The Adventures of Limpy & Itchy

When we last posted Gerrit was limping and Pat was itching.  Both complaints are fading: Pat found a topical antihistamine which helps with her mosquito bite reaction, and Gerrit is taking it easy and wrapping his hyperextended knee while it gradually heals.

Not so much that he hasn't been outside pressure washing all day long though (but sitting as much of that time as possible).  He's cleaned off tons of that Portuguese black algae and discovered gleaming granite and concrete under there.  It's a big job, but if it only needs doing once a year or so that's not bad.

Then his pressure washer broke, just a few days after purchasing it.  He packed it up and returned it to the hardware store, and found out that warranty returns like this are treated just like repairs in Portugal.  Instead of just exchanging machines and sending the failed one to the manufacturer like you'd expect in the US, Gerrit now has to wait 2 to 4 weeks for evaluation and approval.  We were told that this is the law.  It is probably in order to certify that the problem was not due to misuse, which is sensible we guess, but it puts the consumer out of the use of his new item for weeks and at the mercy of whomever decides whether the warranty claim is legitimate or not.  If it fails under warranty, especially within a few days of purchase, it should just be replaced, we think.  Portugal is generally pro-consumer, but this policy?  Not so much.

Here are some photos of the front of the house with the plants blooming.  We'll post more house photos once the place is all pressure-washed and gleaming.  You can see what a terrific job our new gardeners are doing, after only one all-day visit.

On Sunday June 1 we went to our friends Maayan and Dan's for a vegetarian dinner and get-together with some Israeli friends of theirs in celebration of a Jewish holiday.  They live in a secluded rural area on the mountain which we explored some weeks ago, on the other side of Ponte de Lima, in a lovely house which they are partly renovating.  It was a very nice evening; everyone's native language was Hebrew but they spoke English with us and made us feel at home.  The daughter of one couple was about one and a half and had the most beautiful radiant smile.  She was a joy for everyone.

Gerrit had a phone conversation with a rep for automatic pool covers, which we've decided to have installed.  Our pool needs that, plus a good thorough cleanup, plus chemical balancing and a heat pump, and it will be all ready for year-around swimming.  Well, maybe not in January.

We're also on the calendar for a visit from the solar panel installation company we selected.  There really isn't an optimum number of panels, which makes that decision a little fuzzy.  We opted for a large number of them, for more self-sufficiency through more of the year and plenty of electricity for all the powered equipment around here.  With the right electrical utility we can sell surplus solar power too.  We will also have a large battery, for normal nighttime off-grid power and to help bridge us through power failures even in winter.

Pat cleaned the accumulation of pollen and dirt from the patio furniture.  (And see all that white granite?  It was grungy black a few days ago.)  Plus she installed some additional Ikea shelves in our hall closets, because she's the Queen of Organization.

There are European Turtle Doves (rola) which roost around us, who make the nicest purring sound.  Here is a brief recording from out our back door.

We're working with our immigration consultant Nia to get our Certificate of Baggage, which is required in order to ship our goods from the US to here.  Nia is collecting all the necessary documentation, but a bank check in US dollars is also required in order to to pay the consulate fee.  What?  A mailed paper bank check in dollars?  How quaint.  And annoying.  No Portuguese banks issue bank checks in dollars, we have to have one sent from the US!  How ridiculous, expensive, and time-wasting is that?  A perfectly secure money transfer in any currency could be done in two minutes from your laptop.  Nia is incensed, and has written the Foreign Affairs Ministry to register a complaint.  Meanwhile, Pat's cousin Jeff will be getting the bank check for us and mailing it to Nia.

Today we paid our first visit to the local farmer's market in Ponte de Lima.  It's not the sprawling everything-for-sale affair we went to a couple weeks ago, it's just a simple farmer's market with fresh fruit and vegetables plus flowers.  It's much smaller, more local, and friendlier.  Today we just bought some fresh olives because we're stocked up on everything else, but we will make this Saturday market part of our weekly routine now.

(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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Communities, Infirmities

On Saturday May 24 we went to the Braga Romana festival in the nearby city of Braga with our friends Maayan and Dan.  Most of the historic old town is converted into stages and booths with an ancient Roman theme, in keeping with the ancient heritage of the city.  We mostly strolled around, appreciating the costumes, the still-existing Roman ruins, and the vendors, and listened a little to a performance of Roman music.  It sounded so ancient, and reminded us of the vast expanse of time that Braga has seen.

