I know, I know. It’s been quite awhile since our last post. It’s not like we haven’t been doing anything. It’s just that post-covid, much of what we have done is to repeat things that we have done in prior years. And those things have been wonderful and worthy of posting. It’s just that it would be the third or fourth time I would have written about some of them and I’m just not creative enough to find new words to describe them. So, I punted.
But I do owe it to myself and my small band of subscribers to get caught up on what we have been up to since the Madeira trip. So, here goes!
Maybe the most noteworthy part of the summer is that we had four visits by friends and family. Most of all, it was great to catch up and to share our new retired life with our guests. It was also fun to test out using the new construction on the property and to come up with a few new ideas as well. The sunroom construction was finished in time for three of the visits and we made good use of it from breakfast to late-night reminiscing. Our outdoor kitchen was also finished during the summer, but we haven’t really had a chance to use it for company.
It was also great fun to get back to the full set of summer festivals, post-covid. The only one we missed was the Lagoa Wine and Fado Festival. My fault entirely. For some reason I thought it was in July instead of June. But the Olhao Shellfish Festival returned for the first time since covid. And Fatacil and the Silves Medieval Faire were as fun as ever.
The garden continues to develop. Many of the hedges that we used to create private “rooms” are over eight feet tall now. Most of the plants that we brought back from Madeira have survived (fingers crossed they make it through their first winter).
There is always something blooming, even in the direst weather.
In the next few days I’ll do another post with a garden update and that will pretty much get us caught up through Fall 2023. I’ll try to get back soon to tell you about December and January.
Bob and Soo
Bob and Soo 