We have had a couple of weeks of glorious weather, but today we are once again suffering, high winds (quite cool) and bursts of heavy rain. The rain is good for the garden, and seems to have reduced the number of forest fires at this time of year, however it´s not very nice for our guests. Next week we should be back to normal with temperatures approaching or in the 30s. The new house round the corner has now got a completed roof and the builders are busy pointing the granite walls. There has been a lot of work going on in the shed on the olive orchard, but I´m not sure what they are doing. We have had some work done recently. The wall below the chicken house has been partly re-built and the rest of it reinforced with cement, we hope now that is much more stable and unlikely to fall on passers-by. We have also had a lot of the varnish on windows and doors re-painted, and the whole of the interior of the marquesa. After a really promising start to the year in terms of bookings, things have got really slow, strange, when the news suggests more and more people are now visiting Portugal. I think many overlook the beauty of Central Portugal with it´s forests, vineyards, and magnificent views, and wonderful friendly inhabitants.