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The plot thickens.

I woke around 6 o’clock this morning, filled up the cat dish and put it back outside. At 8 o’clock I decided to get up, look out and the cat dish was empty again. No sign of BC. Then while filling up the kettle, I noticed outside the side window, two cats on the wall, BC and the white cat with grey spots. They were sitting facing each other, 2 feet apart. BC’s tail was flipping back and forth. Maybe I’m wrong; maybe the white cat with big grey spots is actually a female and BC was courting her. I went out to the front porch and peaked around trying to get another picture and white cat took off flipping down the other side of the wall- that wall is about 12 to 14 foot high around the property. BC was trying to figure out how to go after her/him. Maybe I interfered in a courtship.
The gestational period for cats is around nine weeks. I’m four weeks away from leaving. OMG, this could’ve happened when I arrived. Not now.

Even though it’s 19+ degrees here it’s cloudy and windy so it actually feels a bit cooler.

I’m very excited. I’m parked here by the bus stop in town and in about nine minutes the bus will come in with my two guests,the unfortunate ones that were stuck in the airport in Toronto for three days. I am so looking forward to seeing them. I’m sure they’re looking forward to a rest.

I wanted to take my friends out to dinner tonight to restaurant Odesus and I went in to see if I could get reservations; they were booked up, because it’s international women’s day, and the women are all meeting there. How’s that for luck? My other favourite restaurant O Sacas, at the fishing wharf is closed on Wednesdays. Several that are highly rated aren’t open until the end of next week they told me they’re just getting themselves ready for a new season.

My guests have arrived. Who are they? Ross McGhee and Irene Tsai!

I gave them a quick tour of the local area after they dropped their bags at the house and had the house tour. At 5:30 we were all ready to eat and they were both looking forward to a fish dinner that was freshly caught. I had grilled bream and so did Ross. It was the best fish I have had cooked, perfectly. Irene had clams and she said they were as good as she could get in Hong Kong.

The older Campbell teachers will know my guests, especially if they spent time in the famous coffee room. My guests: Irene Tsai, a former business, Co-op, and ESL teacher and also a long time Air Canada employee, and Ross McGhee, former head of the Technical Department and later a VP. I am looking forward to the next few days of touring them around and taking them to my favourite restaurants!

Until tomorrow all, have a great day.

PS…Irene is allergic to cats. She may have to sleep outdoors.

The advantage of longer trips is that time limits are not a barrier. You can sit with your coffee and croissant and just watch people.

I am at Por Do Sol, which is listed as a cafetaria e artesanato, which is a cafe and crafts place. I haven’t seen any crafts, just post cards and trinkets . touristy things, It serves some light meals and definitely coffee and this is the shop where you buy lottery tickets. I see a lot of people doing that.
A lot of the locals come to drink coffee, and have their snacks & cigarettes.
I came back home and went back at the watercolours. I am improving slightly. Neal Greig said to me in a message: Just ignore the rule book and play. I certainly can do that. That’s one thing I’m really good at. I’m starting to understand how to paint in the negative spaces and then to soften the edges so that I can indicate the big waves that hit the rock so powerfully. I love that kind of an image and I would love to be able to capture it in watercolour. I feel pretty confident I can do it in oil. I can limit my palette.I’m very good at that at home. I paint with Paynes gray and yellow ochre or raw sienna quite easily. Add a a white to my palate especially if it’s bone white and I’m good to go. I don’t know why I didn’t think of just bringing my limited palette of oils with me. It would have been so useful. But then what do you do with the paintings after? It’s not like you carry them home with you and I don’t think there’s a market here for buying artwork.

Below are three works I started today. Lots to do yet.

Since the fight two nights ago, BC has been howling, all last night and what I considered talkative now is much louder and annoying. Is it mating season or is it an announcement of “this is my territory?” I don’t know enough about cats that are entire or un-neutered.
There’s another cat responding from the trees on the perimeter of the property at times. BC seems to be standing his ground even though he looked like he was battle-worn two nights ago. Maybe this is his first sign that he is a dominant male! And maybe I’ve woken up a monster!
He hasn’t left the property. It’s kind of interesting to see his reaction but his howling is irritating to put it mildly. I wonder what the new people next door think. They are a family of five from Czech Republic. They have a lovely three year old. She likes the fact that I miaow back to BC and she does it as well now and then laughs.

