Folks need their computers just about anywhere they live these days, and we're no exception. Pat's has been temperamental for a while, stalling and balky, and we've been trying to figure it out. On Saturday Sep 9 Gerrit took the bull by the horns. He found that our network router was getting rather hot in its little closet compartment with this hot weather, so he pulled it out into the open to cool it and also to eliminate any WiFi radio shielding being provided by the closet. That improved things a lot, and he also scheduled a memory upgrade for her (from 8 GB to 32 GB) at a local shop. She'll soon be flying through her computing.
Pat's been in a state of FigMania for a few days now, prepping and cooking with them as fast as our gardeners can pick them. We have a cake-sized fig tart and lots more jam now, for us and for gifts. Mmm, when's dessert?
She continues to tend and harvest the vegetables she's growing around here, too. Here's an example, with a tempting glass of chilled
vinho verde for accompaniment.
Our friend Maayan gave us a big jar of pickles she had made, and they're just about the best we've ever had. They were from her homegrown cucumbers and gherkins of various types, and they were crisp, crunchy, briny, and rich with dill, garlic, and bay. She's been embracing homesteading, reading and taking classes, and it really shows.
Gerrit got his parts for the enhanced house water filter and began planning and setting up for that. On Wednesday Sep 16 our handyman Marcelo came by and scoped the project, plus some other jobs needing doing around here. He will get to work next week.
Pat continues to make storage space and pack things away. Gerrit built an Ikea narrow utility closet for her to go next to the washing machine, and she ordered and built a couple more drawers for the hall closet. The corner in the dining room was piled high with stuff, and now it's completely cleared out and looks great.
She wanted three more glass shelves for the cabinet we have in the kitchen which holds dishes and glassware. She found a glass fabricator very nearby, about a 10 minute drive. We took an existing shelf in there on Tuesday Sep 9 and the following day we got a message that the new ones were ready to pick up! They required some cabinet drilling in order to position them where she wants, but they are beautiful: exact copies of the original, done in one day for less than 40 € ($46) total. Nice!
On Sunday Sep 13 our friends Maayan and Dan came over for a birthday lunch for Maayan. Pat prepared a vegetarian feast for vegetarian Maayan, and Gerrit made a frittata to go along with it. We all lounged around the pool and paddled around in the hot afternoon; it was so refreshing and such a relief from the heat.
And we cheesed out completely on the Feiras Novas celebration in Ponte de Lima this year: missed the whole thing. We're becoming so jaded already. But with good reason. Parking is awful, crowds are like being in a sardine can, and it has been so blasted hot. We had enough reason to stay home and cool off in the pool, and we did. Saturday night Sep 12 was a huge party; we could hear the sound stage music and fireworks all night long, till 3 AM! A few hours later, at 7 AM, the church bells rang, we guess to mark the end of the party / sleep four hours / repent cycle. The following day there were more huge celebrations much of the night, too. The fireworks did sound like they were pretty spectacular, but the comfy bed was pretty spectacular too. OK, maybe next year we'll drag our aged and lazy carcasses down there. Until then, you can see last year's blog post here, or search "youtube feiras novas 2026" for plenty of video of this year's celebration.
The Portuguese take their fireworks seriously. There are several actual manufacturing plants in the country (surprisingly that's not all done in China), and the displays are really spectacular. Here are a couple from past displays in Ponte de Lima by Pirotecnia Minhota, who does all the town's big shows (including this year's Feiras Novas). You can check out their Portuguese shows (in English) here.
On the evening of Tuesday Sep 15 we did venture out, to a house concert of bluegrass music. It was a great, fun evening of excellent music in an intimate setting and great to meet new people and catch up with old friends. The band was Erica Brown and the Bluegrass Connection, from the US but on a European tour. Here's video of one of the tunes they performed:
(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.)
