Hot summer day at the beach

The first photo is most important lighthouse at the entrance of Tagus River in Lisbon.
Navigators like Christopher Columbus (started his journey from Lisbon harbour because of a bad weather condition)for the quest of the New World.Lisbon is known in those days for its "safe harbour"
Second photo is first among the many Forts along the margin of the Tagus River. After a hundred yard or so, comes the next one in Caxias (third photo) where we stayed for a few hours this sunday.
Suddenly our summer temperature came in full blast at 40ºC .As we set up our umbrella,beach chairs & towels,we went imediately to the water to refresh but guess what?The water was so chilly maybe about 20 or 21ºC that i have to dive in imediately before my feet takes me back again to the hot sand.Hubby called me "maluca" afraid that i might get problem not for not letting my body temperature get adjusted first to the cold water as he did.After a quick brisk swim, we got used to the cold water & stayed there for half an hour or so.A lot of people prefer to enjoy sunbathing but not us,cant take the scroching heat pricking my skin. I always prefer to go into the water or under the shade of beach umbrella.
I remembered our beach days in Dubai where the water is very, very warm..almost like a hot soup & a sand that burns your feet if you dont put on your slippers.Thats how hot the temperature we had here in Lisbon yesterday´except for the water & again another hot temperature today.
Lastly, is another smaller fort nearby

Cherry season is over!!

This is the last of cherries that we bought this season. hubby remembered that i still did´nt prepare our cherry compote this year, so we went to the market nearby to buy all 3 kilos available.They are not exatcly at their best but good enough to prepare my compote.






I did´nt want to spoil my nails coz i just cleaned them day before. So i have to exchange places with hubby , i´ll do the preparation of the green beans, he´ll do the cherries.As you can see from his hand, that is what will happen to my nails if i did the unseeding of those beautiful cherries.( i will have purple nails!)


The green beans after the preparation..I prepared our lunch & later cook the cherries,and the result is the 7 bottles of compote below






And this is what became of the cherries after turning them into compote, yummy, yummy! It will be my stock for this year.






The breakfast that my dear hubby prepared that day, caught me by surprise because i overslept.




And lastly is the beautiful view & a lovely day we have outside.

Note: click the photos to enlarge

Those were the days!

When hubby & I left Dubai,UAE in 1989. we lived at" Hilton Apartments" one of the finest in those days ( photo above..It is facing Dubai-Abu Dhabi road that has only 2 lanes on each side, not much traffic in those days because its not easy to get a driving license. As for myself , it took me 6 months to get it as everytime we pass the exam,the next one will be scheduled within a month.My colleagues in the company rejoiced when they learned that i´ve done it in short period . I´ve wondered why( 6 months is short period?) úntil one senior indian salesman told me this...... "Aurora, you can buy gold with money but not a driving license!" I found out later that another senior salesman has been trying for 20 yrs and when he heard that I got my license he decided to quit trying but i encouraged him to try once more & focus with his test, he made it!! I was so happy for him.The company where I worked is owned by an indian family & one of the biggest trading company in Dubai selling the best brands of cosmetics & perfume & so with other consumer products they represent..The pioneer sales group & office staff are all indians & only in the 80´s that they started recruiting from the company where i worked in Philippines .We were only 4 Filipinos then in the cosmetic & perfume department..Had bad & fond memories of UAE, I would like to go back again someday.... Photo below is the new Dubai taken in 2005, Hilton Apartments on the left side look so small compared to the new skycrapers that sprouted in just 6 yrs

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Above is an old mosque made of clay we happen to discover during an adventure trip to the desert of Fujairah,UAE..We didnt know then that it was a mosque, as there was no village nearby & nobody around , we entered inside..there were carpets on the floor, it was then that we realize we entered in a sacred mosque.

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We wanted to take photo of this local man while he was tending his camels, it was at the desert between Al Ain & Abu Dhabi. He saw us , called our attention saying "lah, lah "( no, no) in arabic , we cant take pictures but later he stood beside me & said to hubby "tamam" (ok) he wanted a photo with me ..hahahah!!!!

Sightseing in Belem

Torre de Belem

( Belem Tower )

Symbol of the city of Lisbon, built in 1515-1521 as a defensive fortress at the entrance of Tagus River. This Gothic style fortress was built by a military architect Francisco Arruda who had already built several portuguese fortresses in Morocco at that time.

Jeronimos Monastery

Manueline style monastery that begun its construction in 1502, it took 50 years to complete due to the death of King Manuel I. This monastery withstood the great lisbon earthquake in 1755 without too much damage.