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My two friends are now on their way from Dublin to Lisbon. In about an hour an a half they will land, take a hotel and tomorrow morning grab a bus south to Zambujeira Do Mar. Tomorrow afternoon we will celebrate their long journey.

I got a message today from a friend, that a former Scarborough Board of Education Visual Arts Coordinator died recently. His name was Bill Stadnyk. He was an outstanding Arts advocate and was working at a time when art education was encouraged and supported enormously .

On waking in the middle of the night last night,I noticed that BC, the cat, came in chattering loudly. I realize now he was probably cursing, because when I looked down this morning, feeling a very warm lump at the end of the bed, this was a very wet cat. There was a huge storm in the night, I could hear the rain pouring down and now it’s almost 9 o’clock in the morning and it’s cloudy with a little bit of wind. I can see by the weather app that rain will happen most of the day, but this week it’s going to get warmer up into the 20s.

BC is a sad cat this morning. On closer examination he must have been in a fight last night and he got beaten. I know it’s probably the white cat with the big grey spots that’s been trying to get the food. I had left the door open just a little bit for BC to go in and out .

I tried to dry him with the hairdryer on a low setting and that was definitely not an option. Then I took a small towel; he didn’t like that. He was covered in sand as well as being soaking wet. His left foot has a sore the size of a quarter on it. And he’s got swelling on the inside of that same left foot. He has more scratches around his head than before. I know the other cat is bigger & stronger looking and wants the food provided here. It is sad when you think of all the animals wandering around here fighting for the scraps they get .
BC ran off out the front door when I tried to use the towel, looked at the food I put down and then ignored it.

I made my morning tea. Meanwhile I noticed BC came back in, hopped up on the bed and curled up in the room by himself. If he were human, I’d say he’s feeling sorry for himself!

It’s raining again steadily. This is the first real rain that we’ve had since I’ve been here.

The following pictures are of the private zoo animals. The keepers were picking up the droppings, so I got a closer look at the inhabitants.

It’s been raining all day now and it’s around two in the afternoon. I put the fire on when I got back home. Hopefully it’ll keep burning to keep the chill out of the air and the dampness. Luís, the owner of the property doesn’t like the fact that I actually use wood and burn it.

When I mentioned conversationally, that it rained all night, he said, oh not so much. But it has rained all day.

I felt so badly for all those hikers on the trails as I headed out of town, with their raincoats over their backpacks. It reminded me of when I walked in 2013, from France through Spain. It rained every day to the point that you were so soaked at night and we all tried to get our boots dried , anywhere near a fire or a heater. And I look at these poor hikers now, and I think no, I don’t want to go back to that. It was miserable then, even though I was having adventures, it was not comfortable. As I said to someone today, I like to be comfortable when I travel now. All the hardships are something in the past- been there, done that.
Luís was commenting on the Germans who stayed here, for four nights and that they didn’t use the wood that much. (In other words, he was criticizing me!) He says those people from North America come here and they get cold. He knows fisherman who could sleep outside in this weather in the rain. I’m sorry I’m not a fisherman and I don’t intend to be.

I ate a midday meal out today, at Azul E Mar, a restaurant that feels homey and the owner and the waitress greet me as a familiar customer. I had their plate of the day which was pork something or other w/ fries, rice and a salad. I thought the fries and rice were a little over the top but I took half home with me anyway! I have notice that the regulars (mostly men) come in and with their coffee have a drink of some kind of clear liquor in a small glass. I asked about it and was offered a taste. it’s a locally produced liquor. Whoa!! Was it strong!!!! That would cure what ails you. I remember, while teaching in the Czech Republic, having some similar called, Slivovitz, and it definitely had the same effect.

I still don’t know where my two friends are, whether they got on a plane out of Toronto or whether they are still sidelined. I will assume they are flying because they are out of contact.

