Sunday Morning Coming On

 

Sunday has come.  Clear blue skies are the ceiling of this world today.  A soft breeze stirs the greenery of the plants out on the back deck. Currently I sit at the keyboard with the window to that deck open. My fingers tap away at the keys. I wait for the strains of songs of the faithful to waft my way.  Soon the congregants of the Evangelical Baptists situated across the courtyard will start singing all those hymns I know so well, only they will be sung in Portuguese.   

As I sit here, I can hear the washing machine spinning wildly.  Soon I must take a break to hang laundry. Today will remain bright, sunny and warm enough to dry just about anything. (Short break taken).  First load of laundry on the line.  Second load is ten minutes into its one-hour cycle. Within the hour all my clothes lines and drying racks will be full of sheets, pillowcases, socks and undergarments.  Some track pants too.

 

Haven’t posted much in the past three weeks.  Thanks, and a tip of the hat to Covid-19 for my absence at the keyboard.  As I noted on Facebook Covid hit me like a freight train, like a really, really…really bad flu.   About the most I could muster to do during the vast majority of my illness was watch dystopian television series on the streaming services or play Simon’s Cat on the iPad. Today, I still have the slightest tinge of body aches but there are no other active symptoms. I am sure a little time out in the sun soaking up warmth with help.

 

A couple of nights ago I posted some pictures from my walk around the one block that is the rectangle in which my apartment building exists. Yeah, you caught me, I am just a rube from the country.  I am amazed at how much I can find in the way of food and services in a very small area. As I have described it my world is way more compact now, maybe 10 square blocks.  In that area I can everything from garden supplies to groceries to leather repair.  Back in Michigan Saturday shopping trips would involve four stores and probably 20 miles of driving. Here it is a twenty-minute walk with usually two stops at different grocery stores.

 

(short break, again.)

 

Having atum(tuna) sandwiches for lunch. Had to jog (not really) down to the nearest small grocery and gets some bread.  Basically, bread is good just on the day you purchase it. As long as I was at the mini-Auchan, I picked up some chips.  Weird fact, chips here are not salted very heavily at all unless you buy the American brands at twice the price of the Portuguese brands. French fries in restaurants are not really salted. It is almost as if the foods we salt the Portuguese don’t and the ones we don’t, they drench in salt.

 

While at the store I saw a group of newbie visitors from ‘Murica.  How could I tell?  Well, hairstyles, clothing and the fact that each of the lot were carrying about two gallons of water in shrink wrapped sets of bottles under their arms.  Also, they were staring at the take away food options in total bewilderment.  Finally, the size of the Coke bottles seemed to amuse them.  As per my usual I struck up a conversation. They are here for a nine-day trip and they are driving down to the Algarve.  More power to them.  My hope is that they are from a highly congested city say L.A. or NYC because the traffic getting out of Lisbon is insane. 

 

Spent the early hours on Friday rearranging my airline tickets back to the US.  I tried to do it online with Air Canada but some glitch would not let me pick up the seats I wanted.  I turned on my US phone line and dialed into the backdoor number for AC.  Turns out the fare I wanted had just sold out and then repopulated at twice the price.  Don’t you just hate that?  Well, all was not lost.  As long as I was willing to add an extra leg onto the trip, I could get the same price only slightly increasing the cost of my original fare.  So, on the same day I will be in Lisbon, Montreal, Toronto and Detroit.  

 

Just as I am finishing up, the Baptists are singing a song I know.  I actually used a search engine to figure out what the song was.  Why because I only remembered one lyric.  It is the only place I know that uses the word diadem and the lyric is, “Bring forth the royal diadem…”. Yup, an old timey hymn entitled “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name”.  

And who knew Kris Kristofferson did a music video for Sunday Morning Coming Down?