söndag 29 september 2013

Raking

Our beautiful oak

In our garden we have a beautiful oak tree. It gives us shade in the summer and a lot of leaves every autumn. You cannot leave oak leaves because they contain oxalic so you cannot leave them on the lawn. You have to rake and rake and rake.

I started on my 5th sack and I don´t think it will stop until I´ve done another 35 or so. Because the leaves have only started to fall down. There is yet more to come.

You have to be really careful when you rake under this big oak. Sometimes when a small wind is blowing through the leaves projectiles of acorn will fall down and they hurt as hell.

You can clearly see where I´ve been raking

Some people say that we shall take it down because of the work and that it gives to much shade and some say that it is too beautiful to take down. I both like it and don´t really mind the raking too much but sometimes you want more sun.

Now it will be the next owner´s problem, whoever it will be. We will move and have other problems to solve.

Ase

fredag 27 september 2013

Portuguese language course

Both Lasse and I have started our Portuguese language courses. We don´t go on the same day which is both good and bad, I think. We were going to to go on the same day at first but that course was cancelled. We were offered to go on another course on Thursdays but I have my riding lesson every second Thursday so that was not an option for me. I found another course on Wednesdays but Lasse is normally in Stockholm then so that was not an option for him. So we ended up on different days.

I started my course last Wednesday. The lady, who was the teacher was originally from Mocambique and had been working as a teacher before. I can´t say i was very pleased with my course but Lasse was very pleased with his. His class seemed more motivated. I hope my class will pick up.

Yesterday I had my riding lesson but when i started to trot I felt that Pontus was lame (?) . So that lesson ended very quickly. Which is sad because next time, in a fortnight, I am in Portugal. I felt sorry for ol´Pontus but I hope he is better tomorrow or at last very soon.

Lasse is leaving for Portugal tomorrow and the wine harvest. I am a bit envious because i would have wanted to go as well but I could only take one week off. It seems they are starting the harvest of the red grapes on Sunday if the weather is ok and the white ones are already harvested so I am missing out on the whole harvest. Pity.

Got to go to work now. See you soon

Ase

tisdag 24 september 2013

Dentist again

I took the courage to call the dentist a couple of weeks ago. I got a time the week after for a check up and som x-rays. It took many years and a broken tooth before I had the guts to call them and when I did everything moved very fast, a bit too fast.

It is a bit shameful to say that you are afraid of the dentist. So afraid that you don´t dare to go there. But finally I did. On the phone I explained how scared I was and if they were going to do a big job with anesthetics I probably had to take some kind of sedatives. This was a dentist I got recommended.

On my first visit last week my daughter Madeleine volunteered to come with me, to hold my hand so to speak. She never did but mentally she actually hold my hand. When I got in to the examination room I said "You mustn´t be angry with me or say Wow! or anything like that. If you do I will walk away." They said that they would do nothing of the sort and I sat down.

The examination wasn´t painful but shameful. I felt so ashamed that I had neglected going to the dentist for so long. But of course I had painted a much worse picture than what it really was. It was bad of course but not as bad as I had imagined.

Then I got a new time for yesterday. The dentist was going to do a small job on a filling that had fallen out. He wanted me to take anesthetic as a sort of trial. I really didn´t need it this time. When he said it mt froze and then started pounding and it felt like I was going to cry, or walk away or ...I don´t know.

It was absolutely awful but was over kind of quickly. Then he said that he wanted to start with the broken tooth as soon as possible to be able to save it. He had prescribed sedatives for me and that I needed someone to drive me.

-Well my husband is leaving Sweden on Saturday and is away for two weeks, I said.
-Can you come tomorrow?

ding ding ding the alarm system went amok and I didn´t know what to say.

-Tomorrow? I whispered. I have to call him and ask (say no, say no, say no)

He said yes. Yes to drive me to death row.

So here I am. Soon I will take a shower and then 2 pills that will make me soft, with no worries and calm. Do whatever like-feeling. Ok you want to drill in my mouth. ok no problem. You want to take BIG syringes and put in my mouth. Ok no problem.

Pray for me or whatever you do.

Ase Don´t worry, be happy

måndag 23 september 2013

A small vineyard in Portugal

So we´re getting closer. Closer to our dream and our own place in the sun. This may be the last winter of snow and ice but also our last autumn of picking mushrooms in the forest. But they might have some kind of edible mushrooms in Portugal as well.

In 5 days Lasse is going to Portugal to learn about the wine harvest. The 5th of October I am going to join him there. !0th of October is set to be "the take over" day. The lawyer, the seller, the real estate agents and we are going to meet to sign the papers and  shift the rest of the money. I am so excited.

Our language course was cancelled but Lasse found another on Thursdays starting next week. He is going to miss 2 times since he will be in Portugal but hopefully he can catch up with the rest when he gets back. I found a course on Wednesdays. I cannot go on Thursdays because of my riding lessons. We have to help each other out because I think this is going to be quite hard.

