When Astrid comes, often about twice a year, it is clear what is going to happen. We are going to make a mosaic. For me, this is a great incentive, because mosaic is a labor of patience, and there isn’t always time for it.
This time we made a mosaic of donkeys
We once had six donkeys. Actually, they were all lost souls, because they gradually became redundant. You can no longer imagine people working the land with donkeys, or going to the market to sell their products with a donkey cart, but 20 years ago that was still fairly normal here.
It was a declining business, though.
They were sweethearts, all six of them: five females and one male. He was a rascal; he always wanted to run away with his girlfriend Bambi. Sometimes they succeeded; we had to go pick them up somewhere. Never far, because Bambi had a crooked leg, a typical donkey problem. She had been a stray donkey – probably kicked out the door because she was deemed redundant.
Only we foreigners were crazy enough to take those animals in; no one else wanted them anymore. Certainly not the younger generations of portuguese; they wanted to move with the times. We got a lot of enjoyment out of them. Besides keeping the grass short, they provided a lot of companionship. Donkeys are very calm and usually affectionate. Only Miranda and Esmé had apparently had a bad childhood / treatment / owner. Faísca was a cheerful little donkey, and Bella a very sweet one.
A tribute to the donkeys in mosaic
And that in an expressionistic way. Astrid was happy to join in, but after one donkey, she continued – after intensive consultations – with a typical portuguese windmill and a falconer. There are quite a few square meters to fill, so I’ll keep it short this week. I’ll let the pictures come first; the chatter can wait until next week.
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(Disclaimer: I’m a bit tired of the keyword stuff and Google’s dictatorship. So here they are, and I’m also hoping for the cleverness of AI in this matter that it will still be found and read, but that I don’t have to force myself to use the right terms in the title and headings.#donkeys #mosiac #TermasdaAzenha )
We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal. We started to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa. You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.Since Covid we rent the houses for a longer period of time, not as holiday houses anymore.
Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation.
In the weekend we publish it on Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.