We are now into the second week of 2021 and here is the first post of the year, sorry for the delay!
Today it has been snowing, lightly, for most of the day as storm Filomena passes close by.
Daytime temperatures have been as high as 4ºC and with the wind chill it feels like -4ºC, a far cry from the 40º we were feeling in August.
So it is time to recap some of the highlights of the Christmas and New Year period.
Firstly, some spectacular sunsets: On 3rd December we saw this ...
And on 8th January we got this ...
Christmas eve:
We took a walk up to the hill behind the house, part of the Gardunha mountain range. Looking back down the path towards Monsanto ...
And a decent close up, not too bad for a handheld camera.
Christmas day:
As mentioned in a previous entry, we had set the dining table upstairs in the old part of the house so we could have at least Christmas dinner sat at a proper table. We did have a few meals up there in the end.
The room is very cold having very little insulation and large gaps under the windows.
Nonetheless, we were determined, we have warm clothing and a gas heater.
Janet made fresh orange juice and lemonade using produce from the garden. We had parsnips from the Fundão market, even though the weather has been poor for the crop this (last!) year, and all the usual trimmings to go with the turkey.
As usual, the home made Christmas cake loaded with brandy.
No pictures of the home made Christmas pudding, but be assured it was delicious - for four days.
January 9th:
The room has now been cleared again ready for the next phase of the works which we hope will begin at the end of January.