I got a good idea from a friend to look into Portuguese​-Flashcards​.com You get a sentence a day and you can choose your level. Mine is very basic. 

I hope the scaffolders will come today to put the scaffolding away. It looks so messy around the house. The painters have finished their job now but Lasse did a great deal of that work.

We went out last Saturday to listen to band at Stationen Norsesund. The band was good but the food was terrible. Everything tasted sweet. I could hardly eat anything even though I was very hungry.

Today I am having my second visit at the dentist. They are going to do a small job on one tooth but I am scared as hell. Keep you fingers crossed for me today.

Ase

måndag 16 september 2013

storm and rain

When I look outside my window this morning I know one reason why we want to move south. Storm and rain. Today it is so windy and gusts of rain keep coming in. It is raining from above and from the side. There is no way you can protect yourself and keep dry when you walk the dogs for instance.

The weather report in Caldas da Rainha shows sunny and 22 degrees, much better in other words. Of course it will rain there as well. I know it  rains a lot there. That it is why it is so green and beautiful. But the season is a little longer and that´s what we want. A longer season and more promises of sun.

I am going to Gothenburg today to meet my best friend Anna-Lena. She is heading up to Umea and is stopping by in Gothenburg so we are able to meet for a breakfast. It isn´t that often that we see each other so it will be wonderful.

Yesterday I did a 75 minutes-yoga class, walked the dogs and went to the stable, rode and did the typical stable chores. Do I need to say I slept like a baby last night.

Now I have to get out in this foul weather and walk the dogs.

Write more later

Ase

söndag 15 september 2013

Wonderful day

The day couldn´t have started better. Went to yoga class. This is the fourth time I attended for a very long time. First time I went it felt like somebody had beaten me severely with a stick all over my body. Wednesday class is much harder so that one I am just trying to do my very best, which isn´t much. I can participate in about 25% of the positions. Sunday class is softer and today it felt like I could do maybe 50%. Now after the body feels bruised but sort of happy. I think I am slowly getting a bit softer. I feel a bit sad though, which I always do after yoga. I keep thinking how much we are abusing our own bodies, or at least I am.


Now I have some time before walking the dogs and making an early dinner. Laundry time!!

The house is slowly getting back to its original self but it looks much nicer, bigger and cleaner. Paint can do a lot.

livingroom before paint and new floor

wood burner gone

wood burner back

curtains up

another angle



Busy day

Sundays are always kind of busy for me.
I do yoga class 75 minutes 10.15-11.30 am
Home to prepare early dinner (skip the shower since I am going to the stable in the afternoon and the horses don´t mind me smelling)
Some household chores or working
Early dinner
Stable, riding ,cleaning out Pontus´muck, preparing his food, cleaning out and filling water buckets. At least 3 hours labour. Probably good for me.
Home by 7 pm
Shower
tea and sandwich

I really don´t like when it is so busy but what can you do when everything is at the same time. It is either a busy day or give something up. That I don´t want to do.

I am a person who likes to be at home, spending parts of my day off doing nothing or reading.

Gotta go!

Ase

lördag 14 september 2013

Work in progress

Tjena

Det börjar närma sig, om två veckor åker vi ner till Portuga igen. Det är den gamle som skriver så jag skall berätta att jag åker ner en vecka före Åse för att vara med på vår första vinskörd, skall bli riktigt kul. Den 10 oktober tar vi över gården, lite skrämmande men hiskeligt kul.

Huset i Sverige är värderat och alla papper klara för att lösa finansieringen av vår farm i Portugal. Vi håller som bäst på med renoveringar av huset inför kommande försäljning. Det är många saker att koordinera, i veckan har vi renoverat klart vardagsrummet, ett av sovrummen på överplan och denna vecka kommer vi förhoppningsvis vara klara med fasaden och fönster utvändigt.

Livet är lite trist just nu men varje timma vi lägger på huset kan förhopningsvis innebära att vi snabbare kan flytta ner till Portugal. Hur mycket är en ommålad fasad värd? ingen som vet kanske inget eller mycket.

Åse håller utöver allt arbete med huset på att bygga upp vår hemsida, Facebook sida och skapa ett intresse kring farmen. Vi har fått våra första bokningar redan, skit kul

Den 24:e sept börjar vi med Portugiska kurs, jag vet vem som kommer att vara sämst, det är jag men jag kommer att satsa allt för att lyckas, troligen blir det Portugiska med brytning på Göteborska, det gäller att hålla på sin dialekt.

Sköt om Er
//Den gamle

onsdag 11 september 2013

A frog?

To my surprise I found a frog in my bedroom when I got down there to dress this morning after breakfast. The window, which is on ground level since it is a souterrain house, was closed and was done so the evening before since I thought it was a bit cold in there.

