The general blog area for the site. Articles which do not fall into a specific category will appear here.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
Little more than a month after our first guests departed, we had more visitors.
My sister, youngest niece, and youngest great-nephew had a break from the UK weather.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
Following the recent visit from our daughter and her partner, we took a short break away from the house.
It was only a couple of days but thoroughly enjoyable.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
Some years after starting the project and deciding that we could include a guest suite in the house renovation, we finally received guests.
Our younger daughter Rachel, and her partner/boyfriend Steve, are visiting from Macclesfield.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
While I have been busy working inside the house, Janet has been equally busy outside in the garden.
The drab grey wall of the railway station car park has had some attention.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
A couple of years ago we had birds nesting in the workshop. The nest was high up in the structure of the building.
This year they are back, and a little more brave.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
Though there have been some nice days since Christmas, the weather has been quite miserable until now.
The past week has again been variable but now we are seeing warmer, drier conditions.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
As a special treat, we took a Christmas trip to visit family, as so much has changed in the two years since our last visit.
Time was limited and we had quite a bit of travel to do whilst in the UK, all by public transport. Undaunted, we set off.
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- Written by: rick
It seems that, recently, every time we wish to travel outside of Portugal there is some form of problem.
This time it was the airline, notorious for low cost and low service.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
This year Janet and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a special trip.
We had a few days away in Venice, one of the most romantic cities in the world.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
Having rescued a whole group of cactuses from various parts of the garden when we bought the house, Janet kept them in pots with a plan to make a dedicated cactus garden.
That idea has now come to fruition.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
Following the lack of success with the vegetables this year we will be re-working the soil in the horta.
Therefore we need a couple of tons of manure to add some nutrients.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
Yet again, the weather shows how it can throw away all the historical models.
Just a couple of weeks ago we were baking in extreme temperatures and relentless sunshine.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
It has been a while since the last update of the garden.
This year has been quite different to the previous one, so little rain and so much heat.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
As beautiful and inviting as our area is, just like almost everywhere else we do have a crime problem.
And, as is so common, it is likely that drugs are the cause.
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- Written by: Rick Nason
The recent forest fire in our area was not entirely unexpected but it was still a surprise when it happened.
As is often the case, the cause was human error.