Braga Romana street scene

And another

The following day we learned that the daughter of a friend was performing with her ballet class at the Ponte de Lima Science, Technology, and Education fair which was wrapping up that day.  So that afternoon we headed down to the ExpoLima center, where we had been for the loureiro wine fair a week or so earlier, and enjoyed the performance.  It was so moving to watch all those kids, aged about 8 through high school, in their beautiful costumes, performing the dances they had worked so long and hard on.  We loved all of it, from the fresh-faced little kids up through the grown ones.  We were happy, proud, and choked up to be there applauding for them.  

This was just another example of how close-knit the community is here, how everyone supports everyone else, and how there are festivals, parades, spectacles, and gatherings all the time.  Maybe we would have found this in the US too if we'd looked for it, but here it seems such a part of daily life.  The Science, Technology, and Education fair was really interesting too.  We wandered up and down the aisles after the ballet performance, impressed with the booths, and we had fun watching the obstacle course and the zip-line outside too.

Zip line

Rock climbing wall (with safety rope)

Obstacle course

The weather has gotten quite hot and clear here at the end of May, up to about 32 C (90 F).  Gerrit clambered back onto the roof to start patching the leaks in the skylights we found during the last rainy period.

Pat has tried her hand at pastel de nata now, that legendary Portuguese pastry which we raved about here.  It was wonderful!  Her custard and pastry were first class and worthy of Manteigaria. We will be bringing some to a pot-luck dinner coming up here in a few days (at Maayan's, who had gifted the pastry cups to Pat, so that's fitting.)

On May 29 we had a lift technician out to move the lift control box out of sight.  (When Gerrit originally told them where to put it he was not paying attention to aesthetics.)  The tech was a gentle and soft-spoken man and did a careful, good job.  He spoke only Portuguese, so Gerrit got a little opportunity to try out his language with him.

An aluminum patio chair broke, so we took it out to the metal fabricators who had built and installed our railings.  They re-welded it while we waited and chatted with the wife of the owner.  Total repair cost: 5 € ($5.67).  You start developing a real bond with people when you bring them business and referrals, treat them with respect and appreciate their work, and they are more than fair and friendly with you in return.  We're developing a list of go-to places like this, and building new friendships in the process.

Gung Ho Gerrit overdid it on the rowing machine, hyperextending his left knee with very painful results.  The pain came on gradually, as it can do in these cases, and now he can barely walk.  Time for a helping of RICE: rest, ice, compression, and elevation.  Just when there is so much to do outside!

And Pat is suffering from an allergic reaction to Portuguese mosquitoes.  Their bites swell and weep, even without her touching them (which is agonizing since they itch so badly).  They got her on the cheek, nose, and chin here.  A nurse has recommended an over-the-counter cream which we'll look for today, along with a compression bandage for Gerrit.

(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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Springtime in Ponte de Lima

On Tuesday May 13 we went to a nice seafood restaurant in Viana do Castelo with our friends Maayan and Dan, to celebrate our anniversary.  That's the seaside city about 20 minutes away, and the restaurant was a cozy and unpretentious place with fabulous food.  We had an awesome seafood platter similar to what we had some time ago in Matosinhos, with a huge variety of seafood, and we all had a great time.  And this time we remembered to Instagram it before we dug in.

We've got a few irons in the fire right now: working on acquiring some adjoining land, getting the pool whipped into shape, remodeling the garage to add a guest room, moving the stair lift control box so it is out of sight, getting solar panels installed, starting up our post-residency applications, and hiring a gardener.  Yes, all at once, and none of it makes very interesting reading.  We'll report on whatever turns out to be photogenic (or blogogenic).

We did take the morning off on Monday May 19 to check out the Ponte de Lima biweekly market though.  It's a sprawling market very similar to the one in Espinho which we described in this post  back in September, but not as large.  Everything from clothing to crafts to sausage to vegetables was there and we had a good time browsing.

