Cheeky Bunnies and the Monk

Happy Friday all. Lost my mobile at the weekend again so no new videos unfortunately. Have to buy another. Pants.

The last fortnight has flown by. My old friend Andrew Brocklesby came to bless us (I know you were only a monk for 3 months but that still counts for me) and while he was here the kids bought 2 rabbits - Choco (aka Houdini cos he can escape from any place any time) a boy for Josh and Biscuit seen in the photo with Eli). What cheeky wee things they are, getting us running round the place fixing them up nice and sweet in new accommodation and menus. Unbelievable. Kids and Vonnie have gone all soft on them. Bless. They are very cute bunnies.

Enjoyed the pondering with Andrew B. Trying to make sense of what is happening back in the land of the English and beyond - jobs, relationships, the police state, oil, war, money; anxieties I'd begun to forget about and which for some can, and unfortunately do, cause immense despair. For us London was often a beautiful place to work and grow and play. But we know it all takes its toll in ways hard to see while you're still in it. From out here in the wilderness the perspective changes. I will miss our chats Andrew. See you for the olive harvest later.

After the foray into the forest above our houses last week (see last entry's video of the monkeys) we towed and carried and rolled then stripped the eucalyptus beams of their bark, cut to size and hoisted them with brute force up onto top of the house, fixing them in place to form a strong pretty wooden structure with some cool bolts made to order and fitted with the help of the local ironmonger. Pictures to come next week.

That was the last bit of work from João's sons Filipe and George, who have now left for a few month's financially rewarding but back breaking work in France picking apples and pears. Until Christmas. We already miss them. And feel a little of that very Portuguese sense of Saudades, translated badly as longing or yearning or missing, but expressed so perfectly in the music of Fado. Hear some Mariza if you haven't yet had the chance.

Apart from the roof structure, which has been such a relief to see it finally in place, 4 new stone masons came to start work this week, another João, his taller gentle brother Paulo, a singing Mario and the Velhote - 'the old guy'. Quite a team. In just 2 days they opened up 2 huge holes in the basement kitchen wall (unreal how the gazzillions of stones above in the wall didn't budge an inch) and built back up the side walls of the new doorways in stone and clay, beautifully, sprinkling their artistic work with little purple chinks of slate. Next week they start the big job of raising the walls of the kids house. We know how they will do this. Because we know how to do it ourselves. It's just with Filipe and George gone and the kids now at school (they'll tell you about their first week back won't you sprogs?!) and me probably returning to teach in the afternoons next week, River and I felt it was probably a good idea to get some skilled labour in for a couple of weeks, get the kids walls up and then put on their roof straight after we put on ours before the big Autumn Rains. Well that's the logic, and so far so good. Incredible watching artisans at work. And while we're watching, we're learning. And that's really what it's all about, init folks?

Monkeys dancing in the forest. A rare glimpse.

Another awesome week at work folks. Lots of fun. especially as we are beginning to move into a period of working with wood rather than stone and clay. Beams for the roof. Pillars for the verandas. And then on to the floors. A couple of videos this week. A long interview with me and Vonnie at the end. We're trying to record somehow how we're seeing and feeling things right now, for our benefit mainly. But hope you like. Especially the monkey one.

Andrew Brocklesby, a friend of mine back from university days, is staying with us at the moment. More hands. More stones carried. More legs to bear the weight of lugging 3 eleven metre beams down from the forest. And nice to have him here too. London's beginning to drop away from his shoulders. Bless.

Bought two rabbits with the kids today. Computer or playstation was not touched all day. Biscuit and Flopsy are already contributing nicely to the compost pile. Little shitters.

Tommorrow we're back to the work of love that is our house. Can't wait. Ta ta.

Lime brace...

Treecutters...

Monkey!!!!

Saturday morning reflections on the work...

There's more to come

Hey Peeps

Another few videos and pictures to show you all below. We've been rattling along nicely here with the renovations still loving it. Tops. And to add to the joy of our summer Vonnie's aunt Avril, mummy Arlene and baby sister Antoinette came to stay.

I'll let the kids and Vonnie tell you all about it except to say we had a most lovely and energising time. Arlene looking after us all,

picking fresh veggies and herbs everyday and cooking up a storm. Avril got stuck in with helping build the house and fell in love with our clay and Antoinette bought about a Facebook revolution for the kids and enjoyed her time playing self build pioneer with fashion to boot.

Through it all, the title of this blog. We are so utterly thankful for everyday here, it's sometimes hard to contain it. But when we stop, reflect on what we're doing, what we've done in the day, what we've managed to achieve since we arrived in Portugal, it's simply so inspiring. And yet there's something else. Always playing in the background is the drum beats, the music of what's to come.

Now is good. Very good. But the best bit is we know that it's only going to get better. There's more of what we're already been enjoying to come. More opportunities to create, to sculpt, to manifest. More ideas. More building. More planting. More fruit. More flowers. More shade. More parties. More friends. More understanding. More revleations. More of each other. More and more and more. There's more to come. Believe.

Another machine arrives. The first for the house. It's big...

Giant Xisto stone lintels arrive. Oh my days, heavy?...

First stone hoisted into position...

Stone henge style rolling stones...

Timber!!!...

Porco! And the loggers.

This is just a quick post today. Last weekend our lovely neighbours, Joao and Eugenia (who have fed us with lavish generosity at least one meal every day for the last 4weeks plus coffees and cakes and and and...), killed their 2 pigs early on a Sunday morning. It was difficult for us city folks with our vegetarian tendencies to deal with the proximity of the death of the animals we'd actually known, even if only for a little bit. But equally it was a remarkable occurrence to witness, because of the energy and life that the death of the pigs released to the family and wider community in the process. The meat will feed their family for a long time so it was a big deal. It was also both an impressive and exhausting biannual ritual for our neighbours. For the next 3 days, from morning til night, 6 or 7 people were in their house cutting and chopping and stuffing to make an enormous quantity of various kinds of chorrizo sausages, some with onions, some with bread, some just with the meat.

They are an outstanding family who we feel honoured to be getting to know. Joao has worked on this land his whole life and Eugenia knows all the medicinal qualities of the local plants here. They are teaching us so much every day, including, with immense patience how to actually speak Portuguese. They are a godsend in so many ways. Anyway, this is the video of Eugenia's incredible mother, Albertina, just minutes after gutting both pigs, shown in this clip with her 17 year old grandson Filipe. This little piece made all of us giggle, as I tried in vain to encourage Albertina to say a few words after the slaughter of the pigs. As you will see, she stoically resisted, saying nothing until the last moment when, with all her might, still waving a pretty sharp knife, she exclaimed just a single word. "Porco!" Or Pig, in Portuguese. Spectacular timing. Watch that knife. I was moving backwards the whole time, trust me.



And here's a brief skit from the kids too. Sorry for the swearing involved in this clip. Blame the home education for the exuberant levels of confidence beginning to be exhibited.



One final clip we had to take, as we drove on the winding road to Oleiros last week, we noticed these 2 huge machines chewing their way through the Eucalyptus forests. It was sad to see the trees destroyed so easily like this, but also somewhat amazing to see what machines in the hands of skilled operators can do. As you can tell we are learning heaps about rural life.




Next posts, I promise to update you with pictures of Sara and To's wedding and our 25th April Revolution weekend celebrations with Raquel and Francisco on his 91 cow, 250 hectare farm in Alintejo. Also met 2 new remarkable and delightful English neighbours yesterday just over the mountain top towards the Rio Zezere valley, Iain and Merle, who are planning to set up a tipi retreat there over the next few years. Will tell you more about all these adventures next time.