Today has been spent working on my Letters to the Earth project, forwarding images of the letters to the organizers in Scotland for the exhibitions, two of them in May and June. My friend, Susan Torrance is going to get the letters from Scottish participants enlarged and printed out and hang them for the exhibition. We are going to encourage viewers to write their own Letter to the Earth. We are also doing that with our Ontario exhibitions. The first Ontario exhibition is coming soon; you are all welcome to come. (June 3 to August 26) It is in Aurora, and the opening reception will be on Saturday, June 3rd in the afternoon. Here’s the link: https://auroraculturalcentre.ca/event/letters-to-the-earth/
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by this project, that I began in 2021 and I think why did I start? I suppose I’m a little low today. I’m leaving here on Monday morning. Portugal and I get along; I really do like all I have discovered. However, it is getting hot now and I’m not a person good with higher temperatures. Nor do I like cold and major snow either! I’m comfortable when it’s between about 12 Celsius and 22 Celsius.
I spent the afternoon reading. I haven’t done that since I arrived, other than the guide book and research on various places around Portugal, but Carol did leave me a novel that she finished before she left.
I didn’t even go out in the car anywhere! I pulled out clothes that need to be washed before I leave. I will do all the washing tomorrow. I spent the evening watching Netflix and went to bed fairly early.
I also only took one picture yesterday with my iPhone. That image is of four different coloured recycle garbage bins that LuÃs bought and put in the barbeque area. Maybe he has some idea that he’s going to organize his guests’ recycling. I have been putting all my scraps – orange peels, egg shells, potato peelings, etc. in one area of the garden to allow it to break down. That’s something Luis suggested.
There is no house garbage pickup here. Everyone around this laneway puts the garbage in a big bin at the main roadway and it is collected several times a week it appears. Recycles stuff is place in bins in available locations. There are several at the town limits marked for glass or plastics etc.
Luis is always working on something around here, to the point that it’s quite an invasion of privacy. He did go in next door and remove the gas cooking plates on the stove and replaced them with an induction surface. He told the neighbours he was going to do that and they went out to allow him space to work. He brought his mother along so that she could clean up after him and vacuum all the mess he made. I really wish he’d spend his money on getting fixtures for the lights in here that are hanging out of the walls purchasing some more comfortable couches and some decent furniture but that might be asking too much. The time Carol, Charlie and I were away in Evora overnight, Luis entered our place without informing me. For that he could be fined by Airbnb if we complained. A host must have permission to enter a rental establishment.
Since I’ve been here over two months, I do see a lot of things that could be improved. In fact, I would’ve put the light fixtures up for him if he’d provided them; it’s not something that takes a rocket scientist to figure out .
I shouldn’t complain; I have been lucky with my choice of location. It’s been a wonderful time here, other than the few housing/landlord frustrations, I have mentioned before. This was my first experience with Airbnb and I understand a lot more about the operation now. There is no official staff who monitor housing offered for the 10% fee they charge; in some ways it can be a hit or miss way of getting lodging. For future, I have the list of contacts for rentals from the Tourist board here in town and that is my best resource but even with that as the woman at the Tourist agency said, you must check the places out carefully.