Garbage and recycling (G & R) here in Ponte de Lima and back in Vila Nova de Gaia is different than we're used to in the US.  There is no curbside pickup.  Households are responsible for taking their G & R to one of many local depositories, where recyclables are segregated into types and trash goes in a dumpster.  At first we thought that would be a messy nuisance, but we quickly got used to it.  In Gaia we would take our G & R half a block, near the grocery store when we'd go shopping, and it's similar here in Ponte de Lima but we drive instead of walking.  It's really no problem, and not much more difficult than taking your garbage cans to the curb and back on garbage day in the US.  So it's just a normal part of life for us now.  There is also no such thing as "the dump", or transfer station either.  If you have large garbage, almost no matter what, you just leave it next to the dumpster and the weekly truck picks it up (if a neighbor hasn't snapped it up first).  That's actually more convenient and less wasteful than in the US.

On our way to do some shopping the other day, we pulled up to a G & R depository just as the garbage truck was about to leave.  We jumped out to leave a large, heavy box of cardboard scraps with them.  As Gerrit began dragging it to the back of the truck, the driver motioned for him to wait.  He pulled the truck up a little, and the guys on back jumped off to take our stuff.  "Tudo cartão" (all cardboard) Gerrit told them about the big box, and they took all our other stuff from Pat too, with smiles as they drove off.  Just a nice little snapshot of how things work around here.

The big box of cardboard actually came from a barbecue which Gerrit just got.  He loved his Weber in the US (he says they really are better), and when Pat saw one come on sale we scooted down and bought it.  We really made good use of our new lift getting the monstrously heavy box upstairs, and Pat put it together while Gerrit wept over the hideous forms needing filling out to get our goods shipped from the US.  The BBQ is a beauty, and Gerrit is looking forward to roasts, chicken, ribs, and fish this summer.  It's a Portuguese tradition to grill whole sardines, or larger fish which have been split lengthwise, with nothing but olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Gerrit has been using the broiler in the house oven to simulate that, with tasty results, but a real grill with real wood smoke will be ever so much better.  He will try to resurrect his favorite America's Test Kitchen rib rub with local ingredients too.

And the guest room project, which started off as a bungalow and morphed into a garage remodel, is out of gas again.  We had a project manager working on it with us, but we just couldn't make it work to our satisfaction.  We do have two guest rooms available now in the main house, but we want to convert one to an office and hobby room and still have a second guest room available so we can host two families at once, but the plug has been pulled on all that again.  Next time we'll get it right.

And it is springtime in Ponte de Lima!  Here are some photos of our garden.	Beautifully colored succulents we have in several places
This vine is wonderfully fragrant in the late afternoon	Our ipê tree had gorgeous yellow blossoms which led to these furry coffee-colored pods
This tree is at the upper end of the driveway and is beautifully fragrant in bloom	Also in the front is this yucca-like plant which is now producing lovely big fluffy seed pods.

(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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Loureiro Festival

On Friday May 9 our official Portuguese residency cards arrived by registered mail, exactly one week after our immigration authority meeting!  Don't let them tell you otherwise: Portugal has the fastest bureaucracy ever.  Well, at least this time.  Now we can start on the other things requiring residency, like moving our belongings from the US.

Saturday and Sunday May 10 and 11 were two of three days of a vinho verde celebration at the Ponte de Lima expo center.  We went down for some Portuguese street food and a little tour of the offerings from a dozen or so regional vineyards.  The Ponte de Lima area is serious about its vinho verde grape growing and wine making, specifically the Loureiro grape (celebrated here).  There are several grape varieties which can be used in vinho verde, often blended together, but Loureiro is king in Ponte de Lima.  There are at least 40 winemakers in the Lima river valley, all making vinho verde, and about 20 of them were represented at the event.

The first day we didn't realize we could just get little tastes at the winemaker booths.  The offerings listed were only for glasses and bottles, so it didn't take long for us to be done with tasting.  We saw others getting little tastes though, so the next day we asked for that and tried many other wines.  Most of them were very good, and there was a surprising difference between vintage years.  But sadly the wines from our home village of Calheiros were the most disappointing.  We bought several bottles of our favorites, and had these dishes of a mixed grill for lunch.  Vegetables were on the menu that evening at home.

Part of the fun of the day was approaching a vendor and starting off in Portuguese.  Then we nodded and pretended to understand their reply from the occasional word we would get.  Usually that led to a mixture of Portuguese and English and a warm reception.  We tried pronunciation and got coaching, we asked what things meant, and the vendors really appreciated our efforts.  There was an older American guy there who just shambled up to the booths and started speaking English, not asking if they spoke it, assuming that the world revolved around him.  Embarrassing.

