Home at last..

Well hello!!! Im home and so glad to be back I cannot put it into words... I'll try really hard to sort out this blog again now, to bring things up to date and have a little re-organisation around here too.

Firstly, Ive changed settings so sadly only followers on this blog can leave a comment, maybe that will deter the spammers, if it doesnt work or makes life difficult for REAL people who wish to comment, please email me, patricia@livingthedreamportugal.com and I'll try to sort it out.

Dad is doing really well at the moment, his health is never going to be great again, he's almost 80, has smoked, drank , not exercised and generally abused his body over a lifetime... so its about normal really. He's hoping to leave hospital over the next couple of weeks and I have other family menbers there helping out and looking in on him. I may have to go back towards the end of the month but I'll worry about that then. Now Im just enjoying being home...

Ricky has done so well coping alone, the freezer is jam packed with produce, so much so, Im trying to use up a lot to make pasta sauce so I have space for all our carrots still to come, I picked three washing up bowls full of tomatoes yesterday, plus peppers, aubergines, courgettes, and butternut squash. Bless him he even made some tomato sauce himself, 12 kilo jars!!
Yesterday I made a dozen jars of roasted tomato puree, yummy... I'll post the recipe later.
Today we are making more pasta sauce... we pulled the last of the french beans... and Ill add them to the pasta sauce, and use them up. We'll certainly be eating a lot of pasta this winter!!
Im also putting in tons of basil , as we have loads, wonderful stuff too...
Plus still loads of cabbages, the caulis are looking good, Im hoping they will heart up soon... and chillis... the small Piri piri kind.... literally hundreds!! Im going to start picking the red ones later...
Im also hoping to sweet pickle a few beetroots today too... its all full on now!

The log barn is looking good, Rik has tried to continue on with that , but obviously itsa slow job on your own, but its half full ... we must look to that next week... once I have the food situation under control..

Beesa the puppy is gorgeous, rik still having problems with the house training at night, she's good during the day but at night still poops.. Im now taking over the night duty and making a few changes to her routine that I think will help... I hope so...

Blogging from Ireland

Well Im sorry its been so long, I keep saying that dont I? But here I am now still in Ireland, it looks like Ill be here a while yet, Ive promised my dad I will stay untill he's home again and settled. It may take a lot longer than I anticipated. But... he's my dad and thats all there is to it.
So... Rik is coping well with things while Im gone, its very hard for him to do all his work and mine too, plus, the weather turned extremely hot about a week or so before I left and has continued ever since and the garden went crazy... he cut and chopped 40 kilos of tomatoes in just one day!! We are having the biggest bumper crop of them ever, and me not there to deal with it all, also the aubergines and courgettes, beans, and herbs too. I would be making and putting into jars tons of pasta sauce by now as the freezer is getting too full. But he just doesnt know the proccess, although I have explained, he doesnt have the time or feel confident enough to try he's afraid to spoil a lot of produce...
Beeza is coming along so well, Im so sad not to be there and be able to bond with her as I would like, sadly she wont know me when I go home, but Bonnie is looking after her , they are great friends now and Bonnie is a different dog again, so happy and they play all day. Rik says that when Bonnie has had enough she'll walk away, and often has the little one hanging off her tail and just carries on and drags her across the kitchen... looks very funny.
Hes struggling a little with the house training at night, but its early days and it will get better, usually its me that does that bit... heheheh
Now I have internet access I'l try to keep this updated, the weather here is pooh compared to home, I wear my fleece jacket most of the time... but i spend most of day in the hospital so its not too bad. Although I cannot believe the price of basic fresh food... veg and fruit... triple what we'd pay in Portugal...

Off to Ireland

Well Im off to Ireland on Saturday, for how long I dont know, depends on dads health. At the moment he's in hospital so its anyones guess.
My lovely uncles are all arranging this for me, paying for flights, picking me up from airports in UK and then organising the next leg of the trip the following day, all without me paying a penny... aren't families wonderful when you need them most... considering Ive not seen them for years... I feel very blessed.
Im really sad to be leaving our beautiful new baby, she truley is gorgeous, Bonnie is just perking up now, they were playing in the garden last night for the first time, it was a joy to see her so happy again. It will get better as Beeza get bigger... and bigger.. at the moment Bonnie gets a little exuberant...
Although she's a cross, she's a typical Rafeiro in looks, she looks as if she could be pure even though we know she isnt.
http://www.google.pt/imgres?imgurl=http://images01.olx.pt/ui/1/69/52/7016752_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://montijo.olx.pt/rafeiro-alentejano-puros-iid-7016752&h=469&w=625&sz=55&tbnid=Q3atQAdwRZut3M:&tbnh=102&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drafeiro%2Balentejano&hl=pt-PT&usg=__sVsyoDMDepp0zFpaMBbnQowk-ok=&sa=X&ei=kFxRTI7iKsqK4AbhrvyfAw&ved=0CCMQ9QEwBQ
hopefullly that link should show a pic, the puppy behind , looking at the camera with a spotty nose, is exactly her

This 'n' that

Hi, sorry its so long since I updated this blog, I suppse really its been a mixture of us being busy, and me getting a little down and not coming into town etc etc...
So. Whats been happening, well, we've had the last of our helpers for the time being, Jim worked reasonably well, and did quite a bit of the things we had planned, but I know that we were not the most jolly of hosts for some of his stay but we did find him a tad hard going. He wasnt as relaxed as the girls we'd had, nor as consiencious, or as sociable... he made a great start on the log barn though and for that Im very grateful, but I think we'll maybe stick to girls ...
He certainly ate more than his weight in food...
The veggies are doing well, ... most of them, Ive come around to the idea that this year, the beetroot just isnt gonna happen... why, I dont know... its just very poor... the butterntu squash is slow and not so many this time as well. We will have some, but not the 141 we had last year!
But.... the spuds are excellent, we still have three sacks left, the beans are the biggest crop we've ever had... Im picking kilos a day.. the tomatoes are just coming and are lovely , there will be tons, same with Aubergines... Im waiting on peepers, big plants, but not many peppers yet... the corn is almost ready... the jerusalem artychokes are reaching for the sky... we have cabbage coming out of our ears... and rows of carrots that wont be long... tons of herbs too!!

So although some poor results... a lot of good stuff too...

So, to the big news of the week... two lots...
My dad has been sick again, so I am looking to go to Ireland in the near future for a visit...
And....
We have a new puppy....
I know we said we wouldnt... and to be truthful we didnt really want to at all... but our lovely Bonnie was so unhappy, we tried to wait and hope it would pass but she seemed to get worse... so our vet Dr Paulo gave us a present... he knew we wanted a big dog... and this is certainly going to be big... I mean HUGE....
She's a Newfoundland http://www.google.pt/search?hl=pt-PT&q=newfoundland+dog&aq=1&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=Newfoundland&gs_rfai=crossed with a http://www.google.pt/search?hl=pt-PT&source=hp&q=rafeiro+alentejano&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=Rafeiro&gs_rfai=

I hope those links work out.
She's 6 weeks old, and called Beeza...