Late Christmas preparations

I´ve been back home since Tuesday, but still out of sorts due to jet-lag! I seem to fall asleep as soon as I sit down on the sofa to watch some TV, wake up a few hours later...if I do go to bed early (a lot earlier than my usual time), I wake up at 4 or 5am which is certainly not my usual waking up time either.
Didn´t realize it would take so long to recover, I´m getting old...

This weekend I started on the Christmas preparations, because with my overseas trip and this jet-lag, everything is falling behind.
I covered the fruit mix for the Christmas cake in Port wine and tonight I will add the flour, sugar, eggs and nuts and bake it slowly for a few hours. The lovely recipe was from the now extinct "Notebook" magazine, I have been baking it for the past 2 years and it always turns out well.
The previous cake I had baked in November before going away wasn´t anything special, although easy to bake it was a bit dense with far too much fruit for my taste. Still, even though it wasn´t good it was all eaten!!.

I went into the garage to get the Christmas decorations, but this year I will just put a few baubles in glass vases, hang a few things on the walls, but won´t put up the Christmas tree.
The few Christmas cards I will post are ready to go out to Europe today, these are just for the few people I didn´t manage to see on my trip. Other friends will get the usual email message, not as personal I know, I always try to send out cards with a little letter telling friends about our year, but no time this year.

I made a test batch of ginger cookies, but left out most of the ginger as I´m not too fond of ginger and somehow they don´t taste of anything....I should have substituted with other spices.
I will have to bake some other cookies to package as Christmas presents.
As for more Christmas presents: I have home-made soaps, will still make a batch of laundry liquid...but have to get nice glass jars to package my offerings.

From what I read in other blogs everyone is miles ahead of me with their Christmas preparations. I have to get moving quickly!!
Hope you are all enjoying the lead up to Christmas and making the best of your time with your family and friends.

BACK HOME

I arrived in Perth early this morning, at 1am, after a long flight from Lisbon, via Paris and Singapore.
It´s been a hectic 3 weeks with lots to do, meeting friends and family that I hadn´t seen in about 5 years, lunch and dinner get-togethers...
As I woke up after 5 hours sleep, it was raining and will be raining for the next 3 days...at least the days will be cooler.
I just checked my blog to realize that my readers had gone above the 5000 mark, but because I have been away I didn´t do anything special to commemorate. What a pity, I´ll have to wait for the 10 thousand mark now.

I read my emails and was sad to find out that my sister and brother in law had to make the difficult decision to put their dog to sleep yesterday. "Rocky" was a Portuguese Water Dog, 13 years old, he had been a Christmas present to my nieces when they were young. He was suffering with kidney failure, arthritis...the last couple of weeks he had been having daily treatments with intravenous drips as he was very weak, not wanting to eat, his back legs were hardly holding him.
This photo of him was taken last week sitting close to the family as we watched TV. He liked to be close to people, and on this occasion he had to be helped up into this bean bag.

I still remember how mischievous he was when young: one day my sister left out a whole fish to defrost on the kitchen counter and when she returned from dropping the kids at school, the fish was gone, Rocky had eaten it. Well, he was a fishing dog after all! Another time because he got hold of my brother in law´s mobile phone and chewed it up, beyond repair!

Rocky, days before he was put down

I finish this post with some photos taken on my last days in Portugal. Special occasions with my friends and family that I will treasure. The lovely Portuguese food and hospitality that made me feel special and welcome.
Thank you all xxx

29 Nov -  dinner with friends at Pátio das Conversas restaurant,  Carregal do Sal

A most delicious Prawn curry

Broa (Corn bread) filled with Cod fish

Berry Panacota

3rd Dec - Lunch with Lisbon friends and family at Kaia Kahina Restaurant, Carcavelos

Monday - Walking around Lisbon, Poetry Night and Fado - World Heritage

After a very early morning in the Notary´s office to sign the paperwork for the transfer of  our apartment to the new owner, my daughter and I went into a "Loja do Cidadão" which means "Citizen´s shop", a place where all Governmental departments are represented, and  people can apply for a passport, an ID card; connect or disconnet phones, water, electricity, gas; deal with problems at the Tax office, there are internet providers, Post office... 

Quite a handy place with everything under one roof. Here we changed our addresses, my daughter collected a passport she had applied for a couple of months ago and I applied for a Police clearance certificate I needed for Australia.
Then it was time for Karina to go to the airport for her flight back to Paris and I took the underground into "Baixa-Chiado", Lisbon´s city centre.

I wandered around for a couple of hours taking pictures, the day was warm and I wish I wasn´t laden with the winter jacket, scarf and a bag of documents to be more mobile as a tourist. Just before rush hour, I took the train to Cascais at Cais do Sodré station.

Rossio Plazza

The old trams around the city

Statue of the Portuguese Poet - Fernando Pessoa, outside the coffee shop where he used to sit and write.

Chiado Shopping - this whole was destroyed in a fire many years ago and reconstructed

After dinner, at my Mom´s invitation, my sister and I went to watch a Poetry night at ALA (Academy of Letters (words) and Arts) a cultural institution my Mom is part of.
I have never been a great fan of poetry, but I must confess it was interesting and the poets recited some of their own work or poems of well known Portuguese poets, and they were very well interpreted, and  an enjoyable night was had by all present.
The night was organized by my Mom who is always very active in the world of the written and spoken words.

