Sunday, March 12th, 2023

The last few hours with visitors and the mystery of the green crocs, size 5!

I got up early although, I had slept a good long eight hours. I wanted to get my blog finished because I didn’t get it done last night with all the conversation. And I was really quite tired and I needed to go to bed. This morning I wanted to work on it before anybody else got up, Especially Irene, because she’s talkative. Ross knows how to sit and just enjoy the peace. He’s actually a very relaxed guest.
I made tea, and eventually Irene got up and had her shower and prepared to leave. Ross is already sitting outside with his tea and his cigar, which he didn’t get last night; he’s enjoying the peace and quiet.
My landlord came by, probably to solve the mystery of the lost crocs. Irene had lost her green crocs. She had placed them yesterday on the front porch, intending to take them with her for walking in the sand and forgot them when we went out. When we came back from our touring around, they had disappeared. Why would anybody take size 5 Green crocs? That was the mystery. I thought maybe Luís or his mother had come by and placed them inside the other house, but no, they hadn’t. Luís was working down in the Algarve and his mother didn’t come up here yesterday, so the mystery has not been solved. I leave the doors wide-open when I’m alone here; I have no issues, because I feel safe. Irene, I think was worried that there was some weirdo coming in here, but it is a mystery. A cat wouldn’t carry crocs away and there’s no dogs loose around here.
By 10 o’clock we decided to go out to breakfast. Originally I planned to take them down and get a croissant and a coffee in another café (Por Del Sol) that I really like but, I thought because it was Sunday, it might be closed. It wasn’t however , but by the time we were all ready, we had decided to have breakfast out. We went around to Café Rita, which you’ve heard me talk about. Each of us had an omelette and Irene ordered custard tarts, similar to what she buys in the Portuguese area of Chinatown, Toronto, because the island of Macau in China was run by the Portuguese. She used to get the tarts there and she loves them.

After breakfast, I took them up to my shop where I bought a fleece jacket and the lady had been so helpful to me. I wanted her to meet Ross and Irene. Our next move was back to the house to get their suitcases and all their stuff.
I threw sheets in the washing machine and after that, the towels. Ross loaded the car with their luggage. I hung the sheets to dry on the line and figured I would get the towels later when I get back from the bus station. I have new guests coming in on Tuesday, so I needed fresh clean sheets.
When the bus arrived at the station, it didn’t take much time before the driver was starting the engine to go again. Ross told me, when in Lisbon, they arrived at the bus station just three minutes before the bus left, and they still hadn’t got their tickets; that was because Irene takes her time. Even though she worries about everything, Ross says she’s a “what if” kind of person, always concerned an\bout what could happen.

Today I made sure that they had plenty of time so they wouldn’t miss the bus. The driver was in so much of a hurry that he did literally push them onto the bus to leave.

For me it was sad seeing them go. I really enjoyed their company, even though I enjoyed my first weeks alone, touring around the country doing my research in photographs and getting to the country for my future visitors. I really enjoyed the short time they were with me. And, I am looking forward to my two friends from the US coming on Tuesday night. I just spoke to them in Crossville , Tennessee. They are getting in the car soon to drive to Chicago. Their flight leaves from Chicago Monday via London, UK, and then they transfer to a flight to Lisbon early Tuesday morning.

I’m relaxing the rest of the day.
By the way, I think Irene finally accepted BC, the cat. He kept coming around so much. she’s not really allergic she’s just afraid! She realized how much BC likes me and is always following me so she just closed her bedroom door so that he couldn’t get in there. BC was happy because it felt like he had a family around him.