Clock is ticking

Today the clock has started ticking a little faster for me.
organizing my clothes and shoes and .. well, most have you have been through it.
I went to collect my dress from the dressmaker , who had to take it in a little.. Yes! i lost a few inches..
I have half packed my bag. Can't just go with one outfit. The wedding is an all night affair.

All the cameras are ready.. the big ones, the small ones, the tripods and extra gadgets. My son Manel is a camera fanatic.  I have my little Sony digital.. its been good to me so far.

Today I get to meet the in laws. They arrived from Moscow on Tuesday. So it will be lots of  family photos this afternoon.  Olga my maid who helps me around the cottages.. has been invited..she will be my interpreter.
Manel  my eldest son has been learning Russian on a one to one basis for over a year now.. so i am looking forward to hearing him chat the chat, and Nastarovia and all that.!
I am getting the tables ready now.. Miguel ,Sasha and family will be arriving at 5 for cocktails.. then we will be going out for dinner at 8.  I think its going to be a fun time. Then to Manel's farm after dinner for late night drinks, cigars and all that stuff.

I will be taking the 4.30 train to Lisbon on Tuesday.. It's Manel's birthday. My DIL  H.. has organised a suprise party for him.. we are off to a great restaurant..   I am wondering if I will be open eyed for Friday.!!!

Friday at 5.30pm.. the bells will ring for my son and his gal.

And Mr and Mrs.. live happily for many many years and many more..love is in the air.






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I will not be returning to my Quinta, after the wedding.
 I am off the Spain.. to  Barcelona, staying next to 'Las Rambles'
I am giving myself an historic holiday and am so looking forward to it.   "Gaudi" here we come.   I will be going with my good friend Manuela..  
We both wanted to treat ourselves..
So my dear blogging friends.. I am not sure when I will be back blogging.  For sure I will hopefully have lots to share with you.

Will see you all in September..  

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.  Lots of happy days and good weather, happiness and love.

You dont have to leave comments for this post.. I am just keeping you all in the loop so to say.

VAL

Moonlight Glory

 ( Wishing  I had a camera with a very long zoom)! I took  these photos for my first phase of my 3 day session and they came out as best i could get the shot.  

 I thought i would do a three day lunar phase of the moon.

 I took these photos below at 9.30 gmt.pm+- on the 19th..August. It seemed that the moon was flirting with me, as i tried to hold my hand steady. I wanted to take more and more.  I took this from my back patio.

                                   Taken from my front patio...... the sun  was just about down . seen over the olive trees:- time 9.30..gmt.pm.  As the sun was going to sleep the moon was full. Smiling at us all again.

                                                       

        It's difficult to see.. but the last image of the sun taken from the front porch. One cant see its  beauty through the lense.

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The ones below were taken on the 20th at 9.47gmt.pm
 See the glow around the perimeter ..fascinating.
 Astrologers call  the it "the blue moon" .. its when we have two full moons in on month.. the next will be in June 2016.

 So many times  my mother told me  stories of The man who lived on the Moon..I think we all know those old tales of Mr. Moon.
My mum would lie next to me and we would both  look at the moon  through my bedroom window,    seeing shapes and talking about his funny face, until i fell asleep.
 Mr. Moon still shows his happy face to us all and for our  grandchildren and future generations..    I often wonder if there are men on the moon!  It will always hold an attraction.

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                                   Another shot on the 20th. Camera on full zoom here.   It looks pitch black on the photo.. but when I took it ..there was still a dull light outside. i could see the trees and the road clearly. ... I thought i could even see the fairies.. must have been the glittering starts .

                                    .. took this of the moon through the olive tree outside my patio door.. he was peeping.





Such attraction has the moon for people throughout  the ages.  This fascinating planet has such an effect on us all, that Men were sent to walk on it.

21st of August.  The Full Moon.     The moon is in the Zodiac sign of pisces.

                               These are the best shots so far taken with my little sony.  My grand daughter Didi is here with me. We watched as the moon started to rise. at 8.25 gmt. pm... It somehow had a pinky blue hue.. thats what we saw.

                      We have just come in.   My three day lunar stages of the moon complete.

Wishing everyone all good things for this week.
That your astrological sign is in your favor..  The moon is second influence after the sun , and its position can determine and have an influence on our personalties..

