Spring Bounty, Rainbows, and Swims

We've found an excellent new handyman / electrician.  Marcelo was here Friday May 22 to retrofit all the concealed tubular fluorescent lights here with LEDs, and to replace the four bathroom fans which were clattering themselves (and us) to death.  He was able to get here within days of our contacting him, he was right on time, quoted the whole job very reasonably, and did a great job.  He speaks only a little English, so Gerrit got to try out his Portuguese with him.  Gerrit was told that his Portuguese was "very, very good", but he is sure that Marcelo was just being nice.  It's good to get to know tradespeople who can help like this, and we're sure we'll call on him many times in the future.

Saturday night May 23 a little after midnight we had a huge thunderstorm pass right over us.  Lightning flashed continuously, every couple seconds, and one very bright bolt was immediately followed by an enormous clap of thunder.  It must have struck just a couple hundred meters (yards) away.  The bedroom clocks stayed lit, though, and there was nothing we could do but drift back to sleep after the storm had passed.  In the morning we were relieved to see that the power was still up.  But on closer inspection of the solar system data, the power grid had failed during the storm and was still down!  We had been running on batteries since midnight, and then on direct solar power as the day dawned clear.  We're off the grid, as long as we get some sun!

On Sunday May 24 we saw an exotic hoopoe bird perching right up on our back garden wall.  It was flexing its magnificent crest a little.  By the time we got a camera up it was just turning away to leave, but it was a nice treat to see.  See this post for a little more about hoopoes.

You'd think good old Johnson's Baby Shampoo would be the same the world over, right?  Babies are, why not their shampoo?  Well, there is quite a difference.  There are ingredient restrictions and even cultural adjustments to fragrance and feel, viscosity, the way it foams, and how easily it rinses off.  It even stings the eyes over here!  Gerrit gets blepharitis (red eyelids) occasionally, and when he used the old remedy of washing the eyelids with Johnson's Baby Shampoo over here it smelled funny, felt funny, stung the eyes something fierce, and took a long time to wash off.  Gemini the AI to the rescue: there are indeed differences in Johnson's Baby Shampoo worldwide, this decades-old baby shampoo treatment is no longer recommended, and there are many excellent over-the-counter compounds for blepharitis treatment in Portugal.  Gerrit will take his now thoroughly bloodshot eyes into the pharmacy and try to convince them he's not a wino.

The cherries (which Pat says life is a bowl of) and strawberries are in full bloom in the markets, and Pat's zucchini and cucumber vines are producing by the basket.  She's been harvesting them while they're still young and tender (no bowling-pin zucchinis allowed), and they are so delicious.  We also have a few strawberry plants of our own, and we get a nice ripe one every couple of days.  

By the way, there are roadside stands appearing about this time of year with signs saying "há cerejas", which literally means "there are cherries".  Not "we have cherries", "get your cherries here", or "cherries for sale", but "there are cherries".  So many things don't translate word-for-word.  To say "we have cherries" in Portuguese would be "temos cerejas", but that would sound funny to a Portuguese ear.  Just like "we have cherries" would sound to them as they learn English.  "You have cherries?  Who cares?  Are there cherries?", they might ask.

On Sunday May 24 we had a rain shower late in the afternoon which resulted in this beautiful rainbow, seen from our balcony.  Not to get all picky about such a lovely scene, but why would the region under the rainbow be lighter than the rest of the picture?  It looks like a glowing snow globe bubble.  Maybe the rainbow marks the boundary of a critical viewing angle to the sun, below which the light is refracted differently.  Or something.  Or maybe we shouldn't have selected "Hallmark card" for the photo effect on the camera.

Gerrit took the season's inaugural swim on Tuesday May 26.  It was about 28 C (82 F) and Gerrit was beginning to roast by about 6 PM.  MO (our cleaning robot) has been keeping the pool nice and clean, so Gerrit retracted the cover and jumped in.  It was heavenly, and within minutes his feeling of being a human roast beef was gone.  The pool cover is doing a nice job of absorbing solar heat into the pool.  The top 30 cm or so (1 foot) was significantly warmer than the depths below.  Running the pump automatically for four hours a day mixes up the warm and cool water to an average of about 23 C (73 F) right now, which is perfect for Gerrit but a little chilly for Pat.  She'll be in there in another few weeks.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

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