If only we'd known ...

Position
Mum/Dad
Job Description
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment
Candidates must possess excellent communication and organisational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless watching of sports/dancing/musical productions.
Travel expenses not reimbursed
Extensive courier duties also required
Responsibilities
The rest of your life
Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily
Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and co ordinate production of multiple homework projects
Must have ability to plan and organise social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks
Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, and an embarrassment the next.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility
Possibility for advancement and promotion
None
Your job is to remain in the same position for years without complaining and constantly retraining and updating your skills so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you
Previous Experience needed
None
On the job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.
Wages and compensation.
Get this - You pay them!
Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
Benefits
No health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays
This job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.
There is no retirement.

The Dolphin

Nothing to do with creatures from the deep, but the name of a fab restaurant in Luz. This is our favourite place to eat. It's owned by a family from South Africa and the food is superb and the service is welcoming and friendly. This had to have a page or two to itself in my album. The pic on the right hand side is of the two of us on the terrace before we went out. I look even shorter than normal, not helped by the fact that I was wearing an exceptionally flat pair of sandals that my daughter had lent me. They had the shiniest, flattest soles you have seen and not at all suitable for walking along polished cobblestone pavements. But of course I didn't know that until after we had left the house and it was too late to go home and change. My husband must have thought I was being particularly affectionate in the way I hugged his arm and held his hand there and back, little did he know it was more the fact that I was on the verge of falling over every time I took a step!

Then we have the obligatory photo of our food. Notice that I could not wait for the photo to be taken before I started tucking into my beef fillet and chorizo kebab ;-) Paul had a South African dish called bobotie which he tells me was delicious and came with various different dips and side dishes.

Just before dinner we took a little walk/slide/stumble just past the restaurant and the bottom photo is a picture looking back towards The Dolphin.

It was back to work yesterday. I have to tell you that school secretaries are no more keen to go back after half term than the students are ....

Pictures of Portugal

At the risk of boring you with all things Portuguese ... here's my first page of my album! I wanted to follow the grid idea that we did at the NSD crop and just show general images of the area in which we stayed. I already have an idea for the next couple of pages but probably ought to be getting on with a bit of housework :-(

When I am on holiday I love to read. Going 'hand luggage only' limited how many books I could take but I managed to get through both books I took. I am a huge fan of Jeffrey Deaver books, especially the ones which feature the detective Lincoln Rhyme. He's started a new collection now with a character called Kathryn Dance who is a specialist in body language to solve crimes. This is the book I read, Roadside Crosses, and I would recommend it as good holiday reading! It is set in Monterey, California and is really a bit of a warning to anyone to writes or comments on blogs! I think us scrapbookers are safe from the kind of thing that happens in the book but it makes you realise how careful you need to be in divulging personal information! The clever thing he has done is that he has set up a blog website which is the basis of the story and made it look totally real when you check it out. I didn't realise it existed before I read the book but having checked it out, it was good to see pictures of where the story is actually set and the locations mentioned in the book.

Oh well, better get back to the housework ....

Honey, I'm home ...!!!

Just to pop my head round the door and say 'hello' to everyone! Arrived home yesterday afternoon and already wishing I was back in Portugal. It was so pretty everywhere, the trees in bloom and oranges, limes and lemons growing wild in back gardens of tumbledown houses. A really lovely time to go.

So back to reality now, but I took a fair few photos and have a few ideas for some new pages - watch this space! I have, waiting on my shelf, a lovely album that I bought a while ago, lovely shaped pages, pale blue 'flocked' design on the cover and it's so lovely I have been scared to start using it as nothing so far has been considered worthy of its use. But I know if I don't use it soon it will gather dust until it's out of vogue and dated - so the 'Portrait of Portugal' album is about to start. It's ideal and I can hardly wait to start.

Well you guys have certainly been busy in my absence, I can see I have a lot of catching up to do. Excuse my lack of commenting, I am going to check everyone's blog out to see what you have been up to in this last week, but gradually work through one at a time. See you soon!

Snorkelling? Not me!

But I guarantee my husband will have packed his snorkel mask in his hand luggage. His favourite beach for snorkelling is here , Dona Ana beach in between Luz and Lagos. Literally a 10 minute drive from where we will be staying. The sea is COLD along the Algarve coast, it's the Atlantic and I struggle to go into the water past my ankles but my husband loves snorkelling and I am more than happy to stay on the beach looking after the beach towels and bags reading a book. This beach is not that well known by tourists, and if you go there at the weekend, it is literally full of local families with picnic tables and the whole family from great-granny to tiny babies. Always a good sign I feel, when somewhere is popular with people who live there. So I am guessing that today we may have caught the local bus and ended up here.

The Fort

One of the prettiest landmarks in Luz is here, it's a lovely place to have lunch on the terrace but the restaurant inside is lovely in the evenings. The Algarve temperatures can be deceiving, beautifully hot during the day and very chilly in the evenings. About 7pm a wind can pick up from the sea and can take you by surprise. So we always tend to book an inside table in restaurants as I am prone to commenting on how breezy it is! I never leave the house without my trusty pashmina to throw round my shoulders in the evenings. My husband, who seems to function on a different thermostat to me, never notices and has been known to shake his head, wrinkle his brow and take on a 'what is she talking about' look when I mention that I am a bit chilly.

Where will I be tonight?

Well, if I am lucky I will be here , my favourite restaurant in Luz. The Dolphin is owned by a South African family and the food is fabulous. We've been visiting the Dolphin for over 5 years now and always try to get a table there during our stay. The food is delicious, and the staff are so friendly and welcoming. It's always busy and you usually have to pre-book a table but it's well worth it. We have our favourites on the menu but last time I went I had the mixed meat marinated kebab and it was beautiful! Who knows, maybe I'll go for the swordfish steak tonight .... washed down with a nice glass of wine ... followed by something delicious from the sweet menu .... then a nice walk along the seafront promenade and then home.