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Thursday 17 September 2015

BEANS, BEANS, BEANS ........

6th September
Ha, we were watering the vegetable garden this evening when huge, cold, blobs of rain started falling out of the sky (it wasn't forecast). The kitten ran into the goat shed (with the goats), not even coming out to be fed! Thank goodness Brett got the pig shed roof finished. Unfortunately my drying peaches were out!

This evening I sorted through my seeds to see what I can sow now; there's actually quite a lot - peas, beans, lettuce, escarole, radish, carrots, parsnip, onions, broad beans, beetroot, turnip tops, cabbage, brocolli, coriander, parsley, basil - to name but a few! So I'm going to be busy for a while.
And we also have to pick our grapes and make wine this week.

7th September
Haha, it was raining in the night, Brett crept out to see if the pigs had found their new house - they were both squeezed into their old house!
Well I am totally shattered; I spent the morning weeding as it was far too hot to work in the polytunnel sowing seeds. Brett rotorvated (tractor) several large areas ready for planting.
This afternoon I was determined to sow seeds - I was baked (and I did most of the work outside the polytunnel).
Fingers crossed, Lili appears to have stopped dripping;
she finished her antibiotics today; though we still need the results of her urine test (her urine that was sent to Porto) - the dogs will be disappointed, no more Dairylea (well Portuguese equivalent) cheese triangles twice a day!
I never get bored of taking pictures of my daily harvest! ...

8th September
It's hot again today 35 degrees in the shade and quite humid.
This afternoon we cleaned all the wine making equipment, then picked and crushed 100 litres of grapes - by then we were bored with picking (it's prickly work) so decided to continue in the morning. Last year we made 70 litres of wine; we unearthed 40 of said litres, in the shed, with dried up airlocks!!! We tend to drink beer rather than wine, which is ridiculous as the wine is free, beer is more refreshing. This year we're going to freeze bottles of grape juice, we'll definitely drink that.
The grapes are good this year; these bunches weighed about a kilo each!

9th September
The bee eaters have migrated and there's a definite feel of autumn in the air; although, as the day progresses, we still get some heat.
I can't believe I ache so much from the gardening I did a couple of days ago! Where's the woman who used to weight train before breakfast and teach 13 fitness sessions a week? ... she got old 😞!
We picked and processed a few more barrels of grapes; we decanted 20L of juice into 5L containers. Two containers went straight into the freezer, one went in the fridge, while the 4th had 1.25L of juice taken out and replaced with Aguadente (a Portuguese spirit) to make Jeropiga (a popular Portuguese drink) - it will be ready for sampling at Christmas.

10th September
We had an early start today as Brett went on a forty mile bike ride and I went to Spain with Pam and Lou.
We had a fabulous time! I bought two more lengths of fabric, some fantastic shaped peppers - it must be pepper harvesting time I was spoilt for choice with the varieties; I bought three types that I will save the seeds from.


Then we stopped for coffee and tapas (cheese and ham pasties, fried potatoes, chicken drumsticks) tiny little portions of each for the three of us the bill came to 5€! And then we found this lovely shop (delicatessens) which sold beautiful tins of paprika and drinking chocolate - so I had to buy those!
Brett arrived back in the village about 5 minutes before us.
This afternoon I made a dress from one of my new fabrics; the design for this one is more conservative than my last three (as Brett doesn't like them much) however the fabric is quite interesting - it's obviously cheap as the printing is faint in patches (where the ink hasn't taken) so it looks distressed.


11th September
Happy Birthday Gill XXXX
We picked some of our winter squash; they are really exotic shapes and colours and not in the least like what I expected (I keep a diary of what I sow and plant) -  lots of cross pollination going on I think!
Pam & Mark came round this morning to help us clean out the big stainless steel wine making cylinder, we own jointly, so that we can sell it - we haven't used it in two years and new ones cost 269€ so it's well worth selling (we've asked for 175€). It still had 'wine' in it, which actually had turned to very nice vinegar - we bottled some and chucked the rest.
A couple of days ago Brett suggested we invite Chris & Di, Andrew, Baptiste and Richie to dinner; so we invited them this morning for tonight! I spent the rest of the day cooking while Brett cleared up the decking - it looks inviting now.
Everyone accepted their invite; I cooked a huge saucepan of vegetable sauce and a kilo of large pasta tubes, made two large loaves into garlic bread and a big bowl of salad, and grated some cheese and Andrew made some chocolate brownies; we thought we would be eating left overs for the next few days - everything went apart from a small bowl of salad and a bowl of plain pasta!

