“Change is slow and gradual. It requires hard work, a bit of luck, a fair amount of self-sacrifice, a lot of patience.”
– Robert Greene
April has been a whirl of activity and colour. The landscape is lush and vibrant with the iridescent green of spring, interspersed with an array of colourful flowers and grass seeds that sway in gentle breezes and bend and twist in stronger winds. The longer daylight hours mean that both the cats and I are changing the rhythm of our days. Sometimes seeking out sunny spots, and other times searching for pools of shade, as the temperature has fluctuated between summer and winter in typical spring moodiness, ending the month with snow on the Serra de Estrela, and a cold house, as I switched off the underfloor heating on the 11th amidst weather that felt more like summer than spring. (Okay, I have to confess that when the weather prediction remained cold for another week, I caved in and switched it back on yesterday (the 29th), as I can’t stand being cold all the time, while in the house.)
I’ve given up on obsessive strimming, allowing nature to delight in waking up after her winter slumber, but when Matthias said he was coming to prune our olive trees I quickly strimmed around them to make it easier for collecting and dragging the prunings to where I could burn them. It was more work than usual, as they were quite dense and overgrown.
I have strimmed much-needed pathways to give access to parts of the land so that the cats and I can continue to indulge in an occasional walk. I’ve started to neglect this daily ritual, as, more often than not, I tend to engage in some much-needed chores in the fading light of the day, but they still hang around, keeping a watchful eye on me, although I suspect that we all miss strolling on parts of the land Spring has rendered inaccessible.
When the weather warmed up I took a risk in transplanting half the seedlings I cultivated from seed into my new vegetable garden. Mid-April is early to do so, so I kept the other half in a warm corner spot in case the weather plunged into frosty nights again. Although the temperatures have plunged again, they all seem fine, as there hasn’t been any frost.
Michael came for a quick week-long visit, as Eid-al-Fitr this year fell in such a way that they had a whole week of free holiday. It just so happened that it coincided with his birthday, and as Etihad Airways added a flight to Lisbon that worked for his schedule, he decided to try it despite a much heavier price tag. That, of course, meant that I could go fetch him, making good use of the opportunity for two mini road trips.
On the way to Lisbon, I meandered through the Alentejo without a specific plan, stopping in various lovely places along the way – Flor da Rosa, Avis, and Pavia, before spending the night like a queen in the castle in Palmela.
My second roadtrip consisted of the Saturday after dropping Michael off at the airport at 6am. As I had a couple of hours to kill, before my scheduled visit for 11am at Convento de Nossa Senhora da Arrábida, I decided to drive over the iconic 25 Abril bridge to Costa Caparica, where I had coffee and a pastry, before taking a slow drive to an artisanal bakery not far from there, which, luckily for me, opens at 8am on a Saturday. Slow Sourdough & Co was a delightful discovery, and I stocked up on various breads and both sweet and savoury baked goods, which later served as lunch on my way back home.
As always when Michael is on the quinta there is plenty of work to do, and apart from chores like the yearly drain cleaning, he also managed to put up another roller blind for me, and got some fiddly work done on the door frames of the workshop, while Natalie and Lawrence spread, levelled and compacted the touvenant (a mix of gravel and sand that, when compacted become rock hard), which form the base for the floor of the workshop. We also ordered the cladding, and managed to source and buy the underfloor heating pipes. Yes, we will have underfloor heating in the workshop running off solar. At least that is what we are planning for.
On the last morning Michael quickly put together a makeshift sprinkler so that I could water the touvenant a couple of times before Lawrence ran the plate compactor over it one last time. We are now both running through a list of chores to get the floor ready so that Michael can install the heating pipes during his next visit later in May.
The contractor, who did the foundation for the building, and erected the steel structure is also busy preparing to throw the outside concrete floor, which should be done coming Friday.
A Special Joy:
On the way back to Lisbon to drop Michael off, we took a scenic drive through the Alentejo on some back roads, even indulging in a picnic in a gorgeous spot along a lake near Benavila. We don’t often get to do things like this at a leisurely pace, as there is often so much to do on the quinta that it, more often than not, results in a dash to get to a destination. That said, it also takes some convincing at times, as Michael tends to want to get in the car and only get out at the destination, while I enjoy meandering and stopping along the way.
