KITCHEN UNITS.....NEARLY BUILT....HURRAH.....


Two sections of the sink unit bolt together...drawers either side and triple sink in the middle....rubbish bin at far right...


Here demonstrating the drawers opening, a handy feature, and the pull-out bin, which will be fed from a hole in the counter top....no more opening cupboard doors with slimy hands to get rid of revolting wads of chicken waste and so on.....hahahahaha


The cooker unit.....oven in hole in the middle and cooktop above....far side has hangover, sorry, overhang, and benchettes for breakfast bar type shit....


And both MDF units are suspended from and embedded into a massive timber outer frame, with a finish a bit like this....
The cupboard doors will be car sprayed to a high gloss finish.....orange? deep red???
Really, who knows???

Herewith a somewhat random selection of pix from the last few weeks since I moved into the late Tennis Club.


Earlier today......the pool/hole being emptied of rain water and mud in preparation for concrete base and brick walls prior to fibreglass pool being plumbed in.
The bad news is that due to high groundwater levels it has to be set 70cm above ground level.....which looks horrible unless lots of sneaky landscaping is done to disguise it.....oh the joys....


Last night I made something a bit like a spag bol for some friends....but the weather has been so cold we had to retire to the bedroom after dins as the massive living room was too cold....last few days have been colder here than in Bath, although today was sunny. But tonight is cold again. Doesn't really look right, Brasilians in jumpers!!


Foreign people in jumpers teach me how to eat spaghetti....mmmmmm!


....and then banish me from the table.....

Randomness......more pix.....


The enormous guest house (think tardis) with doors and windows fitted.....we have also tested the water and the electrics.....they work!!.....hahaha...not bad in four weeks and a couple of days....


Tiled bathroom now has bog and sink....


After torrential rains the pool appears finished....anyone for a dip???


Hahahahahahahah.....after selling my beloved Cinna sofas before leaving the UK, I planned to try and have copies made here....but then discovered that an earlier version was ripped off by Tok Stok here, kind of Brasilian Habitat, and also that there is an online Trade It here called Balcao......so I got this set for £150 instead of £1200 new....I've got a line on some more so I can make a big U with three sofas and two corners.....fucking luxury.....

Gates....front gates.....

Beautiful custom made hardwood gates......Hannah and I used to coo at similar ones because they were so pretty.....now I got some!....same guy thats building the kitchen units....

The hole for the pool takes shape.....Pedro and I spent a day going round getting on the spot estimates after getting about 15 tentative ones to start with.....finally narrowed it down to four, and went for the firm with the gorgeous Adreana behind the counter...


Barbecue at Vania and Leonardo's house last week.....Leonardo is my buddy who works at Estacao Boqueirao, my favorite bar by the lagoon.....

Nobody got round to making accompaniments so we ate a pure protein dinner of chicken and steak and sausages non-stop from 8pm til 2am, washed down with vast quantities of Brahma of course.....even small children were eventually barbecued.....

Yet another futile attempt to get me to drink alcohol.....


Ha....as if this would work......


The view from Mieke and Marc's house high up overlooking the lagoons, and the ocean, and the mountains....actually overlooking everything, at Morro da Cruz. It's an amazing house with pool and everything and for sale for about a hundred grand.....see Viviun.com for details....


Ok, my house has no view at all....but my living room is VERY VERY big.....this was the first time after moving in I had all the doors and winders open....very nice and airy....and I will have a view soon as I'm putting a terrace on the guest house and a balcony off the mezzanine....so there....

Oh and talking of views, here's the view from my bedroom window of a horsey....now if that isn't a view, what is ?

A LOAF OF ITALIAN BREAD.......

....which my pal Rosario bakes at his beachside restaurant every couple of days.....
...see picture below....

I ANNOUNCE THE INVENTION OF THE NO-BUDGET SELF WATERING PLANT POT......

It really works too.....2 litre coke bottles work best (the one on the left)....cut in half, punch holes in cap and invert top half and insert into bottom half.....water is drawn up by capillary action ( or something like that...it works anyhow!!!)....these are garlic and ginger....


More gardening....Rosario gave me these tomato and basil plants....I then recognised a few more tomato type plants already growing... my fingers are becoming green.....
Not just oranges then......


The guest house gets it's first fitting for doors and windows.....the big window is tailor made with fold-away moz screens inside, the door and bog window are " off the peg" as it were....


The guest house now has a flat roof, which will soon have tiles and a rustic bamboo balustrade and palm frond sun shade.....

I've just got one word for you son.......


.....oranges.
So here we are amidst our orange groves....
....yes, as of this week I am an orange grower.
I (almost) have 1500 orange plants and a 50 year lease for the land on which to grow them.
A bunch of us are operating as a co-operative, a scheme set up by the cats in the pic above.....
So as long as I don't need to eat for the next two years, the future is basically orange.....


More oranges.....


Even more oranges....


No, not an orange.
This is Rosario, and his brilliant seaside Italian restaurant.....he's originally a Sardinian.