February 19 to 25, 2023 ; Horta, Faial Island, Azores, Portugal

 Sunday ; Mostly sunny and mild.

Lots of wandering around and exploring.

Monday ; Mostly sunny and mild.

More wandering around and exploring.

Tuesday ; Mardi Gras / Carnaval

Cloudy, light rain all day. Stayed indoors, squabbled and sniped all day.

Wednesday ; Mix of sun and clouds, intermittent rain early in the day.

We got caught in the cold rain during our early walk this morning. BRRRRR !

Our afternoon walk included another trip to the Continente supermarket. I dislike going to the supermarket here in Horta. It’s a long walk up a difficult, steep hill, and another long walk down the hill laden with heavy grocery bags.

This afternoon I worked on planning some bus trips, within the city, and around Faial Island. And a sightseeing hike up a local mountain. Probably. Maybe. We’re feeling old. And after more than three months I think we’re suffering “travel fatigue”.

Thursday ; Mix of sun and clouds, mild, windy.

Our plan for today had been to take a city bus from one side of the city to the other, sightsee a bit, then return via a different bus route. So we caught the Blue line city bus near our guesthouse, in the Porto Pim neighbourhood, on the far south side of town, near the Blue line route’s starting point. We rode it around and through and across town to the end of its route on the far north side of town. We had planned to wander around for awhile, then catch the Red or Yellow city bus back to the Porto Pim neighbourhood on the south side of town.

BUT … we got off the Blue bus, and began to wander around. And around. And around. And around. And rinse and repeat. Eventually we decided we might as well just walk the rest of the way back home.

We bought some Oyster mushrooms and cilantro at the Mercado (municipal farmers market). I bought some OTC meds at a farmacia. We eventually came to a restaurant that was on Joanne’s radar. Until today I had two items of Portuguese gastronomy still on my bucket list of “things I must eat while in Portugal”. Now there’s only one !

We had Francesinha sandwiches for lunch. A Francesinha is a Bitoque … <HA HA HA> … drenched in a tomato and beer based gravy. They are usually made with pork as the meat ingredient. The restaurant we went to today prepared a Francesinha with chicken for Joanne, and one made with beef for me. I’ll try to describe ;

A Francesinha is a meat and cheese sandwich on a crusty Portuguese ciabatta bun, served in a soup bowl, with a fried egg on top, drenched and floating in tomato beer gravy, fries on the side. 76,208 calories per serving. CAUTION ; do not expose coronary artery bypass grafts to Francesinhas. HA HA HA HA HA !

We eventually made it back home. Late in the afternoon we went for a much shorter walk. At the end of that walk we stopped at the bakery half a block down our street to buy a few items for tomorrow, then across the street to the neighbourhood’s tiny “grocery store” which is open for a few minutes each day, at random times, to buy a jug of water.

Friday ; Cloudy, intermittent rain, heavy at times. The rain was forecast to begin early in the evening. It started in mid-afternoon. Very inconveniently !

After lunch … (MMMMM … leftover Francesinhas) … we went out for an afternoon of hiking up nearby Monte da Guia. We walked a block over to the ancient “fortified gate to Porto Pim” to get access down to Praia (beach) do Porto Pim. We walked the length of the beach, then up again off the beach to the 700 year old defunct whaling station that was the genesis of what is now the city of Horta. We wandered around, always heading uphill onto Monte da Guia, where there are a series of miradouras (vewpoints) looking out over Porto Pim Bay, and Porto Pim Beach, and the city of Horta, and even over to the relatively close Azores island of Pico. We were just meandering around, enjoying the sightseeing, I was taking lots of photos, when I noticed some ugly clouds coming over the inland mountains west of the city. I told Joanne we should turn around and start heading back down the mountain, because I thought it would probably begin raining within an hour.

OH … I was wrong ! In about ten or fifteen minutes it began to pour … heavily ! With very strong winds. <sigh> We were just about down off the mountain and about to climb down to the beach. The squall ended in about ten or fifteen minutes, as we were about halfway across the beach on our way home. We were drenched ! And cold ! <sigh> We’re too old for this !

I concocted a stuffed puff pastry dinner, stuffing mushrooms, shrimp, and Azorean cheese in mine, and chorizo, prosciutto, and cheese in Joanne’s. Pretty darn good ! Ever since we arrived in Portugal more than three months ago I have been experimenting with puff pastry dough, used widely here, easily available in grocery stores, and inexpensive. I’m hoping that it will be as easily available back at home, and I can continue to experiment with it.

