a mistake and unexpected rain

Saturday morning I watered the little backyard and the garden over at the shop. It had been a few days since I had watered the corn so I wanted to get it done before I left to get the mattress. I hadn't checked the weather in days since there was no hint of rain. Well, last Wednesday it rained just not on us. I could see it in the distance, the rain and lightning, coming back from yoga, I could hear the thunder once I reached home. So close yet so far. It hasn't rained in weeks, maybe not since I've been home. And so I took off Saturday morning, or rather late morning since I don't do anything early unless it's really important, like making a flight, with no idea that it would rain yesterday.

Made it to the futon store and selected and bought a mattress in record time and then headed for my daughter's house to meet up with the twins whose 20th birthday was Friday 

before they went back to their respective colleges and Robin who leaves for her trip to Israel in a few days thinking 'I hope she gave me the right mattress' ignoring the phone call on my cell that was an unrecognized number. Surprisingly I encountered rain as I neared home, looking nervously in the rear view mirror, that mattress is encased in plastic, right?

So nice to see rain and as I got closer and closer to home I realized that it was raining at home or had been but wasn't when I pulled into the driveway and so we muscled the mattress into the house. Hours later I noticed that there was a message on my phone which turned out to be from the futon store and please call her back right away as it was important. Drat, I thought, she gave me the wrong mattress which, as it turned out when I returned her call, she had. Told me that she would just let me keep it (a more expensive one than the one I bought) but it was the only one she had and already sold and the customer was coming to pick it up on Wednesday. So I expect she is driving out here today to bring me mine and pick up the other. So glad that's not me making the drive. So glad I hadn't unpackaged the mattress yet.

And so glad it had rained at home and then rained again after I got home. Now I have one more thing to add to my list of things I'm grateful for at yoga that I recite when Abby ends the session with a Jesus prayer. Something I would rather she didn't but she's the only game in town and I like Abby.

And Rocky showed up yesterday morning ready to work on setting the tile for the shower but he could only work until it started to rain as the adhesive he used didn't work that great in high humidity. Still, progress made and he's back today to continue.

cooking and sweating, not necessarily in that order

The Zucchini Bolognese which required simmering the zucchini and onions for 4 HOURS! and consists of zucchini, onion, bouillon, a squirt of lemon juice, and parmesan cheese added just before serving over rotini was good, actually, pretty good, despite the way it looked which was not all that good. And I got rid of all the zucchini for a brief moment. At least one ready to pick and two more tomorrow. Now I'm just down to tomatoes. Got half the bolognese in the freezer, all the corn put in the freezer and more crushed tomatoes. Still have more tomatoes on the window sill and more to pick this evening to determine which will be eaten, which will become sauce, which will become crushed. I've pretty much beaten back the stink bugs and leaf footed bugs but they've already been at nearly every tomato. Still some small green ones but it's so hot they may not get much bigger, just ripen. We'll see.

And jesus fucking christ it's hot out there. Just came in from cutting down all the small trees around the well over at the shop and squirting stump killer on the stumps and while I mostly worked in the shade, those last few were in the blazing sun and when I came in my hair was dripping wet and my underpants were soaked through as was the corresponding area on my shorts. We still have a well over at the shop though the shop is hooked up to city water and about two years ago the liner in the tank gave way and so the pump is turned off but I would like to get it all repaired and use the well water to water the garden. Likely it will have to be tested before I can use the water. Everyone with wells had to get them tested for nasty stuff after the flood.

after. no before pic as usual but the tank was surrounded by small trees a few of which were taller than the tank.

More progress on the little bathroom. Tile on the floor of the shower has been set and grouted, tile on the floor of the closet, hall, and bathroom except for the center rectangle has been set and grouted. Might get the rectangle with the narrow blue border and the center hex tiles set today, might not. Rocky has another funeral to attend today. Two family members were buried this week, Monday his cousin and today his uncle.

    

Tomorrow I have to drive in to Houston to the futon store to get a new mattress for the futon frame as I have a guest arriving Saturday week and it would be nice to have a bed for her to sleep on. I could order one on-line but mattresses (and shoes) are one of the things I won't buy unless I can test it out first. I have no idea how far along the little bathroom will be, if the toilet at least will be installed, but we do have another fully functioning bathroom.

Have I mentioned how hot it is? The only thing with energy enough to bloom are the common double orange day lilies (and they're almost done) and the plumerias. Oh and the little bougainvillea. I need to find a permanent place in the ground for it, someplace where it can grow unobstructed.

post vacation chores

Well, that was exhausting. And time consuming. What I've done since is try and use up the bounty from the garden. I'm a slow cook so it has taken me three days to make a peach pie, enough eggplant parmesan to feed us two nights and put enough in the freezer for two nights, a quart and a pint of tomato sauce, and 24 oz of crushed tomatoes I used for enough eggplant bolognese for tonight and more. Also I blanched 9 ears of corn but didn't get the kernels cut off and packaged for the freezer yet. Not my corn but from the corn guy at the market. Insurance in case mine does zilch. Today zucchini is on the menu. This recipe has the zucchini slow cooking for 4 hours!