So my question is. Where did the frog come from and how long had it been there? Our youngest dog Baldo didn´t sleep in our bedroom and hasn´t for the last couple of nights.Was it because of the frog? He was clearly scared of it.

Anyway I threw a towel over the frog and made a nice little parcel of it, without hurting the frog of course, and took it outside and released it. The frog jumped happily away.

If it would have jumped in my face or so when I was sleeping OMG I would have screamt/screamed. ( I write both version of the irregular, soon regular verb scream)

Ase

Getting closer

In 17 days Lasse is going to our farm just outside Caldas da Rainha to start learning "everything" about wine harvesting and wine making. I have to wait another week then I will go too. In the week I will be there we are going to complete the deal as well and hopefully get the keys to our "Place in the Sun".




It is going to be so exciting! I just can´t wait. Imagine the feeling when we get the keys. Then it will be ours. Ours to start planning, working and worry about. What if we are not happy there? What if we don´t learn the language? What if we become home sick and want to home again? What if don´t get any friends? What if I will miss my children too much? What if we don´t get any guests and run out of money? What if? What if?

Now when it is getting closer it is not a dream anymore but reality. Then all these worries strike you. What if?

Ase

tisdag 10 september 2013

Still chaos

One small bedroom soon finished
Today the carpenter came to put in the new flooring in the living room. Then it shows that he is one package of oak boards short. I thought that we would be able to put the furniture back at the end of the week. But hopefully he will get hold on another package and finish tomorrow. Then Lasse is going to paint the windows in the living room and the wood burner will be up by Thursday. Pew!

Adam´s room is almost done. I am just going to oil the oak boards and then we are all set.

The scaffolders came today so the company that is going to paint the exterior can reach the highest points of the house which Lasse couldn´t. It is 7 meters high and he doesn´t want to paint the house standing on a ladder. I am so scared of heights so I could never do it myself so it is understandable.

I have now had over 20000 visitors on my blog and I have been neglecting it badly lately due to working on the web page and the facebook page. I think it is amazing. Who could have imagined that when I started writing. When I started the blog we had a dream that we would buy a house in Greece or Portugal in the future. Then i saw THE PLACE on the web. I we decided to go to Portugal to look at it in April. AND we loved it. So we headed back to Portugal in May to have second look and still loved it. In June we handed over the deposit and in October it will officially be ours.

The web page will hopefully be out in the middle of October IF we can get some nice pictures of the interior of the apartments and the villa. I don´t want to use the pictures that the previous owner had because they look really boring. If I have time during the week I am there I will see if I can get some nice things to "style" some of the apartments and take some nice pictures.

scaffolding


utility room, next project


tisdag 3 september 2013

The house is chaos

It feels like everything is going to happen at same time. Today the bricklayers are going to remove our soapstone burner so the carpenters can put in a new floor. The soapstone stove weighs about half a ton kilos so it is not an easy job. I and Adam removed some of the furniture and curtains and stuff yesterday so the will have free passage while doing it. I think it will be quite messy so I better move some more things before they arrive.

Then Lasse will paint the whole ceiling, about 70m2. The walls in the living room will also be painted. He has finished painting a small bedroom upstairs but there is no flooring. He is taking the old living room oak boards and will polish and oil them to put them into the small bedroom. Puh!

The utility room is a mess with no flooring or anything on the walls. The washing machine is still in there but the dryer is standing in the small hall downstairs.

The electrician is probably coming next week to fix the lamps on the balcony, the lamps in the hallway downstairs and the unit in the sauna.

So you see I need a hotel room, preferably with a nice breakfast included.

Have a good day!
Ase

måndag 2 september 2013

September

Someone complained after my last entry about me writing that autumn had arrived. For me it is summer when you can sit outside in the evenings without a warm jacket or wrapped in a blanket. Other people think it is still summer it the can wear sleeveless when walking during the day. Different opinions I guess.

Today it is autumn no one can deny that. It is cloudy or raining and 14 degrees. It was nice though walking the dogs because I found some chanterelles. I will see if I eat them for lunch or put them in the freezer.

I had a really busy day yesterday. I started out quite early with breakfast and a morning walk with the dogs. Then I had a 75 minutes yoga class at 10.15. I was really sore after the yoga. My God I am so tense in all my muscles. There is another class on Wednesday and I think I will attend that one as well. Then followed lunch, vacuum cleaning, weekly shopping. At the same time Lasse was painting one of the small bedrooms and took the dogs for a walk.

We both went to the stable and Lasse helped me out with the chores. Then I rode and Lasse took some pictures. None of them very good.

Happy

23 year-old "Nordsvensk" Pontus
In the evening we made dinner and crashed on couches. I was soooo tired.

Ase