Saturday ; Sunny, warm, very windy.

Tonight we had cause to celebrate. NO … she’s not pregnant … she’s 69 years old ! HA HA HA ! We went to a local restaurant that had the two menu items we wanted ; alcatra for Joanne, and arroz de polvo com algas / stewed octopus risotto with algae (seaweed) for me. NOW … my Portuguese culinary bucket list is complete ! I had a Portuguese beer, Joanne had a glass of Portuguese white wine. We shared a lime mousse dessert. The bill was outrageously expensive ! <shrug>

DSK

February 12 to 18, 2023 ; Cabanas de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal to Horta, Faial Island, Azores, Portugal

 Sunday ; Sunny and mild.

Early walk. Leftover cataplana for lunch. MMMMM ! Pool exercises late in the afternoon. Aggravating ! Influx of tourists from Germany. Aspects of German culture that have always offended my prudish Canadian sensibilities. Changing room full of middle aged to elderly German men wandering around naked, socializing, swinging dicks all around, along with a young father with his naked five year old daughter in the men’s change room, naked little girl sitting on the bench, legs far apart, swinging her feet, exposing ALL of herself, waiting for her father to help her get dressed, looking quizzically at a multitude of swinging dick naked old men wandering around … ! <SMH>

Monday ; Sunny and warm.

Early long walk, along the entire length of the waterfront boardwalk, then meandering through town to Spar to buy some buns for lunch.

We have enough food in our suite to last one more day, so we decided to buy take-out dinner at a nearby very highly rated Indian restaurant while we were out for our late walk. While Joanne sorted and discarded our recyclables into the recycling dumpsters across the street from the restaurant I went into Indian Farmer Tandoori Restaurant and ordered Lamb Pasanda, Jasmine Rice, and Naan Bread for dinner.

When we returned to our resort Joanne went to our suite to prepare a garden salad and I went outside to socialize with Scrunty, Blackie, and Loren (the pregnant female), the resort cats that live around our resort building’s rear doors. While I was sitting on the steps giving affection to Blackie, with Loren sitting nearby, a huge rat walked by … <blink blink>. Loren stared at the rat. Blackie took one look at the rat, then head butted me for more scritches.

Live and let live, I guess !

Tuesday ; Sunny and warm early in the day, cloudy and cool later in the day.

On our early walk we took one last walk around the town of Cabanas de Tavira, revisiting the areas we most liked, particularly a small park that Joanne liked. While we sat on a bench and reminisced about our four weeks here a local street cat walked over and asked for attention and affection. How appropriate !

We spent much of the day puttering around with packing and preparations for departure in the middle of the night. Our late walk was around the large grounds of our resort, including saying goodbye to our resort cat friends ; Scrunty, Blackie, and Loren. We haven’t seen Bernie (burnt ear) since our first week here. We’re hoping that he may have been picked up by the local street cat rescue organization.

Wednesday ; Cabanas de Tavira to Faro to Lisbon to Horta

Raining in the middle of the night as we were driving from Cabanas de Tavira to Faro, cloudy, light rain, and mild in Lisbon, mostly cloudy and mild in Horta.

We were up at 3 AM to prepare for departure. Out of our room, checking out at the front desk at 4 AM as our pre-arranged car and driver showed up at the resort’s front door. Forty-five minutes west on the highway to the airport in the city of Faro. Forty-five minutes in line to check-in for our flight. <sigh>

Wheels up at 6 AM. Not an empty seat on the TAP Air Portugal Airbus A321. Many passengers wearing masks. Landed in Lisbon at 7 AM. Walked for what seemed like miles through the airport to get to our connecting flight. Supposed to be wheels up at 8 AM, but delayed half an hour due to a lot of departing traffic ahead of us. Two and a half hour flight, half full SATA Azores Airlines Airbus A320. Joanne and I the only ones wearing masks. <sigh> Landed on Faial Island at 10 AM (time zone change).

By the time we got out of airport terminal, all taxis gone. City is small, not that many taxis. When this early morning, large aircraft flight arrives from Lisbon, each airport taxi must hustle, making multiple trips from airport to town, then quickly back to airport for more customers.

