Sunday 12th December 2021Blog from the Edge, 18

Here’s Alison’s new blog, as we enjoy the build up to our first Christmas in Madeira.

Poinsettias, Paintings and the Pool

Well Christmas has arrived, Madeiran style. Madeirans certainly go to town on their lights - and nativity scenes!  We haven’t yet ventured into Funchal to see the lights there, but Ribeira Brava is definitely bright!  We have our own cheerful patch of poinsettias in the garden, interspersed with red roses and lots of herbs.  It does seem a bit incongruous viewing of all these Christmas images against a backdrop of blue sky and warm sunshine 🌞 although there have been a few cold days and some rain, resulting in masses of weeds sprouting up overnight (my job!).

Work on the pool continues. Jose decided not to work in Funchal 🤗. After a mishap with the chute for the concrete, which led to wet concrete spilling everywhere, the chute is now in working order: the floor to the pool is in, the pipe work is there for the pump and shuttering is going up for the concrete sides.  It is very much a building site!

Paul has been extremely busy working on my sister’s two commissions and they are almost completed.  They are stunning and will look beautiful in situ alongside ‘Brides Veil Waterfall’. Read here to find about about visiting Madeira - from Love Holidays - https://www.loveholidays.com/holidays/explore-the-best-of-madeira/

We managed to get our booster covid jabs, and a flu jab for me, yesterday at the local health centre in Ribeira Brava, but we still await our residency cards 😳.

Monday 15th November 2021Blog from the Edge - 17

Monday 06th September 2021Blog from the Edge - 10

Friends in the City

This week was highlighted by a lovely visit from friends who were staying in their favourite hotel in Funchal (Porto Santa Maria situated on the sea front, next to the old fort). 

We decided to return the visit before their week was up and rather than taking the 20 minute taxi ride to them, we decided we would take the local bus.  This was a Sunday and the ‘Rapido’ service doesn’t run on this day, so a full 1.5 hrs later, we arrived!

It was a lovely ride - twisting and turning up and down through numerous little villages along the way to Funchal, with fantastic views - for the princely sum of 3.35 euros each. We dodged heavy showers all day - a good excuse to shelter under cafe/bar umbrellas 🤣 - but even in the rain it was still warm and beautiful.  After a memorable chateaubriand for the men and fish for the girls it was getting a bit late (and dark), so we decided that a taxi back was the sensible option!   

Other days this week saw us putting in a few sweaty hours clearing my sister and brother-in-law’s garden in preparation of their impending visit to their holiday villa at the end of the month. A cooling dip in their pool was our reward after!  Their two mango trees were laden and so had to be picked - mango chutney on the hob this week, I think!  Also a walk up the hillside above our house revealed a mixture of impressive new villas mixed in with a smattering of the old.  Possible inspiration for future paintings for Paul perhaps?

Monday 23rd August 2021Blog from the Edge - 8

Monday 16th August 2021Blog from the Edge - 7

Monday 09th August 2021Blog from the Edge, 6

 A Mixed Bag

It’s been a mixed bag this week on the weather front, with some gorgeous, very hot days full of sunshine and blue skies - and a couple of cloudy days, with cooler temperatures and clouds blowing down past us down into the valley below. We saw our first rain in 5 weeks last night - not heavy, a steady, gentle soak, but it was still warm.

This week’s been a mixed bag job-wise too. Paul finished clearing the garden, and we’ve been burning rubbish. I’ve been planting up numerous pots, sewing curtains, and giving four very sad chairs found in the cellar a new lease of life, with a few coats of paint. We’ve hung a few more things on the walls (not a hammer and nails job, as they’re solid concrete) and Paul has started work on clearing the cave. Note the dry stone wall 😁!  In between we had a couple of very nice meals in Ribeira Brava and Bar Rio.  Oh, and Paul’s had an excellent hair cut!

Progress has been made on the electrical front. We now have numerous sockets, so we can dispense with a few metres of extension cables running throughout the house! 

Excitement is building as we may have our first guests in a week’s time - my daughter and son-in-law and two grandchildren 🤗

Tuesday 03rd August 2021Blog from the Edge - 5

Monday 19th July 2021Blog from The Edge - 3

Water

Precious water - you realise the importance of it when you haven’t got it! After 2 weeks of a mere cold trickle for a shower, we now have 2 super duper brand new showers, spilling out powerful jets of hot water. It turns out that there was a fault on the solar panel and the filter was clogged.

Outside, Paulo our lovely neighbour, delivered the lesson of the Levada system to us. We get a time slot every week to fill our 2 water tanks - to be used for the gardens.  He gained permission for us to get an extra flow to flood the orchard where we’re going to plant numerous fruit trees.  

This week will see us burning all the debris from the orchard and garden in a makeshift incinerator (we’re not allowed to burn without one), then there’ll be lots of weeding - and finally planting.  

So far we have purchased a range of fruit trees:

3 lemon, 3 lime, 2 avocado, 1 orange, 1 guava, 1 fig, 1 olive, 1 grapefruit, and we’re waiting for 3 mango trees 😊. We already have a few banana trees.  Can’t wait to get planting!