The overriding factor of our first month has been the heat - typically 32 - 34 deg shade in the afternoons. Therefore not surprisingly only essential work has taken place! This consisted of erecting a fence around the chicken pen so that they are still free range but not as free to range as they were because they were trying to come indoors and free range in here as well! There have to be limits. However restriction has not affected egg production which is still 2/3 eggs a day from the four of them which is just about the maximum they can do between them in a 24hr period.








Converting an old pigsty into a chicken pen and making their run with a little help from our friends.

What with the cost of the fencing and wire our breakfasts have been rather expensive!

Thankfully the cats have settled well and have found a routine and some favourite places to snooze. Pinky is ok to wander because she is not good on her pins and unable to go far, Tigger is in his harness tied to a long string attached to a post because he could wander off which would not be a wise thing for him to do at his great age and being deaf as well. He doesn't mind it at all. He loves to sit out in the evenings until after dark just like he did before.



A rare picture of them sharing the same space






One day at the beach we did this

Paragliding has always appealed to me and I persuaded Michael to join me. We are glad we did - it was fun - quite safe - and not scary at all. We had a wonderful view up there.

We have just attended our 12th Portuguese lesson which are very enjoyable and it has been nice to meet our fellow pupils who all live locally. We are finding that slowly we are beginning to have better 'chats' with our neighbours.

It is the beginning of the olive picking season and we have already started to cure ours by first immersing them in water and rinsed every day for a week and then stored in brine with herbs and garlic for a bit before bottling them in olive oil.



There have been some wonderful sunsets