Thank goodness for Thanksgiving

Pete, Lorraine, Mas and I went off for breakfast to the Man in the Moon before returning home and Mas preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Tania and Robert arrived as planned, but sadly Diane was not feeling well enough to come over as usual.

Lorraine gave me a bunch of Freesias which I really like, but had not arranged very well, so Tania did a pretty arrangement of them for me, and she also bought a bouquet of flowers, some from her garden.

We had arranged to have an early meal so that it would not make it too late for the journeys home afterwards, and it was Robert's busy weekend as he publishes and puts together a financial journal fortnightly.

We had a really nice meal, and sat about talking for a while. Robert took Pete and Lorraine off to Mill Hill station so they could catch the train back to Brighton before it got too late. Unusually everyone seemed rather tired, not just me, and when everyone left Mas and I had an emergency rest, the kitten coming for the rest as well, before clearing up and relaxing.

Kibbles for a Salty Katz

Friday the 14th, a sunny morning so Mas went out and cleared some of the leaves from the garden. The good news is that the kitten is eating kibbles, his special dry food for kittens. He has finally got a name now which is Salty Katz!

On Saturday, while having breakfast we had a surprise delivery of Narcissi from Diane which were sent from the Scilly Isles, and Salty really enjoyed the box they were sent in, biting it and dragging his toys into it. Florence phoned and we had a cheery long talk.

Early evening we watched Merlin which is quite colourful and entertaining. Later we saw a n episode of a new series called Outnumbered where two parents are outwitted by their children's naive logic, but we did not think much of it.

Mother's Day flowers and garden centres

Mother's day, and Pete sent me some lovely flowers! Talked to Pete on the phone, and Mas said afterwards that I had been laughing all the time!

After breakfast Mas and I went off to a garden centre in Mill Hill to look at plants for conservatories. We had a look around, and decided to resuscitate our own plants; before we left we had a coffee at the centre and looked at the aquarium fish which is always colourful.

Some of Pete's flowers.

Insects, miradouro and levadas

The next day we had breakfast in the apartment, and thought we would have a relaxed day, so we looked at our emails, did laundry and generally pottered about. I took more pictures of lizards and insects for fun, and some flowers.














After dark we could hear crickets all the time.































One of the usual stray, friendly, dogs.






At lunchtime we went to the Miradouro Cruz da Caldeira restaurant and had a light lunch. Miradouro means a beautiful view, and it certainly had one. The parking area is beside the road, actually on the roof, and the restaurant is on a lower floor, built out on the side of the mountain.

Tania and Robert walked back along a levada. The levadas are an irrigation system that carry water from the north of the island, through woods, forests and beside the terraced market gardens. They are rather like small canals with narrow footpaths beside them, for maintainance purposes, and were constructed 500 years ago. They also provide wonderful walks away from traffic.

Later we had dinner at the clubhouse restaurant where live music was provided, and we had fun chatting to some of the other guests during the evening.

High cliffs and Funchal sight seeing.

After breakfast the next morning we went to Cabo Girão which is a cliff, 580 metres down to the sea, and the highest cliff in Europe, before driving down to Funchal. Madeira is an island that was formed by volcanic action, and the sand and pebbles are black, except where white sand has been imported. Terraces have been made up the sides of the mountains, in every available place, and food is grown on them, even on this perpendicular cliff.

Afterwards we drove down to Funchal to look around the town. The town is paved with black and white volcanic rock in mosaic designs. Very ornate, often very large, decorations had been put up everywhere, and there was an air of festivity everwhere, and Father Christmas was busy selling balloons.

There is an exotic garden in the centre of town , and there were lots of flowers in bloom.

We saw a small craft market and walked through it. There was leather work and embroidered things, and a lady making bread, but most impressive was a nativity scene which represented.

As we were leaving town we saw a sweet but pathetic dog curl himself up on the pavement ready to sleep, and we felt sad leaving him there. Later we learned that there are about 3,500 stray dogs and cats on the island, but they all seem to look fairly healthy as people feed them and put dishes of water out for them.