“We’d rather not take a photo” my Israeli guest says upon departure. I asked if I could write a blog about them. They may want to come and live in Portugal, so who knows, that might help them find a place. Israel is not a very relaxed place to live at the moment Everyone understands […]
Visit from Israel and beach art Read More »
The first thing she did was carry the garden table and a few chairs to another place, behind our kitchen. I suddenly saw them sitting there, mother and daughter, both with hair down to their waists. Son Remi also wants to let it grow again, and when I first met father Erwin, he also had
The eye and the hand of the Master Read More »
It was the week of unexpected visits. Randi suddenly came by. We have known each other for a long time, from rare encounters. We’re not BFF’s, but people who like and respect each other a lot. Randi is Norwegian, and was married to a Portuguese man (emphasis on was), and has a Portunorwegian daughter. There
Portuguese foreigners and foreign Portuguese Read More »
The building we live in is more than a hundred years old. The core was built as a bathhouse, with fifteen bathing cubicles. The water is medicinal and good for skin diseases. It was done according to good old Portuguese building traditions That building tradition is called: piecemeal. First the core, the bathing area. It
Portuguese building traditions Read More »
“I’m now at about three and a half thousand kilometers,” René says nonchalantly, and I almost fall backwards. That doesn’t seem to be a big deal for a passionate cyclist; last year it was six and a half thousand. René is the first guest via Friends on the Bike – dutch organization “Vrienden op de
Friends on bicycles Read More »
If you are as much of a football fanatic as I am, a European football championship could easily pass you by, if it weren’t for the fact that a few football fanatics in my network will prevent that. (I’m calling it football, by the way, not the american style “soccer”. Those americans are playing a
UEFA Championship 2024 – and the fraternization of people Read More »
Only when I take her to the station for her return trip, we find out that Joyce was here because a friend of her neighbor knows me and said that she would end up well here. As a woman alone on holiday, you look for a trusted address “How is Jan’s caravan going?” Joyce suddenly
Woman alone on holiday Read More »
An entire wall will take you about a year and a half. Not a 40-hour working week of course, and not 8 hours a day… but still, quite a few hours went into this. We think it’s a nice result, but very difficult to photograph! The mosaic is located at the front of the hotel
Mosaic – it’s finally finished Read More »
More and more foreigners in Portugal. We won’t ask whether these are the people who vote for political parties, which ironically want to keep foreigners out of their own country. According to neighbor Paddy, who apparently regularly encounters foreigners in the supermarket and then has politically tinged conversations with them, yes, that is so. In
Rent, buy or book? Read More »
Why is the buzzing of a fly so annoying, while that of a bee is not? The buzzing of bees sounds intensely satisfied, that’s why If you have ever stood with your head in a huge wisteria (like me), or near a “wall” of jasmine, then you understand. Imagine you’re a bee or a bumblebee,
