lördag 31 augusti 2013

4 weeks to go

until Lasse is going to Portugal and then I have to wait another week until I go as well.. We are counting the days now. Imagine holding the keys in our hands! It will be really exciting to become the new owners of Casal Bougainville. The sellers will be there and help us with the harvest and the wine making. We are so grateful for that because we need every help we can get.

When the farm is ours we will continue with the next step and that is to set up a business. Our lawyer will help us with that. It might be tricky if you don´t know the language and the culture. We don´t know how long time it will take but we fear it will take a while.

Here in Sweden it feels like autumn has arrived, which I hate. I don´t hate autumn itself but what it stands for, the coming of winter. I have been drooling over the weather report from Caldas da Rainha, where the farm is situated, and he weather looks lovely there now.

I have started a yoga class on Sunday morning. I have only been there once and it really hurt but it felt ok afterwards. On Sundays I also ride so my body gets a good stretch at least once a week.

Can´t give you an address to our web page just yet. But will do as soon as the farm is ours. In the meantime you can have a sneak preview on out facebook page www.facebook.com/farmholidayssilvercoast
Please like and share.

Good night

Ase


torsdag 29 augusti 2013

The Adega is getting ready

to work. Well you just have to drag your tired body to work, don´t you.

Yesterday I had a visit from my daughter, her boyfriend and their new dog Duna. She was the sweetest thing and the meeting with our pack of dogs went brilliantly. It is good to know since she is going to stay here in November when my daughter and boyfriend is going to the Maldives for 10 days. I wish I could have come too. :-)

We got a letter from the sellers that they are setting up the adega for harvest and wine making. Oh it is going to be so exciting  to see how it is done. Even if I am only stkfast and morning walkaying one week I hope to learn as much as possible. Lasse is staying two weeks. I am a bit envious. But i am happy that so many people are coming down for the harvest and are so interested. There is only room for a few more now. So......

The dogs are looking at me, wanting their breakfast and morning walk. So gotta dash.

Åse

måndag 26 augusti 2013

What will I miss?

It is hard to think that I maybe will live in another country this time next year. Can I comprehend what a big step this is? What will I miss in Sweden? What will I gain by moving?

I will surely miss my children a lot. I really hope that they will come and visit often. Maybe celebrate Christmas with us. If not they might come in the summer when the weather is nice. I hope so. I will miss my mum and dad and my brother and sister and their families.

Another thing is my friends. I will miss them so much but we can still keep in touch on Skype, Facebook and by mail. I really hope they will come and visit us as well. But I have a new friend who lives in Portugal so I will see her much more hopefully if we move.

Language. To be able to express myself in my mother tongue. It will be hard to learn a new language at the age of 50+. We are starting beginner Portuguese this autumn here in Gothenburg. But it is only 10 lessons. Hopefully it will continue in the spring 2014.

Some food items that you cannot get hold on in Portugal so easily. Maybe friends and family visiting can bring it.

There are probably more things that I will miss that I will find out later.

Åse


söndag 25 augusti 2013

The Boss är relativt nöjd med gubben

Hej, det är boss Herman som skriver. För en vecka sedan var jag påväg att flytta hem till en ny familj, Gubben hade helt enkelt tappat stinget. Idag kan jag glädjande skriva att gubb fan till slut borrade upp golvbrunnen i tvättstugan.

I helgen har han satt fart och det var minsan på tiden. Jag kommer att hålla er uppdaterade på vad som händer här hemma.

En sak som var skitdålig idag var att gubben duschade mig. Nu luktar jag äpple över hela kroppen, har ni hört något så dumt, jag ser ganska fånig när jag är blöt så ni får hålla tillgodo med min snygga nos

Sköt om er och ge era hundar ett ritkigt fett ben

//The Boss Herman


lördag 24 augusti 2013

new dog in the family

Yesterday my daughter and her boyfriend went to Landvetter airport to pick up a dog arriving from Spain. My daughter met her in May when we went to Elche to visit the shelter which two of our dogs came from. She instantly fell in love with this little girl. Her name is Duna and she is about three or four years old.

pretty Duna
She will make my daughter and her boyfriend very happy and I am dying to meet her.