12th September
We went round to C&D's for coffee (that was our excuse) and to see their house as the windows went in yesterday - it's absolutely fabulous.
Then we went to look for Chicken of the woods (C&D found some this week). We found some at the top of Andrew's track (and yes, I messaged him so he could have some too), it was a perfect specimen; we only took enough for a couple of meals (though I have read since that it can be frozen).
Haha, I managed to sneak some beans into the photo ....
While we were out and about we also picked up some wood up that was left behind when the eucalyptus trees were felled.
Our big rotorvator has become redundant, as we now have the tractor; Brett cleaned it up this morning and I put it on Facebook - it sold within 6 minutes, in fact two people wanted it (within 6 minutes) AND the wine cylinder has sold - so now we're looking round for more stuff to sell, Brett has suggested I try selling some of my glass panels (I think the green lady might sell well).
Lou has invited us for Sunday Lunch at Pam's tomorrow (she's providing the meal, P&M are providing the venue); I offered to make pudding - I picked up and cooked a bucketful of fallen unripe peaches (they taste delicious), I'm going to make peach crumble and custard.

13th September
It was cooler today; Brett said we have lots of rain forecast this week πŸ˜€, it'll be really good for the garden.
Baby watermelon, tomatillos, courgettes and BEANS!!!
Sunday lunch was very good (roast lamb and pork, carrots, beans and roast potatoes) with Lou, P&M and J&J; Dylan, C-z and Libby (their baby) turned up after we had eaten .....then it rainedπŸ˜€!!! It would have been so easy to stay for longer but we had already left the animals for five hours.
Alfie, C&D's dog, has taken to coming here (he's in love with Looby!); only problem is he pees all over the place and chases our Muscovy drake - so we have to shut our dogs inside and him outside .... he came here twice today.

14th September
The dogs and I were outside 7.30ish, letting out chickens etc, and Alfie turned up - he must hear us open the front door. It's getting chilly first thing I was wearing leggings, for the first time in several months, and a jumper.
Oooh lucky me, I am now the proud (said with sarcasm) owner of a brand new Hoover!!! Brett says he can't use it because of his asthma! I have to say it does work a lot better than the one he smashed up a couple of weeks ago (the one that used to billow out clouds of dust) this one has bags which seems to contain the dust better .....
More excitingly we bought a kitchen sink, nothing fancy just stainless steel; it's getting too cold to wash up outside on the decking, Brett will install it tomorrow then I can tile the wall behind it.

15th September
Proper rain today (and more forecast for tomorrow); it's the tail end of Tropical Storm Henri. We lit the range, it was really snug in our kitchen πŸ˜€.
We left the goats in (they don't like wet or windy) with lots of greenery and hay.
I spent several hours shelling almonds; Claire (P&M's neighbour) gave them to us a couple of years ago, so they were jolly hard! The nut cracker didn't make any impression on them, I had to use a hammer; I managed to keep a good 90% whole - I got better as I progressed, a sharp, but light, tap on the fat end was the key.
The rain was much appreciated by the garden but the solar suffered; the 'summer/drinks' fridge is already off, the freezer was turned off overnight and we rationed lighting (and other electrical appliances) - it was like being in a warm (rather too warm at times) cave!

16th September
It was very windy and wet overnight and heavy rain this morning
Brett and Matt had organised a bike ride, they sensibly cancelled that!
The big downside of the rain is nothing much gets done; it's too wet to work outside and too dark inside (and, of course, electrical tools can't be used unless we use the generator). Which is great for one day, it's nice to have an enforced rest, but by day two it gets a bit frustrating, especially as we have Vince & Lola coming to dinner on Friday and Helen arrives on Saturday, so we have lots to do.


