Happy Birthday Eloise

Happy 12th Birthday Eloise! By River

As those of you who have been reading our blog might well know, I have not been very well over the Christmas holidays, but it’s a New Year, 35 litres of olive oil pressed and today is my daughter’s birthday.  I never knew that there was so much love in my life.  I am the kind of head down get to work sort of girl, with a tendency to skim my eyes over the tops of trees and feel the blue skies endlessly stretching over head.   It’s the light here that I love the most, it sparkles and bounces off every surface and calls me awake every day. 

Today began with a warm fire on and frozen pipes, after all it is still winter time, my favorite season.  The sun is rising over the little village of Amieira and the mist has already passed over the river and been on its way. 

My daughter came into this world ready, blue eyes steadily gazing at us as if to say I have been waiting to meet you. Why does everything take such a long time?  She was desperate to get out and stretch those beautiful long limbs of hers.  After an hour and a half of labour, there she was and next to me alone in our bedroom my beautiful husband and best mate.  When we crawled into bed and awoke Joshua such a feeling of completeness took over me that I knew I would never recover from this kind of loving.  

So we called her Eloise Grace Winter.  Eloise, warrior of light and the name of my grandmother Grace a state of loving kindness which we all hope to live under and Winter, the family name of my beloved husband and his beautiful family. 

This morning, while the children were still sleeping, I took a walk around our frozen patch of heaven and felt the ice and stone crunching under my boots.  Moses our dog is all too keen to get going in the  morning and I can never resist his eager dawn greetings, so, slightly frozen I ventured out.  I am now walking in my daughters’ shoes of two years ago, she is twelve but she is bypassing me so fast that often my mind is in a blur.  Slow down girl, I always want to say but how could she when there is so much beauty and laughter she wants to share each day.

We Winters have finally moved into our home and are finding our rhythm, the daffodils planted by the previous owners of our house over 40 years ago are flowering, soaking up and dragging each drop of sunshine to the ground.  I have started clearing the vegetable patch and the forest s as green as anyone can imagine as green as my little girls eyes today.  The sky is blue and crisp and I know I will see this in her eyes too.  How could there be anything else but joy in our lives today?  Another day of play.

I have always loved the children’s birthdays best and today we will be hanging out with our gorgeous friends Shanti B from Angola and Emma from Ireland and Ellie’s lovely Portuguese  friend from school Joanna, and the  cacophony of heritage that we the Winters represent.  Praise and love be ever present.  Today, on my daily walk in my daughters’ shoes I am reminded yet again of the many actions that needed to take place in order for us to be here.  I see the sign of my daughter to remind me that I am home, “Moses”, I see the boat of some friends waiting for their return, I see Olive leaves and upturned trees, the hard crunch of stone and the ever-present sound of the river below combined with the wind in the trees and the birds chirping the morning sound remind me of how grateful I truly am that we are finally at home, again.  

Thank you all my friends for your loving kindness and the big net you have all spread to help me come all the way back round to the same rising lights.  Obrigada.

Here is a Poem for the Girls who will Rip your Heart Out and Show You How to Love

Her colour vibrates

She awakens and enlivens

Every moment with Sound

Intuitive

A spiritual gift

In her I see

Healers

Empathy

Mission

Connected numbers

Chronic pain of a toxic world released in laughter

Physically, Emotionally

Environmentally, Spiritual

Remarkable

When, 

schooled in love

Every emotion is held in her presence

Crystal light is this child

All the while still the same as she came

A veil is pulled back in each generation

Her every utterance s a heart string pulled

She sits pink, divinely feminine

Unabashed energy held within a structure

All power, all gravity and light

She sees sickness before the tide swells

And vibrates, shake and tell

Loving forgiveness

Cuddling touch, kiss and hugs

This way to play

Her mass of rare precious light will not be

Patronised, manipulated or lied to

Give me beauty and truth

Telepathic or just switched on

Come into the world as royalty

And act that Way

Fearlessly sensitive

Not afraid to feel and live

Draw to the light

Moths die at the heat of the bulb but still come

A multi- coloured dress enters my world
And I forget to breathe

Thank you Ellie

For the heart song you give to me

 Introducing Eloise Grace Winter, 12 years of age, princess of Moses........

"The Best Pupils of the Year". 'Course they are.

On the eve of returning for the 3rd year to their lovely local school in Oleiros, Josh and Ellie found out last week that they both won prizes for being "O melhor aluno" (The Best Pupil) in their year group. A tremendous effort on both their parts. Moving to another country, learning a completely new language from scratch, adapting to a new culture so far removed from the one they grew up with in London, is an achievement in itself. But to do so with such ease and grace, making some really lovely new friends along the way, and topping it off with the best grades in their classes resulting in winning a prize at the school diploma day? I could not have written a better script for them myself. Done us proud, didn't they just?