About 3 PM on both days the entertainment began: cooking shows, an accordion band, an ABBA tribute band, an excellent classical guitarist, and many others.  Fortunately we missed the ABBA band, but Gerrit was quite overcome by the guitarist and had to sit for a while trying not to cry at the beauty.  Pat captured a little snatch of the guitarist's performance here:

Ponte de Lima is a famous equestrian center also, with horse enthusiasts coming from all over Europe, and there were shows on the days we were there.  We watched some of the beautiful animals for a while.  Here are photos (from Facebook) of the equestrian center from the air and one of the competitors there.

(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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Integrating, Moving In

There is a different feeling now that we are residents.  We feel more legitimate, like we're part of society.  It makes us more eager to learn the language and integrate more.  It makes us want to talk to people more.  

We introduced ourselves to the shepherd who grazes his sheep on our lower property and the neighbor's.  He has been doing some mysterious hoeing on the land nearby too.  We understood from him that he is foraging for some kind of edible, and that he is originally Swiss.  Didn't catch his name though.  But it's a start!  He is part of the neighborhood and we now have made his acquaintance (and know what the hoeing is all about).

On Saturday May 3 Gerrit had a coffee date with a friend from one of our expat groups, Christoph, at the local hangout Café Martins.  They had a great time together, and Gerrit brought him up to the house afterwards to show him around.  At the café Gerrit was joking and conversing a little with Manuela, the proprietress there.  There was much bungled Portuguese from Gerrit, but they made a connection and had fun.  Gerrit also learned that "Dona" is a term of respect only for old ladies.  His greeting to "Dona Manuela" was met with disdain, as Manuela insisted on only "Manuela".  "Menina Manuela", she joked, or "girl Manuela".  Gerrit had a great time (and he has so much to learn).

On Tuesday May 6 our lift finally arrived for installation, and it's a beauty.  We had a dentist appointment while the installers were at work, so as we left Gerrit said "Everything okay here?  We go to dentist appointments.  Do you need anything?  We will return in one or one and a half hours."  All in Portuguese, all from memory (but silently rehearsed beforehand).  Woo hoo!  He finds it rewarding when someone nods their head after he says something.

At the dentist we were told the doctor wasn't there today.  Just the day before we had replied to a text from the office to confirm our appointments, but today there was no doctor.  Sick?  We don't know.  So we headed back home and told the workers in Portuguese "No doctor!  Sick today." to which one guy shook his head and replied "This is Portugal."  Hah!  We're rolling with it.

The installed lift looks and works great, and it will be very helpful getting heavy loads up and down the stairs.  Pat and I joyrode on it for a while as the installers explained how it worked.  We all joked around in a pidgin of Portuguese and English too.  The wind doesn't exactly whistle through your hair on the trip; it takes about a minute to chug along from one end to the other.  It's got a nice large platform for big loads (even wheelchairs), or a fold-down seat and safety belt for passengers.

We've noticed on many occasions now that the Portuguese tend to explain everything three or four times.  We nod, give thumbs up, repeat it back, and say we understand, and then they explain it again.  Maybe it's a cultural thing, they think we're just being polite, or maybe they worry that they're not getting through the language barrier.  Their concern is very sweet, and by the time they're done we really really really understand.

The evening of Wednesday May 7 we went to our expat gathering at the lovely craft beer bar in downtown Ponte de Lima.  The weather was pleasant and we all sat outside, having a great time.  Suddenly a pigeon dive-bombed the back of our friend Maayan's head (we think it was trying to land there), and she cried out and swept it away.  It fumbled down onto the table and took flight, directly toward Gerrit, crashing into his dark beer and dumping the whole glass in his lap!  Clumsiest pigeon ever.  Too bad everyone was too shocked to take a picture, it was quite a sight.  Even after mopping up the mess with napkins, Gerrit had a cold and sticky, er, lap the rest of the evening.