Åse

Working

So I have started to work. I was kind of tough but two weeks have gone and I can manage.

One girl in my class has moved and will not go in our class anymore which is a shame because she was very sweet and I liked her a lot. Well I like all "my" students a lot. And I don´t want to loose a single one of them.

At home we continue to work. Lasse is trying to do a lot of things in the utility room. He has ripped off the wall papers and the flooring. It was really nasty underneath. I don´t think they have done anything with it since it was built 1969. We are not doing it up extremely fancy just painting it white and put tiles on the floor. I think it will be fresh looking. Then the buyers can bling it any way they like.

Then we are going to redecorate one of the bedrooms upstairs. That is the last one on the upper floor. Thank God! New flooring, oiled oak this time and paint and some TLC will do the trick I think.

This morning we went for a walk in the woods with the dogs. They were crazy and sniffed the air the whole time. I must have been a deer or a moose that had crossed our way. They were really excited and all worked up. They can´t be loose because then they would have disappeared chasing the wild life.

I really would have gone to Portugal now but I have to wait another 6 weeks.

Åse


fredag 23 augusti 2013

What is love?

Hej

Nu blir ni kanske förvånade en engelsk titel och så bloggar jag på Svenska, lugn det är det den gamle som skriver, min engelska är inte så bra som min älskade hustru så ni får hålla till godo med det svenska språket.

Idag var jag med och hämtade Dona, Madde och Fredriks spanska hund. Det var kärlek direkt, Dona verkade väldigt nöjd sina nya föräldrar, Madde och Fredrik var också glada. Thats love

Nu funderar jag på hur många hund kompisar vi kommer att ha efter 1 år på farmen, jag räknar med att vi kommer troligen ha minst 5 fyrfota djur hos oss, då par jag inte om kattdjur, detta skulle aldrig den gamle chefen Herman godkänna. Käreken till hunddjuren är stor hos oss så vi respekterar Hermans önskemål

Vill önska er alla en skön helg, vill samtidigt utbringa en virtuell skål till er alla

Sköt om ER

Den gamle gubben //LL

torsdag 22 augusti 2013

Pruning and amusement park in Bombarral.

We have been discussing back and forth whether to drive to Portugal over Christmas and New Year´s . We came to the conclusion that it is way too far to drive when you only have hardly two weeks. It is 3250 kilometers one way o it is a bit.

Instead we booked a flight December 26 from Copenhagen and fly home January 7. This time we are hoping to learn a bit about pruning. The seller, or maybe someone else is going to help us and try to teach us. hahahaha. I wonder how long time it will take us to prune if you compare with someone with skills.



We also got some good news that they are going to build an amusement park in Bombarral which is only 14 kilometers from our vineyard. It is mighty good for our business, I hope. It is a good distance because it is not too close so we would be affected by traffic and noise but close enough.

We will definitely have a lot to offer families coming to us for vacation.

Yesterday I went riding on Pontus, the old working horse. He was in a miserable mood and refused to come out of the paddock. We had to take all the other horses out first and even then it took us 15 minutes with a bucket with goodies inside to lure him out. When I rode he started limp and I jumped off and lead him home but when we got back to the stable the limp was gone. I think he found a new way to trick me the sly old horse. I will give it another go on Saturday and we´ll see what mood he is in.

Åse

tisdag 20 augusti 2013

Long time no see

Well I´ve had no inspiration to write anything lately but I am getting some inspiration back, which is nice. The end of vacation/beginning to work after the summer holiday has taken all my energy. AND my mind has been set on other things, like a small vineyard in Portugal. Now I think I am back on track so here we go.

I started to work last Tuesday and then I had a birthday party to attend on Thursday evening. The weekend came and went very fast with a ruined Sunday. It was a lunch on Saturday that took its toll on us on Sunday.
We were invited over to some friends for a lunch and it turned out to be a regular cray fish party with schnaps and everything. Lasse was going to drive but ended up drinking so we had to take a taxi home (with three dogs) Just let´s say I was a bit tired on Sunday.

Yesterday I went to see Pontus, a horse I am borrowing. He is 21 years old and has been on summer holiday but yesterday it was time to pick up a bit of riding again. It was really nice to see him again. I have missed him even though he is and old grumpy fart.

