First time making carrot cake for our dear Spanish volunteer Adriana's birthday... Check out the size of these babies!
Monday, May 7th
Do you remember having these plastic springy bracelets in the 80's? I found these in the check out line at the grocery store today!
Tuesday, May 8th
Today was my sweet friend Cristi's birthday, and Luis and I volunteered to babysit so that she and her hubs could have a night out on their own. Since I have used every recent photo I have with Cristi in other daily photo posts, I will share this one that I snagged while Luis was helping Cristi's daughter, Lily, with her Portuguese homework. Melt my heart! [disregard the yellowish orange tone of the photo... can't seem to get around it in Blogger today!]
Wednesday, May 9th
When walking out of work one night, I saw a guy coming in with a parakeet on his shoulder... which is not exactly normal in Portugal. And by 'not exactly', I mean not at all. I conveniently had forgotten something in our office, so I had to head back in, and was outrageously curious about the parakeet, so as I fell in step with the man, I asked him about it. He told me that Jacques speaks a little, though he was being shy at the moment, and I asked if I could offer him a piece of the apple I was eating, which he wasn't super interested in. The man is the husband of one of our psychologists who happened to be working late as well, and we visited her with Jacques, who still refused to speak, until our psychologist explained Jacques behavior to a "man... who just does what he wants, when he wants". To this, I let out a belly laugh, and Jacques chirped, as if to impersonate it! Now I kind of want a parakeet.
Thursday, May 10th
Though most people are pretty annoyed when they send us mail and it takes longer than expected or doesn't arrive on time, but this week I thoroughly enjoyed the extension of my birthday celebration when a big package arrived from my dear friend Jessica! Everything was wrapped up all pretty and themed! Does this girl know me, or does she know me? Here are two of my favorite things that came out of the box.... I've already read the magazine twice and coordinated three days of outfits centered around these earrings! Is it just me, or do you also appreciate how the color of the dot of the "i" and the magazine's spine nods to the tone of the earrings as well?
Friday, May 11th
It's very common to find granite countertops in Portugal, as granite is abundant here, making it a lot less expensive than in the States. Here is some just hanging out on the side of the highway as we headed up north to Pinhel... See that mini-mountain in the background? That's granite. See that handsome husband of mine a little more in the foreground? He slowed down so that I could take a photo, then decided he would stop completely and get out to "pick some rosmaninho for you to smell, because it smells really good, and I don't know if you know it". Have I mentioned that I'm completely head-over-heels with this boyfriend of mine? 'Boyfriend' because it this makes me feel like we are still dating! :)
Saturday, May 12th
This weekend was the annual pilgrimage to Fatima, a city south of Coimbra that is known for it's large church and shrine to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as 3 shepherd children claim to have seen her appear to them there in 1917. Many, many people make the pilgrimage on foot, demonstrating their devotion in this action, and yet a bit of it is just for the experience, as a poll taken this year showed that only 30% of travelers this year came for reasons of faith, and the rest for the experience of having said they visited. During the first two weekends of May, it is impossible to drive north on the highway and not see hundreds of people in yellow safety vests walking along the side of the road, some coming from 200 miles away, camping overnight, and making another trip the next day or over the course of a few days. I shot this a few days ago in a rain storm, but I thought it was interesting that this man was carrying a cross, even through the storm!
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