What do you think my dear blogging friends..     It certainly influenced 'Beethoven' enjoy the Sonata.



val.

The battle

Now that I have my water back on, without  it cutting of every hour or so,    Its been wonderful, to be able to water the plants a little more than usual. 

 Our temperature 's are now up in the high 40's. The soil dries up quickly. I have ordered another load of bark covering for my other large rose patch. I can see the difference, on the first patch.. the roses are looking happier. 

     The hot sun during the day, is still attacking some of the weaker plants in my garden. It truly is a battle between water and sun and mother nature.    I water early morning,By late afternoon they are ready for more water.

 Some of you will remember, that i wrote in one of my posts, that I have a bore hole. So I cant use up all the water. It hasn't rained since May.    I need some for the house as well.

 Its sad to see some of the flowers withering. I took these photos of the roses early this morning.                               

 This white rose has surprised me and is doing so well, since i gave the patch fertilizer and now lots more water.   I notice the more plants that are together, the better they grow. I will be filling in some bare patches during the autumn.

. The top rose   is a beautiful apricot color.  This patch on the other side of the cottages  will be the one that is having the next batch of bark mulch .  Its pretty expensive, so I have to do it in stages.

A family lunch out with my eldest son Manel and DIL Heleen and my grandchildren . I heard the mobile noise tring tring.. it was a message from Manel. We have arrived.    Come over for lunch. They arrived last night after their summer sailing in the med. I was so excited to know that they were back.   

Its getting closer to the wedding.. and Manel also has his birthday next week, the children go back to school next month.. and its  new uniforms for the year.  sorting wedding day and transport and so on. 

we had lots to chat about.

We decided to go to a smaller cute traditional restaurant in our village . We had a wonderful lunch and lots of catching up to do, as you can imagine.  Who's staying where and wonder what its going to be like. The whole family will be together soon. 

A really nice restaurant.. the food was excellent. mind you, we were all talking at the same time, such excitement.

Here is our young Max.. shouting "Grandma Grandma" look at me.. i can put my head under the water.  He will be off to school too next month. Starting Nursery.  

                             Took a quick photo of  The Alfange , Manel's weekend home , took the photo through the car window..  drove home again to my little 'adobe' next door..
Tomorrow is another day.   I will be there for coffee in the morning.
Having part of the family back..took my mind of the garden.  A happy day today. Garden can wait for a while,dont you agree!  What is better than being with family.  My heart was full of contentment today.

Hope you all had a happy Sunday with your families.

val

wedding bells part ll

15 days to go , and the chapel bells will be ringing.     Sasha has just come back from london for her last fitting of her dress.. The family drums have been beating,news travels fast in our family-  The men  have their suits and  the ladies their dresses!  My part of the family the ladies and my grandchildren have their outfits.  Its still 15 days I know.. but i keep getting butterflies in my tummy. Its 19 years since our last family wedding, of Nina and Paul. 

 Sasha (Alexandra)  has a wedding planner. So none of us know what the decor or colours are going to look like, but knowing both of them.. it will be beautiful.  

 I am not writing much about " Penha Longa Resort."  If any of you would like to look it up.. you can google it.  Its the most stunning place.. nestled at the foot of the Sintra mountains.   About 560 hectares or so .. You cannot see it from the road.

                                             Some views of  "Penha Longa"

                                              Golf too.

                                               Laze by one of the pools..  No time for that.

                                           Part of the gardens.  Its a very large complex ..

                                                    This is the "Penha Longa" chapel , where Alexandra and Miguel will make their vows to each other.

A map to get an idea of where the place is situated.  Some of you I know have been to Portugal, and I am sure you know the Sintra region.  Its stunningly beautiful.   

A very important historical region.

                       Dear friends.   once they are married, not sure  If we will be inside or out..
Here I have just shown a couple of images..inside and out..but there are many rooms to choose from.. we are all in the dark. ! I like that.. Makes it a little more exciting.

                                We are all looking forward to the 30th..  It's a catholic mass.  With our Irish priest from the Parish of Cascais..That we belonged to for many many years.  It will be in English.

Not much more info at the moment . My dress is ready, will pick it up on Monday.        Part lll.. I hope I can share some great photos with you all.