Postscript Monday at 8:30pm…I just got a call from my recently stranded friends.They are now in Dublin eager to go out and get a good Irish meal, that is not airport food. They will catch a flight tomorrow at 4ish in the afternoon to Lisbon and the following morning head down to my town by bus. Those of you reading this blog who worked at ACCI, (Campbell Collegiate) will have a laugh when you find out who is arriving. Some of you old timers (like me) will know the stories. Don’t worry, I will reveal their identities soon!

Today was a quiet day. I went back at the watercolours. I’m trying to forget all the rules about watercolours and just experimenting and playing. I don’t do rules well! I’m a little happier with the results. It’s testing my patience to keep waiting for paint to dry. I’m also not good at patience.
I’ve now moved back into my happy place, the side of the house that I was originally in for three weeks. This is the one with the fireplace.
My friends who are planning on visiting me, are still at the airport in Toronto after the third day of cancellations; they’re hoping to get out tonight for the flight to Dublin and then on to Lisbon. It must be very frustrating for them just waiting. I suggested that they stay here a few days longer & make up for it but I guess it all depends on how they can change their return flight.
The temperature got up to about 16 but it was pretty windy today and cloudy. I’ll have neighbours for about five days this week. Apparently a family of five. We’ll see how that works out.

In about 30 days more I will be heading home. Please get rid of all that snow for me. I will donate it to someone who needs it! When I get home I will have to work hard to earn some money to go on my next trip to the Orkneys in September. This time I am taking my son with me to celebrate my graduation. At my age!!!!! I have never been to one of my own graduation ceremonies.

That will be fun.

Sorry about the short blog today but this was just a take it easy day! I hope you are enjoying these rants from me- I find the journaling useful for reminding me of my daily activities.

I’m in another coastal area in Almograve. It’s just unbelievable. What I love about this Alentejo coastline is the fact that you’ve got miles and miles of nature – no resorts (unlike the Algarve). It’s just nature; that’s why I guess it’s preserved to maintain the wildlife and natural resources. Every cove opens up to fabulous views.

I was photographing a young man getting ready to surf. I’ve never actually seen somebody set up for surfing before. And I didn’t realize they waxed the board, for the opposite reason that you wax cross country skis. For example, the wax keeps you on the board, not slipping off. It’s put on the top side of the board, which was interesting, because if not, you would definitely slip off the surface of the board when wet. He’s just getting ready to set out ; he’s just gone down to the sand, pulling up his wetsuit as he goes and getting his board ready. I had to laugh- he had a cigarette before he went down to get into the water.

The surfer used the current (I was told) to get him out far enough to get the ideal conditions. By using the current it only takes about 10 minutes to move far out to a spot where it’s perfect to catch a wave. I can see as I’m watching , the waves are building – it must be the time of the day. I can’t believe the amount of strength it requires. This young man has only been surfing for a couple of years. The older man said he, himself has been surfing for over 30 years, and now as he is older he is much more cautious; and then another friend of his came by who lives in the area and he’s also been surfing about the same amount of time, 30 years.
Watching surfing exhausted me! I am now sitting in the middle of Almograve at Restaurante O Lavrador, having a soup and a beer! The waiter looks like a young Dustin Hoffman. Exactly the same smile. And I think he’s the same height.

Regarding two of my friends who were to arrive here in town tomorrow afternoon- they are still under the Air Canada weather block at the airport in Toronto. I can’t imagine having your Air Canada flight cancelled one day because of staff shortage, going home,coming back the next day for a flight, checking in, going through customs, getting on the plane and then sitting on the tarmac for six hours. Then, because of the weather, the flight is cancelled and you’re stuck in the airport because there’s no transportation back due to the weather!

That’s what happened to my two friends who are on their way here to join me. I messaged them this morning thinking they were in Dublin ( in the same time zone as I am!) and they’re still stuck in Toronto. I know they’ve also missed their connecting flight in Dublin as well as the hotel that was booked and paid for in Lisbon!! The expletives that came out of my friend’s Irene’s mouth were priceless.

Travel can be so frustrating. I told them that they can stay a few days more to make up for the delay. My other buddies don’t arrive until the 14th of the month!

