End of the summer

Everything and everyone is dusty and tired. The plans and the erathe need more water, the people wish less brightness and some refreshing rain. We still jump into the pool very often. Then out to do some gardening. Take a quick warm shower to wash of the sweat and back to swim some distance. Perfect replacement for the gym…

Or we just sit and muse and watch the valley change its color, sounds and atmosphere. A rain shower freshens the feathers and soon all kinds of birds are tweeting each other to deafness… When darkness comes, there are many stars in the sky, but our garden releases the sounds of hundreds of crickets.

Floating

We have worked hard again, these last months. Still quite a few work men to guide, more chores to be taken care of. And we have welcomed many guests. No, we will never start a B&B… so much more fun to be with your own loved ones and chill. On one of the verandas, floating together in the pool, or hang out on some terrace or the beach. Cooking a meal together in the evening or a last minute decision to go to one of the many little restaurants. Play a game of Uno. Read a book and be quiet. Watch all Marvel movies with the kids. Again. Have a luscious Portuguese style lunch and then try to get some babies to nap. We received visitors from all kinds of places. Even an almost forgotten part of Canadian family showed up to reconnect, two generations later! Friends and family that drove all those kilometers and had great road trips with us as at the end of their travel. We are honored with all of your visits!

Holiday horror

Finally we were able to arrange some days for ourselves. Some time away from the building site. A true holiday! Brother and sister-in-law came over to join us. Unfortunately they also brought some of the C-virus with them. So instead of new horizons we were confined in quarantine. (And I had already been in the Netherlands in so many over crowded situations in buses, trains and office floors, and nothing happened. I thought we’d be immune by now…) In the end we were so happy to be in this house, Nowhere else could we have gone through this so comfortably, in all this space and clean air. The one that felt better did some chores. The others did whatever they felt like, depending on their level of miserable.. But in the end, bit by bit, the whole garden was hoed and the large deck thoroughly scrubbed and oiled! Thanks so much, dear E&A…!

Bricklayer

The official of the village counsel has visited us several times now. He is an important man to know, as he is able to connect you to the village infrastructure. There is not a lot of budget but materials and machines were brought. We found a specialist bricklayer in Vilar and hired him to lay all bricks neatly in line. Working form early in the morning till late in the evening he finished a super perfect job. He even finished until the threshold of the gate, which is already private property. So in the end we now finally have our official parking lot in front. And our neighbor will be pleased with this new pleasant street view!

Ticking off

Another row of chores ticked off the list, that does not seem to end. But we can not complain. Many of the works that are being done now only level everything further up to great comfort and perfection. A different layer in the Maslow pyramid, indeed. We already could live here quite well. All is just to make it more beautiful and finish. The biggest effort at this moment is the long awaited Corten steel gate, that Luis designed and had constructed. A story for our next blog.
All we now want is for the last scaffolding to finally be taken down and removed. It is only still there because the solar panels still need to be installed. Which will be orchestrated soon by our top infra specialist Nuno! Before autumn, right? Nuno? Soon?