Merging Memories

I feel as if I haven’t written a blog in many days, which is not true, yet it feels that way to me. I recognize that I enjoy it immensely as it allows me to look back over my day and relive, if only for a moment, events of the day. It’s also, of course, a good way for me to be able to recall various and specific things! Today, when I look back in my memory bank, I have to dig to recall what we’ve been up to for the last few days. Perhaps this simply implies I’ve gotten lazy and I depend a bit too much on the blog writing experience?

I do know that since I last wrote we’ve enjoyed a lovely morning on the beach in Fuzeta, a relaxing patio lunch in Olhão, another lunch in our local square, which included a lovely visit with our friends Marion and David, and probably a few other things that will come to me as I write.

Today Joanne and I headed back to the Cerro da Cabeça which we hiked in the opposite direction as well, explored a path that was indicated….

It didn’t deter us and we enjoyed exploring something new as well as discovering exactly where we would end up, not too far from where we would have had we stayed on the approved trail.

The weather was gorgeous, it showed 22 degrees at one point and it’s the first hike we’ve done where we simply wore tee shirts the entire time, no need for a hoodie or other layer. I think I actually broke out in a sweat today, which is quite rare for me. As always we stumbled on a few new things,

This old path was lined with ancient knee-high stone walls. It wound along farm land, the occasional property, although we never saw another person, only the loud barking dogs from time to time.

Mother Nature was obviously up to work this past couple of days preparing a few new things for us to admire.

I had read, since our last hike up this mountain, that a section of the path is actually an old Roman Road. That made me pay attention today and lo and behold, there it was. (Note the “old Roman” at the top!!

Surprisingly to me we find lovely homes tucked away on some of these seemingly abandoned paths. I’m not certain, and it’s not always obvious, how they get to them but there must be a road somewhere that we simply don’t see because of the vegetation.

I noticed today that the cistus seems to come in a couple of varieties, one where the flower itself seems like a continual “roundish” shape and the other where the flower seems to separate, more like a star.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the hike and once again, doing it in reverse made it feels like an entirely new trail and experience. I know I’ll do this hike again in the future as it changes so much with the evolving season here.

Once home we decided to head back into Moncarapacho and enjoy lunch in the square. It was a great decision to sit back in the sunshine and relax. We enjoy this place as it has a choice of three different restaurants, they all share the central square , yet they all have a small individual terrace also. The food has never disappointed and today was no exception.

On our arrival home I noted that the hibiscus tree next to Joanne’s door is blooming quite profusely and Marc pointed out all the buds that are getting ready to burst.

And then there is our very large patch of sage, which will also soon provide a mass of purple flowers. We love to bring them into the house to add some colour and fragrant scent.

As another day comes to a close, chicken roasting in the oven, wine breathing, music keeping our toes tapping, and the sun setting outside our window, we recognize how blessed we all are to live such privileged lives.

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