Author: ana

i started the week by cycling to the swimming pool and being chased a ferocious (though tiny) dog. ? the whole swim i was thinking about the dog and on the way back, i did a detour through the main road just to avoid it. because of this detour, i saw an otter!

signs of spring: the countryside smells of orange blossoms, and the black-headed gulls’ heads are turning black again!

i found some advanced chinese classes online! they’re by the university of aveiro, and they’re hard, but also kind of perfect for me. the teacher is really nice too, and patient with my rusty skills. this is such a lucky find, because i was struggling a lot with self-learning and motivating myself to study on my own. with the classes scheduled, the rhythm is set and i have to study in advance, in order to actually follow the class. they started last september, so i’ve missed out on a lot of stuff, but i’ll get there!

i collected 2 beetroots, lots of chard and the last of the broccoli from the garden this week, planted some lettuce and zucchini, and seeded some tomatoes and more chard. unexpectedly, one of the beetroots was the stripy kind!

i went running with the boy for the first time in years! just 2kms, with lots of stops in between, but i did it!

to wrap-up the week, we went to an event that launched a movie the local eco-group i participate in made for april 25th. turns out, the carnations given away in lisbon during the revolution day in 1974 were grown in tavira! no one knew about this, until the technician who grew them got interviewed for a book someone was writing about the local agricultural experimentation center, and the story was resurfaced. how cool is that?

these last 2 weeks started off with a few last meals with friends and family (including a francesinha!), and then a 7-hour long train back home, spent napping and reading.

finished reading “adventures in stationery” and “legends & lattes“, and also listening to “the big year” and “five red herrings” — all so different!

in an effort to keep trying new things, we’ve been cooking one new meal every month for a while now. we missed it last month, so these weeks we worked on catching up and made 2 dishes: a very radioactive-looking beetroot rice, and orange/fennel couscous. both were big hits! the recipes came from tavira’s own mini food magazine, which highlights a few seasonal ingredients every month.

we were in faro for the boy’s doctor appointment at the central hospital, to try and move forward with a treatment for his breathing woes. his doctor wants him to have some special monthly injections that will hopefully make his systems not go overboard, but they’re stupidly expensive and a committee will have to review his case and give their okay. hopefully he’ll get a reply soon!

while there, we stumbled on this amazing mural by mariana, a miserável!

and last but not least, there were goats and sheep being herded in the backyard, and one day, the sheepherder let me pet a baby goat that had just been born!!! :D

cuteness overload! <3