Category: Uncategorized
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Festival das Amendoeiras em Flor
Festivals in Portugal, as in the rest of the world, have taken a Covid Pandemic beating so the 2023 Festival of Almond Flowers in Alta Mora drew a large and very vibrant crowd. Randy, Joanne, Jackson and myself set out on Saturday February 4 to check out what it was all about. It took slightly…
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The dawning of the age of Aquarius…
As January gives way to February, Ireland initiates a new state holiday on the first day of the month – Saint Brigid’s Day. Plus, February is my birthday month along with my friends, Randy, Pearl and Clarence – Aquarians all! So, Happy Birthday everyone and let the celebrations begin! CORRECTION: Randy, although born in February,…
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Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life…Pablo Picasso
The week began with a road trip to Quinta da Tor, a popular vineyard and winery a short distance from Loulé. Artist and friend, Marc Thivierge was involved in an art exposition that was officially opening on Sunday January 22. It was well worth the gut wrenching up hill and down dale drive from Estoi…
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Get Thee Up Into The High Mountain..
Hiking was on the Friday & Saturday menus An invitation came from Randy and Joanne to meet up with them and Pat and Gary on Friday to hike the trail up Cerro da Cabeça near Moncarapacho. It was a beautiful sunny day at the beginning with a cool breeze that brought some cloud cover. Not…
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The week began and slipped away…
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, was one of my English professor’s favourite responses to excuses regarding requests for extensions on essays. In my own defence, I’m not on that particular path, I’m on the retirement road thus blog posts will happen when they happen! This was a week of rediscovering the…
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A new Sunday rhythm
Personally, Sunday has been a performance day given over to my duties as a church organist and choir director in various guises. In Estoi, I have escaped all of that, and the first day of the week takes on a new flavour, a more relaxed beat. So, a morning of laundry, a lovely long walk…
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Lunch, Beach and Ocean
Sunshine ad blue skies predominated on Saturday January 14 and the suggestion of lunch at Dinis’s restaurant followed by a trip to Barril Beach sounded promising. Since I wasn’t familiar with the route to the restaurant, I elected to follow Randy, Marc and Joanne. Unfortunately, Jackson had stay home as dogs are not allowed on…
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Now is the winter of our discontent…
Richard III, Wm. Shakespeare, Act I Sc 1. My discontent with winter is in the process of being mollified by another Portuguese adventure accompanied by my small furry companion, Jackson. We both survived the trans Atlantic voyage in good form thanks to the kindness of strangers and the help of Air Transit staff. There were…
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Museu Nacional do Azulejo
My last day in Lisbon was dedicated to two goals: visit the National Tile Museum and revisit Avenida da Liberdade. The former I had never been to and the latter I had never seen in the springtime . So, I set out in the morning , on foot and walked the avenue. There weren’t;t as…
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Lisboa on Wednesday
There were two places of interest in Lisbon on my agenda and each required a non specific amount of time from what I had heard. It was true. The Lisbon Oceanarium is well worth the time and the price of admission. It proved to be highly educational, captivating and an emotional and spiritual experience. Throughout…
Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground 