Happy Solstice!

After the remarkable trip to Rome there was, unfortunately, a price to pay for sharing the air with thousands of visitors inside museums…Lukus was the first to get sick (the last day in Rome, in fact) followed by Raymond about a week later. We are both feeling better now, but it definitely took the wind out of our sails for about two weeks.

Storms

While the figurative wind was out of our sails, the actual wind was blowing fiercely for most of March. Considering the rain and wind gusts of 70 mph it was not such a bad thing to be inside recuperating. Unfortunately, the wind wreaked havoc on our banana trees, toppling one and shredding the leaves of all of them. The fava beans, too, were wind-whipped but have started to rebound (as has the fig, above). I have to remind myself that same scene played out at the end of last winter as well – our yard looked a bit like a hurricane came through and then by May everything had fresh leaves.

House Repairs

After much procrastination, I finally got around to stuccoing and painting the northeast corner blocks of our house. While the black-painted blocks were traditional (and still had engravings of the masons who had shaped them) they also had pits and gaps where water and weeds could get into the wall. A layer of stucco resolved this and gave them the matching texture of the other corners of the house.

For good measure, I primed the stone doorframe of the mill room / basement as well. So much cleaner looking without the moss and algae that accumulates on the north side of a house!

Roof Work

We have had a persistent roof leak in the kitchen above the sink and over the stone arch of the old chimney. Despite our best efforts to correct the issue we realized that the problem is beyond us. So, we met with a local builder and discussed options. Rather than just fix the immediate issue (which entails taking down the massive chimney and rebuilding that small area of the roof) we told him of our dream to raise the roof about two feet and have a cathedral ceiling with loft. He then showed us two homes a few villages over to get ideas.

Option 1: Wider beams but further apart. We absolutely loved the loft!

Option 2: Narrower beams but closer together (thus more of them)

We are waiting on the builder to give us some quotes. Apparently it is important for us to commit to the project soon, as the Japanese cedar wood used for the ceiling is harvested and milled to order and then takes about 4-6 months for curing.

Afternoon in Angra

We heard that a restaurant in Angra is hiring, so we printed some resumes (in English and Portuguese) and showed up to inquire. It was a lovely afternoon walking around the capital. It was also clear enough to see São Jorge island in the distance and Mount Pico on Pico island towering behind it.