Diary of our Day

So - is Blip more about a good photo, or an artistic photo, or about recording your day, or at least a moment in it?? Anyway, for a change, and for those with time enough, here is our day...

We had a lie-in after hitting the Mourão night life with the priest last night (!!) - a bar where the young folk hang out - was pleasantly surprised that there was such a place and that the priest was at home there, and how innocuous it was - we could even hear ourselves speak... and good conversation we had too.

Re-reading Wendell Berry this morning - so worthwhile. A quote I copied into my diary:  "...as good a definition of the beloved community as we can hope for: common experience and common effort on a common ground to which one willingly belongs."

And watching the storks, seeing the tiny beaks on wobbly necks reaching out for food whenever a parent returned to the nest... special.

Wandered up to the Land this afternoon, as Mike wanted to measure the two buildings to see if the architect's drawings were accurate - which they basically were. Two surprises: the bottom building (in photo) is larger than we thought, and there is half a metre's difference between the floor levels of the two rooms in it. Our plan, if we get the Land, is to make this building livable as quickly as possible and move in, and then work on the top building. A slight hitch is lack of water or electricity, but hey, we'll find a way...

As you can see from the sky, weather quite rainy and cold - same temperature as Manchester, UK - 17C today, though bursts of sunshine. After NE Brazil's usual 365 days of blazing heat, I do love the changeability.

Now off to a gathering of expats in the region, which we found out about last week - should be interesting, but wanted to Blip beforehand...

(Realise some might be surprised by the lack of church - that's because we're going on Saturday night these days, just like we did in Brazil - makes Sunday a true rest day.)

As though this not long enough already, a PS... off we set to Telheiro, below Monsaraz, for the expat gathering, only to receive a text from the priest inviting us to dinner and a fado evening at an agricultural fair in Estremoz, so changed our minds, back we came and will set off again in a bit...