Good Fences

In Portugal once again.... where we holidayed a couple years ago.

This is the Quinta do Seixo...  in the Douro region of Portugal.  A very modern visitor centre for Sandeman port.  Even though it was not open for the season, there was staff there, and, they did open just for us..... we had our tour and then we tasted some port.  Several varieties of port....  and, of course, we bought a few bottles to take home.

This is their trademark motif...

I love this photo because it looks like two people dressed like the "Don" as they call him... they look like they are whispering to each other...

It is so weird how this photo turned out... it is actually the door handle (inside and out) on a clear glass door leading out onto the front area of the visitor centre...

... and, even though I stray a bit...there is a fence in the background...

Here is the story of "The Don" ..   taken from the Sandeman site.
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In 1928 George Massiot Brown was an artist working for the Lochend Printing company, who approached Sandeman for business.  Sandeman requested some designs for posters, and the remarkable silhouette of the Don was born.

Dressed like the Spanish caballeros de Jerez in a Portuguese student's cape and wide brimmed hat, the Don cuts a dark, dramatic figure within glass of ruby coloured Porto.

George Massiot Brown was well aware that French poster artists were very much in vogue, so signed his artwork as G. Massiot to hide his Scottish origins.

Little did he know that The Don would be the very first iconic logo for a wine.  Recognized throughout the world, The Don represents the mystery and sensuality that communicates the Sandeman brand.

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............ and, here are a few more fences ..although the fences were barely there.. some fine wire and posts ...

A short wall that surrounds the visitor centre... just below steps from which you look down upon the river Douro and terraced hillsides of grapes..

View from the other side of the centre..

... another cement wall...

and, a stop on the way out to get a better shot of the entrance to the centre...stone and cement ...

If you want to check out some other great fences, click on the button below and it will take you to Tex's site... the Run-a-Round Ranch

September.... already.....

..the summer has flown.....

And, yet, they say, (those 'they' guys yet again!!  Who the heck are 'they' anyway?) usually it takes about 2 more months til completion from when the drywall sanding is complete.... it is not yet complete...

The taper did his bit during the past week, along with some sanding..but apparently, now another dude comes to do final sanding.   Oh, man....that dust is everywhere.  And, I mean... EVERY.WHERE!  I do know how it goes, believe me; I'm not naive ..... we've done this before.  However, when Mr. BV and I did our own renos...it definitely was not this messy.  Of course, I guess I also have to admit, it was not as extensive as this either ... .well, it was in respect to the detail in each area, but, we also only did one room at a time..and kept it confined because we were trying to salvage every other area of our happy little home.  Nothing being confined or salvaged this time...even the finished bathroom is suffering big time..... I hope those cleaning ladies promised at the end can work miracles.

Doesn't it already look like there is colour?  Did you know there is a lovely soft grey colour that is exactly the colour of unfinished drywall?   It was one of the colours I had chosen for two rooms....hmmmm..... tossed that idea.  Now I've gone to Russian Olive..... quite green ...... with blueish grey undertones... let's see how that looks after the primer coat, to which they add colour.  "They" (the contractors and painters) say that "most" home owners change their minds after the primer coat.... wow.... that's a lot!!

Guess we'll see............................

Then...hardwood guys come to check damage, and fix, feather and otherwise repair things before the casings and baseboards go on..... .... then... cupboards installed ......then....... well, as I said.... another 2 months or thereabouts....

Mr. BV is already getting antsy and saying things like....I just want my life back.....hmmmmm....and I thought I had no patience.  He even was going to 'settle' for some less than professional rock cutting on the very front of the house..... not so me....I was outspoken right away...he was embarrassed by honesty and threatened to send me to Portugal.  Hey Maria.....I may be coming back to visit !!   ...sooner than planned.   Hahahahhahahhah........

Porto, here we come!

And...on that note, I'm now going to bake him some lemony blueberry muffins just to show him what he'll be missing while I'm gone for the duration of the renovation ...  hahahah....I really should pack a bag big enough for two months and head out.....

Friday flowers....

......taken over and through fences of various gardens in Entroncamento on our walks about town on days we actually stayed home.  We put in a lot of miles ....same as last year.... but, this time even stayed away for days at a time.

Who can conceive of being able to grow Bird of Paradise in their backyard when one lives in Canada?  ...hahahha..... they would be covered in snow if they bloomed at this time of year anyway.  Well, every year with the exception of this one.  No snow and temperatures of guess what, today?   a great summery type golfing day here at +14C (courses won't open til end of April ) ....sunny and blue....sigh..... how I wish I wasn't coughing too hard to go outside.  I would surely wet my pants half way 'round the block if I went for a walk.

My sister mentioned that these are definitely not the golden years...not even remotely close to resembling the silver ones either ....she was thinking probably closer to rust and corrosion would be more like it if one tried to describe things.  Yep.  I feel exactly like a rusted out old car body.  Look like one too for that matter.

