The much needed rain continued today sometimes light, sometimes torrential. There’s a map published online that is updated daily showing the fire risk as Portugal has had terrible forest fires. Today was the first time we’ve ever seen it all green. The reservoirs and wells are low so rain is very welcome. We have a couple of large man made holes on our land where we think there may be a natural spring. This time last week they were nearly dry but today they were almost full to the brim – about 2.5 metres deep. Perhaps we’ll go for a swim!
I had a short conversation with the Portuguese neighbour who we refer to as ‘OJ’ because we don’t yet know his name but he drives a van that has these letters on the number plate! He recently bought the adjacent field to us and was there today with a herd of goats. It had been owned and farmed for years by a lovely 88 year old man called Monelli but his wife died recently so he decided to sell it. He still walks down most days though and always stops to chat to us. My goal is to be able to have a proper two way conversation in Portuguese with Monelli – that’s what I’m visualising!
In between the rain, we discussed plans to renovate the stone barn. The existing building is intact but not habitable. The plan is to turn it into a two bedroom home with open plan living/kitchen area and wrap around verandah. I have already spent literally hours visualising our home and sitting on the verandah looking at the view – which is spectacular. One day soon the dream will become a reality!
This afternoon, Joey and I walked around the whole 4 acres of land. It was still raining and being a fair weather walker, Joey was not keen. It was amazing though to see how different everything looks in this autumn season. The land is full of surprises and we love it more and more with every day.
The challenge has been keeping clothes dry and getting wet clothes dry again and keeping a wet dog from shaking his fur everywhere. Fortunately we’ve got this fantastic ‘dog bag’ which is like a towel that zips up with the dog in it and with his head sticking out. Thankfully Joey is always happy to get in it and let us towel him down. 
We finished the day off with cooking a spicy chicken curry – very warming! – and the final episode of a series we’ve been watching on Netflix on the incredible rescue of the boys football team in 2018 called ‘Thai Cave Rescue’. It’s set in monsoon season so with our rain here supplementing the sound effects, it felt like we were watching it in 4D!
Good night all!
