Monday 4 October 2010

What a difference a day makes


We're heading into autumn so the weather is bound to be changeable and cooler but I wasn't expecting such a huge difference between yesterday and today. 

Sunday 3 October 2010

The changing seasons

I grew up on the edge of Epping Forest. Literally the edge. The gate in our back garden opened onto a wood filled with elm and oak trees, silver birches, holly, elderberry and blackberry bushes and, in the spring, a carpet of flowering bluebells.

In summer the wood became our playground - a magical one where our imaginations would turn the bushes and trees into hideouts for pirates or castles for princesses or stables to keep our imaginary horses.

In the autumn, the changing colours of the leaves would provide a pallete of reds and golds, and then eventually the stark, naked branches against a wintry sky would provide their own beauty and let us know Christmas was on it's way.

I traded that in for the Sintra hills several years ago where the trees are mostly evergreen pine trees with spikey needles and pine cones. There a few trees here and there that will provide a semblance of that glorious autumn pallette and a reminder of a childhood long left behind.

From London to Sintra

I was born in London met my husband whilst on a holiday in Portugal with my parents and youngest sister. At the time he was working as a receptionist and dj in the hotel where we stayed for a week.

As there were no emails in those days, we communicated via letters and phone calls plus frequent trips between England and Portugal (either he was visiting me or I was visiting him) before we decided it would be much easier if I simply moved to Portugal.

Twenty-one months after we met, I packed my bags and belongings, said goodbye to family and friends and moved lock, stock and barrel to Portugal.

That was nearly 30 years ago... now we have six kids, three dogs and live in a house between the sea and Sintra hills.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Life is....

... an open road.

Or life is an open blog waiting for words to spill out through a keyboard and onto a screen for those travelling through cyberspace to read and follow.