One of our two suitcases significantly damaged on flights from Winnipeg to Toronto to Terceira Island in November. Second suitcase severely damaged today. <sigh> Guess that happens when baggage handlers must work quickly in the dark, in the rain, to get luggage from one flight to another in a short period of time <sigh> Good thing both suitcases bought for a few bucks each in Steinbach thrift stores. HA HA HA !

Guesthouse “suite” is adequate. Bit of a dump. Like on Terceira Island, guesthouse building is probably about 300 to 500 years old. Hard to keep a building that old in prime condition, I suppose. Got checked in and shown features (and peculiarities) of suite by “landlady” who doesn’t speak English. Bit of a problem, that !

After we got settled in and familiarized we went for a late lunch to a nearby restaurant. Very good ! ! ! Returned to our suite, both battling extreme fatigue due to lack of sleep. Before completely stalling out we decided to walk to Continente supermarket and buy groceries. As before when arriving in a new place for a month, our first grocery store purchase was … huge. Two full, heavy shopping bags of groceries, plus large jug of water, to carry a considerable distance home to suite.

I took a long, hot, late afternoon shower. Joanne mindlessly doomscrolled on Twitter before finally building up the energy to go make a light supper for us.

WE’RE NOT “MORNING PEOPLE” !

Thursday ; Sunny, cool, very windy. HMPH ! Was forecast to be sunny and warm !

On our early walk we explored our new neighbourhood, particularly the waterfront area. We are in the old, historic neighbourhood of Porto Pim, the original “port” of Porto Pim Bay. After wandering around “above” the bay, we went down to the beach and wandered along the beach beneath the volcanic cliffs. Quite spectacular scenery. When we became hungry and decided it was time to return to our suite and have lunch, Joanne wanted to stop at the bakery near our guesthouse and buy some fresh buns for making sandwiches. We selected an astoundingly good small loaf / large baguette of crusty bread. Seventy-seven Euro cents ! <blink blink> About CA$1.12 !

Late in the afternoon we wandered around the neighbourhood some more, then over to the Continente supermarket for more grocery shopping.. SHEESH ! We spent over a hundred Euros on groceries in two days ! While Joanne put away the groceries I made supper. Easy task ; two frozen dinners, bacalhau à brás (cod with “shoestring” potatoes) for Joanne, lasanha atum (tuna lasagna) for me.

Friday ; Mostly cloudy, mild, a bit windy near the waterfront.

Our early walk was long, and very productive. We walked a long distance north along the waterfront, into “downtown”. And accomplished a lot, mostly by serendipity. First we stumbled upon a jewellery store and went inside to see if they could replace the dead battery in Joanne’s watch. They could. Three Euros. SOLD ! Then we stumbled upon an optician shop. Could they replace the missing little screw in my eyeglasses ? YES ! After the optician finished replacing the missing screw, spending most of her time trying to remove the thread stitching that I used as a MacGuyver repair, I thanked her as I pulled out my wallet, and asked “how much” ? NO CHARGE ? ! ? WOW ! ! ! Muito obrigado, Senhora Gaspar. What a generous, pleasant surprise.

A few doors down was a farmacia. With “real” pharmacists. Unlike the retail sales clerks at the “farmacia” in the Continente supermarket. With assistance from an English speaking young male pharmacist I was able to purchase Portuguese versions of a couple of my regular OTC medications that I am soon going to run out of. Finally we came upon a “Chinese store” the Portuguese version of a North American “dollar store”. For reasons unknown to us, these “Chinese stores” are always owned by Asians. Go figure ! We were able to purchase some needed supplies that have so far eluded us ; duct tape to repair suitcase damage, a ballpoint pen, a rubber tipped stylus for the i-Phone, etc. Had I not just had my eyeglasses repaired I would have looked for and probably found an eyeglass repair kit.

I was tired and hungry by then. A few more doors down we came to the restaurant we had been heading to. CLOSED ! “For the holidays” ! WTF is that supposed to mean ? Christmas, New Year’s, and the rest of the winter ? ! ? We trudged back home, by this point a considerable distance, and had a late lunch at home. In the middle of our lunch the landlady showed up with some tradesmen, to have our living room TV jack repaired / replaced. They were in our suite from 2 PM until 5 PM, while we “hid” in our bedroom, door closed. After they left, our living room reeked of cigarette smoke odour, emanating off one of the workmen. YUCK !