Our destination was Montijo, a town on the opposite side of the Tagus River from Lisbon. From there it is a 25-minute drive to the airport, across the Vasco da Gama Bridge, which, at 17.2 km long is the second longest bridge in Europe. Unlike Lisbon, Montijo has no tourists, which, these days, is what I search for more often than not. We made good use of our time, and crammed in all the things we never get to enjoy together. On the way to our accommodation Michael spotted tables and chairs on the sidewalk, where he thought we could start by quenching our thirst. Turns out that it is a craft brewery and restaurant (HABITAT Taproom), but we caught the owner just as he was locking the door after the lunch shift. He kindly unlocked it again, explained the different beers they make, gave us a taste, and sold us some, which we enjoyed outside in the balmy weather. Michael considered an afternoon nap, but I enticed him with some artisanal ice-cream and coffee, after which we strolled along the river, before stopping for a drink with the after-work crowds flocking to the many sidewalk cafes and bars. We ended our day with a lovely meal at A Taska, a restaurant serving delicious petiscos (small plates), before heading back to our accommodation, as we had an early start the next morning.
Notes:
# 25 April is Freedom Day in Portugal, and this year marked the 50 year celebration of the event that is also known as the Carnation Revolution. Two news articles I found interesting was of a personal memory, and a short video focusing on the song that ended what was the longest running fascist regime in Europe.
# Mid-April brough joy and relief when I finally received my residence card in the mail. Despite my initial appointment in February 2021, it took a third appointment in March to finally get it issued. I fell through every single crack I could have, but the whole story is far too long and traumatic to relive at this point in time, so I will save that for when I can separate myself sufficiently from it to write in more detail about it. For now, I am relieved, and can start to plan a trip to South Africa to see my family, and sort out a heap of expired and almost expiring paperwork. For that to happen I will have to find a quinta and cat sitter first, so if you, or anyone else you know who is trustworthy is interested in something like that, please get in touch with me. I am planning to build a list of possible sitters for future trips, so if you are keen to experience spending time in a very rural part of Portugal, or want to know what it is like to live in the place you’ve been reading about all these years, please drop me an email at atasteoffreedompt@gmail.com
# Floods in the UAE – Michael was hardly back in the UAE before torrential rain resulted in flooding and an enormous amount of damage. Al Ain received the most – 250mm of rain in less than 24 hours. An amount that in any part of the world will have a devastating effect, but is far worse in a country where infrastructure isn’t built to contend with rain. Michael worked long 15-hour days, including a weekend, as a result, and although some damage will take time to repair, when a government has money and will power, it is amazing to see what can be done in a short period of time. You most probably saw some pictures in the media, but this article explains the weather system and conditions that were responsible for the flooding.
# Blog post comments – I always appreciate comments on the blog, but for some reason I no longer receive email notifications when there is a comment, which means that I only see them when I actually sign into Blue Host, where we have our website. Also, the reason I manually approve comments is because of spam that is sometimes not caught by filters. It is slightly more technical compared to when I blogged on the free WordPress site, so please bear with me when I don’t immediately respond, or you don’t see your comment pop through instantly. Also, when there is a lot to do on the quinta, I almost never open my computer, which means that these days I am super late in responding, and am far behind in reading any of the blogs I love and follow.
A Portuguese Expression:
Tirar o cavalinho da chuva – it literally means to take your little horse out of the rain, and is the equivalent of the English expression don´t hold your breath.
Written by: Jolandi
Hooray for the residency card! I know you’ve been waiting for an eternity for it: congratulations, and here’s hoping it leads to many more happy events on the quinta.
I love the lavender you planted around the patio! It’s a good idea, especially as the lavender will release its scent when the weather gets warmer. I was told that 18th century homeowners in England would plant scented herbs and flowers next to the entrance, so when visitors brushed the plants, the smell would waft up to greet them. It sounds like a lovely idea, more so if you entertain your friends outdoors on a sunny day.
Thank you, Hangaku.
