12th of July

Took me 12 minutes to be up at the golf club house. The human body is incredible, responds so well to training ( in my case going up there 3x), I was quite surprised. Some time ago I worked as a fitness instructor and nutritional consultant, so I know what I am talking about. Making an effort 3-4 times a week to do about a half an hour walking is a start. Lately it has been reduced to working in my garden and the occasional run in the woods due a knee problem I’ve been struggling with. This time it was fun. Nobody was there, had the terrace all to myself. The waiter told me that in July most of the owners travel back home, leave Madeira to the tourists. That is the high season. The school holiday is on, and mostly families rent these types of villas. The British seem to be coming back again, also Russians seem to like the place. I’ve met quite a few French, German and Norwegian people as well.
Ex decided to rent it out too, the goal is to cover his costs, the condominium charges are quite high, and to make enough money to vacation for “free”.
Being the only customer at this early hour I talked with the waiter about the weather. Just like in England. His family just took the boat to Porto Santo, he was a bit worried because of the wind. Apparently it gets quite windy there,will see on Tuesday.
Found the perfect spot to enjoy the view and maximum wifi. Had a chat with sis, finalizing few things regarding our trip to Norway next month. Got quite upset about the time of the flights, still thinking of other options,must find a way. It is an another exciting trip I am looking forward to.
We have a little “tradition”, started only a year ago. Each year we go away for 3-4 days, just the two of us, without the kids. Last year was Venice, this year it will be Oslo-Bergen.
After some phone calls and 2 cappuccinos headed back home.
We started to get on each other’s nerves with ex husband. We do live apart, have our own lives. We are together because of our son, but it’s hard at times. Today we went down to the city to buy tickets for the glass bottom boat trip and went on our separate ways. Mishal came with me. We went to the Santa Catarina park. Didn’t plan anything special, just to walk around. Took loads of pictures of the flowers, trees.
I am fascinated by the plumeria. I prefer calling it Frangipani, sounds more exotic, but it is also called the Hawaiian lei flower used for making garlands they welcome the tourists with in Hawaii.
It is a tropical tree, loves full sun. Some of them can reach 7-10 meters, but there are smaller varieties. They flower all through summer, their sweet scent can be felt from far away, especially at night. On our way home each night I am looking forward to that special spot, two corners away from the bottom gates of Palheiro, the car windows down, ready to inhale. Taking deep breaths,inhaling it, trying to keep it in as long as I could, the intoxicating scent of frangipani.
Most of the Plumeria rubras are multicolored, but I did find two trees with gorgeous white flowers. Did pick up a few fallen ones, putting them in between the pages of Mishal’s Minecraft book, to keep as a memory. My mind goes a mile a minute, would it be possible to grow it back home? If we keep it indoors during winter, would it be able to survive? How I wish!
We played word games all this time, had to keep him busy as well.
Met up with his Dad at our usual Ritz. Always wanted to try their ice cream. You should try it. If not for their flavors, just buy it for its sheer size. Honestly one scoop of ice cream equals 3 back home. Had their dark chocolate with caramel, that was my lunch. Mish went for his usual strawberry, vanilla combo, left most of it.
Why do kids tend to eat the same things? Do they have some built in radar in them so as to avoid food poisoning in the exotic and not so exotic parts of the world? The first and last time we managed to convince him to try something new was at Cyprus last year, ended up being sick for 3 days. So he sticks with the basics. No matter which part of the world we are at, he eats pizza, French fries, cheese toast and strawberry-vanilla ice cream.
It was his kind of a day, playing monopoly, tennis with mummy.
The highlight of the day (more like night) was another dinner at La Ao Fundo. He greeted us like we were his long lost friends, but that is how he greets everyone. Love it.
Had meat samosas and shrimp with garlic aioli, light, delicious. Had the same wine again with the funny owl on it, Manz Contador de Estorias. Ex known for his capacity, finished it before the meal was over, so the sommelier advised us to try a different one ( having finished the last bottle from the previous one). It was a lovely smoother one called Quinta Da Sequeira. I am not a wine expert, though that is one more thing I’d like to learn about. It was an easy one to drink.

A new dish to be tasted was steak on the stone. He cooked his own, taking small slices off as it cooked. Had curry sauce, rice on the side. I enjoyed my ginger risotto with the chilli tuna last time so much, had it again. Look who is talking. Like mother, like son…