Update on Silves and motor homes

 

This was how one part of the car park around the municipal swimming pool in Silves looked in February. 

At the time I wondered if Silves had become motor home friendly. It obviously had because the whole car park had more motor homes than cars until very recently. 

 

Today this area was almost deserted, as you can see above. I wonder where they have all gone and if they enjoyed their stay.

On the other side of the swimming pool, however, many "temporary residents" still remain. 

Will Silves welcome them again next winter?

Related post: Has Silves become motor home friendly?

'The Cattle Egret Convention' (not white storks)

This is embarrassing! One reader of this blog, Fernanda, who saw this post today (16th May) has kindly sent in a comment that effectively convinced me that I don't know my birds. So here I am updating this post because I don't want to continue to sound like an idiot or confuse my readers:

As I was travelling south after my short Easter break I decided to leave the A2 motorway at Alcácer do Sal. I did that to avoid tolls on part of the way home and because Alcácer is a pretty town and I wanted to do some sightseeing.

It was worth it even though the town has road works in progress and the road between it and Grândola (IC1) is in dire need of resurfacing. Thankfully, the road between Grândola and the Algarve (still the IC1) is almost as good as the A2 motorway.

Anyway, I digress. This is supposed to be about the Young White Stork Cattle Egret Convention! 

It wasn't announced in any of the papers but it took place in a pine forest just south of Alcácer. The first sign of it was a group of small white storks birds on the ground under the pine trees, so I stopped and took the top photo. As I was doing that I noticed the noise. It was a very noisy event, as conventions usually are. No wonder, the tree-tops were covered in many more small white storks cattle egrets and they were all very vocal!

It seemed to me the convention was all about demonstrating the best flying techniques and proving how cute white storks cattle egrets can be, as there was a lot of movement between the ground and the tree-tops. It made me quite dizzy trying to capture the action on film, so to speak.

Of course if I had remembered how to work the camera to make a short video, it would be easier for you to understand why I found this so fascinating!

(Note to self: find instruction manual and learn about video sequences!)

Related post: Storks and the City

Culture

The theme on Jake's blog for this week's Sunday's post is Culture and I have decided to focus on some Easter traditions in Portugal.

Today's table of goodies (the photo doesn't do them justice)

When we lived in Zimbabwe we went to the local Catholic church on Sundays and as there was a large Portuguese community in our area, Easter Sunday was a magical day. I think it was even more special than Christmas because we opened our house to the Easter visit. The house was spic and span, the best tablecloth, china and glassware were bought out and there were special goodies on the table: a variety of small cakes, sugar almonds, and mom's pão-de-ló (a delicious sponge cake).

Bells announced the arrival of a specially dressed group of parishioners who brought a decorated Cross and Holy Water to bless us. After a short prayer and a sprinkling of Holy Water, each member of the household would kiss the feet of Jesus on the Cross. Then everyone would eat small cakes or pão-de-ló from the table and drink some Port (the kids had soft drinks).

Just one of the groups that covered this town today

Now, in 21st century Portugal, much has changed. There are certainly less practising Catholics than before. The Easter visit does not happen in the Algarve, as far as I know, but it still happens in many parts of the country. 

In my late parent's hometown, my cousins still put foliage and/or flowers outside their gate as usual to signal that they welcome the Easter visit.

Flowers at the gate welcome the Easter visit

For us adults some of the magic has gone as we remember the many family members who are no longer around to share the moment but that magic has been replaced by a better understanding of the symbolism of this tradition. And the goodies are still great!

Why was that cat up the lemon tree?

Cats and dogs just love this garden. The problem is that my dogs can't stand cats.

So yesterday when I heard my four dogs making weird screeching sounds outside, I knew they were hunting "something". I ran out to find them all looking up into the dense branches of the lemon tree.

And there was the neighbour's cat looking very unsteady. Poor kitty!

Well, to cut a long story short, I dispersed the dogs by carrying two into the house and threatening the two stubborn ones with the hosepipe (they don't like getting wet) and locking them up, too. 

Then I went to see if I could convince the cat to leave the premises. It didn't understand my language so I got my camera, took these photos and went for a walk to give it some space. When I got back the cat had gone home.

Thankfully, this episode had a happy ending.

Nature

Today I spent 6 hours travelling 500km north with 4 dogs in the back of the car. 

They can tell when we are about to go off on a long trip. I take so long to pack the car that they get the drift and follow my every move with a worried look that says "Hey, I don't want to be left behind." As if! When I was finally ready to leave, the two bigger ones insisted I help them get into the car, lazy doggies! They put their front paws in the right position but wouldn't jump in so I had to lift their rear end!

"Nature is this week’s photo theme for the “SUNDAY POST” over at Jake’s blog and instead of concentrating on flora, as I tend to do, I was going to take some photos of animals in the Alentejo region but the rain had other plans for me.

One of the many fields near Grândola

The only decent shot I got was the one above. For a few seconds I had a big brown cow staring straight at the camera but the others mooed at her and she turned away before I could press the right button. Don't know what happened but I think these cows have something against paparazzi.

 A few weeks ago before the rain - nature in dry colours

After the rains - nature in green

This photo was taken more than a year ago during one of the Algarve walks around São Marcos da Serra.