I adore lavender, and one of the things I love about this part of Portugal is that they grow wild here, so it is easy to transplant bushes to anywhere you want. Once I can start my permanent garden around the house I am planning to transplant many more. I also harbour the fantasy of a lavender labyrinth somewhere on the land, but that is for much, much later. – Jolandi
Congratulations for the residence card! There is only one way to go through things like this in countries where the bureaucracy is notoriously inefficient: one thing at a time. I can imagine the relief you felt when you received it in the mail. Your spring photos are beautiful, Jolandi, with the tall grass and all. It sounds like April went quite well for you in general, which is well-deserved after all the hard work you had put on the quinta and the residency. The floods in the UAE, the heatwave across South and Southeast Asia, we really need to adapt to the new reality while at the same time keep trying to reverse the warming of the planet (I don’t know if that’s even possible). I hope you and Michael are well.
Thank you, Bama. Yes one step at a time is the only way to survive an inefficient bureaucracy. April has been a good month for me in general, which is really something to be grateful for.
I just read an article this morning about the heatwave across South and Southeast Asia, as I was a bit oblivious about it. It sounds brutal. It is very disconcerting that these extreme weather events are becoming not only worse, but more frequent. One has to really wonder what the future holds and if we will be able to either adapt or stop this relentless worsening of weather conditions. Stay cool. – Jolandi
I’m so glad you happened to look at my recent blog post because I never saw a notification about this post of yours. (I asked questions in my own response that will make you wonder if I am a poor reader, but I’m only now seeing this after I went looking for it.)
I can’t believe you buried the news about the residence card in an end note! Well, maybe I can … you have moved on, probably with great relief and not wanting to re-live that long slog for even a second. The doings of the quinta are certainly a happier story (although the end result of actually getting the card is fantastic), and I loved seeing all of the progress.
The workshop looks like an indoor basketball court or a mini Amazon warehouse – haha – or maybe the scale just jumps out of the wide open space around it. It will be incredible when finished! Like Hangaku, I adore the lavender. In fact, everything about the first photo makes me want to sign up as your regular quinta-and-cat sitter, but I’m afraid that is not in the cards for at least a little while!
Enjoy the rest of spring!
Finally holding my residence card in my hands felt a bit like an anti-climax to be honest, Lexie, and although I am relieved and grateful it finally arrived, I have, like you said, moved on in many ways focusing my attention on other parts of my life.
Yip, the workshop is quite a big structure, but winters can be long and rainy here, and the summer sun hot, so it will give us enough space to store all the equipment we need on the quinta, park the car, and have plenty of space for various projects. We are toying with a small scale farming idea for which we will use it that I will only write about once we start experimenting with it, though, as it is all still just a dream we are talking about. Although it may seem to many people as overkill, as it isn’t a common size in the area, our young Portuguese neighbour is building a similar sized structure, which makes us feel quite normal.
The lavender and other wild flowers are exquisite this year, and photographs just don’t do it any justice. Spring really is gorgeous in that sense, despite the extreme weather fluctuations we’ve had. Yesterday the wind was icy, with temperatures hovering around 10C for most of the day, while a week from now the prediction is for 28C.
Whenever you feel like lingering in Europe and experience the Portugal tourists never get to experience, there is always a quinta and cat sit waiting for you. 😁 – Jolandi
Bravo on finally getting your residency card. We’ve seen many pics of the rain in UAE. Hard to imagine the devastation.
Thanks, Peggy. Michael said it felt really strange to stand amidst devastation like that, which is so different from just seeing video footage or photos of it.
Oh my gosh the flooding! We were talking about that here: how weather events that seem manageable for some are catastrophic for others when the infrastructure (and simply the land itself) is unequipped for it. I am grateful Michael is well, and also that he was able to help. Sometimes working on a problem makes me feel better about it. And oh my gosh your residency card! I can absolutely completely relate to the trauma of falling through cracks and waiting on bureaucracy for years. The pain will quickly fall behind you when you take your first trip away and breathe in that free space in your soul again. I am happy for you and I feel relief on your behalf.
