Winter?

Winter?

Why the question mark? Well it definitely is winter, with our first frosts and temps going well below freezing. But as you can see from the thermometer in the polytunnel, crazily it has still got into the 30s during the day and we’ve had some cracking sunny days: Lunches al fresco and runarounds on the beach.

polytunnel thermometer
polytunnel thermometer

First thing in the morning, it’s a Christmas scene.

jussifrost

frostgarden

But we still have quite a few flowers. Above are chrysanthemums and below, one of many roses.

rose

The sudden sharp frost that we had yesterday meant that finally the Plane tree in the courtyard has started to lose its leaves.

tree

But the days are still sunny and warm and perfect for a runaround on the beach followed by lunch at one of our favourite beach side restaurants.

bettybeach

jussibeachMeanwhile, back at the house a project which I have wanted to get going for ages has lurched into action. By the threshing square is a pile of rubble, rather grandly termed ‘the rockery’ although all that grows there are a few hardy weeds. Well this winter I intend to get it sorted. At least I’ve made a start…

'the rockery'
‘the rockery’
stage 1 - clear out some of the rubble
stage 1 – clear out some of the rubble

Betty is supervising. In her own way.

betty

As we know this is when she is at her sweetest – when she’s asleep. When she’s awake she gets up to all sorts. One day last week during a walk, she managed to grab a wild bird. It was something like a grouse but as she refused to come anywhere near with it (hence the blurry photo taken from distance), we can only speculate. It is now buried somewhere for future retrieval no doubt!

bettybird

2 thoughts on “Winter?

  1. In my hometown in Alenquer (it´s north of Lisbon, but south from your place ) we have had realy strong frosts for almost 2 weeks…we reached -3 just one week ago, but now it’s actually quite mild and we also had some rain today. So, the wintry conditions has gone, but some damage are already done with many of my mother´s vegetables and kitchen-stuff all burned by the frost .

    But it´is nice to see that you guys still go to the beach, and can enjoy all seasons at Casa Azul 🙂

  2. We’ve had very similar weather. After the cold snap it is much milder now. We haven’t had any rain though – very similar to the winter before last which was a drought – and we had forest fires in March to follow.

    Our veggies are OK – Kale, leeks and lettuce are all very frost hardy. We’ve also put the garlic in which should be OK. Oh and Jackie also found some potatoes while digging over a bed which tasted great!

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