Happy Thursday dear friends..

val

3 days in Chiado. Lisbon.

 The photos i took i have put in no particular order.    A few weeks ago, my good friend Manuela and myself, decided to go to Lisbon ..for a few days. She had medical exams to do. So we combined them in with a stay in an old "pombaline"  "hotel do charme"..that is the new name now for B&B..here in Lisbon. Rather like the name.  A very old house that Luis the owner has decorared with art decor flair..and old paintings.. its charming.  We were on the second floor. It was like going back 80 years.. the stairwell was narrow and the steps not deep.. We chose this particular place, as the area is really becoming more Bohemian and we felt we were in need of some night life.                                                                      

 A view of St. Jorge's castle on one of Lisbon's 7 hills.  Lisbon for me is a very exciting city.









From the old antique bookshops called"Alforabistas".. you can get books from hundreds of euros or a few euros.. books from the 17th century to books of this century.  The owners.. also do book binding.. a dying art unfortunately... One can spend hours in these shops.. There are not so many around now.  I  was glad to see this one.. and hope to go and browse around on my next visit.

 A wealth of history in these shops.




I just took shots of here and there.. This is the main street in downtown Chiado. No cars.

Hearing sweet sounds of the violin we walked a little way up the street to see this young 'Romani' boy, not more than 8 or 9 with his father..playing his heart away ,with a professionalism of a star. I cannot recall the music..but all clasical. everyone was dumbstruck.  It warmed our hearts. I put a note in the hat. and the little fellow. gave me a big smile and started playing some sort of fast hungarian or Romanian music..with zest.

           Part of the wall of the old  "Convent do Carmo".. we stayed a street away from here.

                                 It was 40º on Thursday, then to 41..by yesterday it was 45. Today its back to about 40.  Here the youngsters are resting in the 'largo do carmo'

After having our coffee at starbucks.. we were amazed to hear further up.. this amazing group of buskers.. Wow..they were fantastic.. the street was full of people listning and sitting around.   Lisbon has changed so much in the last 35 years.  Its just much more cosmopolitan.  We heard, Italians, French, English, Scandanavian's.. talking and buying in the shops.   Both Manuela and myself said.. Gosh.. where is the crisis , everyone is talking about.
the shops were full. some only closing at midnight.  Balmy warm days and nights..and the people were just loving it. The sidewalk cafe's were full. 

  This is the elevator 'justa'..it takes you from the lower level of Chiado to the upper level..where the 'Convent do Carmo is'.. The convent is still a ruin, with lots of history behind it.  Open air concerts and opera and theatre are held there.. poetic nights of reading.

Convento do Carmo.. at night in the Largo do Carmo.

                                  Another view of the elevator..

                                                         The old convent. we cannot go inside the convent..only the ruins.

                                      Above the shop with the canopy.. you will see big cemented walls ..those are the walls of the convent.. The municipality are working on a project to put a lift and walk through to the upper level here.

                                The " Quartel da Guarda do Carmo".. the National guard.. they are not allowed to move or talk to anyone.. as are most guards on duty.



                                                             A view of the Convent from the lower level.

                                   Entrance to part of the convent.. during the day.

Nightime.. in  Largo do Carmo.. we sat and had our Indian dinner assortments.. with iced wine and whiled the evening away.. listening to more buskers playing jazz.









It was so great to see the old "Kiosk" again.

Maybe some of you might be familiar with the  25th of April revolution ..over taking the dictator for more than 60 years " Antonio Salazar"..  This  square , where the Convent do Carmo is.. and where the  National guards headquarters are.. was the place the revolution took place on the 25th of april..1974..
It has become known to the outside world.. as  "The Carnation Revolution"..  not one person lost their .
life...

Chiado also had a great fire in 1988 in the lower area.. 18 stores were lost.. it was a very tragic time.. as Chiado is a very very old bourough.. It belongs to Bairo Alto.. full of history.. Of course its since been rebuilt ..and is still very lovely and interesting and ever so charming.

I am home again amongst my olive trees, with my doggies and the most beautiful weather.
Both Manuela and myself had a good time away from the country.. a little injection of culture, doesn't harm anyone now and again... The end of another sorjourn and magical nights in Lisbon.

Happy week to all my blogger friends.
val ..