Thursday May 8 was our 15th anniversary, so we went out for a nice lunch.  We are adopting the southern European style of a substantial dinner-like lunch and a light dinner, which is suiting us well.  We headed to a new restaurant for us, but couldn't find it even with the help of Waze and Google Maps.  The closest we got seemed to require an approach by footpath, too, so we gave it up and returned to a local place which is about to become our favorite go-to.  We had delicious horse mackerel and stewed goat (which may not sound appetizing, but it was wonderful) and a delightful conversation with the regular waitress Gabriela.  She spoke excellent English, which made it easy on us.  Here is a shot of our lunch.  What, you're supposed to do that BEFORE you eat it?  Oh, how embarrassing.

(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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RESIDENTS!!

We had a huge thunderstorm the night of May 1, bright flashes and great crashes.  We were both awakened by it about 2 AM and didn't get much sleep until 5, when we got up to get ready for our big immigration meeting in a few hours.

We drove an hour and a half to the city of Vila Real and met our friend and fixer Rita there, who was to interpret for us and negotiate on our behalf if necessary.  Remember that we didn't know whether our appointments for May 2 were actually valid or not.  At 9 AM the AIMA office opened and the security guard at the door began checking people in by name.  We presented our emailed appointment notices to him, and Gerrit nervously peeked at the list of names he held.  We were on it!  He let us in, to our great relief.

The office consisted of only four little workstations manned by AIMA agents.  After a short wait we were called and presented all our paperwork.  Rita was marvelous and quick, smoothly interpreting with the agent who spoke only Portuguese.  The agent was pleasant and friendly, welcoming us to "come and retire to Portugal, where it is peaceful and the people are warm" with a smile.  She scanned our documents, took our biometrics, and within 15 minutes we were Portuguese residents.

Residency gives us many of the rights of citizens.  We have access to public services like health care and protection under Portuguese law.  As foreign residents we have the right to live in Portugal.  We have minimum annual residency time requirements, but can travel freely outside of that.  It puts us on a path to citizenship if we desire, too, in five years.  Citizens, in addition, can vote and hold passports, and can live, work, and retire freely in any EU country.

So hooray!  This residency meeting with AIMA was to have taken place two weeks after we arrived on June 25 of last year, but we have been waiting in limbo for almost a year since AIMA was hopelessly backlogged.  It is such a great relief to have this taken care of.  Now we can get driver's licenses, apply for public health care, get social security numbers, apply for a special tax regime, and start the process of shipping our stored belongings from the US.

(Also, Gerrit went through the teeth-grinding exercise of porting this entire blog and all his supporting programs for it because its audio library is being moved.  His internet service provider probably had a good reason for changing host locations, but it cost Gerrit hours of frustration and tedium.  By the time you see this post it will all be over and working flawlessly.  He hopes.)

(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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Preparing and Hoopoes

 Our first scheduled meeting with the immigration authority AIMA to get our residence card was scheduled months ago for May 2, which is now coming right up.  Then a couple weeks ago we got identical appointment email notices to the previous ones, but with a date of July 4.  No explanation, just a duplicate appointment.  What??  Does this mean the May 2 appointment is canceled?  Was it a mistake and May 2 is the actual date?  It is impossible to contact AIMA, so it is impossible to know.  So we are gathering the required documents and will drive to the city of Vila Real on May 2, with all our documents and a recent screen shot showing both scheduled appointments.  Our native Portuguese fixer Rita will accompany us, and we will hope for the best.

We put together an Ikea buffet for the kitchen, and it was really disappointing.  Worst Ikea furniture we've ever seen.  The frame is loose and wobbly despite cinching the pegs and locking screws down as tight as they will go, pieces don't fit together well, the instructions are for about a dozen different variations and are very hard to follow, and it turns out that "white oak effect" means plastic veneer.  Ugh.  We're going to write this one off and head to the nearby little town of custom furniture makers.

This just in from the Bird Nerds: Pat saw her first Eurasian Hoopoe in our neighbor's vineyard, and again the following day out our back window.  It's a beautiful, dramatic bird, especially when it's raising its crest  like the stock photo here.  Pat's specimens were more relaxed.

Stock photo

Pat's photo

On Sunday Apr 27 we had some Portuguese friends over for lunch.  We served whole baked sea bass, new potatoes, olives, Portuguese cheese, green salad, and local Loureiro wine, with pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts) and Pat's homemade limoncello for dessert and espresso afterward.  It was a wonderful time with a local menu and local friends.