So, instead, I send flowers..... check out  Susan's header and pics on her post .... beautiful... and Sylvia's too....alway so lovely ...  I saw several blogs with flowers earlier today whilst trying to keep myself occupied and in a position that least initiates coughing.  Because it reeeellly hurts!  Which totally negates lying down....drat.  I just want to lie down and go to sleep for about 4 days right now........

Don't know what these actually are ..but love the watermelon colour....

update:::   some say it is quince....... okay then, we'll go with that.

And, finally, some blossoms above the hillsides of grapes at one of the Port quintas we visited.  The blossoms were alive with bees.... buzzzzzzing......... I thought I was very brave leaning right into the tree.  Of course I didn't think to zoom in......sigh.... shows how light headed I was already.  Hahahha...what an idiot...

Lipstick and White Linen

This afternoon I actually put on lipstick and some lovely White Linen body cream after my bath.  Got to try to make myself feel much better than I do.  Been having uncontrollable coughing fits that got to be a bit scary.  And, of course, they finally took their toll.  Ribs or tissue is now painful...but, today finally I am saying I've rounded a huge corner.  No coughing fits today.  Thank goodness..

Word from the doctor is .... bronchitis and severe sinus infection.  Gee... already knew that.... especially from the gunk I am blowing out...oh, sorry who wants to hear about that .. if you were drinking tea or having a nibble...sorry.

This is ridiculous. The cold didn't actually go away.  It just got progressively worse after the one day I almost fooled myself into thinking I was feeling a bit better.  Silly me.  I probably should have just succumbed. Or at least one of us should have. Gone to bed and moaned our way through a few days and told the others to go on without us  But, no....not any of us ..... Nope.  Instead, like somebody on holiday and be damned if a cold was gonna keep us down....onward we went.  I kept thinking and saying 'intrepid'; mostly to myself, but was really and truly thinking the other "i" word.  You know the one.  Idiot.

First to Porto, where we made things worse I'm sure and by then one or two of the others had a cough too. Walked by the river Douro after dark ...yeh..really good for us all.....like I said...we were nuts.  It was pretty though....I don't remember much...but, I've got photos to prove it....thank goodness.

We even walked across that lower footbridge to the other side and up and down hill and dale over there in the neighbouring town called Vila Nova de Gaia.  More on all of that for another post.
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For now... it is Thursday.  And that means there is Equine Therapy happening at the centre.  My friend Maria volunteers here..... I thought it would be just a little place known to locals and I tagged along on one of her days.  WOW!  It is a world class training centre!   Who knew?  It has it's own site where you can view the beautiful horses trained and raised on the quinta.  What an amazing day it was.  I hope I was not so very contagious that I passed on my illness to any of the little guys and gals having fun at the riding ring. I did not stand beside them too long and was out and about taking photos and looking at the other horses and land and stalls and exercising areas etc...and getting a slight shock before I realized the rope I was holding was a lightly electrified enclosure.... sigh....   Good luck everybody on not getting my plague.  Please all be healthy.

This huge Stallion... called Pino... was pounding his front hooves on his stall door..trying to get some attention... then grabbing his blanket from way outside his stall door...and trying to unlatch the upper lock...they have one placed on the lower part of his door just because he can..... and in general being waaaay too frisky for my liking.  I have been bitten twice before by horses...(I still love them but I am a bit wary nowadays) and know what it feels like so I wasn't going to even try pet him when we walked one of the handicapped kids up to his stall.  Maria was too brave for my liking and it made me nervous. ...she petted his nose and he did try to nip on her....he bared his teeth and nipped at her plenty of times and in general made a nuisance of himself...and was doing a lot of very frisky hopping (hopping as in how very BIG guys do if ya know what I mean)  around in there .... and then.....


suddenly..........this....

 

Little Joao stood close to the stall door and just raised his hand ....no words at all...just raised up his little hand........

That big horse just became a gentle giant.

This my favourite photo of them... I love it.

The kids were having their ride around on a very gentle much smaller horse in the arena...but, Celine, the trainer and manager of the quinta was training one of the big horses while they were doing so.  I am betting that if that horse gets to the top rings nothing will startle him in his beautiful routines.  The kids were busy doing what kids do and of course, it included a bit of squeaking and giggling and nonsense.... especially since somebody new was there.  Me.  Even Celine had to ask for a bit of respect for her horse finally...and then all went back to more or less normal humdrumming .....

Here she is on one of the horses in training...

Meanwhile on the outside of the ring...the kids were having their fun...... and standing very close to that very low barrier you see in the background...under two feet high I would guess..we stepped easily over it... .... and the horses are encouraged to use the whole arena... sometimes actually brushing you with their tails if you stand too close.

Kids riding around the outside ...Celine in the centre again.....

I think this one tells it all.  Celine. Slim and wiry as a whip.....master horse trainer.... looks like she means business doesn't she? ...