ALICE HAS BEEN TO THE MUSHROOM FESTIVAL...

 

It’s not just honey and chestnuts that get a weekend-long festival devoted to them in Portugal. Mushrooms do too, and in November, the ancient hilltop village of Alcaide throws open its doors in creative celebration.  

Yesterday, I drove up to the small village on the slope of a mountain (Serra da Gardunha) and did experience the atmosphere of such event.

Alice in wonderland of mushrooms has been the theme of this year's edition.

In the run up to the mushroom festival, garages are cleared out, storerooms swept and decorated and backyards tidied and transformed into makeshift bars, restaurants, shops and art galleries. 

Sometimes I wonder what lies behind the locked doors and high metal gates in Portuguese villages, but yesterday I had an excuse to be nosy, somehow...

"IMAGINATION IS THE ONLY WEAPON IN THE WAR AGAINST REALITY" 

LEWIS CARROLL

~~ Thanks for stopping by ~~

AN AUTUMN WALK...

While many people dislike Autumn and put their walking kit in the storeroom the minute that summer starts to fade, I actually keep on walking everyday, or better saying, whenever the weather condition allows me to go for a long walk and enjoy the beautiful warm colours, a precious gift presented by nature as well as an outdoor rewarding experience.

Walking in the country fields, listening to the silence of nature, sometimes interrupted by the rustling of crispy leaves, gives me hours of pleasure that hardly can I get when I am in urban centers. So, I'm trying to make the most of living in the mountain: I appreciate peace, quietness and the chance to inhabit my own little slice of mostly untouched nature...

Recently. I went for a long-distance walk during which I took many photos. I saw so many different things: fruit, dogs barking not very loudly, roses fading their beauty, birds sitting on branches, pumpkins with weird shapes, sheep with sad eyes, lazy cats, provisions for the forthcoming season and, obviously, varieties of fungi, such as the red and white spotted toadstool, a poisonous mushroom that I didn't touch but just looked at it.

~~Thanks for stopping by ~~

MY GUESS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED...

 In spring I had noticed that the blackberries were in bloom and from the abundance of blossoms and the mild weather at the time, I guessed it was shaping up to be a really good blackberry year. 

Summer arrived and with it my guess has been confirmed. There are so many blackberries on the bushes along the rough pathways that trail through the timberlands on the mountain, that last weekend I spent several hours picking the wonderful gift from nature: small, sweet berries as well as big ones. 

Obviously, I had to dress appropriately for safe and successful harvesting. Picking in silence and enjoying the solitude of the forest was really terrific. Upon returning back home with my treasure, I started preparing it, following the several stages of the blackberry jam recipe up to the last step: filling the previously sterilyzed jars.

The good fruit of my labour will last for months to come....

~~Thanks for stopping by ~~