Late Nights and Long Days

Every year at the beginning of May the people of Estoi celebrate a very special festival, “Festa da Pinha”, meaning festival of the pine cone. Nobody has yet been able to explain to us the origin of this old tradition but it sure makes for a long yet enjoyable evening.  The procession from Estoi to Ludo (about 15 kms) happens in the morning.  A huge all day festival takes place there (translate to drunken feast) and then in the evening the cavalcade returns to  Estoi.  Last night it was quite late before they finally arrived back, and we were pretty pooped but…..Patricia had never seen it so we stuck it out.  It was worth it.   I didn’t take a lot of photos but here are the ones I managed.

Folks waiting patiently for the horses and carriages to arrive. Love all the cell phones.

My happy fella telling us they are finally arriving.

The final resting place of all the torches. Right in front of our place at the small church.

Revelers having a grand time

Viva la Pinha!!!!!

Today, after a good night sleep I decided to head off on a hike up through the mountainside and around the village.  I like to reverse my direction from time to time and today I took a route that was quite a bit different from my usual.  It’s amazing how you see things differently once you “turn around”!

Literally 50 meters from our door and yet hidden behind a building that I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t gone in this direction.

A few feet away from the other shot.

I call this Queen’s Anne Lace but not certain I am correct. In any case, gorgeous.

A close up from the last photo. The bloom was larger than my open palm.

These gorgeous blooms in a eucalyptus tree!!

A new bloom on a century plant. One of Marc’s favourites.

Loads of honeysuckle. The pink, white and yellow. The yellow is the most fragrant.

A honeysuckle bush.

This massive branch on the carob tree has literally been ripped from the trunk. I can’t imagine how it happened as it has been windless for days. It looks as if humans have done this. If so, very sad.

As I arrived at the very top, on this extremely hot day, I noticed the haze over the ocean and the towns below.  I’m always being asked about the countryside and today I thought to take four photos from the same vantage point to show the diversity.  I simply turned slowly and you’ll notice some of the photos overlap.

Faro and the Atlantic off in the distance.

More of Faro and coastline heading west.

Western and Northern perspective. I’ve hiked to the top of that hill.

North and East……

All along the mountain path, I noted that many of the wildflowers are starting to wither and lose colour.  Still, there are many others still showing up and colour still abounds.

This is a form of thistle that is starting to move just past it’s prime but like most of us, still holds much charm!

Another type of thistle, Syrian Thistle

A Cardoon Thistle. I love how it looks from the side view.

I am not certain what this is but it’s starting to wither and go to seed.

This is an enormous honeysuckle and I could smell it long before I saw it. It sat directly in the sun.

Some sort of daisy and it peppered this particular hillside, which faced south east.

A wall of passion plants. Literally hundreds of blooms in existence and yet hundreds of more pods getting ready to pop.

This side view was quite beautiful.

My walk was a bit slower than usual as it’s quite hot here and has been for a few days now.  Our temperatures are not going down at night and a few sleepless nights have come my way in particular.  It’s making the days feel long……which is a fact, certainly not a complaint.

As I arrived home I noted that a huge cluster of alstroemeria or Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas has burst open at the base of our lemon and orange trees.  How lucky we are to be able to bring a bouquet of them in the house to titivate the room.

And right beside our gate……I’m starting to refer to this as our Christmas Tree…..

A couple of detail shots of the blossoms, which delight me.

And last, but certainly not least, right beside our door……..

We are getting a little tired after all these months of pinching ourselves with our good fortune this particular year.  Between the ongoing sunshine, the above average temperatures and the abundance of daily colour it’s going to make it challenging to head back to Canada in a few short weeks, especially given the weather reports from family and friends.   But, it is what it is and this too shall come to pass.  In the meantime we will continue to enjoy each and every day here until we do head home.