this week, we finished this 1000 pieces stamp-themed puzzle, which had been a christmas present. it looked nice on the cover… but the image was annoyingly blurry up close, which made the experience a little frustrating. :(

we finally watched “project hail mary” with friends, and it lived up to the expectations and then some! also, the cinema in faro had a super huge fancy screen, and half-sweet, half-salty popcorn which were amazing too.

sadly, we did some bloodwork last week, and my LDL cholesterol is still a bit high, while my iron and vitamin D levels are too low… *sigh* some stuff to fix in the coming months.

this was also the week in which we shared the news of the US Postcrossing stamps! these are so much fun, and the community has been asking for them for years! i can’t wait to see them being used on postcards!

then, we cleaned the place up for some houseswap guests and came north — this time by flying. this is a change of pace for us, as we’d usually prefer the train… but we’ve been here so often this year, that we wanted to save a bit of time this time around. the stay was the usual mix of elderly doctor appointments, celebrating birthdays and spending time with family.

little niece is now almost 3 years old, and this is a really nice phase: she can express herself well, can be reasoned with, is a little cheeky and overall just a lot of fun to be around and play with. she and her village cousins get along like a house on fire :D

also, the days have been warm and long, thick with the scent of orange blossom. spring is in the air!