On our late walk at 6 PM we walked back to the commercial waterfront area, and along the fishing dock, looking for a fishmonger business. Everything was closed for the day, and we could not tell what was inside the 200+ year old large waterfront buildings what kinds of businesses were inside. We’ll probably try again tomorrow. We gave up looking when it began to rain, and dusk set in. We were soaking wet and cold by the time we got back to our guesthouse. YUCK again !

Saturday ; Sunny and warm, very little wind (for a change). A really nice spring day in the Azores.

Our early walk was very long, even further than what I normally term “a long walk”. We eventually made it to the mercado (municipal “farmers” market) on the north end of town (our guesthouse is in the far south end, the Porto Pim neighbourhood). Joanne bought some fresh (but overpriced) produce while I bought some fresh Oyster mushrooms, necessitating a replanning of tonight’s dinner, and a stop at a small grocery store on the way home.

While I went into our suite to begin preparing lunch Joanne went to our local bakery to buy some fresh buns for today’s lunch. She wants to buy fresh buns every day, because the local bakery is very close, and very good. She came home with a cinnamon bun, which we haven’t eaten yet, and two exceptionally good brioche buns.

Our late walk was slow, and only about a kilometer from our guesthouse. We were tired. When we returned to our suite we did our stretching exercises, which we haven’t done for the last few days. TSK TSK.

DSK

February 5 to 11, 2023 ; Cabanas de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal

 Sunday ; Sunny and warm.

I did not realize until Monday (tomorrow) evening that … I forgot to write a journal entry for today. DUH … brain fart !

Long morning walk, late afternoon pool session. Posted blog entry. Guess it was an uneventful day. Either that or … my short term memory has gone to shit ! HA HA HA !

Monday ; Sunny and warm. Nice day for a picnic on the beach.

This morning Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we set off around 11:30 AM to catch the resort’s water taxi over to the barrier island. We walked across the barrier island to the ocean, then went for a long walk east along the beach for … I don’t know … a couple of kilometres, I guess. We sat on the beach for awhile, me reading, Joanne doing sudokus, until we were hungry, around 1 PM.

Yesterday, on impulse, Joanne bought a bottle of Sangria. Today we drank Sangria with our picnic sandwiches. Nice picnic, thank you, my dear. We spent most of the afternoon lounging around on the beach, until the weather began to cool. We walked back to the path across the barrier island, caught the water taxi back to the resort, and were back in our room around 5 PM.

We needed a jug of water, and some groceries, so instead of going to the pool, we walked across town to the Spar for grocery replenishment, then after returning to our room we did our stretching exercise routines.

Tuesday ; Mix of sun and ugly storm clouds.

On our early walk we went to the butcher shop and bought some fresh meats, then to Spar for other groceries. With one week left to go at this resort Joanne now has to carefully plan our meals / food consumption so that we don’t end up having to discard or leave food behind in our suite when we leave.

Late in the afternoon we went to the pool and did an aquatics exercise session. Most of the families with (many badly behaved) children have left, only pre-schoolers here now.

This afternoon an “inspector” showed up to do an (annual ?) assessment of what maintenance this suite requires. He spent about thirty seconds looking around, then declared “OK … bathroom needs repainting”. WAIT, WAIT … let ME show you what maintenance this suite requires. As I showed him each item that needs maintenance attention, he would say “OH”, write it down, and look more and more sheepish.

HA HA HA HA HA ! <wiping tears of laughter> 10 PM. Just received a telephone call from a woman in BC’s Okanagan. She was referred to me by a trailer storage yard in Okanagan Falls. She wants to hire me to move a trailer. Sorry, ma’am. I don’t live in BC anymore. AND … I’m currently in Portugal. But … thanks for the opportunity ! <ROFLMAO>

Wednesday ; Heavy rain overnight and this morning. Thunder, lightening, electrical outage this morning. Intermittent light rain in the afternoon.

Weather made us feel somewhat lazy and lethargic today. Did indoor walking through resort buildings this morning for exercise. Afternoon outdoor walk was cut short by resumption of light rain.

Retrieved and reconciled January investment statements. Reviewed and made decisions regarding “home” phone service providers. Almost finished reading lengthy, weird novel found a few weeks ago in this resort’s library.

Thursday ; Sunny and mild, a bit windy.

Long morning walk, with a stop at Spar for some groceries. Pool exercise session late in the afternoon. Had the pool and hot tub to ourselves. What a treat ! Retrieved, reconciled, and paid our Visa credit card statement. Reconciliation is a tedious job. Purchases made in Euros, converted by Visa to Canadian dollars, every transaction converted at the currency exchange rate applicable when the charge is made.

