Category: weeknotes

weeknotes, 46/24

another week of my body succumbing to viruses and giving me trouble. the flavor of the week: conjunctivitis! first one eye, then the other became scratchy and itchy, and it’s just… ugh. the drops the doctor prescribed seem to be working, though. dear body, can you please behave? ain’t nobody got time for this.

we booked the trains for our christmas trip up north, and also made plans for the new year’s get-together! somehow, it always takes a lot of energy to get these things done. initially, i thought it might be interesting to use the new “green railway pass” that the government launched recently, but the trains in which it applies make the trip longer and cumbersome, with more changes. :(

it rained a lot this week, and the river in tavira was super high. everyone is on high alert because of what happened in spain some weeks ago, but it wasn’t that bad here. i hope all this water means our dams will be a little fuller, and we won’t have as much water troubles next year. fingers crossed!

weeknotes

weeknotes, 45/24

back home, at long last! :D it always feel like a bit of relief, going through the door, coming back to our things, our space. this time, i brought home some virus from the kid too, so it’s been a week of throat aches, snotty nose and other ailments.

our neighbors told us it had been raining quite a lot the previous weeks, and both the garden and the little plot in the back were luscious green.

the olive tree is full of olives, so we took some and pickled them using a local recipe. we’re not sure which species of olive this is, or how good the result will be, but we’ll give it a try! the birds are super happy with the abundance of olives that falls on the floor too, like an open banquet… sparrows, blackbirds and redstarts spend their days picking at the fruit.

after years pestering him, the boy finally got himself a bike! now we have what feels like a two-wheeled fleet, and it makes me happy. :D planning some nice bike rides, when the weather and my health improve.

i finished reading the bee sting, which was a brilliant book but i was infuriated by the ending. i feel very strongly that 600+ page books should not end ambiguously. *humpf* afterwards, i also finished double blind and artificial condition (murderbot #2), which were both good for decompressing from the longer books. lots of hours on trains and flights (and some insomnia too) make for lots of reading!

weeknotes

weeknotes, 44/24

a chilled week, spent with both sets of parents in the north. on thursday night, we kidnapped tiny niece and brought her to the village to spend time with us and the grandparents.

we stopped to smell the flowers a lot, and play with the chestnuts that fall on the floor. and i got these super huge crayons that were a hit with both baby and older cousins.

at some point (and seemingly out of nowhere), a bat appeared in the living room! it was a big one, and we don’t know how it got in because all the windows were closed at the time… it must have been there for some time. 😱 scared of catching rabies, we ran outside but despite opening all the windows and doors, it took some time for the poor thing to find its bearings and leave the room. what a thing!

in the end, it was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster weekend. little niece is super attached to her grandfather, and the feeling is mutual, with him loudly stealing her attention at every opportunity. i get it, they’re getting on in their years and this is their only grand-daughter… but it’s also my only niece, and i’d like to be able to have some quiet bonding time with her. :( *sigh*.

weeknotes

weeknotes, 43/24

last few days in madrid! we did a tour of some bookshops i had bookmarked, and i got “the little prince” in chinese for myselfand the jolly postman in english, for little niece. it’ll take some years for her to be ready for that, but i don’t mind stocking children’s books for the years to come.

we fortified our bellies with cheesecake and the last churros and chocolate, watched the sun go down on the cerro del tio pio for the last time, and off we went to germany, ready to resume our yearly pilgrimage to bielefeld, that got broken with the pandemic.

it was a really nice time, like being back in a place that is so familiar to us, filled with friends and cozy corners. we had pickert again, walked in the forest to soak in all the autumn colors, and this year we even visited dr. oetker’s factory!!

the highlight of the visit is this pudding-making machine they have in the atrium, where you can make your own dessert. it’s brilliant, and the result is yummy too! on sunday, we said goodbye to germany and flew back to porto.

in spain weeknotes

weeknotes 42/24

i confess i had no idea one could see so many famous works of art in madrid. the museums really are world class, with the kind of paintings everyone has seen on books at some point. picasso, dali, goya, caravaggio… it’s enough to give you stendhal syndrome :|

so our strategy has been to savor these in small bites after work, and not try to get to everything. we’ve seen bits of the reina sofia museum, the gallery of royal collections and the natural sciences museum, which is always a highlight. so many taxidermied birds and insects! :D and dinosaur bones!

we’ve also managed to rent some bikes and ride around the retiro park, to give the boy a rest from all the walking. he has been increasing his training to prepare for his next race and now has a case of shin splints… :/