Things have been actually happening at Casa Azul this week. The plans have been finished! Or rather the original renovation plans that we discussed with the architect will be sent into the Council for approval whereas the modified plans (we made a few changes last week) won’t be put in at all – or rather not until the work is finished. Don’t ask, I don’t understand what is going on either. All I know is now we can ask builders for quotes to do the work. One has already had a look around and said it will be at least 6 months. In Portuguese time that means we may have to brace ourselves for longer. I dare not even think about that. Anyway, this should not besmirch the fact that the plan submission is indeed good news.

More good news is that we have been reunited with our worldly goods. They were stuck in customs for a few days but emerged unscathed to be delivered intact last week. However, as our rented house is quite small we cannot actually unpack many of the boxes. Just the priceless home design books that Jackie immediately fell upon and devoured for ideas.

…and the good news continues. Our friendly neighbour, Luis has had his tractor round and dug a big hole in our garden. I never know what to call an acre. It seems too big for a garden but too small to be ‘land’. So I’ll just switch seamlessly between the two. Anyway, Jackie had the brainwave to dig a hole and then fill it in with the breezeblock rubble from the recently demolished pig sty. Thus forming a mini hill which will become a ‘feature’. As it happens we thought the hole that Luis made would be too small but it actually turned out to be more than big enough to swallow up all the breeze blocks and have room for more. Strangely enough it seems that the resulting ‘hill’ may turn out to be a piddling mound unless we can find other stuff to bung in it. Anyway, hard work brings it’s own reward and not too many aches and pains from the process, so a good result all round. Here is the half broken down building and half filled up hole:

Even more good news? We had some rainy days last week which was good for the land and a pleasant change for us. However, the sunshine has returned, so we took the time to go on a few walks in the surrounding forests. This is why we came here: unspoilt beauty on our doorstep. From our rented house we can see a hill in the distance and saw from our military map of the area that there was a track leading to the top from right near the house, so one day we headed up, sandwiches and biscuits stowed in a mini rucksack. We didn’t quite get to the top then but had a great day out and actually returned a different way a few days later in our pickup. This time we went up around late afternoon and the light was stunning. The top of hill emerged from the surrounding pine and eucalyptus forests to give fantastic views. We could see for miles and the forests took on a beautiful golden hue. Magnificent. We also managed to grab a geocache at the top.

Those that know us well will not be surprised that a local cat has adopted us. It’s a very cute thing that very oddly smells of perfume despite the fact, or so we think, that it lives mainly with the pigs and sheep of the small farmholding a few metres down the road. One night last week, Jackie was awoken to find it outside our front door with a little mousey present. NB We don’t feed it or allow it into our house so no accusations of leading it on, please.

Next week we may be brought down to earth as we receive quotes for the building work that has to be done. Watch this space.