Today we welcomed all the students back to school with some snacks and soft drinks. The teachers all sang in the school yard and the students all looked surprised and a bit shy. We´re not used to that.

Our Facebook page has been a success and if you haven´t checked it in yet do it now. And don´t forget to share an d like it.
 https://www.facebook.com/farmholidayssilvercoast

nightie nightie

onsdag 14 augusti 2013

Facebook page

If you haven´t seen our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/farmholidayssilvercoast

Please go in and "like" and share.

The web page is still under construction and will be in English first. Then we will add other languages as Swedish, Dutch; German, Spanish and of course Portuguese.

We cannot really launch the web page until October when the deal is absolutely done and when we will have the keys in our hands.

Write more later.

Ase

tisdag 13 augusti 2013

Henke goes on the net - Henke the boss on Gatekullen

Hej


The Boss



För er som inte känner mig är det jag som är ledaren hemma på Gatekullen, jag heter Henke och är 11 år och ledarhund.

Nu blir det ett annorlunda inlägg jämfört med min min mamma, Åse. Mamma gör ett fantastiskt arbete med blogg, bygga hemsida och skapa intresse på facebook om vårt framtida liv, det är otroligt spännande. Vad gör då pappa? Gör han någon nytta eller sitter han mest och fikar eller...

Frågar ni mig skulle jag säga att "pappa" har blivit tråkig och tappat stinget. Det hela börjar med att promenderna har blivit färre och han springer inte längre med mig. Nu springer han inte ofta men gör han det är det med min bror Baldo, jag fattar inte detta, det är ju med mig han skall springa.

Stinget har han inte kvar heller, ni skulle se hur lång tid det tar för honom med renoveringen av tvättstugan, det är som att se en snigel i slowmotion om jag skulle säga min mening. Men det mest tragiska är hur klen han blivit, nu klarar han inte riktigt av att få upp skruvarna till golv brunnen, hur svårt kan det vara? jag bara frågar... Vet ni vad han säger, när jag frågar honom om han blivit klen på gamla dagar, han skyller på att golvbrunnen har rostat!!!. Har ni hört en så dum förklaring, dessutom säger han att han funderar på att borra upp skruvarna, det måste finnas ett bättre sätt, jag känner inte till något eftersom jag bara är en hund, vet ni något annat sätt att få upp skruvarna har pappa lovat att gå på långpromenad med mig till helgen, så vet ni något som löser rost hjälp gärna pappa, han surar just nu.

Hälsningar från Henke

Brorsan Baldo. Visst ser han fånig ut?

måndag 12 augusti 2013

New day- new possibilities

So it is a brand new day and I am eating my breakfast in peace and quiet. Tomorrow I will start to work after a long and glorious summer. A summer that has been filled with so many exciting new discoveries. We went to Portugal for the first time in April. We started off with Lisbon, then Tomar and finished our trip by going to see the farm in Caldas da Rainha.
beautiful


Our very own fountain

Ok so we fell head over heels over this farm. It had everything we were looking for.

1 Beautiful views
2 Quiet location
3 Close to all amenities-a town
4 Letting possibilities
5 Some land-vineyard
6 the price
7 A lot to see and do in the area-tourism potential

It was too good to be true. It couldn´t be real. Were we mistaken? We just had get back to see it again and so we did. In May we went back to see it again and it was as good as we remembered. Ok it is a bit run down and a lot of things to do with it but the potential!!!!!

In June we went back to pay the down payment and in October we are closing the deal. It is a dream come true and I have to pinch myself over and over again.

Today it is a new day and this day has so many possibilities. I am truly blessed because I have one more day of "freedom", before I have to get back to work. So The things I am going to do is cleaning and sorting out stuff that are going to be sold, given away and thrown away. Then we can sell our house so we can buy our place in the sun in Portugal.


Ase

söndag 11 augusti 2013

cleaning, sorting and throwing away

Hi
There hasn´t been anything written in the blog for a few days since we have been busy cleaning and sorting stuff in a room. There is so much trash to be thrown away so it is ridiculous. Six children more or less lived here, at least from time to time and they have left things behind that they haven´t taken when they moved out.
There are old photos, crockery, paper, crayons, board games where pieces are missing, you name it. We have been throwing away so much so you might think there is nothing left, but there sure is. I don´t know how we will get everything down to Portugal.