Sunday 6 September 2015

What's happened to my male kitten? 😒

21st August
We have M&M and A&K coming for dinner tomorrow (typically we were also invited to go out, with P&M, to a Fado evening, why did it have to be the only day we have booked this week?); I spent the day preparing food - we're going to have an evening of tapas.
My first job took most of the morning and was excessively messy - juicing two buckets of black grapes, but it does taste good.
Brett has spent the last few days preparing for winter - chainsawing logs (the olive wood he pruned in the winter), he has a nice full woodshed now.
There was an impressive electrical storm tonight, unfortunately impossible to photograph.

22nd August
Brett spent the whole day saying "this is the last time we do tapas"! - it was an awful lot of work for one meal.
But it was also a great success. We started the evening telling everyone to pace themselves as we had prepared nine courses and Mieke had brought another. The idea was to eat a course, then have a 15 - 30 min rest/drink/chat between dishes - by 9.30 we'd only had four courses! We had olives to start (orange infused, quite interesting), followed by the tapas dishes:
1. Black pudding on toast with mango couli - only one per person so it all got eaten.
2. Devilled eggs - I made 24, they all went.
3. Pork, beans, chorizo and black pudding stew - Brett made a lot saying he would freeze the left overs ... there wasn't enough to freeze! And by now I was beginning to feel full!!!
4. Fishcakes with mago chutney - I made 24, they all went.
5. Tomato tarts - people were starting to slowdown now, most only had 2 or 3 each.
6. Pickled octopus - very popular, it nearly all went.
7. Tortilla (Spanish omlette) - appetites definitely declining now.
8. Tapenade on toast - I didn't even bother to serve this as everyone was groaning and we still had pudding to come!
9. Grape sorbet - this was quite popular as it was light.
10. Mieke's chocolate gateaux ....... (phew).
My goodness our bellies were very full!!!
I went to bed feeling quite uncomfortable.

23rd August
It was really cool today (hooray), we didn't even have free hot water for the washing up (from last evening).
I made Sangria last evening, so I didn't have a hangover; but we were tired after yesterday so had a lazy Sunday.

24th August
Yippee Henry says he's coming to visit next month, well in about two weeks; I'm so happy! And Will and family are coming October halfterm ...... happy, happy, happy ......
Brett continued chainsawing and chopping wood.
I sorted out more stuff for the next carboot sale; I'm being really good, I'm putting in pictures, mirrors, curtains - all kinds of things that I really like but don't have room for. And while I was sorting through boxes I found a pair of Sketcher shoes I had forgotten about - thay are very pretty, sparkly and comfortable πŸ˜€.

25th August
OK I'm not happy - it looks like Will & Gill won't be coming in October 😒😭πŸ˜ͺπŸ˜₯ I'm really not happy, in fact I'm very sad!
Poor old Lili had to go to the vet in CB; her bladder infection, or whatever it is, is back. She is petrified of the car and will do anything to avoid getting in it. Unfortunately she has to go back next week, for blood tests (he couldn't do it today as the blood is collected and taken to Porto and next collection is next Monday). He's given us a tablet to calm her down next time she goes in the car ☺. He's also told us to bring a urine sample (her's obviously) with us - collecting that's going to be interesting!
The figs are ripe (maincrop); we have masses of them and need ideas for using them - there's no point in drying them as we still have two very large jars from last year. I've made more sweet fig vinegar (which is delicious) from, my new favourite cookery writer, Diana Henry's book, Salt Sugar Smoke (thanks for the loan Nicky). And I've stuffed them with cream cheese/blue cheese/ham etc, and eaten them for breakfast with yoghurt and honey - but what else? We have lots of fig trees!

26th August
Haha, the kittens can get in and out of the dog shed (even when the door is shut). So now when we go out and leave the dogs in the shed (their safe place, they love going in there) we come back to two dogs and two kittens in there - they get on really well.
We're starting to reap the harvest from our Portuguese gardening experiment (planting in channels) which we started two months ago; today I harvested the first french and metre long beans,
and there are peppers set, which are growing daily - we're looking forward to starting next year's gardening now, maybe we've cracked it πŸ˜€.

27th August
Brett went on another bike ride with Matt; 40 miles this time including both ways, up and down a horrendous hill (I'd have got off and pushed my bike!).
I stayed home and did the washing - still loving the twin tub.

