Relative Something

Portugal, Tuesday, September 28

In the morning, Cyndie did some knitting as I wrote my journal. It is just a brief moment of the day when we are idle. As the sun is appearing over the ridge, Cyndie gets dressed and heads out to tend to the horses. She says she will wait for me for breakfast. By the time I make it around, she is only part way through the process of cleaning the stables. She takes pause from the task to join me just as Ian is coming out, so he picks up where she leaves off. After our breakfast, we decide to go shopping. Ian chooses a different route to Celorico, and I am able to spot Machado out with his horse again, so we stop to visit, allowing Cyndie the chance to meet him. Once again, he has constrained his horse for training, and despite being a beautiful animal with interesting markings and a strong healthy looking body, her eyes convey a sadness that reflects the way she is handled.

The supermarket Ian brings us to is smaller than the one we visited last week. We find everything we want except the meat Cyndie was looking for and some aspirin for her troublesome hip. Next stop is a Chemist (Pharmacist) but Cyndie comes right back out, saying there were 10 people in line. Then we drive to a butcher shop for meat. There isn’t any product in the display counter, so there will be no ‘sight buying’. We are told the mincer isn’t functional, but Ian is able to explain what we want and the woman opens the cooler door, steps in where the meat is hanging, and cuts off a piece. She graciously cuts the selection up into cubes for us.

After that, Ian drives us to a second Chemist and Cyndie is successful finding aspirin, using her Spanish to communicate. Then we stop by Carlos’ to check about plans to go up Mt Graça on Wednesday. Ian runs in while we wait in the car, but then Carlos comes out to say hello. Cyndie and I want to buy Ian new zinc scoops for use pouring measured servings of grain for the horses, to replace the brittle plastic scoops that appear to have a shorter life-span. We first saw one at Carlos’ that he uses for his horses. Since we were already in town, it seemed like the time to take action on the plan. We describe our idea to Ian and he says he will need to run back in and ask Carlos what the scoops are called in Portuguese. It serves to remind me that, for the most part, he navigates life here using a second language. We walk to the hardware store and Ian speaks to the clerk, only to receive a stare and then the reply that they don’t have what he is asking for. After some additional communication, it is discovered that, even among the local people, there are different words used to describe things. It turns out, they have just what we want and we finally complete our shopping expedition, fully satisfied.

Back at the farm, we put away groceries and then Cyndie starts work on lunch as Ian and I make a trip down to the spring to prune the old olive tree and water the new plants. Cyndie prepares a spectacular lunch of parmesan chicken on noodles with a fantastic tomato sauce that she created from scratch with no instructions. She also baked chocolate chip cookies which were something Ian recognized, but couldn’t remember a name for them.

After lunch, we give the horses baths by tethering them in the grooming area, one at a time, and washing them with soap and water. They all seem to appreciate the process. After being wet, they are walked for a while to allow them to dry before putting them back in their stable. That process takes most of the afternoon and as light was getting short, we bring Cassius for a walk to show Cyndie the spring garden we had planted.

Cyndie makes soup for dinner and then I presented a slide show at Cyndie’s request and we finish the night watching all the pictures she had taken thus far.