Lasse has started to clear everything out from the utility room, which is quite big. He is removing the old ugly nasty floor. Then he will tile the floor and paint the walls white so it will look nice and bright for the sale.

Apart from that we have been walking the dogs more now when it is a bit cooler outside. Today it is raining a lot but we were lucky on our morning walk because there was a crack in clouds and no rain.

I am getting ready to start working on Tuesday. I don´t look forward to it but miss my dear students. It will be a blast seeing them again.

Mum and dad stated that they will come down to Portugal a few days during the harvest which made me very happy. So we will be 6-8 people during the harvest. They will maybe not be there the whole time but during some of it.

I have to get back to vacuuming and dusting. Boring but much needed.

Write more tonight

Åse

fredag 9 augusti 2013

The apartments

The farm we just bought in Portugal has apart from our living accommodation four four apartments ant.d a free standing cottage to let.

Today they are fully equipped but a bit dated and worn. The apartments have 1-3 bedrooms each and the cottage has three bedrooms. They all have their own entrance, kitchen/sitting area, patio or patios, fire place and bathrooms. The linen, towels and end cleaning are included in the price. There are also a stove, fridge, coffee machine, microwave oven, kettle, free washing up liquid and soap.

Unfortunately there isn´t wifi in the apartments today but we are going to install it as soon as possible. There is also a communal washing machine. There is a small fee but detergent is included

When we asked what You wanted/thought was important in the apartments we got very many good answers.

1 Mosquito net/screens and mosqito candles/ repellants
2 fan or A/C
3 be able to borrow ironing board and iron
4 broom set
5 blow dryer
6 honesty bar with soft drinks/water/wine and beer
7 clothes lines
8 aspirin

As you can see we really got many good answers. If you can think of anything else please let me know. Is TV importand, dvd? films?

Åse

torsdag 8 augusti 2013

Waiting for the home page

I am still working on the home page and I reckon it will take some more time. The front is kind of done but I am not sure this is it.


The blue colour saying "Farm Holidays Silver Coast" is not so bright irl.

Until this one is finished check in our facebook page www.facebook.com/farmholidayssilvercoast

Åse

Varbergs Kurort

Yesterday I went to Varbergs Kurort, a spa by the sea. I had never been there before so I didn´t know what to expect.

I had got a gift certificate for my 50ths birthday from my very good friends A-L and H. A-L had booked us on a full day at the spa with treatments and different activities.

I set off early from home and was there about 7.45 am. We were going to start the day with 45 minutes morning yoga which was practiced outside. It was my first outdoor yoga but definitely not my last because it was absolutely wonderful.

Having a gorgeous lunch
After that I had a booked treatment where they made feet baby like again. Then we went into the sauna, swam, had coffee, lunch, did qi gong and A-l finished with afro dance in the sun. I was too tired (and lazy) to participate but I had fun watching her and the rest rolling their hips to great music.


She is just doing it


I had  a wonderful day with my best friend A-L

Åse

måndag 5 augusti 2013

Need your help again

We have now launched our new Facebook-page www.facebook.com/farmholidayssilvercoast. Please go in and "like" and share. At the same time we got our first booking. Well it  is not a proper booking. Two friends are coming down to help us out with the wine harvest in October. It is going to be a lot of fun.

We had good response from people who said what kind of information they wanted us to write on the home page.

Now I want more help. We are going to renovate the apartments, one at the time. The apartments have 1-3 bedrooms and the cottage has three bedrooms. They all have private entrances, patios (the cottage has three), kitchens, sitting areas and bathrooms. But they are a bit dated and a bit worn.

What do you think is the most important in a holiday apartment/cottage?

Look at our Facebook-page www.facebook.com/farmholidayssilvercoast

Åse

söndag 4 augusti 2013

What you want on our home page

Yesterday I asked what you wanted to do on your holiday and what we kind of information we should write down on our home page. I got all kind of good answers and suggestions.

