FELIZ ANO NOVO!!!!!!

30^th December

So after nearly a week of no internet I played with the F3 function key (internet access) and switch the internet back on!!!!! I have no idea how it was turned off in the first place (you have to hold down two keys simultaneously), but we’re now back on line and this time I’m determined to update the blog more regularly (if only to stop all the messages reminding me that I haven’t updated for a while!).

The pigs are very ‘at home’ in their new space AND if we lose Lili we always know where to find her!

Pam and Mark are having a New Year’s Eve party; so I spent the afternoon cooking for it,– I made three fillings for mini pasties, as we have vegan (spicy root vegetables), vegetarian (caramelised onion & goat’s cheese) and omnivorous (chicken) friends; bloody hell it took forever (and I’ve still got to make them up and cook them) next time I’ll make one big pie for each!

31^st December

Brett moved the chicken fence and house (he can tow it with the truck), so it’s looking nice and tidy out there.

I made up about 70 mini pasties and then had to cook them in five batches (that alone took nearly two hours). Fortunately they went down very well at the party!

New Year’s Eve party was fun; lots to eat and drink, a huge bonfire outside (bit smoky though) to keep us warm, and lots of our friends to socialise with.

1^st January 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

 Another party with no hangover!!!!
We spent a lazy day; walking the dogs and watching films in front of the fire.

2^nd January

Cleaned and tidied the house, now I’m looking forward to taking down the decorations.
Haha, the geese found the 'swimming pool'!!!!

3^rd January

Brett made a clothes airer for over the stove (this is the 3^rd and hopefully final one – the other two were temporary, rustic ones, while the house was still shedlike). And then I started to decorate it! But I don’t think I like it very much yet; the ends have been painted black, as a base coat, so I painted on white daisies and to me it looks like a chalk drawing on a blackboard?

So now I’m trying to think of something else.

I made cakes (chocolate fridge cake and drop scones) as Pam, Mark and family came for afternoon tea (really they came to see the pigs!).

4^th January

Brett started pruning the olive trees; he’s being quite brutal as they are so big that we can’t easily pick the olives AND we’ll have firewood for a good few years.

I played with my Christmas present from P&M a tool for doing pyrography (burning patterns into wood), I decorated a box. I think I’ll be able to use it to cut out stencils neatly if I can get hold of acetate sheets.

I’m not looking forward to this coming week as Brett is working for Anika (8 – 4).

5^th January

The last week or so has been bright, warm and sunny (so lots of solar) through the daytime, but cold overnight, thick ice on the animal water every morning; we can’t use the water pump until mid-morning (Vince burnt his out using it when it was frozen), and, of course, I keep forgetting to fill up with water the night before!

I spent the day cooking and cleaning as Nicky & Rich came to dinner. They brought their dogs so that they could stay overnight; of course Lili was frightened and used that as an excuse to keep climbing on my lap!

6^th January

Brett got up really quietly (to go to work), so as not to disturb our guests, and found Nicky asleep on the floor on front of the stove – one of her dogs had a panic attack in the night so she came down to keep him company.

Mr Louis arranged for us to have a delivery of straw today; the plan was that he would come with the guy sometime this afternoon (Brett had previously told him where we wanted the straw stored). So the dogs start barking at 11.30 and there’s a tractor turning round outside the house and driving back up the track. I have to rush out after it; I catch up with it by the other buildings, no sign of the driver or Mr Louis! When I finally find the driver he says he went to Mr Louis’s son’s house but Mr Louis wasn’t there. So me and him have to unload the straw; all the time he’s talking to me very fast in Portuguese, I’m sure he’s saying something about him cutting our olive trees (pruning?), I didn’t understand. Then there are only nineteen bales not twenty – I’m trying to tell him this as Mr Louis turns up to say there’s a bale halfway down the track... Oh dear I wish Brett had been here, my Portuguese is rubbish, but the shed now has a stack of twenty bales in it, so that’s good.

I was going to continue decorating the clothes airer, but I wasn’t inspired (I think I’m going to have to change the base coat to green), so I made another sign for our house (a bit like Pam’s Christmas present).

A really weird mist crept in this afternoon, it looked completely alien; it was thick, low and heavy, swirling under the trees as it spread its way over the land towards the house – very creepy!

7^th January N/I (and yes, I have tried the F3 + Fn keys!)

I painted the ends of the airer green, using China shop paint; I was sensible, I did it outside, but almost immediately I got a headache and started feeling woozy, what the hell do they use as a solvent? It’s acrylic paint, children are supposed to be able to use it! I’ve been practising ‘canal boat painting’ all day; I’m still not inspired though.