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
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