Category: weeknotes

it was a busy busy week — the busiest of the year. the world postcard day took place, and it feels impossible that something we worked towards for so many months can come and go so quickly. it was a joy to see postcards being celebrated though, and thousands of them being sent all around the world. but now i’m tired and could use 2 weeks to recover from all the excitement.

– we have a closed fireplace, at last! now that the house is ours, this was our #1 priority on the long list of improvements, and it’s finally done. i hope it helps us have a nicer winter, which before was only manageable by layering up as much as possible and turning up the AC. despite everyone’s denial, it gets cold in algarve — and especially so when you’re sitting around the whole day.

– i made spicy quince jelly (basically throwing some peppers in the jelly-making water) and it’s lovely! somehow, jams give me a lot of pleasure to make and gift. i got some gila (fig-leaf gourd) from my mom, and shall attempt to turn it into a jam next.

– today is the first meeting of the new “community garden committee”! we’re making a new food garden in a nearby abandoned terrain that the town hall made available for this purpose, and it’s really exciting to be able to take part in something like this. wish me luck!

– one of my uncles passed away earlier this week. dying isn’t easy for those who stay behind, so we went up north to be with the family — especially my mom, who spent a lot of time caring for him in the past few years. the family is ok, mourning, but hanging in there.

– this is the best photo i ever saw of him, taken a few years before i was even born, at my parent’s wedding. me and him weren’t close, but i remember him like this, laughing and playing around, getting along with everyone.

– incidentally, if we ever caught covid, it would be at a funeral. jesus christ, so much hugging and touching from everyone… nobody (me included) knows what to do to express grief and empathy without touch, without getting close and whispering comforting words.

– since we were already up north, we stayed for the grape harvest on friday. a few of my cousins and uncles came to help, and made quick work of the task of making the wine. my mom cooked a really nice bean stew, my grandma fried some codfish for a hearty snack, and everyone was happy and relieved that it barely rained the whole day.

– rain, at last! a couple of stormy days early in the week brought on lots and lots of rain. it’s definitely good news for our poor neglected garden… but bad news for all the infiltrations we haven’t taken care of yet. sigh.

– after watching one too many mark rober‘s videos, the boy wanted to give it a try making elephant’s toothpaste, so we grabbed some hydrogen peroxide, soap, food colouring and yeast, and did it! the result was a super pretty foam.

– this year’s edition of the rota do petisco has started, and we’ve timidly ventured to a couple of restaurants to try new dishes. we’re not quite at ease with eating out yet… but we’re slowly coming out of our shells and getting there.

– we made the hot and sour soup! i looked very convincing, but confess i didn’t enjoy it all that much… i guess sour soups are not my thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

– dani, the last of our summer guests has left. the house is super quiet and it feels a bit like summer has ended. there’s less than 2 weeks left for world postcard day though, and much to get done… but today has been declared a day-off, so hurray for that! :)

– one week of treadmill desk, and going well so far — a steady 1.5-2km/h pace, about 10K steps in a workday, which isn’t bad at all! i get still tired after a couple of hours, and step off to give it (and my legs) a break. i dread the initial inertia of getting up there and walking… but once i start walking, it’s actually easy-going and i manage just fine. still figuring out what to wear on my feet.

– last week we had my parents staying over, now we’re hosting dani for a few days. the house feels like a whirlwind of activity the whole summer, we’ve scarcely been alone. i like it though — it’s a nice change of pace from the winter months, and it’s nice to have company when we can’t really go anywhere.

– because of dani and the boy’s desire for hot and sour soup, we went to the chinese supermarket in albufeira to source some ingredients. we manage to find about half of the stuff, but a few ingredients remained elusive. so i showed the shopkeeper my list of things, and then we had a conversation about which kind of pepper i was looking for. alas, they didn’t have it, but it was still nice to talk in chinese to someone for a bit. :) the soup is currently cooking… wish me luck!