The Expected & the Unexpected: Visitors, Pneumonia, & Colds in the Country

As you may know, the person who rented my parents the Lisbon apartment from which I wrote all the blogs you have read up until now was due back at the end of March, so we had to move (more friends left behind, though these can still stop by). We moved to a quinta (a sort of a country summer house, once a working farm, with old stables now overgrown with weeds and stuffed with bundles of magazines) in Sintra. Our quinta is great. It has gardens, labyrinths, a tangerine grove, a swimming pool, a bench covered in Azuleijos, and wilder parts further out, past the fence at the end of the backyard. We live in a two-story stucco house, with freezing tile floors in front of a fireplace my parents haven’t lit, and a metal spiral staircase. I’m writing from a great little house that’s built on the grounds of the old chicken coop; the only thing cooped up there these days is my mother (whenever she can escape to write). The only slightly bad thing is how the cold seeps into my bones on rainy days in our little house. Even though it’s spring, it still feels like winter in there sometimes. Not only my dad, but all of us kids are sniffling and coughing with spring colds. Our house is also a little small, but I could seriously live here forever! I mean, not really. I could live here forever if it was summer forever and my friends and family came to visit. And Portugal started making Mac ‘n’ Cheese. But my point is, the quinta is great.

This Easter I went to a beach. My mom drove around curving back roads for so long that Kati (my sister) got sick. Oh well, thank goodness we hadn’t thrown out the pretzel bag yet. It was too cold to swim, but there was a GIANT sand hill. I slid down it countless times, but now I’m STILL trying to get sand out of my socks.

At the quinta, we also get lots of animals. If you just kick a rock, a few lizards scurry out from under it. There are some cats and toads, too, and my dad goes bird watching almost every day. He once saw a bird with a bright red eye. The plants are also amazing. There are lemons and oranges in the wilder part, and a bush with edible flowers. They taste sort of minty with a drop of honey, but not really sweet. Nobody but Kati and I are brave enough to try them. It’s a great place to live for the summer.