando over the last two weeks.
The bad news is that in the end we will be short on money, of course. But, we’ll find a solution for that problem as well.

Christmas in the mist

No cheerful happy Christmas parties this year because of Covid. Not much fun in the streets and stores. All festive decorations seem unreal and imposed on us. The music sounds hollow, the flickering lights out of place. In the stores there are walls of toys, luxury gifts and special treats, all screaming for attention. The village people try to make some nice decorations in and around their homes. But it feels like nobody is really into it, this year. The perspective is to keep everything quiet in small settings, and it does not enlighten the usual enthusiasm. In this part of Portugal the number of contaminations is still low, but the restrictions are tough, and controls are everywhere.

Bears

So, we decide to go to the Netherlands after all. Even though we feel a bit guilty to take a flight, we are going home, to our other home. There, we will build a small central heated Christmas party. Early January we will come back, and shoot all these growling bears off our property. What a stupid year this has been. Now let’s move on to 2021. A new round of opportunities, I want to go forward!