Botox with a sting

... About 5 hours later I looked in the mirror. There was no pain and the dark circle under my left eye had disappeared. Hmmm... interesting. This looked like I had had a botox jab and someone had forgotten to do both sides of my face. I decided against putting in my contacts and tried my glasses. Great! The lack of symmetry was hardly noticeable.

Five hours before, I had been training my dogs to stay close to my heels and had walked through the garden and under the orange tree. Suddenly, something was crawling over my face! I tried to brush it away, losing my hat in the process. The little beast got behind my glasses and I yelped in pain. Then it was all over and I realised I had been stung on my left eye-lid! I don't think it was a bee because there was no stinger left behind. I got an ice-cube on it and surveyed my face in the mirror. The pain was bad but fortunately I'm not allergic! There was some swelling and then a little numbness but no real harm done. On the plus side, I got to see what botox might do around my eyes.

Not the Tour de France

Police sirens wailing, making our cars pull over, is a VIP going to the beach on a cloudy day?

No, it's a local cycling event! Our very own "tour".

Just time to pull out the camera and take a hurried photo of some of the cyclists.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Signs

There is a little place in the Algarve that is called Purgatório, "Purgatory" in English. If you visit the village of Paderne, you are sure to go through Purgatory!

This is my more-than-a-month-late entry for Cee's Fun Foto Challenge. I hope you like it.

Oh, I've updated Cee's link.

Who took my nest?

or The Last Thing the Algarve Needed!

These could be the thoughts running through this forlorn stork's mind one week after part of Silves' centre was ravaged by a tornado. 

On Friday, 17th November, the Algarve got first-hand experience of that rare weather phenomenon we know is not at all rare in North America - it ripped through Alvor, Carvoeiro, Lagoa and Silves, causing terrible damage. Three people were seriously injured and, having seen the videos and photos, I'm surprised there were no fatalities!

If you have read my posts about motor-home owners spending winter in the park by the river you will remember that area was still full in February. This is how tranquil the full park looked then.

By the end of October many motor-home owners had returned, in time to get the fright of their lives. Winds reaching 260 km/hr picked some of their homes like they were little toys and "played" with them.

Now some have left but many have just moved to the other side of the municipal swimming pool while clean-up is taking place. This is how the same area looks now, one week after the unfortunate event.

One week after the tornado

Over the weekend municipal workers and around a thousand volunteers removed the debris and cleaned up as much as they could. They did a wonderful job! The town looks almost normal.

Parts of the walls of the stadium came down and you can still see a large metal structure all twisted and leaning on the building next door.

The municipal swimming pool lost roof and windows. The Town Hall and many other rooftops lost their tiles.

Abandoned factory rooftop

Huge trees were uprooted.

On the main road near the bridge.

Clean-up at the Al Mouatamid Ibn Abbad Square

And the clean-up continues ...


My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected by the tornado, specially to those who were injured.

It's complicated...

If you were expecting a Sunday post inspired by Jake, you won't find one because Jake's computer has let him down - he must be devastated. Here's hoping things will be back to normal soon, Jake.

Life's complicated...

One minute you are smiling to yourself in the mirror, looking forward to your weekend and the next you are in the middle of a crisis:

I discovered my oldest dog, Mimosa (12.5 years old), had peed and was vomitting violently in the living room. As I opened the sliding doors to let her go outside, I noticed she wobbled and stumbled like a drunk. It was a heart-wrenching sight!

This happened on Friday afternoon. She took to her bed, eyes twitching, lethargic but raising her head now and then to see if I was nearby. By bedtime, she looked slightly better although she wouldn't eat.

Yesterday morning, she had another vomitting spell when she got out of her bed and wandered clumsily outside! I thought she might have had a stroke or eaten something toxic!

She has been diagnosed with Vestibular Syndrome and I have learnt a lot about a disease that I had never heard of before! It seems it is quite common in older dogs.

I am hoping that, like many other dogs I've read about, Mimosa will also recover. I let her sleep with the lights on so she won't get confused when she wakes, something a blogger who has been through this suggested.