Friday ; Sunny and mild, a bit windy AGAIN.

On our early walk we passed by a restaurant that we were planning to go to tonight, and another that we had been to a few weeks ago. The one that we were planning to go to tonight was because it was the only local restaurant that we had found that offered cataplana for one. Cataplana is an Algarve region specialty dish, and one that I am eager to try. Cataplana is the name of the unique cooking vessel the stew type meal is slow cooked in, and the name of the meal cooked within. Most of the time cataplana is all seafoods, which is why Joanne doesn’t want it, and almost all restaurants prepare it as a dish for two people. Also, most restaurants require twenty-four hours advance notice to prepare a cataplana dish. That particular restaurant does not. So … hence our decision to eat there tonight. Available as a dish for one. No advance notice required.

However … when we passed by the other restaurant we noticed new signage advertising “various cataplana” available. Most cataplana are a “seafood stew”, mostly shellfish, perhaps with a few prawns. The traditional “second choice” is seafood with pork. Not for me, obviously (due to ulcerative colitis). As we were standing outside the second restaurant, contemplating “various cataplana”, one of the two elderly sisters that own and operate the restaurant came outside to answer questions if we had any. Yes, yes … what “various” cataplana are available here ? Well … seafood, obviously. Pork, obviously. Also … fish, octopus, chicken … BINGO !

Cataplana available for two only, not available for one. Twenty-four hours notice required. No problem. Seafood and chicken cataplana for two, tomorrow evening, please ! DONE !

Late in the afternoon we decided to check out the pool. We avoid the pool on Fridays and Saturdays, due to high usage by “weekenders”. But maybe the pool would be preferable to a walk this afternoon, due to chilly winds. I walked into the pool entry area, and peeked through the glass wall behind the front desk to see how many people were in the pool. Not too many, but the hot tub was very crowded. The female front desk clerk surmised that I was checking how busy the pool was and commented …

“Yes, yes … many people. <SNORT> From Spain !”

HA HA HA … every country has its “undesirable neighbour”. HA HA HA HA HA !

Saturday ; Overcast, chilly, windy.

Early walk, including groceries at Spar. When we left our room for twenty minutes to allow the cleaners to do their jobs, I went outside to interact with the “resort cats”. “Blackie” (how original !) was particularly affectionate today. Around 6 PM, as we were doing our daily stretching exercises, a fire alarm was set off in our wing of the resort. As we got ready to leave our suite, and peeked out into the hallway, as did all the other neighbours, there was a strong odour of burned food. <sniff sniff> Uh-oh … somebody’s supper was burned ! Before we even got out of the room the alarm turned off.

At 7:15 PM we left our room to walk over to Restaurante Finalmente for our seafood and chicken cataplana dinner.

(9 PM) WOW ! ! ! That was superb ! Well … at least I thought so. Joanne … not so much. She is not a fan of most seafoods, but … to her credit, she was willing to try the cataplana variety of small shellfish / razor clams.

The cataplana dish was chunks of chicken, large prawns, at least five types of small shellfish / razor clams, and vegetables in a tomato based broth, stewed for a long period of time in a clamshell shaped, stainless steel, steam cooker / sort of pressure cooker called … a cataplana.

At the beginning of the meal we chatted with the four Canadians finishing their meal at the next table over. I recognized their accents as Canadian, and asked loudly “is that Canadian accents I hear ?” The old Newfie didn’t hear me well and responded … “EH ?” HA HA HA HA HA !

DSK

January 29 to February 4, 2023 ; Cabanas de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal

 Sunday ; Sunny and mild. This morning’s early walk was just meandering around town for the better part of an hour, then a brief stop at Spar to buy a few grocery items before heading home to our resort to have lunch. Just before arriving back at our resort Joanne stumbled and fell. <sigh> Every winter … at least once ! This year … fortunately … she did not get injured (as much as she usually does !). She was behind me, fell against me, and then onto the lawn beside the sidewalk. Grass stains on the knees of her pants, a slightly bruised hip.