In 1983 ,it was classified by the UNESCO together with the Torre de Belem nearby as a World Heritage site

Santa Cruz

The first sea plane that cross the Atlantic Ocean from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A Lighthouse tower, Monument of the Discobrimentos, 25 de Abril Bridge, Tagus River

There are more to see but did´nt have time to cross the other side of the road where the Palacio the Belem is, The Coche (car), Marinha ( ship) Museum where you´ll find beautifully preserved antique cars & ships, the cultural center, the famous pasteis de belem (sweet pastry of belem),the beautiful park & a botanical garden..All this you can visit in just one place called Belem in Lisbon....Im sure you´ll all love it here!

Season for all ocassions

These lovely spring flowers were taken in June. They are in bloom, a treat for all nature lovers to watch such beauty! Hubby & I were doing our early morning walk at the park nearby our apartment. I could´nt get hold of myself & keep on wishing i should have brought the camera to take photos. being a gentlemen hubby is, he offered to go back to the house to bring the camera for me to continue. After doing my 3rd round at the park ,there i saw hubby taking photos and so I let him do the shooting although I wanted to do it myself but I let him do it because its nice to watch him enjoying and relax....


Later, when he was satisfied with his shots, i asked for the camera and took also some .

Of all seasons,springtime is my favorite...its the time where nature is at its best.Waking up in the morning to you hear the birds singing sign that they are happy ( whooppy, its mating season!!) We live at the 9th flr of our building but i sometimes get surprised to see small birds at our window, see them flying with grass or twigs in their bicks to prepare their nest, the trees starts to turn green again, morning mist on leaves,buds of flowers start appearing and most of all i enjoy watching & caring for my plants for them to start growing flowers( dont have much as i only have a small place for them in my veranda). .I like to watch a plant grow & very seldom that i kill or throw a plant just because its old.

Now that summer has come, these plants were replaced with summer plants, my bougainvilla , started droping its flowers & so with my tea rose droping also its petals.I only have few now still with flowers but dont know their names. As i dont have summer plants my mini garden is turning green again.

This is my bougainvilla in full force,it gave me flowers in winter which was surprising! After feeding it with fertilizer in April, gave flower again in May. Now its July, the flowers started dropping so i hope to see it again next year.

And this is a colage of "Morning Glory" taken at a nearby farm between tall buildings around including ours..I wanted to take a picture of one big purple bougainvilla plant which must be already century old because of its size but the blue & violet colors of these flowers caught my attention so here they are ...the other picture below shows the bougainvilla i was talking about, its a lovely purple color but as the sun was already above us when this photo was taken,it lightened the color & did´nt do much justice to it.

Summer time is here again! It came late this year, its two days now that we are experiencing the heat 30cº above, for sure,people who started their early summer holidays had a disapointing weather encounter, rain, chilly winds at night and for the beach lovers , sands being blown at their faces, sticking to their bodies, no sunshine to get their precious bronze look. As for myself & hubby, we managed to swim only once last month in a chilly water, did´nt stay long because the weather started changing, from a clear sky to fog like this one at the photo below..So, off we go when this happened. Since then 3 weeks has passed, we never went back again to the beach but now that summer seems to stay for good, beach here we come, see you soon!!!

Wonders of the World

The new 7 wonders of the world has been chosen last saturday and I have the previledge to watch it live on tv that day as it was being held here in Lisbon, Portugal (a country where i live for almost 18 yrs now). The organizers did a very impressive presentation of the program, once again Lisbon manage to show its class in organizing big events as it did in the Euro 2004 football championship.
It was said that 100 million people voted in the internet for the 7 wonders of their choice but for me all 20 finalist are all deserving as much as the others. The world is full of many wonders that is why it is very dificult for me to choice only 7 ....I did´nt cast my vote but i watch the program with enthusiam to know what the people around the world have chosen...

The New 7 Wonders of the World are the following:

1, The Great Wall of China
2, Machu Pichu, Peru
3, Petra of Jordan
4, Chichen Itza of Mexico
5, The Roman Colloseum of Italy
6, The Taj Mahal of India
7, The Christ Redeemer of Brazil

Congratulations to the New 7 Wonders Of the World!!!




Jenifer Lopez , Jose Carera, Marissa(Fado singer), Dulce Ponte, Chaka Khan & others were the guest performers while Ben Kinsley, Hilary Swank & a famous indian actress hosted the event