⛈️ Well the weather has finally broken this time. At long last. I just heard the longest roll of thunder that I have ever heard - a couple of minutes?

🌧️ The air was getting heavier and heavier. It was feeling thick to walk through. Above the clouds were building. Dark clouds. Finally, just now, the impasse broke and there was a brief shower. Short, but enough to lighten the air and to allow us to breathe again.

Shall I, shan’t I? …. I did.

I walked past this gentleman a handful of times as l was running errands in Lisbon. He appeared totally engrossed in reading his newspaper. Something I rarely see these days. Phones yes, I’m on mine now, newspapers no.

As unobtrusively as possible, I took the shot.

A man sits on a small wall reading his newspaper. He is wearing a red t-shirt which covers a bulging belly. He wears glasses,has a mustache, blue denim shorts and sandals. Beside him is a fruit stand.

These two donkeys lived in the hotel grounds that we stayed in while down in the Algarve over the weekend. They were not always in their corral, but sometimes were wandering the grounds. On our return one afternoon, the older one greeted us with some loud braying as we got out of the car and walked towards him.

Two donkeys stick their heads through a corral that they are housed in

I finished reading: In Love with the World by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. This book felt like a gift that I am very grateful for. I took my time with it. An account of a young Buddhist monk setting off on a wandering retreat who then becomes severely ill and almost dies. What made this book special for me was the intimacy of his story. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a Tibetan Master, shares his Buddhist approach to the struggles that setting off on the retreat brings to him. Then as illness strikes he offers rare insight, from my perspective, into the Tibetan view on mind, consciousness and dying. 📚

Fresh fruit. Young grapes on the vine growing above us, and providing shade from the sun.

Fresh grapes growing on the vine, the vine acting as a shade above from the sun

🛣️ Portugal, the home of straight roads. Seriously, I have never seen so many straight roads, even out in the countryside. They are a joy to drive, because you just point the car in one direction and go. Maybe a few ups and downs, but few turns. At least that has been my experience so far, and my kilometers are building up.

Shadows in the night.

A dark sky. In the foreground a waterwell lit from the inside, a wooden arch above it. In the background lights in the bushes.

The ground was moving with these little crabs everywhere. By the Canal de Travia, Luz.

Ciao!

A green neon sign spelling out CIAO hanging on a white wall. Below is a simple chair with a green back and green seat.

This way.

A large neon arrow made up of a red pointed end and white tail, all mounted on a white wall.

An Algarve morning.

A old bench with a jar full of water and some green leafed branches in it. Beside is a small cup and saucer with coffee in it. Beyond is a low gate between white concrete walls looking out to grasses and bushes.

This is one way to protect your car from the heat of the day.

A car parked on a cobbled street with terraced houses on both sides. The car is covered in a sheet to protect it from the heat of the sun.

😧 That moment when I think that I have lost my credit card and driving license, or they have been stolen. That’s when I see how I can loose all sense of sanity very quickly. ….
That moment, too many moments later, when I find that they dropped onto the floor of the car. 😮‍💨

Shapes and shadows by a pool of water.

A clear pool of water with water falling in from a small spout. Shades of blue and shadows

We returned home from Lisbon late last night. Keyed up from the drive home and hot because if the weather, I went for a walk. In the nearby park the fountain was running, offering cool air within its domain. I sat there and rested, watching it cycle through its colours.

I’ve returned there again today to cool off.

Yesterday’s exhibition. Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira at the Gulbenkian Museum. He is so prolific, even into his 90s, that I found the exhibition exhausting. Fascinating, inspiring, but exhausting.

A white background with the name SIZA in capital letters

🫠 Melting this evening (today). Today hit 34°C. The house is warm, at least upstairs (living area)…downstairs (sleeping) is cool. Windows open everywhere to catch any breeze that might want to blow through.

Church, Vila Ruiva, southern Alentejo.

A black and white photo of a simple white church, a round tower on one side, steps leading up to it and a curved wall below and on the right