This feels like such a lazy day. I’m sitting out here 11 o’clock in the morning. The sun is beaming down on my head. It’s absolutely beautiful today; slowly the temperature is increasing from that few days of real chill nights. It’s so nice and quiet here without the neighbours, chattering away. I’m beginning to think I am a hermit. I like it when it’s just me surrounded by nature. All I can hear right now is the birds chirping and there’s some cuckoos (other than me) making their sound to the west of me. I still haven’t actually seen one. BC was here this morning; he came for his breakfast, and a chat, followed me around for about an hour and a half. I know he’s off for his regular day whatever he does. Luís was trimming the fig tree yesterday so it grows better. It is really interesting to look at and the pile of off cuts that he trimmed sitting there are interesting too. 
How does BC know that I’m eating, that I cooked something? Is he already reading my mind? As soon as I sat down at the table outside with my fried goose egg ,potatoes and carrots, he appeared down the driveway! What’s for dinner Mom ?Chattering away as I eat, I gave him leftovers. He will miss me when I’m gone!
I found an ATM in town that accepted my debit card and now I am content. 
Sitting now at Restaurante Rita having a beer , people watching and wave watching. What a great life, isn’t it?

I was back at Cape Sardao earlier. I am awe of that vista and can’t get enough of it. I did some sketching and took photographs for future work.

Zambujeira Do Mar

I was looking forward to seeing this little bakery praised by Lonely Planet, a few kilometres north of Vila Nova de Milfontes. It was hard to find. I followed the directions, but it wasn’t where I expected. I drove up several different driveways and had no luck. Then I asked two women on the side of the road and though they only spoke Portuguese (I pointed at the name of the bakery in the guidebook) they directed me up another long, laneway, and I found the bakery in a very out-of-the-way place. It was 1:15 in the afternoon and guess what? It was closed.

So next, I headed to the Riverside Pub , also recommended in the Lonely Planet Guidebook. The book said that there was great pub food and the setting was fabulous overlooking the river! I found the restaurant via roads that were so narrow I thought I might not squeeze through. I parked and walked up steps to the restaurant; it did have a great view! I guess that’s why it was full of people eating. I asked for the menu. It was buffet,not what I wanted or what was described!

I left and went back into town to the centre, parked the car again just where I had the last time I was in the town. I went to the bank, to the ATM to withdraw money. My cards didn’t work! I went into the bank and had a staff member help me – same thing happened. I am running low on cash although I am using my credit card a good deal of the time. So I stopped into a little restaurant next-door and had comfort food, a lasagna. It was wonderful then I headed back to Zambujeira. Logging on to the bank website to see if I could correct what’s happening and hopefully tomorrow I should be able to get some cash. The bank increased my withdrawal limit just in case the exchange was making a difference. Not everywhere in this country do they take credit cards.
I spoke with my friends who were coming over this weekend and their first flight from Toronto to Dublin was cancelled with Air Canada. So my friend is scrambling to get other flights because she’s got the connecting one from Dublin to Lisbon with Air Portugal and she’s got a hotel booked in Lisbon for one night. Travelling can be so frustrating at times.
The German couple next-door have moved out. They only stayed four nights. They were supposed to leave tomorrow. I think I’m going to continue staying here on this side although I did threaten to move out. Luis said he’d return my money for the month but I don’t know how long that will take and I don’t want to spend more money and stress over getting a new place. I really do like this house at least the one I was in . The owner of the property (Luis) is giving me too much of a hassle about all his little four-day bookings, I am very disappointed in him not in the place. I don’t like to say this but I think because I’m on my own and a woman he treats me differently. Even though it’s his place, his mother does all the work, washing sheets and towels and cleaning the place. It’s really all a little odd , I’m trying not to think this way, but I really get the impression that when there is a couple with a man,he is much more respectful. Anyway, I was a bit of angry earlier and my friend who’s coming to visit calmed me down and said don’t fight. You are on holidays -relax and that’s what I have to remember to do. And I don’t need to be moving back and forth at Luis’ beck and call!

I love this Alentejo area. It is so very natural and it suits my curious mind.

