I suppose we have to start with Betty. She’s had a lump on her back leg for a number of years now, it’s never affected her walking (or indeed chasing after anything) so we’ve not bothered to have it seen to. Then over the last few weeks it became larger and redder and she seemed a tad lethargic. A wound appearing meant we had no choice but to take her to the vet’s to have the lump removed. Given her age (she’s now 13) the operation was not without risk but when we arrived to pick her up two days later, we recognised from her constant barking at the vet’s that the operation was a success. They told us she needed to rest. Six days later she was bundled into the back of the car to be taken on holiday with us: a three day walking trip in the Picos de Europa in Asturias… perhaps not the best option in the circumstances but she is as tough as old boots. After all she survived, many years ago now, the sickening injuries of having been caught in a wild boar trap for days.

Our choice of treks was amended, but although we were unable to walk as far as we had wanted the breathtaking views around us more than made up for that. The Ruta del Cares was especially spectacular (Betty left behind for this): Griffon vultures circled overhead, waiting for some hiker to lose their footing and plummet over the sheer cliff. Not for the faint-hearted. We’re just going to have to return to the area once she has fully recovered. Meanwhile the medication is finished but we are still having to change her bandage twice a day. The stitches should be coming out next week.

Actually it’s been a somewhat adventurous few weeks. My sister came and visited so we went kayaking along the River Lima, something I’ve also been quite keen to do for some time. It cost just 3 euros an hour to paddle along with the ducks so we’ll certainly do that again.

We all headed north to Galicia to spend time with my niece, husband and their little one. This meant more walking, this time along the Atlantic coast…

… and of course enjoying some Spanish culinary delights. An invitation to a family lunch saw us eat the most amazing amount of delicious local seafood.

We also popped to Spain for a day trip to Tui, the first town across the Minho, to watch La Vuelta pass by. It’s a 30 minute drive from Casa Lima. It’s also a rather quaint town to walk around and yes, enjoy a meal in the sun of course.

Back home the cacti cum succulent garden in the granite trough by the pond is doing really well. There are a couple of frogs who have made the pond their home.

There have been loads of dragonflies. Their nymph forms must have been collected along with the duckweed I took from a natural pond; they climb out of the pond and settle on a rock or pot during the night and then hey ho come the morning a dragonfly appears: red or blue eventually. Well done to them for eating all the mosquito larvae.

Having decided to sort of rewild the lower meadow (ie not strim) there have been a number of bugs there too appreciating the late summer plants.

We spotted a number of caterpillars on the plum trees we planted. They were identified as the larvae of the scarce Swallowtail butterfly (although it’s actually quite common). We watched them grow bigger, pupate and turn into butterflies. Quite a marvel of nature.

There’s been a lot of activity in the kitchen. Our neighbours have been more than generous with their bumper harvests. The passion fruit (bucket loads of the things) have been turned into a fruit juice and a delicious ice cream. They are also scooped out onto our cereal in the morning. A bagful of lemons has meant lemon squash, more lemon marmalade and jars of preserved lemons. They are also sliced and frozen ready to pop into a gin and tonic.

A glut of tomatoes, both from our little veg patch and the neighbours’, has resulted in gazpacho (along with the peppers and cucumbers also donated) and trays and trays of roasted tomatoes for a rich tomato sauce. The huge beefsteak ones, called coração de boi, (ox heart), are grated for a traditional Spanish breakfast: simply add oil, salt and pepper (and garlic if you want) and spread on a slice of toasted bread. Delicious. Cucumbers have been pickled. The figs are just coming now which means fig jam is on the menu soon, just one of the many things we do with them.

Of course a lot of the fruit we just eat fresh. We have been given 3 kinds of melon: melão is the honeydew version, meloa is the cantaloupe or rock melon and finally melancia which is watermelon. They are so big it takes us days and days to eat one, and then suddenly another one is gifted to us to enjoy.

Not to be outdone Richard has been making cider with the abundance of apples. He has also made a garden bench from a plank found in the barn. It’s been placed by the pond so we can watch the aquatic life.

So that was our first summer at Casa Lima. It certainly hasn’t been as wet as last year (just 2mm for the whole of August compared to 40mm last year), but the rain has now returned, and very welcome it is too. We haven’t been affected by the wildfires but we have watched the helicopters dipping down into the Lima and filling their buckets with water for areas that have been.

Meanwhile the asparagus is doing fine, with one of the plants I thought was dead giving out a shoot recently. There are two buttercup squash, I had hoped for more but nearly all of the female flowers died before they could be fertilised, I think it was too hot for them. They were all started very late so if we do get two that will be good.

We are looking forward to the slightly cooler weather and planning again on what to do with the garden. We hope it won’t be too long before the path outside the house is cobbled but there are still plenty of things to do inside: we haven’t even put the pictures up yet…