You probably heard about the massive power outage on Monday Apr 28, which blacked out the entire Iberian peninsula.  Our power was out from 11:30 AM to about 11:00 PM.  We were fine, the weather was pleasant and about the only effect was to have to throw out some food afterwards.  We were not able to get into the garage at all though, which is a little disturbing.  We found out the following day that the manual door release is not working right.  We had a renovation project manager out though (coincidentally just before the power failure), to quote on adding a guest room and a people door to the garage.  So hopefully that will be done before the next Iberian blackout.  This experience makes us serious about installing a solar panel array too.

We're developing our own little ecosystem here.  As the weather warms we leave the doors open more, so flies and little lizards come and go freely.  At sunset we close the doors, Gerrit swats the flies which remain, and the lizards eat the fly corpses that night and the following day.  It's a beautiful thing: a fly-free house, happy lizards, and a clean floor.  Well, except for the lizard droppings.  That's part of an ecosystem though.

Tuesday evening Apr 29 we went to our local village Junta de Freguesia (like a parish council) to get our certificates of residency.  This proves that we actually live where we do, and is essential for getting our residency approval from AIMA.  We brought along the documents we thought we'd need but we had no idea what bureaucratic labyrinth we would have to traverse.  We met with a calm and qualified civil servant who spoke not a word of English.  He smiled when he saw we had purchased Peter and Caroline's house, since he knew Peter from the local hangout Café Martins.  Within a few minutes he had prepared and signed the official certificates and we were on our way!  This bodes well for our fateful meeting with AIMA on Friday May 2.

The next day, today, Pat finished up gathering some documents for our AIMA meeting and Gerrit signed the contract for a solar panel and battery installation and transferred some money for the down payment.  Next time the Iberian peninsula blacks out we'll be sitting pretty.

(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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Spring in Portugal

On Monday Apr 14 Gerrit spent some time researching electricity-producing solar panels (photovoltaics) and talking with a vendor about them.  It is quite feasible for us, they could be easily installed on our flat roof which has continuous sun exposure.  We would include a battery for power during dark periods and grid power failure.  We would only resort to the grid part time during the winter, and it might be possible the rest of the time sell any excess power we generate to the local utility.  We would be totally self-sufficient much of the year.  The time to payback for the initial investment is about six years for a system big enough to provide all our electricity needs (including heating, A/C, and a pool heat pump) almost all the time.  We've both secretly longed to be off the grid someday, and this would pretty much do it.  We already have independent well water and septic.

We forgot to mention a scene of typical Portuguese kindness from a Braga café we visited in the last post.  Gerrit had joined a group at the cash register to pay his bill.  A few people were waiting there for the clerk to refill the cash in the register.  When he was done a woman ahead of Gerrit stepped up to pay.  But a young man behind him tapped her shoulder and gestured to Gerrit, holding his cane and sporting his grey hair.  She hadn't noticed him there, and she immediately waved him ahead with a smile.  When you receive such kindness it fills your heart and makes you want to pay it forward.

And in the home repairs department: a small leak in a skylight has become large, causing a steady drip of water into a bathroom over the past few rainy days.  We knew about this from our home inspection, but figured we could put it off until summer.  No such luck.  We got a tarp and 28 bricks to hold it down in the wind, and Gerrit hauled them up to the roof to cover the skylight until we can actually fix it.  Fortunately he dodged the showers and stayed dry.  It looks kind of like a low-budget trailer park up there for now; good thing it's invisible on the roof.

On Saturday Apr 19 Gerrit's son Ian and family arrived for a few days.  It was fun seeing them all and having the house filled with the noise and chaos of young grandkids.  Gerrit made a Portuguese-ish dish similar to the pork chunks and clams which is a traditional Portuguese favorite.  He used the same spices and seasonings, but made a stew out of it.  The next day (Easter) was drizzly but we all went shopping and to a playground, where Liberty tried out her new rollerblades.  Afterwards Orson wanted some oranges from a tree along the sidewalk so Gerrit put his cane to good use and snagged a few for him.  We went to Braga the next day for an Ikea expedition, and to Porto on Tuesday after the weather had cleared up nicely.  In Porto we browsed around the big colorful Bolhão market, and the youngsters then headed for the Douro river for a boat tour.  They left on Wednesday after we all had a nice Portuguese lunch at a local tavern.