This morning I helped her get out of her bed and kept her steady until she was outside. She didn't throw up again, thankfully. She's still wobbly and lethargic but she even tried to run to me when I returned from the café (but she veered dangerously to the left and slowed down).

Her lack of appetite is worrying - she has only eaten very small bites of chicken from my hand since she had her Vestibular Syndrome Event.

Here is a photo of Mimosa looking happy and alert, calmly waiting for me to finish taking photos of my garden for the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post on the 14th of this month.

Mimosa, looking alert and healthy, the way I like her

The good, the bad, and the ugly!

The Good

It seems the state school system has reconsidered and decided to take me off the list of teachers for whom there would be no timetable next year. I should feel very lucky, but somehow I don't, because I was made to apply for a transfer and that application was ignored.

The Bad

It's a pity that I and over ten thousand other teachers had to go through uncertainty and anxiety until the lists were published yesterday. We were all forced to apply for transfers, knowing they were few and far between. July was stressful and August should have been a relaxing holiday but the worry about possible unemployment was always there in the back of our minds.

The Ugly

The state decided that teachers will all work more (have another two periods with students on the timetable) and have more students per class (30 students), I have no idea how it is that they found a timetable for many of us, all of a sudden. For all I know, I could be teaching subjects other than English at several different schools (with no transport allowance).

The new decisions have horrific consequences for teacher unemployment. Over 50 thousand teachers applied for teaching posts - nearly 40 thousand will be visiting the job centres around the country next week. Such is the life of a teacher in Portugal.

Related post: Time Out 

Algarve gems - 2

Nobody guessed where I took the photos for my "Close-up" post - Pigletinportugal thought it was Monchique and Gertygiggles thought it was Alte. While they both qualify in my book as Algarve gems, this one is by the Arade River, near Silves.

View of the Arade River, from the Silves-Estombar road

The water springs from the middle of the rocks and forms a stream

After a bend in the stream, a long natural pool, with the old watermill in the distance

The pool in high tide, as seen from the watermill

The old watermill

View from the other side of the water mill

The house where the miller used to live

Part of the picnic and barbecue area, with a view of the estuary/river

The locals call it "O Sítio das Fontes" (the place of the springs) and my neighbour, not a local there but an authority on all things natural in the general area, didn't know about it, which came as a big surprise to me.

This gem, officially known as "Parque Municipal das Fontes" (Municipal Park of the Springs) or "Fontes de Estômbar" (Estômbar Springs), is a park that surrounds a major spring on the left bank of the Arade River.

It is situated north of the town of Estômbar, not far from Silves.

The park began as a picnic site on the Arade River. Then in 1989 it was formally recognised as an important ecosystem site. The watermill and the miller's house were restored, parking areas were organized properly, an open-air amphitheatre was built and a route for physical exercise was created and sign-posted. 

The day we had a picnic there, it was very hot so I couldn't convince any of my companions to go for a walk along the physical exercise route through the little wood. Maybe next time...

It is definitely worth a visit. 

The GPS coordinates are: 37º 09'42.17''N 08º 29'02.27''W

Related posts:

Algarve gems

Too tired for words...

???

Time Out

Although I would much prefer to be preparing a few more posts and taking photos, I find myself unexpectedly having to deal with the fact that the school where I have taught for a few years will no longer need my services.

So, like another 7 thousand experienced teachers in the same situation all over the country I will be busy applying online for a new position. That and end-of-year paperwork is taking up all of my time and energy right now. 

As soon as I have all that sorted, I' be back to visiting blogs, and blogging myself.

I will be back!

Car boot sales - expect the unexpected!

If there is one thing I have learnt from doing a few car boot sales it's that you should expect the unexpected.

I stand by the shortlist I compiled in my very first blog post but I do have two more items to add: 

• do not forget to take a sunshade in summer to protect you from the Algarve sun;
• do not "take" someone else's spot even if that person is nowhere to be seen and has not made sure we know it is someone's spot because he has not taken anything out of a parked van to show that it is "a taken" spot (if you know what I mean).