We went to the swimming pool for an exercise session late in the afternoon, hoping that the “weekenders” would be gone and the pool wouldn’t be too crowded. It wasn’t crowded, but … ! There was an elderly German woman in the pool, with wet long hair, uncovered by a bathing cap, which is a requirement of this resort for EVERYONE using the pool, maybe that’s a Portuguese federal regulation. As we have learned living in Steinbach, Manitoba, people of German descent can NOT be told what to do by their government … or any other authority. There was a thirty something mother with two girls, one about eight or nine years of age, the other a few years older, on the cusp of puberty, as evidenced by her body. Both girls wore bathing suit bottoms, but were topless. It seemed to Joanne and I both, that by the time a young girl is developing a narrow waist, and wider hips, and budding breasts, that it is time to wear a bathing suit top in the swimming pool … n’est-ce pas ? ! ?

After our exercises, we each went to our gender specific change room. In the men’s room, I opened the door to the steam room. There was a man inside … coughing ! I closed the steam room door and opened the sauna room door. There was a man inside … coughing. I closed the door and went to take a warm shower. There was a man in the shower room … coughing ! <sigh> I walked over to the change room to get dressed. There was a man there getting dressed … and coughing ! ! ! ! ! FFS !

And you wonder why we continue to wear our masks … EVERYWHERE we go ? ! ? Including in the swimming pool !

I wonder how long covid or common cold germs can survive in the steam room ? Or sauna room ? Or humid shower room ? Or humid change room ? Or swimming pool ?

I concocted a variation of chicken pot pie for supper tonight, using puff pastry dough I bought at Continente a couple of days ago. It was pretty darn good.

Late in the evening we had a Zoom video call with Joanne’s sister in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Monday ; Sunny and mild.

As I was cleaning my eyeglasses this morning, one of the teensy little screws in the frame popped out, and the left lens fell out. Joanne and I searched for a long time, but were unable to find the missing teensy screw. F*** ! ! ! I did not pack an eyeglass repair kit (with teensy screwdriver and teensy screws … I have two of those kits at home !), but fortunately did pack a spare pair of eyeglasses to bring on this trip. So … I have a functional pair of eyeglasses, but no longer have a spare pair, so … better not be any more eyeglass “incidents” on this trip.

I asked at the front desk where can I find an optical shop ? Well … not in this small resort village. The nearest optical shop is in the large shopping mall we were at a few days ago in the nearby city of Tavira. I don’t really want to go back into the city again, so I am not going to do anything until our next destination in a few weeks.

This morning we walked along the waterfront boardwalk in town, then meandered around through town, for about an hour. Sat on a bench in a park for awhile, enjoying the nice weather, contemplating the meaning of life, searching for the holy grail. HA HA HA !

Neither of us wanted to go to the swimming pool late this afternoon so we went on another long walk instead. Around the resort grounds, along the estuary / river waterfront until we reached town, then around town for about half an hour until we began to feel cold.

In the evening I worked on finalizing our plans for a trip to the Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario and Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario in June.

Tuesday ; Sunny and mild.

This morning I broke my comb … using it as a “crowbar” … sort of. On our early walk around noon we wandered around town trying to find somewhere to buy a comb and a couple of AAA batteries. We found batteries at Spar, the small supermarket in town. We were unable to find a comb. We are puzzled by the lack of “dollar” stores and Wal-Mart type general merchandise stores in Portugal. Where do Portuguese people buy combs ? And batteries ? And eyeglass repair kits ?

This afternoon, with Joanne’s assistance I “MacGyver’d” an eyeglass repair using a needle and thread to substitute for the missing teensy screw, so I now have a (tenuously) functional spare pair of eyeglasses.

Today was the final day of “early bird” pricing on tickets for the Shakespeare Theatre Festival in Stratford, Ontario and the (George Bernard) Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario. So … I bought tickets to two plays at each theatre in June. The purchase process did not go well and took much longer than I had expected, but … “all’s well that ends well”. (With thanks to the bard.) HA HA HA !

Late this afternoon we went to the swimming pool for an exercise session. As we walked out of the resort building’s glass doors the “resort cat” we have named Scrunty rushed in … with me in hot pursuit … and quickly strutted across the lobby loudly “advising” the front desk staff that the cat food dish outside the door was empty. As I caught up to the cat and bent over to pick it up, the front desk staff waved wildly and spoke loudly in Portuguese, looking panicked. One of the staff mimed a cat scratching. Yeah … no … I don’t think so ! I picked Scrunty up and began heading back to the door. Scrunty growl-moaned a warning at me and extended his/her claws. Yeah … no … I don’t think so ! Knock it off, ya little asshole ! ! !

Wednesday ; Sunny and mild.

