A Whole Lotta Sheep Bums!!!

This morning, instead of the ubiquitous Portuguese rooster waking us, it was a horrendous thunder and lightning storm!!  I swear I lept out of bed as the first boom seemed directly in the courtyard of the quinta.   The sky was lit up as if it was 10 a.m.!! BOOM.  Needless to say, it set the tone for the day.

Happily, by about the real 10 a.m. the sky had cleared and I headed off for a lovely walk. My goal was to simply wander and smell the orange blossoms after the rainfall.  I certainly wasn’t disappointed.  Intoxicating.

This huge herd of sheep were right around the corner from the quinta. They were nervous, but also a tiny bit curious of my presence. I love watching them and how they move as a unit sometimes.

This gorgeous mimosa tree, heavy with the morning rain, is still hanging onto it’s blooms. I would have called it a “yellow popcorn tree”!!

This is one of the plants that I love the most around here, especially at this time of year. I think it’s called a rock rose……..the yellow is soft and rich and the blossoms are delicate and beautiful lookingn.

These next four photos were taken one beside the other…in the same garden…….look at this crop of figs!!!

Followed by this amazing banana tree, in flower and the fruit forming.

Right next to a tree bursting with all these luscious looking plums

And finally, this nespera, or loquat…….laden with fruit.

I am not sure I’ve seen this chimney before but it jumped out at me today.

Look at this rose bush!!! Gorgeous and the scent was intoxicating,even from the. distance it was from me

The church in Estoi…..off in the distance I noticed the palm tree against the wall.

I so want to see the babies but they keep hiding from me. One day I will.

This rose, scentless but gorgeous nonetheless.

I loved seeing the chimney and the datura, both reflecting yellow.

Somebody took their time in painting this…….a piece of art.

It was a wonderful walk.  I wish I had a way to capture the various scents along my route.  First of all the freshness of the earth from the heavy rain.  The intoxicating, and almost overwhelming, scent of orange blossoms………simply unavoidable.  Rosemary, wet with heavy rain.   The wool of the sheep……a herd of about 40.   And on and on I could go.  I think I amost hyperventilated a couple of times from deep sniffing!!!!!

Once home, Marc and I headed out to the main square for lunch.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this but…..Ana posts the prato do dia each morning, around 9 a.m., on FaceBook.  We have a look and we order our lunch by sending her a quick note with what we want, and roughly what time we might arrive.  This morning was a no-brainer….Bochechas Estufadas…….pig cheeks.    How quickly could I type that we wanted two full orders!!

What a succulent and tasty lunch.   Doesn’t get much better than this!!  Of course the prerequisite walk was in order right after.

Who is that silver haired man who keeps showing up in my blog????

And that curly haired brute?????

Our neighbour, keeping an eye out for us on our return.

Our selfie of the day.

Once home we headed off in the car for Tavira to run an errand or two and enjoyed the mountain scenery along the route.  I don’t know if it was because it was Saturday or if it was the earlier rain but, the roads were pretty well empty of traffic.   On our arrival home I noticed the beautiful yellow iris through our living room window…..they stand about 5 feet tall and truly, I never noticed them last year.