28th August
First dressmade from sheeting and dyed.
Second dress (my favourite) crinkle look linen!
I found the fabric I bought last year, another linen this time a kind of mushroom colour (ok beige!); I made another dress, this one is longer than the others and I've put elasticated details on the hem and pockets - Brett wants me to make them more fitted!
The Hub was having an Irish themed evening tonight, but we didn't go as we had been invited to dinner at C&D's. It was a lovely evening; they are so easy to converse with, we got home about 12.30.

29th August
It's hot again; 40 in the shade.
Usually 20€ top up, on the Portuguese phone, lasts for about 4 months, it's hardly used as most communication is done via Facebook (free!). But somehow we used 20€ in less than a month - we discovered it's all the apps running in the background (which I thought I had switched off) of the new phone - Brett spent the morning individually 'disabling background' on all the apps (which we NEVER use but can't delete) bloody smart phones!!!
Oh dear the kittens have discovered our house! They don't understand that they live over the other side by the vegetable garden.
I added some lace detail to the hem and pockets of yesterday's dress. China shops sell really nice cotten lace and it's very cheap; I think there was about 10 metres on this reel, it cost a mere 3,75€ - that's less than £3!!!
I spent a lovely afternoon chilling with my friend Lola (she's French), drinking white sangria, iced tea and a Portuguese version of Proseco (individually not mixed!). The Proseco was so good that she's going to order us a case (6 bottles) each, at 3€ (about £2.35) a bottle I couldn't resist!
An English family, who are holidaying on a quinta in our village, turned up with towels, shampoo etc. Lola had invited them round for showers as the well on their quinta has dried up and they have no water at all - so can't wash, wash up, wash clothes etc and they're here for three weeks. Of course they can collect water from the village fontes (like we do for our drinking water) but they are very slow now. One of Lola's neighbours said it was the worst drought he'd ever known and he's been here for 47 years (his well is dry for the first time). Vince said the barragems (resevoirs) that supply the mains water to the villages are way down now.
Brett scarified the vegetable garden and bottom field ready for the rain and winter planting (all our Portuguese neighbours are planting cabbage plugs atm).

30th August
It rained in the night; not for long but heavy enough to wake me up - everyone is hoping for rain.
Our vegetable garden is taking off (autumn is like spring in the garden here, funnily even without rain, maybe is something to do with shorter daylight hours?); today I picked five different types of beans (metre long, borlotti, purple, yellow and a kind of flat runner that's popular here), not masses yet but enough for a meal, plus courgettes, and we have lots starting - peppers, aubergines, cucumbers .... and we still have tomatoes.
Look what Brett made (from a sardine tin and a bamboo stick);
can you guess what it is yet? ....
It's for collecting Lili's pee (we've washed the tin well and sterilised it in boiling water).
Oh dear C&D invited us to the bar for drinks; I said ok as long as were home by 6.30-7.00 - we got home at 8.15!!!

31st August
The 'pee collector' worked! In fact it was easy; the hardest bit was walking back from the field trying not to spill it - I forgot to take the sample pot with me!
Wow we had a proper thunder storm today with real rain! Which means we didn't have to water this evening, always a bonus.
At 12.30 we gave Lili the pill the vet gave us last week, to calm her down when travelling in the car, (he said give it to her about an hour before the journey). It didn't seem to make much difference; although we tried to convince ourselves she didn't appear as stressed as usual! We saw a different vet, who tested her pee, said she had a slight infection and that her urine was less acid than it should be, but her kidneys and liver seem ok. We came home with a load of pills (antibiotics x 2 and anti-inflamatories) and 45€ poorer. He didn't want to take blood this time; he said to see how the medicines went this week, but suggested she might have kidney/bladder stones (because of the alkaline urine) and said to give her vitamin C (which I haven't found yet except the effervescent type or really expensive pills, 14€).
At 5.15 her legs start going all wobbly, she couldn't stand - if she was human you'd have thought she was drunk! I phoned the vet, in a panic, asking if it could be the pill we gave her - yes, it has an 8-10 hour working period! She spent the next couple of hours just lying limply on her bed; but she still demanded her dinner (I had decided she shouldn't be eating as she was sedated, but she was probably on 'happy pills' and had the 'munchies') by 7.30 she was telling us it was time to feed the sheep and goats (for some reason the morning and evening goat/sheep feeding is her favourite part of the day). When we came in at 8.00 she ate a second meal (definitely the 'munchies'!) and after that was back to normal;  we won't be giving her those pills again though.