The Portuguese take Easter seriously.  The week leading up to it is called Semana Santa (Holy Week or Week of the Saints), and there are celebrations, church services, and concerts on each day.  Then on Easter Sunday it is a total blowout.  Fireworks and church bells start going off at 7 AM, and all day and night you can hear them echoing across the surrounding countryside.

We have a Brazilian ipê tree in the back yard.  It is the national flower of Brazil, and has a beautifully scented yellow trumpet-shaped bloom.  The former owners here told us it was one of only six saplings of this tree in all of Portugal, and we'll take their word for it.  We plan to start charging admission to our back yard.  The blossoms have been blossoming, and with the warmer weather the scent should be coming on.  To check this out, Pat said "I'm going to go sniff an ipê", which is not something Gerrit hears every day.  The scent still needs to develop, so he is liable to hear it for a while.

There is a bit more cigarette smoking here than in the US.  Smoking is not allowed indoors that we have seen, so it amounts to about the same societal effect.  You can buy cigarettes in the same type of places here as in the US, but here there are gruesome photographs and blunt warnings on every pack making clear the dangers of smoking.  Here is a picture of a rack of cigarette packs in a typical supermarket.

(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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From Calheiros to Braga

 On Saturday Apr 5 we had a few errands to run in Ponte de Lima, including making a donation to a local street animal rescue organization.  The donation was made at a little local restaurant in the historic part of town, so we enjoyed a nice lunch and craft beer there too.  Charities which accept donations seem to be a little hard to find here.  Maybe the church handles that sort of thing.  Many people recommend just leaving your donations next to the ubiquitous recycling drop-off spots too, and people will take them home from there.  We've done that a few times.  It seems like a nice way to donate directly to your neighbors.

We are actually in the village of Calheiros, near the town of Ponte de Lima.  It turns out that the name of the village comes from the Count of Calheiros, whose family has lived here for over 700 years.  700 years!  They built a fabulous palace in the 18th and 19th century, hidden from the road, just down the hill from us.  We see it as we drive in to our place from Ponte de Lima though.  Here is a nicely produced video in English showing the estate, including an interview with the current Count:  https://youtu.be/-OR-cg_p0e8 .  You can rent rooms there too, and the amenities include a spa, a tennis court, and a swimming pool.  (See https://www.pacodecalheiros.com/ )  They have many acres of vineyards on the estate, growing Loureiro grapes for the famous local vinho verde wine.  How about that?  Royalty for neighbors!

On Monday Apr 7 the installers from the metal fabricators arrived early in the morning and installed the four handrails we had ordered custom-made.  Here is the one on the indoor stairway and the one on the outside stairway up to the water heater solar panels.  They're beautiful, nice and solid too, and they really make getting up and down the stairs a lot more secure.  There has been a delay in installing the lift, but that is supposed to happen at the end of the month.

Pat also got an outdoor gardening cabinet and put it together on Monday.  It will tidy up a lot of the random weeders, trowels, fertilizer bags, and so forth which are accumulating around here, and get them all outside.

Fire departments here in Portugal are mainly volunteer, with volunteer support from the community which they serve.  It's a great model, fostering everyone's community involvement, and every time we see a fire department in Portugal it is modern, well equipped, and well maintained.  Vehicles are new and well kept also.  Firefighters here are also first responders, like EMTs in the US.  We have been planning on supporting the local bombeiros (firefighters) when we settled, so we made our pledge today and became "members" of the Ponte de Lima fire department.  Many local businesses provide discounts to members as their own form of contribution, so we will patronize them too.

Andrew, our all-purpose handyman, came out on Thursday Apr 10 and tried the new battery-powered brush cutter Gerrit bought a few weeks ago.  After some confusion with the harness they got it all going.  It is amazingly quiet; you can hardly hear it 5 meters (15 feet) away, and there are of course no two-cycle engine fumes or gasoline to worry about.  Andrew reports that it is lightweight and comfortable too.  Very nice!  We will donate the old gas-powered cutter to our neighbors by leaving it at the local recycling depot.

We have seen a little mouse in our house.  We chased him out, but there are likely more.  Pat found a clever mousetrap you can make with an empty wine bottle.  (Well, there's a problem right there.  Where would we find one of those?)  Tip it up a little, put some cheese in it, and when the mouse crawls in after it he can't get out up the slick glass sides.  Gerrit cobbled one together out of cardboard and duct tape, somehow finding an empty wine bottle.  We're not sure what to do after we actually catch a mouse like this, but Pat did not like Gerrit's suggestion to just tip the bottle into the jaws of a waiting cat.  We'll probably find a lovely mouse refuge somewhere about 160 km (100 miles) away, gently drive the little creature there, release it with a loving wave, and return to find that his whole family has moved in and turned ALL our cheese into mouse droppings.  Plus bred a half-dozen replacements for their deported relative.