I woke up early this morning and was unable to fall asleep again. So … I finally got up and made a special breakfast while waiting for Joanne to wake up. I baked brie and multi-fruit jam in puff pastry. WOW … excellent !

On our early walk today Joanne suggested we stop at the street cat thrift store and look for a comb for me. I couldn’t imagine why a thrift store would have a comb, but … she is convinced that one can buy anything or everything at thrift stores. <shrug> HMPH … she was right ! (As usual !) She found a wooden comb. Looks expensive. Why would a comb be made of wood ? I picked up an English language paperback book priced at €1, plus the wooden comb and a tea ball. The store clerk charged me half a Euro (about seventy-three cents Canadian) for the comb and tea ball. OK … seemed more than reasonable.

We went to the swimming pool late in the afternoon for an exercise session. It was unpleasant for me. The pool was way too cool for me. And crowded, again, as it has been since the weekend. With three generation family groups. Is this a “school winter break week” in Europe ? I couldn’t even enjoy the steam room or sauna. I am not comfortable sharing the confined space of the small sauna and small steam room with unmasked people. Joanne and I wear our masks everywhere, all the time. And are in an extremely small minority here in Portugal. Or anywhere else, for that matter. I think we will avoid the pool until Sunday late afternoon.

I cooked an excellent omelette for supper ; diced potato, sliced leek, diced cherry tomatoes, diced turkey ham, shredded mozzarella cheese.

Thursday ; Sunny and warm. Two long walks today in very nice weather.

On our early walk we went to the mercado and bought fresh fish. And vegetables and fruit. I bought a tuna steak for myself, and a salmon fillet for Joanne, for tonight’s supper. The fishmonger sliced a tuna steak for me off of a large, fresh chunk of tuna. Recognizing that this is the third consecutive week that I buy fresh fish from her, today she “pitched” her sashimi grade tuna for me to buy next week. She explained that the (Atlantic) salmon comes from colder waters off the west coast of Portugal, as opposed to the warmer waters here on the south / Algarve coast. She was surprised to learn from me that Canadians are quite familiar with salmon, and she did not know that there is a difference between Atlantic salmon and Pacific salmon(s).

Joanne prepared cole slaw and Bok Choy fried rice for supper, I cooked the fish. On our afternoon walk I reached as high as I could into a lemon tree overhanging a sidewalk, and helped myself to a large lemon to use in tonight’s supper preparation. I hope that’s not a crime here in Portugal. As it was in Arizona ! HA HA HA !

Friday ; Sunny and warm AGAIN. Two long walks today in very nice weather AGAIN.

On our second walk we walked all the way to the train station in the nearby town of Conceição, where we arrived by train from Praia da Rocha a bit more than two weeks ago. It was about 3 km. in each direction. Joanne thought that was too far to walk. I persuaded her that it could and should be done. She reluctantly agreed. It was a nice walk in nice weather. We got to see quite a bit of the town of Conceição. I’m glad we did it.

Shortly after lunch the cleaning staff showed up to clean our room. We went downstairs and read in the lobby for about twenty minutes, then returned to our room. Inexplicably, the hinge on our entry door was broken. I went back to the front desk and requested that maintenance come to fix it, which they did promptly. While the maintenance staff were here I asked them to also fix the bathroom door which scrapes heavily on the floor when being opened or closed. They also fixed that promptly. This resort is in need of a bit of TLC. It seems as if things only get maintenance attention when guests ask for it.

In the 2 ½ weeks that we have been here we have needed maintenance attention for ;

• TV remote control

• range hood light bulbs

• range hood fan (not functioning AGAIN as of this morning)

• shower curtain

• shower hose

• entry door hinges

• bathroom door hinges

Saturday ; Sunny and warm.

I baked brie (and tropical fruit jam) en croute AGAIN as a breakfast treat. MMMMM !

Again, due to very nice weather, our two walks today were longer than usual. With stretching exercises following our late afternoon walk.

This afternoon I worked on some planning and confirming travel and accommodation details for our next destination, back in the Azores. And did some planning of road trip details for our June trip to the Shakespeare and Shaw Festival Theatres in SE Ontario.

Watched the CNN live coverage of the shooting down of the “Chinese Spy balloon”. <rolling my eyes> Lots of “world superpower” posturing, by both China and the U.S. !

DSK

P.S. ;  Mary-Lou ;  My reply to your comment is posted below your comment, on Jan. 8 to 14 entry.