1st September
We were rudely awoken at 2.00 a.m. by growling dogs; they were being so aggressive we had to separate them, we brought Looby in with us. For the next hour we were serenaded by a, very unhappy, whining Lili; until she cried herself to sleep! She was back to her usual happy self by this morning.
Lili had to take 5 pills this morning! We put them all into one piece of goat cheese, rolled it into a ball, and she swallowed them in one gulp - exceedingly easy, let's hope they make her well.
Brett's next job is roofing a ruin in the pig run before the rains set in; the pigs are way too big for their original shelter, only one can fit in at a time!
I am trying to print on fabric, transferring images off paper that have been printed from my laser printer, using nail polish remover. I've spent a frustrating afternoon trying to work out how to get a mirror image of a text box - I can mirror pictures and wordart but not text, I'm convinced there should be an option on my printer but I can't find it!
Well I found quite convoluted method to do it (mirror text);  I created my document in word, cut and pasted it into paint, flipped it in paint, saved it as jpeg, then inserted back into word to print (phew!).

2nd September
I'm so worried about 'my' kittens; they were last in our garden Monday morning. This morning we could hear a cat meowing from the quinta next door. Brett went over; it's the girl kitten and she's locked in the shed, locked metal doors, no way to break her out and no sign of the boy. Brett says they could have been locked in on purpose (to catch mice), I'm worried it was an accident and she has no water (she sounds perfectly well, but desperate to get out). Problem is they're not really mine, I'm just stealing them (as the female next door has them all the time and they just disappear) - if she's not out by tomorrow morning we're going to the village to search for the quinta owner, Pimenta.
I've sewn labels on the backs of my new dresses;
I think it makes them more interesting! Brett thinks the Dylan Thomas quote is pretentious!!! And printed crows on an area of the first dress (sheeting, woodland brown).
The kitten was still calling when we went up to do the sheep and goats - it's heart breaking.

3rd September
First thing this morning we went to the shop where Pimenta's brother works; Pimenta was there! We told him about the kitten and he promised to release her. Meantime I didn't want to go over the other side of the quinta in case she was still lock in.
Brett carried on with the pig shed and I 'spring cleaned' the kitchen.
Hip, hip, hoorah the kitten was there when we went to do the sheep and goats (still no sign of the male kitten though 😒).

4th September
Happy BIrthday Sarah. XXX
The female kitten is still around πŸ˜€ but no sign of the male and, I know I shouldn't say it but, he was my favourite - he was soooo pretty, where could he have got to?
Portuguese lessons restart tomorrow; I'm not looking forward to that, I had meant to do the Michel Thomas course over the summer - of course I did nothing!

5th September
Language class wasn't too bad, but I don't think Brett will keep coming - I'll have to force myself to keep attending. Pedro has organised another class trip ... to Lisbon!!! Very exciting, as long as we can find someone to put our animals away for us (it's in October so they'll be going away quite early).
Pam, Lou and I are going to Valverde on Thursday to buy material.
Still no sign of male kitten, this is day six so I'm afraid that he might have gone for good - one of Richie's cats disappeared two weeks ago, it's horrible not knowing.
Today I have prepared a whole load of peaches for drying (they're not ripening on the tree and they're beginning to drop).
5.00 found a group (C&D, Andrew, Richie, Baptiste and us) of us at Bar do Clube 'watching' the football (Wayne Rooney equalling Bobby Charlton's number of goals for England - as if I care!); of course we didn't get back until dark (poor animals).
I invited Di to the 'girlie' trip on Thursday.

6th September
The kitten wasn't around this morning but I didn't worry as there were children at Pimenta's quinta.
I can stop moaning about my beans; at last I am picking daily.
Brett finished the pig shed roof (recycled roofing sheets).
The sow is on heat; the boar is very interested, frothing at the mouth, making weird grunting noises but .... he's not 'doing the deed'!
The last dress I made was way too big (I cut it out exactly like the other two but manage to add several inches to the width); I spent the morning altering it - fiddly work but it looks much better now.