Category: weeknotes

– the parents came over for a week, in their usual whirlwind of activity. :) there was much love, DIY and gardening, long walks, fruit from their farm and home cooked meals.

– the first bit of construction finished at long last, just in time to have the hot water switched on again on the day the parents arrived. pfeww! it sure feels nice to have warm showers again, after one month of cold ones!

– two new postcrossing stamps were announced, and they’re lovely!

– we booked a trip to germany to attend the german stamp launch, which will be in berlin. really excited to see this much awaited stamp come to life, and to see friends again as well! a bit less excited to fly and be among a large group of people… we’ll see how it goes.

– afterwards, we’ll take the train to italy, to catch up with our friends in what will be the first proper vacation in ages. i can’t wait to see them again, and also to catch a glimpse of autumn in central europe, always so nice!

– everybody seems to be watching the sandman on netflix these days, but awhile ago i started listening to the audio recreation of it, and it is outstanding. neil gaiman’s narration is impeccable as always, but the whole cast and the sound effects are unlike any other audiobook i’ve heard before (closer perhaps to an audio drama). i mostly hear audiobooks when i’m cleaning or moderating addresses, which is not a lot of time every week, and this book makes me wish for more boring tasks.

– we watched la odisea de los giles (heroic losers, in english) and we liked it a lot! also watched the classic uproar in heaven, one of journey to the west stories, which i found interesting. you can see so much of the peking opera music, moves and visuals in it! it’s almost hard to believe that the animation industry in china was practically destroyed a few years after this movie came out (thanks to the cultural revolution), and it would take decades for it to recover.

– the construction is not yet over, but almost — at least this first part. the tiles are where they are supposed to go, and now only a few finishing touches are left. we’ll be happy to be rid of this huge thing to-do on our list. next project: painting the house.

– the local handicrafts fair was on last week, and we visited it on a couple of days to eat some sausage and pizza bread, and stock on handmade gifts for friends. one of the days we even walked the 6kms to town at the end of the day and came back by train.

– we went to seville to meet some (new) friends. talking to them about their projects was great and eating some pastries is always nice, but the city was sweltering hot, like walking into an oven. i want to go back for a longer period of time, outside the summer heat.

– we saw a bit of salvador sobral and also rita redshoes’ concerts. it’s very much peak summer now, the town is filled with people and you can almost feel everyone’s relief at being past the worst of the pandemic.

– this year’s world postcard day postcard is out, and the design is super cute. :)

– sometimes we go through the recipe books we have to find new recipes to try, and on one of these passes we decided to make some dalgona coffee, which apparently was all the rage online some years ago. the texture is interesting, and it’s amazing how you can get it just by beating instant coffee with sugar and water… like magic!

– finished the last bookshop in london, it was a quick and light read, despite the heavy theme of the blitz in london. my (metaphorical, because half of them are in the kindle) book pile is growing quite tall this year, but i’m happy about reading a bit more than in previous years. i recently realized i’ve had my kindle for over 10 years now, and it’s still doing a great job!

– our small town’s festivities are taking place, and i’ve eaten farturas 2 days in a row! :D if that isn’t nice, i don’t know what is.

– doctor appointments! finally got the chance to go to faro to get my back checked, and it was fine. the doctor didn’t think it was serious enough to do anything about the back, and her recommendations were massages, relaxing and maybe some physiotherapy. sounds good with me!

– we found out about al-gharb coffee roasters sometime ago, and have been drinking their coffee since. it’s expensive, but really nice.

– we’ve met friends for night walks, and to go to the beach. i’ve finally dived in the ocean this year, and it was bliss — the water is fresh, in a way that feels good. as is already tradition, the boy got himself a sunburn on his only beach day of the year…

– construction begins! it’s been a week of hammering and destroying the balconies and terraces, so that they can be properly insulated and hopefully stop letting water in. banging and dust abound… but also relief at getting this done before it starts raining, and a bit of pity for the workers who are doing the job in the middle of one of the hottest weeks in the year (and the neighbors). :( we were only expecting the builders later in the year, but they decided to come earlier.

– which means i’m home alone, babysitting the construction while the boy visits his parents. it’s been a restorative week for my little introverted soul, who really enjoys the silence… but it’s also starting to feel (more than) a bit lonely. :|

– this furry looking specimen decided to bloom!

– in order to see people again, i ventured into the book fair in tavira on friday, and was almost eaten alive by mosquitos! it was almost like a comedy sketch: me and other tourists frenetically waving around, trying to bat away the mosquitos as if we were insane 😂 luckily i had packed the repellant (just in case…), and ended slathering myself and half a dozen other people with it. it’s not usually this bad, but oh boy, i must have hit the jackpot that day!