Central heating is on my mind today, as I wake to the early morning sun streaming through the window. 
Living in North America we become so accustomed to feeling warm in our houses in winter and then we cool them with air conditioning in the summer. If you have a fireplace, it’s not really for warming you up but it’s for ambience except, of course in farmhouses where it might be the source of heat like my friend, Lynda Cunningham.
When I woke I could feel my cheeks chilled. Of course the rest of my body is buried under layers, of a blanket , down comforter and flannel sheet! I’m warm, but I realize the air is cold in this house. I checked my phone for the temperatures and it had been as low as 5°C overnight and according to the weather app a severe weather warning. Oh not a problem at home when you set the thermostat at 68 to 70° but, here what do you choose? You open the door and the windows just to let the outside air in to warm up the house. Tiled floors throughout look lovely and are easy to clean but they are cold. I walk out onto the front porch and as the sun streams down it actually feels a bit warmer. It’s interesting because I’ve spent a lot of time in Ireland and of course I was born in England. I should know about this temperature change. In Ireland, my cousins have their Aga stoves , running a lot of the time. My cousin in Dingle has hers on 24 hours a day 365 days a year! A lot of these Aga stoves are hooked up to pipes that go up through the closet so you can dry your clothes and they heat the rooms-they’re wonderful . Look up central heating in Portugal. Heating is expensive here. Electricity is pricey here even though I see lots of solar panels on houses and there’s wind turbines, even solar farms. Most houses and apartments do not have heating. You have to buy those portable heaters and plug them in and be aware of the energy that they are drawing; you dress in layers and layers of, non-synthetic clothing and you take advantage of the heat from the sun when you can. Here I was the other day praising sitting inside a glassed in patio out of the wind, feeling warm and comfortable, drinking my coffee and eating my omelette. Not everybody can afford that kind of life . 
I was looking forward to another day of no drama. I decided I was going to drive north of Vila Nova De Milfontes, to a bakery that’s very well-known. Apparently it’s open all day long so I thought why not? I hopped into the car, tapped the address into my phone and start it off. I got as far as the turnoff to Almograve and my Google maps quit, indicating it couldn’t find a connection? What? What is going on with my phone? I continued on into Almograve, down to look at the beach once again, and then turned around and came back to the house.

I had a message this morning from Vodafone telling me that I had to choose a plan. I did that already done that on Monday, I thought. I decided to call them. My phone wouldn’t work.
I messaged to Luis. He didn’t answer so I guess he was working. I drove down into Zambujeira and thought I’d go to the tourist bureau. They were closed. So I walked down to my favourite little shop and went in and whined to the owner. “please help”! She was wonderful. She called the Vodaphone company, spoke to them with in Portuguese. She was put on hold, and then spoke to someone else, and so on and so forth. Finally, she got somebody to help; as we were looking at my paperwork I noticed that the receipt for the payment I made on Monday for €25 was for a number similar to mine but the last number was a nine instead of a four. That was the problem! Anyway, one fella got it straightened out and supposedly I will be OK. I have a credit with Vodafone! Ask me by the weekend if that’s true.

A caution to you when you are travelling for more than 30 days- maybe your home phone plan is easier to use. I have always purchased a sim card when travelling and never had trouble before but, next time I will do better research.
It’s going to be another cold night tonight with a low of 6°C and tomorrow’s high is only going to be 15°C. I know what you’re saying or thinking, that I shouldn’t complain because it’s really cold at home, but I only have a heater in the bedroom and one in the living room (they are weak!) and lots of blankets & without the sun I feel the chill. 🥶 At least the sun will be shining and there’s no snow!

Beach at Almograve

This was a much quieter day than yesterday. I didn’t lose the car. I don’t think anything out of the ordinary happened.
BC came for his breakfast. I was doing laundry.

After a shower and getting dressed, I went out to Sao Teotonio.

When I came back I went down to a couple of different beaches just south of Zambujeira, ending up at a Azenha Do Mar, the small fishing village that I talk about before. Cafe “Palhinhas” in Azenha was open unlike the last time I was there. I was going to go to the other restaurant,( Azul Do Mar) but this one’s right on the cliff looking out over the ocean. I wanted to have a beer and check their menu. I wasn’t really that hungry, but I was tempted by what they call appetizers, petiscos which are similar to Spanish tapas. I ordered the octopus petiscos which were done with vegetables. There were six and I managed to eat half of them. They were tasty but would have been better with a spicy cream sauce. I have three left for tomorrow!