If I understood correctly. You wanted:

1. To know places of interests and attractions there are in the surroundings.
2. Good restaurants near by.
3. Culture like castles and museums
4. Markets and villages
5 Maybe a section for families.
6. Sports activities
7. Beaches
8. Festivals
9. shopping
10. How to get around, buses, trains and car rentals

There are probably more interesting things that we haven´t thought about yet.

Continuing working with the home page but until it is ready you can always look at our Face Book page. You can ask questions there and I will try to answer.

Don´t forget to "like" it.

www.facebook.com/farmholidayssilvercoast

Åse

lördag 3 augusti 2013

your opinion please

So we bought a vineyard in Portugal. We haven´t actually closed the deal yet but are going to when we go there during the wine harvest in September and October..

The vineyard produces about 4000 liters annually and has 4 holiday apartments and a free standing cottage to let. On the premises there is a small pool and a quite run down play ground. There are about 70 fruit trees, olives, oranges, grape fruit, pear, apples, lemon and tangerine and some more.

We are going to start to renovate the apartments one at the time and also have plans for the pool area and play ground.

When we now are trying to make a home page for the vineyard and market our apartments we would like to know:

What do want to do on your holiday?

We are looking for some key words what people want to do when going on a holiday.

Thanks for your help.

Åse

torsdag 1 augusti 2013

Hej

Hoppas att ni alla har eller har haft en skön ledighet. Det är den "gamle" som skriver igen, det var ett par veckor sedan. För mig är en skön ledighet att få styra över agendan och göra vad jag vill. Idag gjorde Åse en underbar middag till mig efter det att jag hade varit och målat Carporten, det var grillad röding med grönsaker, till efträtt var det äggvoffler, kan det bli bättre, skulle inte tro det. Min målbild idag var att sköta jobbet som vanligt samt att måla. Målningen brjar att bli lite jobbig just nu med tanke på att vi har hållit på i ca 2 veckor, men vi börja att närma oss slutet av vårt uppdrag

Vi hade som ni säkert har läst en otroligt trevig helg i Stockholm förra veckan. Nu planerar vi in en ny helg i början av september, vi tänkte att vi skulle besöka restaurang Prinsen, en klassisk restaurang som serverar god husmanskost. Såg på Per Mobergs program " vad blir det för mat" ett inslag från Prinsen, det verkade riktigt trevligt och gott. Är det någon av Er läsare som har några andra bra tips på trevliga saker att göra i Stockholm så tar vi gärna emot Era förslag.

Imorgon kommer vi att göra klart Carporten och avsluta vår del i målningen av huset, som ni vet är detta ett steg i arbetet inför försäljningen inför vår flytt till Casa Bogavilia i Portugal. Nästa projekt kommer att bli att fixa till tvättstugan, detta projekt skall vara klart under augusti.

Det är ganska mycket just nu som ni säkert förstår, i vår tidsplan inför flytten skall vi påbörja fösäljningen av vår Sverige boende i mars, det finns flera olika projekt som vi kommer att genomföra inför flytten, målningen var det första. Vi kommer att hålla er alla uppdaterade

Sköt om er och ha en fortsatt skön sommar
//Lasse

August-school and cray fish

A new month. This is back to school month. The teachers start a week before the students so we can plan as much as possible and also there will probably be some lectures as well.

This is not something I look forward to but it will be nice to meet "my" students again. I can feel the tension already. It is something special about a new academic year. And when you look at your students and see how much they grown over the summer and still they look so sht about meeting each other again.

This is also the month of celebrating the crayfish. On the west coast of Sweden this means crayfish from the ocean and in other parts the crayfish come from rivers or sweet water. I just loves the ones from the ocean since I am a gal from Gothenburg.

sweet water
from the ocean
When we move to Portugal I will have to give them up. It will be very hard but maybe I can switch them into percebus (not sure about the spelling there). They grow on cliffs and rocks and looks like small penises when you open them up. When we went a sea food restaurant in Ericeira the waiter showed me how to eat them. I had one! Not because they tasted bad but because they just looked nasty. The taste was similar to cray fish.
percebus
This month also means a stop to lazy mornings and reading in the middle of the day. No more sitting up half night because it is such a wonderful night. It means it is getting darker each day and I really hate that. I love the light in the summers.

But there still some days left before I have to get back to work, some days with late mornings and sitting up late, some reading in the day and sitting up the whole night.