We’ve had several grocery store trips trying to keep up with having fresh foods in the house, with less restaurant eating. We especially like the Continente in Santo Amaro. Their in-house foods include good bread, tasty hummus, guacamole, and a minty couscous salad. Their raspberries and blueberries are really fresh. The best selection of plant-milk yogurt is at Auchan (a French chain, that here in Portugal is pronounced “ocean”).
David installed ceiling lights in three rooms. Each one has three aimable spots. We need an electrician for the last two ceiling lights since it is a bit more complex to mount them.
Pam spent several afternoons getting her Spindrift website current, with a redesign of the front page. She published some new titles in the store.
David is still having Achilles tendon problems, so we didn’t plan as many trips that involved a lot of walking. We spent more time in our apartment, working on the boxes we shipped and organizing stuff.
David did some shopping, including buying a mattress topper for the sofa-cama guest bed. He had no luck buying a multi-region Blu-Ray player. He sent two back to Amazon after finding the multi-region claims were totally wrong.
2 quarta-feira
We scheduled a large-item trash pickup with Oeiras municipal services for the big pieces of our three shipping palettes. It was easy – no complex explanations needed! We put the splintery wood and cardboard on the sidewalk and at 9am the city sent a flatbed truck. They loaded it up and it was gone.
3 quinta-feira
Hike on the Trilho dos Vinhas in Cascais, alongside the Pope’s visit. The trail starts behind the Mercado parking lot (farmer’s market building) and follows a dried stream bed out toward the Sintra hills.
The Pope was also due to arrive in Cascais later in the morning for a meeting with the youth leaders of the Jornada Mundial da Juventude, 1-6 agosto.
4-6 Ago
We avoided Lisboa from 4-6 Ago but even riding the trains on our Cascais line, we encountered large groups of kids singing and generally being festive. It turns out the Spanish delegation was staying in Cascais, so they were often on the train.
9 quarta-feira
Second health care experience. Pam had general blood work and tests corresponding to the checkups we had at the end of July. The Joaquim Chaves health center in Miraflores was efficient, clean, and modern. One unusual feature: for urinalysis, they expect you to bring a large bottle of the stuff from home, from which they take a sample. Results come back to you in email or in their app.
11 sexta-feira
We went to Sr. Vinho for dinner and a fado concert with Concord Orchestra friends who are vacationing in Portugal. Sr. Vinho is in the Lapa neighborhood of Lisboa. Three different fadistas (fado singers) gave us a great sense of the style and how it can vary.
Beach days
On some of these hot days, we went to the beach and stood around in the water. We have two beach chairs, bought at the Auchan hipermercado, one of the big grocery and homegoods stores. The water seems numbingly cold and just standing there cooled us off just fine. According to seatemperature.net, the Caxias water temperature is 18°C (64°F). Pretty brisk!
12 sábado
Pam did a 2-mile walk on the hill above our apartment. It’s fun to walk on the streets that twist up the side of the hill. More interesting than long straight blocks with the promise of a water view now and then.
14 segunda-feira
Pam went swimming using her dive skin, a lycra ankle-to-wrist outfit made of bathing suit material. It’s good for moderating the temperature as well as protecting from sun. It was a lot easier to dunk in the water when the dive skin allows the cold water to seep in more slowly.
16 quarta-feira
David did his blood work and tests at the health center in Miraflores. From there, Pam walked Monsanto Park and hiked up and down but generally up to Alfragide and the Ikea where she bought the third ceiling light, as well as cereal bowls and wine glasses. She may have just missed a bus, if she was at the right bus stop, so although she could carry her packages, she took a Bolt home.
18, 19
We made more shopping trips to get our apartment ready for guests. We got a mattress topper from Amazon and we’re waiting for a recliner that we hope will get delivered in September. We could use one more comfortable chair and wondered about the Poang chair at Ikea, lightweight presence and comfortable. We got some wine glasses, glass food storage containers. Ikea had a non-slip pad, meant for rugs, that is working great to keep the removable seat cushion topper on our couch from sliding. On the 18th, we went to Cascais to get more cork pillow covers and to round out our collection of pottery expresso cups. (We had shopped at these artisan stores, Cork4All and Cais16, back in April.)
21 segunda-feira
We worked on stuff at home, still making changes of address. We are examining more of the boxes we shipped and deciding what to do with things. It’s hot this week, so we ended the day with a dip in the ocean at our local beach. The water is cold! Pam is more likely to dunk all the way when she wears her dive skin, and, it’s good for sun protection. David boldly just dives right in.
22 terça-feira
Big day today! Our official SEF residency cards arrived by registered mail. Good thing we were home to sign for them. We are now officially residents of Portugal for the next 2 years. Then we will renew for three years before we can be permanent residents.