My mom and dad reciting poetry

Another poet singing his poem

I would also like to bring to your attention the fact that Fado, the traditional Portuguese musical genre, was on Sunday voted by Unesco as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Fado - "the emblem of Portuguese culture and talent".
Here are two of the youngest generation of talented Fado singers - Katia Guerreiro and Mariza.
Listen to these songs and you will feel moved by their sadness, melancholy, longing, even though you might not understand a single word.
Let me know what you think.

                                                                        Katia Guerreiro

Mariza

Weekend wanderings - Cascais

Friday morning was my first relaxing day in Lisbon, and my mom and I went into the Cascais city centre and were later joined by my Dad for lunch.
We had a lovely lunch for 7euros ($10 Aud) each which included a soup, main dish, dessert and a soft drink or water. Quite yummy and very well priced too.

My tasty Bacalhau á Lagareiro (Cod fish with baked potatoes doused in olive oil)

Dad left and drove home, and mom and I walked along the coast until the Marina, while I took quite a few photos. The day was lovely and warm...just lovely to be outside. Then we called Dad to fetch us when we were tired towards the end of the day...

Taken from Cascais Villa shopping centre

Cascais Municipality building

One of the lovely tile panel on the Municipality walls

Mermaid statue

Friday evening after picking up my daughter at the Airport, from her Paris flight, my brother in law arrived home to collect the rest of the family, and we went out to an Indian restaurant in Cascais.
This was due to Piglet's influence from one of her latest posts!
We had a bit of a laugh at the menu translations before choosing our dinner (the funny translations are in Portuguese as the English version is fine).

Funny translation at the Indian restaurant in Cascais

Back in Lisbon on Saturday, which was a bit hectic, moving the last of the furniture out of the apartment, going to the Church a couple of times with car loads of stuff to donate, etc, etc. At night we all joined my parents at their house in Cascais for a family dinner and to watch my Paris photos.

Sunday was a more relaxing day with a sleep in, then before lunch, my daughter, my sister and I went to Cascais Shopping, a big shopping centre nearby.
I managed to get a couple of presents to leave behind as Christmas presents and bought myself two white shirts for work. I find clothing quite reasonably priced compared to Australian prices of course!

After a home lunch and an afternoon movie, my brother in law took us for a drive along the coast from Cascais to Azóia, near Cabo da Roca, Europe´s most western point, to the lovely "Moinho Dom Quixote"(Dom Quixote Windmill) near Cabo da Roca.

The Windmill Bar/Restaurant

View of the Atlantic Ocean from one of the outside "rooms"

Little pond with waterfall in the garden

View of the sunset sky

The Windmill bar/restaurant is lovely and homely, with various lounges with walls full of bright colours, covered in Mexican artifacts and interesting pendant lights.
We got there after sunset, but it would have been the perfect place to watch it come down in the distance over the Atlantic ocean. You can sit outside in various enclosed areas surrounded by beautiful gardens, ponds, waterfalls, or sit inside where the main room is warmed up by an open fireplace.
A very enjoyable end of the day.
Hope you all had a lovely weekend too and I wish you all a wonderful week ahead.

The entrance with the colourful walls and eclectic mix of art

More colour inside the main room

The lovely fire place in the corner of the main room

A week in Lisbon

So much to do, so little time! 
I have had a very stressful week trying to sell furniture from the apartment we need to vacate by this weekend...with not much success. With a recession and not much money around, I thought it would be easier to sell used furniture, but it seems the Portuguese aren't too keen on second-hand.
One of my daughter's friends wanted to keep the dining room and the double bedroom furniture, which I gave to her.
I then contacted Remar - a charity organization that sells used things to fund rehabilitation centres for drug addicts, and they came to see what I had to give. They were very selective in what they wanted, and then carted away a single bedroom and 3 Billy bookcases from Ikea, and some other bits and pieces of furniture, but didn't want a big metal desk (not fashionable) or the sofas as these were scratched by the cat.
I have promises of people to come get another single bedroom, washing machine, fridge, etc by Saturday, so I really hope that happens, as by Sunday I need an empty apartment.
Other things like bed linen, some unused clothing, ornaments, books will be taken to the local church, as they hold monthly sales for charity.
I have a corner of the lounge with boxes to ship to Australia...but am still waiting for a quote from the only company that showed up after contacting 3 companies.

My corner of boxes to ship

View from my street in Lisbon

Probably because of all the stress I managed to get a terrible cold, and yesterday I stayed in bed most of the day with no energy to do anything, my body was sore, scratchy throat, awful cough...
After taking a mix of various medications my sister had in her medicine box, I am feeling better today.

Today there is a general strike affecting public transport, hospitals, schools, other public services....so in the morning as usual I got a lift with my brother in law into Lisbon (I stay with them in Cascais, about 30km from Lisbon), traffic wasn't as chaotic as we expected, but I will have to stay here until 7 or 7,30pm when my brother in law usually finishes work, even though I don't have that much to do, but with no other means of transport I am stuck!!

At least the sun is shining, maximum temperature will be 19C, unlike the previous days when it was grey an wet.

Strike poster

I haven't had much time for sightseeing unfortunately, but hopefully after this weekend I will be able to relax and enjoy the rest of my short stay.
I have already planned a get-together lunch with friends at a small restaurant, where I will have the opportunity to see people I haven't seen in almost 5 years.
Next time I hope to be more cheerful!!

Expo Train and bus station, taken at night while I waited for my lift

Vasco da Gama shopping centre (in front of Expo station)