Category: weeknotes

weeknotes 51/21

– christmas at last! we spent it with my parents & brother and the boy and his parents, in a bubble of 7 with lots of covid tests. we might not have seen as many relatives as we normally would, but codfish and sweets were consumed, and lots of presents were unwrapped. :)

– i got the beautiful kissa by kissa book, a guide book to taiwan (forever on our bucket list), fluffy peanuts-themed loungewear, and a bunch of yellow ffp2 masks! i had bemoaned the fact that there weren’t any yellow masks in pharmacies, and santa went out of its way to find some for me — they look like a bird’s beak and i love it! :D

– like a weird alien structure, the tallest christmas tree in the country landed in the town where my parents live. it’s 55 meters high and defies description.

– the sunset at my grandma’s place. despite the threatening weather, it didn’t rain that much over christmas, which was a small miracle in itself.

just life weeknotes

weeknotes 49-50/21

so much, so little.

– the most exciting thing about these past 2 weeks was that we finally did the marathon walk! omg, we did it. 42kms, lots of bakeries, birds and blisters too. more on that later.

– a local non-profit cooked a warm meal for their neighbourhood and i volunteered to help serve. it was a nice event, filled with music, laughing kids running around, and lots of elderly neighbours chatting and getting to know each other. i think strengthening the bonds within these small communities is super important especially in times of need, and events like these help that happen.

– we packed and left for the north, where we’ll be for the next 2 weeks. on the surface, i’m ready for christmas, as we did all the shopping in advance… but i feel tired and impatient. though i love family and seeing friends, it feels like this whole year has just been stretching me thin, pulling in different directions and not leaving me much room to process. i want some weeks to call my own, to recharge and recalibrate.

– plus, it’s cold here. :( my toes and fingertips are frozen and it makes me supremely grumpy. as an adult, i have very little patience for this kind of endurance sport that the portuguese turn winter into. sigh.

birdwatching weeknotes

weeknotes 47/21

– dani is visiting for a few days! :D it’s a little intimidating to have 50% of the blog readership in the room… but also a good excuse to cook new food, check out new places and experiment!
– it’s cold outside and so the fireplace has been working non stop this week. only the living room gets properly warm though, so we’ve migrated downstairs and set up shop on the dining table.
– i’ve finally organized and backed up my birdwatching photos, discarding about a million blurred pics in the process. our gifted camera is so good, that even without me having explored much of its features, i can still make pretty photos of young black-winged stilts.

– did my first refood delivery. refood is made of volunteers that get together at the end of the day to collect supermarket food leftovers and deliver them to locals that could use the help. we took a few boxes of stuff near expiration from continente to a community pantry that helps feed a local neighbourhood. felt great!
– the big marathon walk hasn’t been walked yet due to some wet weather, but there are plans to make it happen! we’ll probably walk from here to faro, starting before the crack of dawn and ending in faro past sunset. fingers crossed we’ll make it there! :D

weeknotes

weeknotes 46/21

so much going on this week!

– got some quotes to paint & fix the house, which felt very adulting. the last rains brought the sound of water dripping inside of the office wall though, so there’s that to fix too.
– we turned on the fireplace a couple of times this week, just because we wanted a bit of warmth and it was really nice. the logs last for ages compared to the previously opened fireplace, and the difference it makes in comfort is substantial. yay!

– i don’t play games but i watched a friend livestream his playing of life is strange, and it was both beautiful and heartbreaking. i didn’t even know games could use storytelling like this, in such a heart-wrenching way. also, i didn’t expect myself to be the kind of person who watches games being played in livestreams, but here we are.
– plus, the music used in the game is just the right combination of indie and instrumental that is perfect for work. i’ve been playing it non-stop since.
– i got myself a little fitbit, to count steps. with the treadmill and the long walks we’ve been doing, it’s kind of fun to try to see the stats at the end of the day. the new one feels much more advanced than the old one i had, and gives all kind of fancy scores, that i still have to explore.
– we also did a big walk… but i’ll tell you about it in another post. :)

algarving weeknotes

weeknotes 45/21

– after a break of almost one year, i’m back to chinese lessons in preparation of the level 5 exam. the deadline at the end of march is a bit ambitious and i don’t think i’ll be able to keep it up until then, but it’s something to aim for. i found a coursera that should help, and still do skritter revisions every day. wish me luck!

– we tried the flying jacob, a swedish recipe, invented by someone who worked in the flight industry. combining chicken with bananas and peanuts was unexpectedly nice.

– another long walk, this one of 25kms or so, between vila real de santo antónio and tavira. we took the train early in the morning, and walked our way back home. the weather was perfect for it, and walking in urban environments (instead of just the hills) was fun for a change. we had a stop in a café to recharge, and also had time to check out some eurasian coots along the way!