Cherry Season

Our village, Montes Da Senhora, is famous for being a cherry growing region and this year (with more time on my hands I promised my friends, Filomena and Jose, I would help them with their cherry picking which they sell on to traders. The village has a traditional week-end Festival in the middle of May every year to celebrate the beginning of the season with the usual festivities going off such as the local dancing groups and singers, with games, selling of cherries, arts and crafts, plenty of food and the drinks flowing and ending with an all night DJ dance party for the younger members. Sadly the weekend of the Festa the weather was appalling, cold, windy and during the afternoon of the main festa day we had a thunderstorm!!!! (Why I wonder did that remind me of similar happenings in the UK, particularly at Bank Holidays and Festivals!!!) Unfortunately this year, owing to the more than usual amount of rainfall and lack of sunshine the cherries were not really ready in their normal abundance for the time of year. However, this last week has seen lots of sunshine and therefore the ripening of the cherries is well underway.

This morning I went to the cherry orchard of my friends to help out and got stuck into picking.



Picking the cherries will be ongoing for weeks now until they have finished ripening so all that remains now is to make loads of cherry jam, pies, crumbles, vodka cherry, etc., and watch the waistline expand even further !!!!!!!

Magical May 16th.... The wait is finally over!!!!

As anyone who knows me will tell you fishing is my ultimate passion, and i have been going since being knee high to a grasshopper, coming up 40 years now, and have been eagerly awaiting the opening day of the fishing season here in Portugal.
For the fourteen months we have been here in Portugal i haven't had the opportunity or time to go fishing due to work issues and I also didn't get to bring my fishing tackle over until November of last year, and it has been the longest ever in my life that I haven't cast a line, so to speak.
Having spent hours searching and locating the ideal location I have at last found the perfect place, not too far away, and it is absolutely stuffed full of naturally bred wild carp and achega (river bass),the exact location of which I will only reveal to close friends and locals.
On our first visit (with brother and friends we blanked, only managing one bite and immediately got snapped off, 2nd visit we achieved 15 carp and on the 3rd visit managed 30 plus carp so we have finally cracked it and I am sure with further sessions we will catch more and more fish for sure, as it takes time to get to know a venue and the various depths, mood swings etc, etc of such.
Anyhow here are a few pics to show - I know not everyone is interested in fishing so I won't bore you all to death!!!!, so till next time tight lines.....

"Family Time" and digging out the new fish pond

No posts over the last 6 weeks as we have been busy having family staying over and, at last, have been taking time off (well at least I have achieved it) apart of course from cooking for my guests and being a great host!!!! Rob, however, couldn't resist the lure of a spade and a bag of cement and with the help of my brother Rob, they decided to get stuck in and start digging out for the new fish pond. After a few beers to discuss their planning strategy, they quickly dug out for the foundations and it soon began to take shape. The best place for the pond it was decided was to be in front of the shed which was used by the previous owners as either a chicken pen or an aviary so the metal caging was removed (which will later be used to create a "greenhouse" to germinate my seeds). The shed exterior will be clad partly in stone and painted to pretty it up and the shed itself will be used for gardening tools.





We intend bringing a filter box from our pond back home in the UK and the butyl lining can be purchased from here. The exterior walls of the pond are to be clad in stone with a marble pathway to the rear. The fish for the pond will be caught by Rob from our local rivers and the next blog will be about Rob's fishing adventures !!!!!!