Country Life

Having now got a new processor with ten times more storage than my last and various upgrades, I now can't see the re-sizing window so I've had to crop and then re-size in PB so heaven only knows how these will come out ... I have a computer specialist as t'other half ... excuse me while I scream. I gave up on eight photos ...

This is the view from our table at the restaurant in Monchique looking to the sea on the horizon ... it's only a hazy 44 (yes, forty four) degrees but there was a lovely breeze with the scent of Eucalyptus globulus ...



... leaving the restaurant ...



... meandering through the Eucalyptus forests the scent was headily lovely ...







... and all the lovely goats cramming themselves together in the shade of the Pinus Pedras (Stone Pines) ...





And I thought I'd show you our legal town address ... S�£o Bartolomeu de Messines, which is about 6kms from us, although we use Algoz as our postal address, 6kms the other way, as we pass more frequently through there.



Ooh, they have come out perfect in PB!

PS The high at our little house today was 35.7, the highest this year.

 

Being delighted our car passed it's IPO (MoT equivalent) today, we decided to go out for lunch to our favouite little village of Alte in the hills 20 minutes from us ... so the camera went with me.

A pretty Crepe Myrtle lined street in Alte ...





The Ribeira d'Alte which runs through the restaurant buildings ...



We detoured coming home to see how much water was in our local dam (pretty low but we've seen worse) ...







Our once favourite restaurant overlooking the lakes, now sadly closed (hence us discovering the Alte restaurant) ...



... and we discovered we have wind turbines going up in our area and we can just see them from our deck (not this photo) ... we love them ...

 

Lovely pics Sis, we must go there again next time we come down. But I must say that I am not looking forward to seeing the turbines from your deck, so I'll look the other way. In which direction are they?

The third and fourth photos from the bottom would make nice scenes to paint, or not?

 

Hey, Sis, thanks. Yes, we'll do that again.

If you're on the deck looking toward Calvos at the house you guys fancied, you can just see them over the roof between the trees ... preferably using the binoculars otherwise you have to squint! So no worries there! :D They are just outside of Messines toward Alte. There was one, now suddenly two today so we don't know how many will go up.

Agree re the paintings, haven't done anything for a while.

 

It is really lovely to see all your photos of Portugal LoL. We were in Spain during the winter of 2006 for 2 months and wanted to come back home via Portugal but never got around to it. It looks so much more beautiful than Spain I have to say.

I wouldn't mind having the wind turbines. If we drive north for about an hour we can see a nuclear power station on the horizon which stays visible for many kilometers. Two huge chimneys belching steam all day long. I don't know how the locals live up there. And, it is not an isolated station - they are all over France. Heaven help us if there is an accident one day - we will not be able to escape fast enough. We are surrounded by old uranium mines and about 30 kms away is a disused uranium plant which polluted local rivers.

Thankfully, the government is now being sensible and I believe some turbines are being erected in Haute Vienne in the not too distant future. Having said all that - we still have one of the highest life expectancy rates in Europe - it's just that we all glow in the dark

 

lovely pics LoL it looks lovely were you live, plenty of electricity driving through them wind turbines, would you consider them for yours.

 

Hey, kryssy, thank you so much for looking at this absolutely beautiful country that most people don't see. If you have time and look back from the beginning of this thread, it is one incredible place to live ... and very green, which I like.

We think wind turbines are part and parcel of life in the 21st century and prefer them to coal-fired power and/or nuclear power stations. Turbines are classic and gentle in appearance, elegant in motion and welcome in my back yard any day.

 

Great pictures as usual LoL keep em comming.

 

Thank you, walnut, pleased you enjoy them.

rosa, at roughly �£1,000,000 each, you don't actually have a wind turbine in your garden ... they are electricity company owned. Privately you tend to have solar panels (which we're probably getting in the Spring) or small windmills.

[ 09. August 2007, 09:46 AM: Message edited by: Lady of Leisure ]

 

After a lovely brunch at Santa Eulalia, we went to Praia Grande, one of the beaches at Ferragudo, for a nice cold beer ...



This is the lovely entrance to Kalu Bar ...



... past the Oleander and Agave under a grass roof ...



... the views from our table ...



... now I've heard of taking your bucket to the beach with you, but someone here has grand expectations ...



A flowering Phoenix canariensis next to us with a flowering Echeveria in front of it ...



The beach entrance to the bar ...



And a nice little wander up to very important things ... the loos ...



... to be contiued with a word from Mr LoL ...

 

... continued ...

Preferring to stay in the shadows, Mr LoL continues to do so ...



... but say CHEERS to you all ...



He would like to point out that it is a Valotta, Scarborough Lily showing through the glass. Looks like a goldfish to me! :rolleyes: Good photo for him though.

 

great photos LoL, what a lovely place how far is it from yours, like the way you have positioned the glasses of beer.
See mr LoL is hiding ha! ha! on the last shot he was way up the hill we just seen a dark shadow, think i,ll start calling him mr shadow :D :D
ps a few of these pics would certainly make some nice painting material

 

Another lovely Sunday out Sis, thanks for sharing with us. I agree with rosa about there being some nice painting material here. I think the 4th one down would be the best, but omitting the people and boats, and perhaps the houses too.

 

Lovely pics LOL

The beach looks awfully quiet.

I bet the beers went down a treat in that heat.

 

Thank you rosa, Sis and pip.

rosa, I'll answer you tomorrow re paintings, Sweetie.

pip ... I'm just learning photography in various aspects ... scenery, flowers, butterflies, etc. I'm not very good using a 2000 model camera which I love and won't change for the new one.

What I can do is take pics of scenery and you'll rarely see people ... it's a "thing" with me and I think I do it pretty well. You can look back at comments regarding this.

Besides holiday folk, Sundays is the day for the locals to be on the beaches ... this was a "busy" day for me and I couldn't eliminate ... :rolleyes:

The beers were excellentissimo ....... guess we were about 30 today ... xx