I've been conducting a pitched battle with the stink bugs since my return. They are greatly diminished but many of the fruit had already been injected. Marc was great on watering but not so great bug maintenance. One of the reasons anything to do with tomatoes has taken a lot of time (and everything to do with eggplant and zucchini seems to involve tomatoes) is cutting out the stink bug damage which in some cases was the whole fruit. Not to mention the 15 or so of fruit affected by blossom end rot which I tossed into the yard at large before I read that the rest of the fruit was fine, just cut the damage off. Oh well. Not nearly the harvest that we had last year which was so bountiful it was ridiculous. But then we lost most of what I froze for future use during the flood. The zucchini, on the other hand, is doing the best it's ever done.

Minnie lays in the shade of the corn while I'm weeding and watering and stuff

Emma, in her passive aggressive way, has decided that Minnie's bed is just right for a nap

The yard needs so much attention since I was gone for 3 weeks but have I mentioned how hot it is here? Hot. Brutal. August hot. And it hasn't rained for weeks. We had a long mild spring which gave us hope that summer would start slow. Wrong. About a week after I left temps jumped up in the 90s and have stayed there pretty much since, the heat index even creeping into triple digits. Early morning and late evening is tolerable.

Rocky is back on the job. He got all the tile cut for the bathroom, hall, and closet floors and the floor of the shower and started to set the tile.

we decided after laying it out that it needed two rows of blue

azulejos, the Portuguese tiles

I've noted in past posts and shown a few pictures of the tile work in Portugal and so I quickly became particularly attracted to them on the houses and shops early on taking more than a few pictures not only of the tiles in situ but close-ups of the tiles themselves. I've created a Pinterest gallery of most, if not all, the pictures I took and you can see them all here-tiles or here-tiled buildings but here are a few examples... 

and some of my favorites...

Hard to pick just a few.

So, Friday, Denise and I walked to the National Tile Museum Museu Nacional do Azulejo which is housed in a former convent founded in 1509 and chronicles the culture, history, and art of tile making in Portugal from the 15^th century to modern times. The azulejos (link to a brief history) are a big part of Portugal's national identity and they are still being used and designed by contemporary artists in urban development.

Hard to pick just a few.

the convent chapel

The museum is also working to categorize all the boxes and boxes and boxes of tiles in storage and actively restores tiles and tile sets.

Looking through the glass walls at the work areas...

I've saved this post for last because of all that I saw and experienced in Portugal, I think the tile will be the thing that will impact my work, maybe the way I approach my work. Anyway, I have a few ideas that I want to pursue if Rocky ever gets done. He has shown up this week, work a half day but he was trying to finish up what he was working on. Hopefully I'll have his full attention Monday.

previous:

I'm back, y'all

we all arrive and the Villa

the first few days

the next few days

rural Portugal and the worst tours company

a market, a castle, and vineyards

our last days in the countryside and our relocation to Lisbon

Lisbon

Sintra and other points of interest

Sintra and other points of interest

Sintra is a town and a region in the hills in the greater metropolis of Lisbon. We arranged for a guided tour so on Saturday our guide picked us up about 8:30 for the drive to Sintra and our first stop at what he called the most beautiful castle in Portugal, the Palace of Pena, at the top of the tallest hill on a twisty road through a beautiful forest. And he was right. It is gorgeous. Built around a monastery dating from 1511 and abandoned in 1834, King Ferdinand refurbished the monastery for a holiday retreat and then added a new wing in the mid 1800s. At the same time, he ordered the empty hillsides to be planted with trees from all over the world and with gardens and winding paths. The hill is now forested with over 500 different trees. Link for more info. The palace reflects influences from the Moors, the Templars, and German romanticism. The red section is the old palace built from the monastery and the yellow and tiled section is the new palace.

the Neptune gate

some of the elaborate detail is carved stone

some is carved wood

some is trompe l'oeil

a niche tiled with sea shells, a space for monks to meditate in solitude

view from an upper terrace

After touring the castle our guide gave us an hour to wander the town 

Portuguese pottery, I regret now not bringing back at least a small plate

before we headed to the beach for a really nice lunch at a family run hotel and then off to the western most point of Europe.

We returned to Lisbon driving along the shore and passed under the aqueduct started in 1731 and though still unfinished began bringing water to Lisbon in 1745. In 1755, a devastating earthquake struck Lisbon destroying the city but not one stone was lost from the aqueduct. Modern engineers still claim the aqueduct over the Alcantara Valley couldn't have been built, especially the largest pointed arch, but there it stands.

image via Wikipedia

The last point of interest our guide showed us before dropping us back at the apartment was the last remaining section of the defensive wall built by the Moors when they occupied the southern part of Portugal in the 8^th century, finally being defeated by King Alfonso in the mid 12^th century.

last: azulejo, the Portuguese tiles

previous:

I'm back, y'all

we all arrive and the Villa

the first few days

the next few days

rural Portugal and the worst tours company

a market, a castle, and vineyards

our last days in the countryside and our relocation to Lisbon

Lisbon