If you do decide to stand your ground and stay put in a disputed spot, anything can happen. The disgruntled neighbour may decide that it's OK to spread his goods about and even plant some of his stuff in front of your spot. He may put his music on at full blast in the hope of upsetting you or maybe it is just to make sure the whole village knows he sells old records. 

Anyway, his music wasn't bad, the wind was blowing favourably so the fumes from his generator bothered other sellers but not me and it seems we both made some successful sales.

Car boot sale at Algoz, Algarve, on the first Saturday of June

Customers also behave oddly. I was certainly not expecting a young man to come up to look at my items of cheap custom jewellery and silver earrings. I realised he was a professional when he took out his eye piece and inspected the items thoroughly. It was quite startling when he actually bit one pearl in my imitation pearl earring! After all that, I didn't think he'd just walk off without buying anything! But he did.

I wasn't disappointed for long because a few minutes later a woman came along and promptly bought two pairs of earrings (including the bitten pearl one) without haggling or in-depth inspection. I nearly laughed because she paid immediately and only checked that they were in good working order afterwards.

So, I repeat - expect the unexpected, and you may have some fun!

Table Mountain

I've visited Cape Town on only 2 occasions, to visit my best friend from childhood.

Although I can't say that I have travelled the world, in my opinion it has to be the most beautiful city on earth. Lots of people probably share my opinion. I bet the owners of the house who had this picture of Table Mountain immortalised on "azulejo" and placed on the facade would agree with me.

Table Mountain on "azulejo"

To my surprise, I spotted this on the facade of a town house in Espinho, Portugal.

And here is a photo of that incredible mountain, taken on a cloudy day in 1998, from Bloubergrand (I think). 

Off for a quick swim, or maybe not...

I'm sure you have a favourite city. Tell me about it, won't you?

'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

It never rains, but it pours...

Not looking good for walkies!

The Met Office had been telling us it was going to rain. Don't we all complain about the times they've been wrong?

On Monday afternoon, the sea was looking menacing. Well it's been like this before and then - nothing.

On Tuesday I was taking photos in my sunny garden:

Orange blossom- I wish you could smell it!

Yesterday I walked the dogs and it was overcast - but no rain. 

Then last night it finally rained! Yay! The Algarve sure needs some rain after a very dry winter.

And today? 

First it was grey and overcast, then it was sunny, then it was grey again. I took the dogs and an umbrella for a walk but it didn't rain. 

So I thought: that's all the rain we're going to get. Then I decided to take out the trash - that means wheeling the wheelie bin down the road to the big bin. I picked up the umbrella again, just in case, and off I went. 

I was just beginning my way back to the house when suddenly the heavens opened up. I had to pin myself against a wall, open my umbrella and wait. I couldn't make a run for it. Well, not against the wind and rain and hale and pulling along a wheelie bin!

Oops! It could get worse and it did! 

I discovered I was too near the raging river road and cars were driving by. The only thing between my getting completely drenched by the splashes the cars made was the wheelie bin.

It was all over in less than 5 minutes!

I rushed home to change out of my wet clothes and soggy shoes to be greeted by drenched dogs! 

The silly things hadn't been smart enough to take shelter under the carport! Arrgh!

Storks and the city

As I was parking my car early on Friday morning I heard a flapping sound nearby, looked over the wall of a delapidated factory and found myself staring at about six white storks and their nests, right in the middle of the Silves town centre! 

 The sighting of these birds reminded me fondly of when I was a child growing up in a suburb of Salisbury (now Harare). 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stork

Storks (black storks, I think) were frequent visitors to the grassy plots next to our house, but they disappeared when those plots were built up. 

  

Did you know that in 2000 a stork's nest got tangled in power lines and caused a blackout all over Lisbon and southern Portugal? No? Well I didn't either, I was living in the north of the country then!

 

Now protected and off the endangered list, they continue to make their enormous nests in high places - on the top of electricity pylons and even on chimneys and palm trees in the centre of this Algarve town.

 

How could I have been going into Silves quite often for almost 3 years and have only seen them now?