We also have Iberian Wall Lizards which come in the house all day when the doors are open, to pay us visits.  We often catch them napping on the back of the sofa.  They're cute and harmless so we mostly ignore them.  Their droppings are harder to ignore.  Living in nature we are.

On Friday Apr 14 we went to the city of Braga, the third-largest in Portugal, with our friends Maayan and Dan and their visiting kids for a little sightseeing.  It is about a half-hour drive south from here.  The weather was a little drizzly but we saw some beautiful sights in this historic city, and YES we finally took some pictures of lunch!  (That currency you see spread all over the table is not our generous tip, it is built into the table top for decoration.)

Instagram wizards we are.  (Starting to sound like Yoda we are.)  It was not exactly traditional Portuguese, but it was tasty.  We ate at Bira Dos Namorados ("Valentine's Day") a nice hamburger café near the Jardim de Santa Bárbara where we all met.  Lunch, plus delicious coffee and pastries all day long, got us through.  

The Jardim is where a meetup happens every Friday which Maayan has introduced us to, where you get a chance to do actual immersive Portuguese conversation on a basic level.  The meetup was canceled for the day we were there, but we will start attending the following Friday.

Braga landmark

Our crew, less Pat behind the camera, apparently wandering aimlessly like a cloud of gnats

Flowered promenade

Part of the Jardim de Santa Bárbara, bordered by an ancient castle and arches

Dragon fountain across from the Jardim

City of flowers

Thanks to Ian, Gerrit's linguist son, and Maayan herself, for the help in transliterating from the Hebrew and finding pronunciations for "Maayan" and "Dan"!

(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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Getting Our Vez On

Weeding, caulk and window film updates, water filter cleaning, grocery shopping, haircuts, obtaining real estate documentation, picking up shipments, reworking ugly clock shelves: these are a few of our less-favorite things.

Lift installation project late and stalled about a month, our residency appointments changed from May 2 to July 4 with no explanation, the wrong paint color on our custom handrails requiring stripping and repainting, the cloud data server for this blog changing URLs which requires updating URLs in the entire blog: these are a few of our least-favorite things.

We had Alex, our British in-home hairdresser, come for a trim for both of us.  Pat looks cute as a button and Gerrit, uh, has shorter hair.  And it only cost 15 € for her and 5 € for him for in-home hairdressing -- amazing!

(Where to put that € sign?  We know where to put the $, but people go both ways on the €.  We're thinking we like it better after the number, with a space between them.  That's how you say it, anyway.)

Bernardo, our Portuguese friend and real estate agent, sent us this picture of the Portuguese Survival Kit.  All strapped onto a little portable tabletop and ready to go!  (And the way things are going in the world, we may all need something like this...)

On Thursday 4/3 the weather was due to turn rainy in the next few days so we took off for a little drive in the afternoon.  We wanted to take another look at Arcos de Valdevez, where we had gone for the Carnival parade a couple weeks ago.  The first thing we went to was the castle of Paço de Giela, a medieval castle which is the hub for many festivals and gatherings around town, just to see where it was.  There will be a big Easter festival there in a couple weeks which we may want to take the grandkids to on their upcoming visit.

Next we found a nice waterfront park along the Rio Vez (Vez river) which passes through town, went for a bit of a stroll, and found that it was part of a worldwide biological preserve.  There is an eco park all along the Vez river.  We saw a sign for another part of it further north in the town of Sistelo which looked interesting, so after returning to the car we headed north along the Vez.

The drive was beautiful, with fields of flowers and much natural countryside, and the town of Sistelo itself was a little jewel.  We wandered around a little and bought some wine and an embroidered apron at a gift shop, getting back to the car just as the rain began.  On the way back home we noticed some large burned areas, the result of some unseasonal wildfires in the region just a few weeks ago.

Vez river, clear and clean

Terraced hillside outside Sistelo

In the town of Sistelo

Sistelo town square

Sistelo farm

(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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