Categories
algarving

weeknotes, 14/21

it feels like a few weeks have passed in the last 7 days, and all because we took a few days off… we should probably do that more often! :D

– seeing a sea hare! at first, we thought it was a plastic bag just floating around, but then it kept moving in a strange way… and when we looked closely, we found out it was a gigantic sea slug. often we see something interesting and then are disappointed to discover it’s just plastic, but this was the other way around and it felt brilliant.

– kestrels, little owls, whimbrels, rare red-billed choughs, the ellusive (though exceedingly loud) corn bunting… it’s been a good week for birdwatching.

– the highlight of the week was definitely the return of the long hikes: three days walking from lagos to sagres, up and down aaaaaall the cliffs. i’ll probably write more about it at some point, but it was sublime to be outside in open air. just us and the birds and the waves crashing the shore for miles and miles, nothing to do but walk all day. if that isn’t nice, i don’t know what is.

– a visit to the chinese shop on the way back to stock the pantry with the essentials was ridiculously exciting for me, who had been listing ingredients and anticipating it for weeks. the nearest proper asian supermarket we have is all the way in albufeira and it isn’t even very good… but no matter — i got what i could find and i can’t wait to cook some stuff from chinese cooking demystified and work on improving my tolerance to spiciness.

Categories
geek

the crookes radiometer

have you ever heard of a crookes radiometer? it’s a little gimmick, a glass campanula with a sort of windmill inside… except, it has no batteries at all and it’s not the wind making it go, it’s the sun!

there’s not much to it: four very lightweight panels resting on a pin, inside a glass bubble with gas at a specific pressure. one side of the panels is coated in black. as it heats up with the sun, it creates some temperature differential in the gas which makes the whole thing spin. the more the sun shines on it, the faster it goes! (here’s a more scientific explanation)

pretty neat, right? we have one sitting in a table that gets sunlight throughout the day, and don’t seem to get tired of seeing it spin. it definitely feels like magic! :)

Categories
analogue wednesdays

analogue wednesday #257

missing this, just sitting in a café and watching the world go by without care.

Categories
just life

weeknotes 13/21

nice things this week:

– sending folares to family and seeing everyone else at the post office looking for boxes to do the same! my family was never really big on the traditional easter sweet bread, but the one from olhão is so good that we just feel compelled to share.

– this stop motion lego chocolate cake!

– watched beau miles’s long walk to work, and pondered about all the adventures we could do more locally. restrictions are lifting a little bit next week, and i look forward to hiking again.

– mike lowery drawing prompts & james richards urban sketching class have kept me entertained this week. i’ve also been listening to julia cameron’s the artist’s way and dutifully filling up my morning pages. i’m not much of an artist, but i still like the meditative aspect of it, and the really looking closely and paying attention. we’ll see what happens!

– for the past 2 days, we’ve woken up extra early and walked to the ria to watch the sunrise. only us and the birds are awake, and it’s kind of magical.

Categories
just life one second everyday

march 2021 — one second everyday

spring flowers, bread-making experiments, walking and cycling around the ria, birdwatching and zooming with friends. looking forward to the lifting of some of the lockdown restrictions, to seeing people in real life and to long hikes! :D