It's been a while since I made a proper post here...

We returned to Alvor in Portugal for the last week of August, different accomodation at a complex which is used mainly by the Portuguese and what a wonderful time we had, a very friendly place to be and the weather was fabulous... The weather as I said was fabulous except for my birthday when it rained, yes the rain can find me any where lol. We got out and about and saw lots of wonderful countryside. We're going to do northern Portugal next Easter.

After the holiday it was back to work, then Phil surprised me with a weekend away in Dorset, with a trip to Brownsea Island which is a National Trust run nature sanctuary, best known for it's red squirrels. We were lucky and saw lots of squirrels however it was difficult to get a good photograph as they move very fast and we were fighting the overcast day which wasn't allowing enough light through.

We signed up for another 12 months in our lovely little house, still got to finish up and sell my house but stuff keeps getting in the way, we were supposed to go over the other weekend but Phil was recovering from a nasty cold, it will happen when it is meant to. Life in the village is still delightful, I still love going home to Phil each and every evening. The only dark cloud was that our good friends split up and we tried to stay friends with them bothbut he seems to be trying to erase every memory of that relationship, including us. Em however is steadfastly our friend, and we enjoy her and her daughters company immensely.

This weekend we are off to the Cotswolds to celebrate Phil's birthday, lovely 16th century pub! Next weekend we have Hazel and Steven coming down to stay...

Good times!

A few photos from the holiday...

Hibiscus...



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I can and it's making me feel a little sad.

I haven't really felt the summer, not like me not to connect to a season. Now before it's even over I feel the Autumn approaching, I do like Autumn but it's approach this year is making me feel a little sad.

Directions: Open iTunes/iPod or Windows Media Player to answer the following. Go to your library. Answer, no matter how embarrassing it is.

How many songs: 359

Sort by song title…

* First song: Pink - Aerosmith
* Last song: Freefalling Tom Petty


Sort by time…

* Shortest Song: 0:56 Close Up - Peter Gabriel (Birdy)
* Longest Song: 9:12 This is a mans world - James Brown


Sort by album…

* First Song: Black Cow - Steely Dan - Aja
* Last Song: I Got you - James Brown - Greatest Hits


Top 5 Most Played Songs… no cheating

* Stolen Car - Beth Orton
* Central Reservation - Beth Orton
* Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen
* Why Can't We Live Together - Sade
* Stand By Me - Sam Cook


First 5 songs that come up on Shuffle…

* Still Crazy After All These Years - Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years
* Perfect Day - Lou Reed - Trainspotting Soundtrack
* Questions In A World Of Blue - Angelo Badalamenti Sung by Julie Cruise - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Soundtrack
* You Look So Fine - Garbage - V2
* Cold Ethyl - Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare

Search…
“Sex”–How many songs come up: 0
“Death”–How many songs come up: 2
“Love”–How many songs come up: 12
“You”–How many songs come up: 23
“love” and “you” –How many songs come up: 2

For those who haven't seen the photos on Facebook, here they are...

(Mostly flowers and bugs).



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Some more random observations...

Up to the hills...




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Thistle...



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We headed west to 'lands end', Cape St Vincent.

Pink Flowers...



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A trip out in which we find ourselves in Silves despite not heading there.

More random observations...

I like the sparklies...



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Picture post of random observations - day one.

Our flight was delayed by an hour and a half, not too bad but lost us a bit of time. We arrived to a bit of cloud but that soon blew away. The apartment complex was cheap and cheerful, once again lots of space, too much space lol. We had two balcony's one off the kitchen and one over looking the pool. I don't think we'll stay there again mainly because it was a bit too far out of town for us and secondly it was a bit noisy due to the entertainment despite the fact the venue it was held in was across the road and some distance from us. However we never spend that much time in the apartment anyway and we had a car for four days so it was all good.

Palm from the balcony...



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We were supposed to go to the BBB but for various reasons couldn't. Not a bad thing seeing as someone had told us that The Hoff was going to be at Armourgeddon just down the road from us for a paint ball tank battle!

Psyching up...



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Here are a few shots of our lovely little garden. When we moved in it was over grown down one side and just scrub on the other. The 'bald patches' are where we have planted various seeds including Nigella's, Nightstocks and Wild flowers.

The Clematis my mum bought for us...



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Day four saw us heading all the way across country to Lisbon...

Some observations...

Swallow feeding young at the motorway services...



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Phil is really quite poorly today, poorly enough to stay in bed, I think the only time I have known him to stay in bed was when his back went and even then he didn't stay put. So I thought I'd use this time at home constructively and have started processing the rest of the holiday photos, lol, there are so many... I want to get a record of them here on my diary before we go back again, so I have till two weeks today ~grins~.

The last of day 3, when we were in Lagos...

Lilies through a hole in a door...



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We had a wander by the Avon...

Swans...



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Froglets...



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We were out and about a bit at the weekend with some success's and some disasters...

Saturday...

Car poorly, fault yet to be traced, driving the pick up truck I have on loan back home decided to break the alternator belts, Phil managed to fix it.

Took phone out to check the time, screen broken, now using Phil's old phone till contract runs out and I can get a new one.

On the positive side Paul and Sue came over and we went out for a meal, good times!

Sunday.

Went over to clear old house, we got loads done, met up with Hazel, went for a walk, went for a lovely Thai meal, stayed in a hotel.

Monday.

Supposed to carry on with house clearance, we both wake up feeling poorly, head home.

Tuesday.

Feel quite a bit better so went out to the Butterfly Park at Stratford for the day with Emma and Becky, good times, lots of fun.

Jackdaw, taken in the Churchyard across the road.



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Big delay on processing holiday photos, bit of a back log building up too... Partly due to being unwell, pertly due to my addiction to farm town and partly due to processing the many, many photos for Phil's nephew's wedding.

So here are a few from day three and the start of day four when we bimbled down the coast to Lagos, through Praia De Luz (what a dump in our humble opinion) and other little beaches.

For sale...



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