A Creative Spirit
Knowing I'm a bit of a toilet inspector a good friend shared this 'toilet humour'. When I read it I nearly peed my pants with laughter! Enjoy! When you have to visit a public toilet, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you... Continue Reading →
Steven Hawley's novelette, Cattle Market, struck a chord with me as I reflected on the plight of my own mother and the difficult decision we made to place her in a care home. Before we moved her to a more 'suitable' facility I witnessed with my own eyes how the Matron, or whatever she was... Continue Reading →
A couple of years ago I bought a peach tree. I planted the baby tree in a large pot, talked to it daily and it thrived. This year it flowered and the flowers, to my delight, turned to peaches. After months of waiting for the peaches to grow and then ripen, I decided today was... Continue Reading →
As I'm in "D" crisis after piling on the pounds, a good friend recommended: I Eat Less and Move More... However, in my case it has proved to be: Move More and Eat More. I understand the principle: the more you move the more calories you burn, but you try explaining that to my growling... Continue Reading →
Today we were invited to a popular seafood restaurant in the Alentejo to celebrate a friend's birthday. It was not a set price lunch so we went with a 'kay sa ra' attitude. What will be will be... I was not organising the lunch so splitting the bill was not my problem for once. When... Continue Reading →
Today's WordPress prompt: Instant Celebrity caught my attention. If you could be a famous person for a day, who would you be? Why? I love writing poetry but more importantly poetry that appeals to the masses. No hidden meanings or cryptic clues, just straight forward verse covering everyday subject matter. So if I could be... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, I was pegging out the washing when I heard a persistent clicking noise coming from the general direction of my vegetable area. "Tick...tick tick... tick... tick tick... tick.." (You get my drift) The ticking, sounded almost like Morse code. Intrigued and thinking it could be a bird in distress, I went to investigate. The... Continue Reading →
One of my many 'container' gardening successes is growing cucumbers in pots. Rather than plant seeds and wait weeks for them to germinate I buy the seedling plugs from local markets. The only downside is that there are no "fancy" varieties to choose from, or perhaps I should view that as an upside because the... Continue Reading →
What is the point of graffiti? Why spray-paint buildings with pointless words and random letters? Yes, I understand and admire street art but graffiti. Come on... if you guys want to decorate buildings why not make a proper job of it and give some pleasure? This picture I admire and is pleasure to behold. The... Continue Reading →
If you're harvesting nêspera fruit (otherwise known as Loquat or medlar fruit) about now you may want to try this simple nêspera jam recipe. And I mean it's simple... as in "easie peasie" simple! This April our little nêspera tree rewarded us with a bumper harvest of fruit, so rather than make yet another batch... Continue Reading →
Dear followers, I’ve signed up to the WordPress Blogging 201 (basically how to improve your blog). Over the next two weeks we are given various assignments. This is my first assignment and I need your help, please. Today’s 201 assignment is to consider what I want to accomplish with my blog. Good question! I’m curious,... Continue Reading →
The statue of Infante D. Henrique (Henry the Navigator), sits pride of place in the Praça do Infante Dom Henrique within a few metres of the "Slave Market". Born March 4th, 1394 Henry was an important figure in the Portuguese Age of Discovery and sponsored exploration voyages in search of new trade routes down the coast of Africa.... Continue Reading →
So what's with the studded boots and 'hot lip' leggings, you may well ask? My friends inform me I'm having a midlife crisis - that or I'm going barking mad. I even threatened to have pink and purple rebellious highlights in my hair but the jury is still out on that idea! So why have... Continue Reading →
My Mum passed away in December at the grand old age of 87 years young. Although her mind had long-ceased to focus on the here and now and she lived in the past, she was a tough old bird and I expected her to live to a hundred. When I received the call to get... Continue Reading →
When it's a choo choo... noooo that's not a Portuguese sneeze! Feeling rather adventurous during a recent shopping foray to the local farmers' market, I stepped outside my cautious 'foodie' comfort zone and decided to experiment with some, shall we say... some of the more weird and wonderful vegetable offerings they had on sale. As... Continue Reading →
As the ongoing debate concerning dogs on blue flags beaches rumbles on, each party vehemently defending their point of view, I wonder who is right. "My dogs loves playing in the sand." "Your dog craps in the sand and then kids build sand castles." "But I clear it up" "You are one of the few.... Continue Reading →
It's now September and here's me wittering on about my garden activities in July. I'm so far behind with this year's "Vegetable Diary" I was almost tempted to abandon the idea. However, as I have all the notes and photographic evidence I thought it would still prove useful to other Algarve gardeners and a reminder... Continue Reading →
Aljezur, is the first location in my "Out and About" series where I review various towns and villages in the Western Algarve. The sleepy town of Aljezur is now well and truly on the map since the British Prime Minister and his wife, Samantha, visited the local market to buy squid. It made me smile... Continue Reading →
Please check out my latest column at Expat Focus.There are many different exercise classes here in the Algarve including yoga, zumba, and aerobics, so whatever possessed me to join a pilate’s class? ...I asked myself as I lay on the beach, covered in sand and frizzling in the midday sun.My friend, who introduced me to... Continue Reading →
The theme for this week's WordPress Photo Challenge is "Unusual". This is an unusual photograph of a piglet's ear. Yes, you read correctly, and what's more, I was about to eat it! Lunching with some friends I reluctantly ordered Leitão assado à Bairrada (suckling pig). "Okay, no pig deal," I thought as squirmed in my... Continue Reading →
Piglet in Portugal 