It’s been a busy week! My coffee comes from a coffee shop in Lagos, in the Western Algarve. It is Friday, just after 9:30 a.m., and I’m killing time before my appointment at the hairdressers. Much to my surprise, the street was deserted, so I checked my watch in case it was 8:30 a.m. Where is everyone? I enjoy the moment of calm. The tourists are probably still eating breakfast, and I delight in my own company and time to reflect.
I’m not a Domestic Goddess!
The garden has once again absorbed most of my time and energy over the last week, and, as Mr Piglet once said to me, “When you have used up every available growing space in the garden, you can always grow potatoes in the dust in the house.” I laughed, but it’s true. Log fires create ash dust that blows everywhere when the convector fan is switched on. It really is fighting a losing battle. I confess I’m not a domestic Goddess, and when I do dust, it resettles 10 minutes later!
Shop till you drop! Who enjoys shopping?
On Tuesday, we went shopping, and I popped into one of my favourite clothe’s shops to see what summer clothes they had on offer. More often than not, if I like something, they don’t have it in my size.. On this occasion, I struck lucky and spent over €120! Yes, Mr. Piglet did have a conniption because that’s almost my entire summer clothes budget spent in one hit: Two pairs of flowing skirt trousers and six tops. Of course, because I am vertically challenged, the trousers are far too long, and I am now in the process of rehemming and lopping off 15cm from the length. This is a work in progress. I hate sewing. What about you?
I also bought candle wicks. I want to remelt (somehow) all the wax in half-burnt-out candles and remodel them into new candles. Is this even possible?
Dancing is a fun form of exercise! Has anyone else tried line dancing? What did you think?
Wednesday morning, I went for my weekly dose of line dancing. This is the one exercise I can manage. Gone are my Pilates, Yoga and Zumba days. Line dancing is a gentler form of movement, and as most of the group are over sixty with aching hips, dodgy knees and backs, none of the dances are too strenuous.
Pedicures tickle – is it just me?
Thursday, I went for a pedicure and foot massage. A rare treat for me and another treat ….
The Best Promise
The paperback copy of the book I co-authored with Dawn arrived. This is the last in the series, so it was a good excuse to open a bottle of wine to celebrate!
Wrinkle Patches … who knew there were such things?
For some reason, Facebook is now promoting wrinkle patch ads on my feed. Curious, I looked on Amazon, and all the pictures of models are young and look like they are AI-generated. Asking for a friend. Has anyone tried these?
https://www.amazon.com/wrinkle-patches/s?k=wrinkle+patches
Related post: https://pigletinportugal.com/2024/03/15/weekend-coffee-share-finally-finished/
Do check out other #weekendcoffeeshares over at Natalie’s blog
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/party/22e5cb6049a8471692e39a032879d5fd
Thank you for dropping by….
Piglet in Portugal 
I was! God, that’s so long ago! For various reasons you sometimes need to take a break, but I’m glad you got back to it.
It is, I keep working on my oasis! I can’t stop buying plants either. My husband asked me last year what my favourite shop in town is. Quite clearly it’s the garden centre! 😂
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Congratulations on your book!!!
I am also lacking in the domestic goddess area… I make attempts occasionally and then family members ask me who’s coming to visit!
What a successful shopping trip. After all your hard work, I’m pretty sure you deserved something nice. 😉
I often think of you when I am in my garden. Years ago, when I was clueless and starting out you and another booger gave me great advice. It turns out I have pretty green thumbs (German)/ green fingers (English), and the garden’s looking glorious.
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Thanks, Sar. Writing the Promise series was quite a challenge. I thought I’d take a break but Dawn has been cracking the whip and the book I started for NaNoWriMo in 2012 I ressurected and now rewriting. I think you were one of my NaNo buddies then?
I am still gardening and the bugs are still bugging me. I am pleased to hear you have green thumbs and now enjoying gardening. The garden is a great place to lose yourself.
Shopping … I now have to wear blinkers for clothes and plants.
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What a neat street to sit and have a coffee. Oh gosh! potatoes in dust…haha. I’m not the best at dusting, or windows for that matter. I sometimes enjoy shopping, but sometimes it’s a struggle to find things I like and that are comfortable. I would love to learn line dancing. I like to dance around the house. I used to do Jazzercise, but have never tried zumba.
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There are many old streets like the one pictured in Lagos but they are spoiling it with modern apartments.
haha… I also like to dance around the house. Jazzercise sounds interesting. Zumba is great if you are fit. Line dancing is much tamer 🙂
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The last time I did line dancing was in high school for physical education class. Before that it was middle school and elementary school.
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Line Dancing gave me a degree of mobility because I am so busy concentrating on the steps I forget about the pain. I’d never tried it before. When I went to school our PE lessons were broing LoL
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I like line dancing but I’m good at falling over my feet, and I HATE sewing.
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I was dubious if I would manage to do it and it took months before I could complete one dance. But it has been better than all the physio and it’s fun. With all your walking I should imagine you are quite agile.
As for sewing … I have had enough of it this weekend. If the cotton was not tangling into knots I then sewed one leg to the other while I was hemming. Needless to say I was not happy
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I don’t have a great sense of balance, but I’ll give it a go. Sewing? Ugh!!!
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The coffee looks delicious and I can imagine sitting there at the cafe with you talking about our gardens. Thank you for the invite!
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What fun it would be for all the weekend coffeeshare bloggers to meetup for a real coffee.
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What a thrill to see your book in print! Congrats, congrats!
I would say you got a lot for your money when you went clothes shopping.
Nice to have a cold drink outside on a warm day.
Have fun dancing.
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Yes, it was a thrill to receive the print copy. It makes the hard work worth it.
I did get a lot of clothes for my money and they are good quality which is important. I hit the store just right for their latest delivery of lots of new lines. 🙂
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Congrats on your book. What an achievement!
I have a huge aspidistra on my front porch and, two Sundays ago, after much procrastination, I cleaned the leaves with a wet rag. What happens! Sahara dust arrives on the Monday Drat! Housework is not my fun activity.
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Kudosalso goes to my collab partner for pulling the book together 🙂
I will be glad when the Sahara dust has finished. I don’t remember it being so bad other years
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Congrats on your book The Best Promise! It must feel great to hold the paperback in your hands. Line dancing sounds like a fun and social exercise. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.
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thanks, Natalie. Holding the book makes all the hard work worth it 🙂
Social exercise is far better than exercising alone.
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