It was lovely sitting on that back patio listening to the waves crash on the rocks.

Back home I lay on the hammock , then sat in the sun until it got low in the sky. BC spent his time sunning as well. I grabbed my camera and went off to photograph the sun setting over the water.

Such a lazy day!

Some days I wonder whether it would be better to stay in bed.

The plan today was once I got up and had my tea, I would start trying to top up my phone plan which was going to be ended tomorrow. Finally after a half an hour of trying, I got somebody on the phone who could speak English and she tried to put it all together, but in the end, even though she tapped me up in the minutes, she said I’m going to have to go into a shopping mall, to a Vodafone centre to finalize the deal! She couldn’t do payment on the phone.

I decided I would do a trip to Sines. It’s about an hour north but, again you’re travelling along the coast, so that was good. I put the address of the Vodafone shop there, in my directions for driving, but when I arrived at the location for the Vodafone shop, it was not there! I parked the car and asked questions of people on the street. The shop was only about 500 metres away but by the time I got there, the staff were out to lunch for the Portuguese two hour break.

It seems like everything is thrown up in my way, but I’m trying to make the most of it. I found a little café and had a sandwich because I hadn’t eaten yet today. And the cafe is right behind the castle so now I’m going to visit the castle and I’ll wander around.
I couldn’t find the front door of the castle. I don’t know whether there’s a password or you have to have a key? There were lots of doors, but none of them open. At least the weather wasn’t too bad. It is cloudy and there’s a little chill in the air but out of the wind it is quite a pleasant 14 degrees.

The views from the castle are fabulous.

From the tourist description:

The city is an old fishing town. Sines has been gradually transformed by tourism and industry. Nowadays, it is a major port and oil-tanker terminal of great importance to the Portuguese economy.

Overlooking the bay are the ruins of a mediaeval castle, which was restored in the sixteenth century. Vasco da Gama (1468-1524) is said to have been born here, being the son of the governor general of Sines. One of the castle towers houses a small museum collection dedicated to this famous navigator.

Sines also has a very interesting Archaeological Museum, which contains all the archaeological remains found in the region that testify to its occupation in more remote times.

After wandering around I went up to the Vodaphone shop at 3pm.

It took less than 3 minutes to complete and top up my minutes! Thinking of all the time I wasted on the phone and on their website trying to translate what they should be doing for tourists. Done.

I checked my phone for directions back to my parked car. I did notice in the last couple of days that the google map had marked the location of the parked car. Easy, eh? Just 750 metres away from me, so I started walking, following the prescribed route. It took me back to the first place I had stopped, not where I had parked. I must have followed the route incorrectly. I walked around blocks of streets and no car. Finally two fellows pulled over in a van and parked on the main road and I called to them and tried to explain my problem. They understood a little English. They looked at the map on my phone and we walked until the phone indicated that the car was here. I shook my head.

“No, this is not where I parked. I did stop here, and asked about the Vodaphone shop. I parallel parked on a street facing west on the left side of the road by some shops that were slightly below street level.

“Did you drive here?”,one of the men asked.

They were frustrated, asking me about each and every VW we passed. Finally one of them went off to get the police to help. OMG!

I really didn’t recognize any of these streets that the Google maps was indicating. I was feeling quite stupid. At home I usually photograph my location, especially in underground parking. I knew I was not that far away from the car. The men walked me over to the police station and I met two Republican National Guard officers who were going to help. One took my phone and the car keys to check the license plate number. We went out searching again following the google map location. As we left the rest of the police staff came outside laughing. I am sure this was an entertaining episode for them.

After several minutes of walking, they made a decision to go back and get the police car and drive around. I told them the street I arrived on and how I went around circles and down streets looking for the Vodaphone site (which by the way wasn’t correct on the Google map). I was imagining calling the rental company and telling them I’ve lost the second car they gave me.

I recognized the gas station just past one of the circles and knew we were nearby. Four blocks south of where my map had indicated my parked car, we found it not anywhere close to where Google maps had marked it. What a relief.

This will be added to my ridiculous tales of what can happen travelling. Another lesson learned today!