Busy, busy, busy

I cannot believe that I haven't had time to post for a whole week!

Wishing you all a great week!

 

Window

Window is Jake's theme for today's Sunday post.

My selection of photos consists mainly of windows from older houses:

South of Porto

Silvalde/Espinho

Praia da Granja, South of Porto

Armacao de Pera, Algarve

Armacao de Pera, Algarve

Castro Marim, Algarve

This is a stained glass window from a church:

Armacao de Pera, Algarve

And this is one of the windows of the train station at Praia da Granja:

Praia de Granja train station

Before I send you off to Jake's blog to look at windows from all over the world, let me tell you that Maluda, who was a famous Portuguese artist (1934-1999), loved painting windows. 

Why don't you visit the Maluda site's archive for "janelas"(windows) category" and click on each "janela" title to see her window paintings.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2013

Welcome to my garden in the Algarve (hardiness zone 10, I think).

A spectacular splash of white!

Spring arrived with a bang and it's been so hot that I really thought that I wouldn't be able to get important things done in time and that some of the plants would suffer in summer temperatures.

I grew this rose from a cutting given by a neighbour!

This fragrant rose bush was bought at the local market

However, with one visit from a gardener and a lot of hard work from me, I think I've got most tasks covered.  I even got my waiting rose bushes into the area-where-grass-use-to-be. I'm a bit unsure about how I grouped them by colour but time will tell (didn't want to move 3 resident bushes).

A couple of weeks' ago I found something interesting by the rubbish bins. I inspected it, found it sturdy, picked it up and took it home. It's where I put the petunias and some accompanying plants to liven up the veranda now that the orchids are down to their last blooms.

Recycled!

Hibiscus

 This month the mock orange has flowered a little, there have been many white, pink, lilac and red roses already, the red hibiscus and the bougainvillea are starting to bloom, but the yellow hibiscus and the oleanders aren't ready to show their colours, yet.

Blooming already

The lemon bush is full of blooms and baby lemons on the back patio.

Waiting patiently for the lemons.

 My next project is to make my back patio a bit more floral. I'll have to do that with succulents as the back patio is a sun trap.

Waiting patiently for the end of the flowers' photo shoot!

Now over to May Dream Gardens to see what's blooming in other parts of the world.

Mother's Day

In Portugal, a Catholic country, Mother's Day used to be celebrated on the 8th of December, when we celebrate Our Lady of Conception. Then someone decided to change it to the first Sunday in May but some countries celebrate Mother's Day today.

My mother loved flowers so I always knew what to get her on her birthday or Mother's Day - another flowering plant for the garden.

Today I am remembering her by sharing photos of some of the plants she enjoyed over the years.

One of the first - a red camellia japonica

Santa Terezinha roses

My mother loved these and she adored her large red roses, but I don't have a photo of them.

It took a while to find this Viburnum opulus 'Sterile' for her, but I finally managed it.

 

I wish she could see how the magnolia liliiflora has grown!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is a Sunday Post, so visit Jake's for more interpretations on the theme.

May Day competition

I now know that the display along the EN 125 was the result of a competition organised by a local football club (Futebol Clube de Bias) but I still don't know which entries won. Today I am posting one of my personal favourites.

Packed and ready... to emigrate!

In the accompanying poem, the student complains of not being able to pay for a university education and reflects on emigration as the only way out.

As much as I love this country, if I was younger, I'd be packing my bags, too!

Attraction

Jake is back this week and has suggested the theme "Attraction".

Living in the Algarve means that you will see just about anything turned into a tourist attraction. Some things lose their charm when that happens, which is why I love to find things that are definitely attractions but haven't lost their spontaneity or authenticity. Those are qualities I discovered in the displays along the EN 125 on the 1st of May.

Satirical view of the Portuguese prime minister and his finance minister

Passers-by were wondering how the "prime minister" kept waving

Portuguese passers-by loved the beheaded "finance minister" and the satirical poems!

I chose to see this at lunchtime, worried about the congestion I might encounter in the afternoon. There were many foreigners already snapping away and many Portuguese, of course. I even had the chance to chat to one of the locals who had put out the display below and came out to see how passers-by were reacting to his work.

This scene was so perfectly set!

So much attention to detail!

That's all for today, but I will be posting more about this, both on here and on my Portuguese blog.

May's straw people

Celebrating the 1st of May with straw people and imagination!

This is just one of the many straw people you could find today along the EN125 road between Marim and Alfandanga (near Olhão). There is a poem, too.

This one is a rant about waiting at the hairdresser's.

Whatever next?!