Our old friends John and Caroline and adorable girls Maya and Violet arrived 2 weeks ago to spend a year's arts residency with us here at Moses. John is a painter and Caroline a photographer. River and I spent 3 weeks in August finishing the restoration work on the Xisto cottage that we had ourselves been living in for a year and a half. The house looks gorgeous and the Purdays have quickly made it into a home.

To find out more about them and what they will be up to, they're already blogging. http://purdaysinportugal.blogspot.com/ is the family one. http://www.touchwood-portugal.blogspot.com/ is Caroline's photographic journey and http://www.mayasportugalparadise.blogspot.com/ is Maya's very special own addition to the global blogscape. Watch those spaces and mark my words. Another beautiful story is being written here. And there is more to come. Much more.

Summer break is ended. Tomorrow kids return to school and we start the routine of long school days (kids leave for bus at top of the hill at 8am returning 6.30pm) and continuing work on the land and our own house at Cabeço. This has been a pretty full on year for us. Restoring 3 houses in stone, clay, lime and wood, planting and watering over 300 trees up and down the land, starting and establishing 2 beautiful and productive vegetable terraces, installing irrigation systems from the bore hole and the water mine, all of which were governed by some pretty tight timescales based on the seasons and the arrival of people at various points. My Mum and Dad in June, Helen, Anthony and Cleo in July, Nathan and Annie in August and then the Purdays, all of whom needed accommodation ready. Feels like the season of deadlines has now finally passed and we are moving into a new, calmer, less pressurised way of working.

The list of jobs and projects to start is still fairly huge - decorating the houses, building storehouses for all these potatoes and beans harvested and jars of jams we are about to make, building barns and a workshop for me to make all the shutters, flyscreens and cupboard doors required, a new greenhouse and potting sheds, restoring the Adega by the newly planted orchards to be a fruit storehouse, cider press and studio space for John to paint, possibly houses for chickens, sheep and a pig, pergolas for the roses, grafting of all the old grape vines, river damns to create cascading natural swimming pools, forest clearing, more terrace clearing and more, much much more.

Yet River and I are sure in the knowledge that this will all get done. Sometime. Probably sometime fairly soon as well. It is, after all, why we are here. To expend the energy of our thirties and probably some of our forties, on creating a more sustainable life for us and our children. We are getting there. The food from River's 'horta' this year has been outstanding. Plentiful potatoes, phallic courgettes, the sweetest tomatoes, yard long beans, corn right off the cob, peppers, onions, cucumbers, carrots, beetroots, herbs, squashes and my days, those pumpkins. The 'sweat hours' as the Americans say, are so worth it.

And all this comes with such an incredible feeling of accomplishment, in particular because we came out here from London fairly ill equipped for this way of life. I never would have imagined when we first found Moses 3 years ago, that in 2010 I would be able to build houses and terrace walls in stone and clay, put on wooden tiled roofs from scratch, plaster, plumb, be proficient in the use of a wide range of power tools including chainsaws, pneumatic drills, band saws, grinders, cement mixers and tractors, while at the same time teaching over hundred children to speak English in 3 local primary schools, properly becoming a part of our wider community. Awesome, simply awesome.

Autumn is approaching. Even though it's still hot and blue blue skies, we know when the rains come, they come to stay. All our lovely old neighbours have already begun, ney some already finished, bringing in their fire wood for the winter. We're already late. The grape harvest is round the corner and we want to help our neighbours make their wine again this year where we can. Then it's October and our dear friends Ian and Merle and tribe arrive over the hill at Eiro de Miguel. Then it's olives, picking sorting bagging pressing into oil. Then its Christmas and the long awaited season of rest, reading and reflection that we already know to be a Portuguese mountain winter on the edge of wilderness.

But today is Sunday. And I plan on doing nothing.  Except this blog of course. And cooking up a lunch of freshly harvested roasted veggies. And maybe a game of chess with Josh while I can still beat him and scrabble with the Purdays. Maybe just a wander down to the adega with River and Moses to imagine what we will do to the place. We recently decided that is where we will retire to one day, tending the orchards, living even more simply and let the kids have everything else. They deserve it. We will diminish, and go into the west, and remain Memphis and River.

Thanks for tuning into the blog. Videos up below in a bit...

Peace and all good things.


Memphis.


Ellie gives her first interview with Moses TV since her return from London. 



The Purday family give their thoughts on their arrival at Moses and show off the new improved cottage they will be staying in for a year. 






Ellie and Josh pick up their Best Student medals at school.

Everybody loves the Sunshine

Only time to post up a few videos today. Will update you on renovation works on the houses and gardens next month.

River on the road to Cambas...

The snow covered mountains of Serra de Estrella...

