My cousin Judith wasn’t far from us this week – but she was far too busy trying to keep herself going so she didn’t come by. She’s forgiven, because it was only for a week. A single holiday on the waves She went surfing in Ericeira (“best waves in Europe!”) with a group of like-minded […]
Single holiday on the waves (of life) Read More »
My friend Anja is staying here for a few days. We’re going on an adventure, looking for a little lake that was recommended in the newspaper, the Diário de Coimbra. It looked like a fairytale in the photo, but on the way we suddenly see something else fairytalish. Abandoned and neglected houses are quite normal
Abandoned and neglected houses in Portugal Read More »
I had to go to Tojeiro this week. For parts for the boiler. You probably have no idea where Tojeiro is, dear readers, but the best part is – I didn’t either. The senhora of the shop had very kindly sent me a link so that I knew the way. That I wasn’t dependent on
Signage has completely lost its way Read More »
I read in the newspaper that the Netherlands is counting its wasps. There is a national wasp count, a scientific event that has existed for two years. Its goal: to know if the wasp is thriving, and to improve the image of the wasp in general. Wasps have a bad reputation – no justification for
“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 »
An orange light came on on the dashboard. Our Citroen is a beautiful and nice car but is in poor health. Burning lights on your dashboard are never a good sign Now I know from my incomparable brother-in-law that orange is never a reason to stop immediately. If it’s red, then yes. Then it has
Okay, then we’ll go to Roady Read More »
Did you know that there are more than 30,000 saints? I would never have thought of it, pagan that I am, if I hadn’t seen a pop-up shop in one of the small alleys in the heart of Coimbra, selling beautiful kitsch clothing. Specially for the occasion of one of those Saints birthdays, it seemed
