Vindima and Lenha

It was great having Stephen and Sophie to stay for a few days. There were lots of late night conversations, feasts and just hanging out. On the saturday we all got stuck into helping a local shopkeeper, Laurinda with her grape harvest. It was a fantastically physical, light-filled and sociable experience that really took us all by surprised. No sense of drudgery was felt. A true sense of unspoken teamwork.

Since Stephen and Sophie left reluctantly ( they truly understood why we have come to live here) we have torn into lenha. This is wood-collecting, cutting and storing. Hauling wood and using the chainsaw is great fun but absolutely exhausting when you are novices like Caz and I. It's really helpful to have patient and helpful neighbours like and Andy and Vonnie in the event of cutting waterpipes and getting up and running with the use of the tractor! Well we have a good months worth of wood now and rain comes tomorrow but more sun next week. More time to get more wood before the winter rains start at end of October. Today we visit Castelo Branco, the nearest city to indulge in delights like H & M and McDonalds for the girls!

Haiku 26 Wed 22/9

Toad hops in the door

Smile and point him to the stream

Haiku 27 Thurs 23/9

Luscious grapes explode on the palette -

Centuries of love and folly

Haiku 28 Fri 24/9

The sunset burns pink, red and orange

The camera can't cope.

Haiku 29 Sat 25/9

Many hands exhaust the sunbursting vines.

Even the hornets ignore us.

Haiku 30 Sun 26/9

Wasps are out to harass

after the chicken and the quail are devoured.

Haiku 31 Mon 27/9

Shutters closed, grapes shrivelled

In the eerie silence.

Chairs still set in the tiny chapel.

Haiku 32 Tues 28/9

Broken patterns in the mud

flank the great river.

Torrent will surely come.

Haiku 33 Wed 29/9

Chainsaw screams into the baked trunks

Sweat dripping like a tap.

Haiku 34 Thurs 30/9

The logs grow in their piles -

I can feel the harsh chill already.

Haiku 35 Fri 1/10

Dark cavities in the rocky hillside

Diamond webs on the bark.