Joshua's 12th birthday pancake picnic with a rare cameo appearance on film of the elusive Shanti B...

Right after, we took Moses (!) for a swim in the Rio Zezere...

Ode to Moonbeam - by Effie Starlight (that's me, Eloise)

Here I am again and I know you guys are probably thinking “humph, I bet she’s not going to finish her blog again. Humph.” Ah but oh no I’m going to finish my blog, and that’s that. Probably because I had already written it out before but let’s forget that. Anyway, what I am doing is a poem and I wrote ‘poem’ because if I had written ode you mightn’t have understood!!! Ok let’s get to the blooming point, and if you know me I do tend to jibber jabber!!! Finally before I jibber jabber more I’ll start writing… well technically I have already started writing but… oh here I go again jibber jabbering!! Now I think to myself am I actually going to start my poem?

Anyway, I am going to right now!! So ‘então’ (so!!) lets get started!!

Moonbeam Pocahontas ("Jerry")

There once was an old lady who lived in Bacelo

Spent all her whole life wanting to play the cello

She had 60 cats yet she still wanted more

When she said to her friends “I’m so bored im so bored!”

Then her friends said to her “get more cats get more cats!”

She got lots more cats til she had 603!!

So they lived all their life, poor "Tom and Jerry"!!

By me.

Well hope you liked it you ought to because I have only done like 3 and a half blogs in the whole of the poopineurope tour so you better be grateful!!! Only joking!

So where was I oh yes oh no I forgot again oh yeeaaaaaaahh!! Its "Tom"'s b-day tomorrow and since we don’t have a oven (yet)

So when we went to shantii b’s place mount of oaks they made a lovely crumble any way that’s not the point the point is the thing that she cooked it in takes an awfully long time but never mind so now the point IS that she made it in a solar oven so now for "Ts b-day we are making a solar oven and in about 10 minutes so I better start writing ah yes but it wont be in 10 minutes for you lot he he he!!

Now I am having a little trouble with what pictures to use so well actually I know now!!! So maybe just maybe you will catch me into another blog but like I said maybe!!

But ah well bye for now!!

Ellie!!!

we love you grandma!!!

Spotty Salamanders, Deadly Lizards and Spitting Snakes. By Ellie.

Hi Guys!! I know its been a while since I last wrote, in fact, its been so long that we’ve been through 1 whole country of Spain so you’ve finally prompted me to writing a blog. So I thought just to make it easer I’ll make you a list of what we’ve been doing, and then write up about it. So here I go:

Seeing London, and my big brothers b-day!!
Hearing a meeeeeeoooooowwwwww under the deck of the plane
The trouble with caterpillars
Building a compost bin
Meeting High Hedgy the Hedgehog and Sir Sammy the salamander
Finding the snakes’ skin and Meeting the deadly lizard

Now I have a loooooot to write so I better get going!!

Seeing London town

When we got back all of our stuff was really dusty after 9 months of being in a loft and I’m allergic to house dust, so I had to sleep in my brothers bedroom and you must know how bad that’s got to be………for your brother.

Almost every day since we left grandma and poppops´s house to go and stay in a million pound yes, one million pounds rented by papas old boss, anyway we went into the centre of London and we saw: flat in central

The aquarium,T we played hide and seek in the trees in Hyde Park and went to the Princess Dianna childrens Park and saw the sights that you absolutely have to see.

#Happy birth day to you happy birth day to you happy birth day to Joshi happy birth day to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you guessed what day it is JOSHI´S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!

We had a great time speeding down the river Thames on a super fast speed boat!!

Then enjoyed sandwiches and cake made by my mama! Then we played tag in the top room of ahoy the Thames Sailing and power boating voluntary school.

The meeeeeeeeoooooooooowwwwwww under the plane deck.

Now you’re probably thinking what the hell is she talking about well if you would stop interrupting me I could tell you!!

It was a hectic morning the morning we were going to go back to Portugal, because we had had a party not a very big party but a party all the same. And we hadn’t seen angel for all of that evening so mama and papa though well we will leave her out to poop and then find her in the morning but dum dum dum duuuuuum

We could not find her and -because I had my shoes on- I went out to look for her.

But when I came in I still hadn’t found her! So mama got all hysterical because when she had left for England (bless her) she was a teenager and she had to leave her cat behind. So mama went outside and shouted at the top of her voice ANGEL!!!!!!!!!!! And o Meus Deus she came up and started meowing at mama’s feet. So we got her into her cat bag put her in the car on our laps and in time she crawled out of her cat bag and onto the window!! Oh my days she was mesmerised by the car and every thing rushing past her, her head going back and forth back and forth!!!!!!

When we had to say good bye to Moses and Angel as they were taken to be put in the heated hold.

(I need to go now but will finish this off after the weekend. And add more photos. Bye for now!!)