Though I had not even thought of it before, the size of your shop caught my attention in this post too – how funny that so many of us mention it. Possibly the photography? But for me, it’s the fact that we JUST completed the construction of Pedro’s shop, and my thought was, “Oh he would be envious of Jolandi’s!” because ours is 195 square feet – less than 200 square feet in order to avoid permits from the city. Yours is entirely practical, as there is nowhere else on your land or in your small house to keep all the equipment and tools and car. Possibly people who don’t have a large piece of land to manage aren’t thinking of all the equipment needed for simple, general maintenance.
The paths you carved through the deep grasses delight me! Paths somehow beckon me to follow, and looking at the photos with the kitties buried makes me yearn to walk there. I love the photo of the pinkish flower that looks like an orchid. What is the name of that one?
Thank you, Crystal.
I don’t think it is the photography that is making the workshop look bigger. It simply is a big building – 300 square metres (3230 square feet) on the inside. Under the overhang, it is another 100 square metres (1076 square feet). It is a decent size agricultural building we are hoping to utilize for various things, and like you point out, one needs a lot of equipment for simple, general maintenance and work on a large piece of land alone.
The flower you refer to is indeed an orchid that is native to the Mediteranean from the species Serapias lingua, commonly known as a tongue-orchid. They are gorgeous and were bountiful this year. – Jolandi
The residence card! OMG. I’m surprised you didn’t shout at us at the very beginning. Hahaha. What a relief. And one day, I’d love to take up living and caring for your space — and cats!
But it sounds like you’ve been super busy. And watching everything come together is incredible.
Yeah, I didn’t get a notification for this post, but I headed over after you commented to see if my comments went through, etc. Gotta love tech.
In any case, happy May!
Thanks, Lani.
I think I’ve waited so long for my residence card that it was a bit of an anticlimax, although I am obviously thrilled and relieved too.
The general chores and workshop project is keeping me super busy, but it is certainly coming together nicely, so makes it all worth it when one can see the progress.
I think you would love this space for a complete destress experience. 🥰 – Jolandi
Hi Jolandi,
It is all coming together – not only a residency card (yay!) but the shed is now recognisable. Something tangible for the hours of work that have gone into the substructure.
Our news has been full of successive drought years affecting Spain and Italy’s olive oil exports, so you may have cornered the market with your own trees. Hope you have a decent yield this year.
A cat-sit in Portugal sounds tempting, but not achievable just at the moment, hahaha, but I am on a dog-sit about half an hour north of my usual home. It is just me and a girlfriend. The house is huge, so she has one self-contained level, and me the other, and we share the dog – meaning he usually gets two walks a day. But today the rain has pelted consistently since early morning. Raven has been restless and keeps indicating another upper level where his lead is kept, but he has finally given up on us and settled on a couch behind where I am writing.
My manuscript has been read by the commissioning publisher of a leading Australian traditional publishing firm. He loves the first half, not so the second. So he is mentoring me while I rewrite that. This sabbatical is providing the space for that to happen. No guarantees my work will be accepted, but it is certainly a huge leg up. xx Gwen
Oh my goodness, Gwen, your writing news sound so promising. Fingers crossed that you will be able to find the necessary inspiration that will turn your manuscript into the story that ticks all the boxes for the publisher. And hopefully your dog sit is the perfect place for it all to come together nicely.
I always find it amazing how things eventually just suddenly start falling into place. The amount of work that goes into projects are often underestimated, and so much of the work to get this workshop done will be buried or hidden.
Yes, the last couple of years have been hard on the olive oil industry in Spain, Italy, and Greece. Portugal mostly produce only for internal consumption it appears. I’ve read articles about whole trees that were dug up or big branches cut off to steal the olives, and olive oil chained to supermarket shelves, because of theft. Crazy. Sadly our 40 olive trees are not enough to warrant trying to sell our oil. Also, it costs us roughly 12 euros a litre to produce, so in order to make it worth our while to go through the trouble of selling it, we have to ask more than what people are prepared to pay. We’ve also had two years that weren’t that great, but we still have plenty for our own consumption. – Jolandi
I just commented on May and then ducked back to see what I had written and you replied on April’s post. Silly me has completely repeated herself, but thank you so much for your encouragement on the writing. After a couple of tranches of 10,000 words my mentor told me I was on the right track and just go for it! He now only wants to see the final product, and through fresh eyes. Hopefully I will have it in his hands in two weeks’ time.