Family time...

Feeling a little lonely today. My sister Pip and her boyfriend left last night after spending a week here with Milo and me.  We loved having them here, especially as I'm so close to Pip, she just 'gets' me. And Milo was so happy having two people who adore him nearly as much as I do. It was also lovely having daily conversations spoken in English!

We did a fair bit of exploring, I also took them to all my favourite coffee stops. I even drove them to the market but silly satnav lady took us via a mountain and a farmers field. Best bit was spending a day on the beach like a proper holiday maker, sadly Milo is not allowed on the big beach. We even got in a tour of Lisbon city before their flight. Unfortunately I fell over twice, once over a small bollard whilst turning back to talk to them and then again whilst stepping (or forgetting to) through a doorway in a garage door.

I think they both enjoyed their stay at the big beach house. They both were so helpful in the preparations for the big wedding in three weeks. Casa Branca is so aptly named, we never want to see a tin of white paint again! I loved seeing them together as a loving couple. They were childhood sweethearts and reunited after over thirty years through Facebook. They are so happy together it gives me a renewed hope that I too could have that one day :)

I'm now starting to think about winter. My dream would be to find a house sit in a rural UK location and write my memoirs!...

Love my sis Pip...

Happy days...

Sisters... 

Lisbon and my new hat (thank you mummy)... 

 Yeay The Mouse... 

Fun in the sun... 

Milo and Me... Will we ever be three...

When I look back it amazes me how much has happened to me in just over a year. It mainly feels quite surreal. If someone had said to me 'this is going to happen as you approach fifty' I would have said "Hell yeah!"

I'm no different to anyone else who wishes they were in a loving and secure relationship. My dreams and ambitions are not out of the ordinary. Perhaps it's just the way I went about it that sets me aside...

In short: I left a full time job, I left my home of sixteen years, I sold practically everything I owned, I bought a motorhome, I started writing a blog, I travelled around Scotland, I made new friends, I lost old friends, I enjoyed a relationship, I lost a relationship, I travelled to Southern America, I moved into my mums back garden, I travelled around Ireland, I arrived in Portugal, I had my life documented through worldwide media. I'm having an amazing adventure at a time in my life I assumed would have been complete. Sometimes this feels like just the beginning.

 And all this happened with Milo, my best friend, by my side. I looked for love, I'm still looking for love, and yet I've had love by my side the whole time...

Met this little fella four years ago...

Always by my side MiloandMe...

Chatting up dead men...

Milo and me are getting quite excited as my sister Pip and her boyfriend are coming to visit us in Portugal next Monday.  Ali has a list of jobs for them to do for her in preparation for the forthcoming wedding at the big beach house (about five weeks away!) but I'm sure we'll still find time to have some fun. And I know Milo is going to be uber excited to see them.

I had a practice run to the airport today with hunky friend. We went to pick up his equally hunky friend who is visiting. I love airports but unfortunately we spent our time waiting in a petrol station so as to avoid extortionate parking charges. Makes me laugh here how people wander around the forecourt of petrol stations randomly smoking away. In the UK even if you use your mobile phone in a garage people think it will blow the place up. Anyway the airport run went without a hitch so fingers crossed I'll find it on my own when I go to pick up Pip and not end up in the Algarve. Or my illusive Thai prison!

We went to a garden centre at the weekend looking for a fountain, Ali ended up buying a selection of Buddahs which someone has now pointed out that they look like dead babies!
Me and Milo are still loving our daily walks on the beach, as yet still to find a handsome stranger. Although I did park up the Mouse this morning and noticed a man lying in the bushes in front of me. I did think he was possibly dead and upon closer inspection he may as well have been. The search goes on...

Me doing my Buddah impression...

Baby Buddahs...

Difficult to spot me here...

Dead man... 

Ab Fab Gran...

Ali found her boom box yesterday morning so we had some fab tunes blasting through the big beach house. As we have no paying guests just now this was all fine and even Gran seemed to enjoy as I jiggled  her up and down on her vibrating mattress. We plugged the tunes into the car stereo on our way to the market where I spotted, on route, the location of my recent 'drugs run'. At which point the stereo was blasting out a background noise of a police car siren and I automatically threw myself into the footwell under the seat! In my head shouting 'hit the gas Ali'.

Sometimes I think poor Gran, she must feel like she is living with Patsy and Edina from the Absolutely Fabulous sitcom. One night when we were lifting her from the wheelchair to her bed Ali grabbed Grans legs to lift onto the bed but grabbed one of mine too, I didn't even realise until I was practically in bed with her! The other day, down the corridor, I was walking behind Ali pushing Gran in the wheelchair when her trousers fell down to her ankles, she just kept walking, albeit wonky and providing me with a right eyeful!

Sometimes when the three of us are just chilling with Netflix Gran does her 'dead' impression. This involves Gran just staring into space and holding her breath for the longest time. Freaks me and Ali out every time! On other occasions Gran does her 'exorcist' impression when she lets out a very loud and long gargled noise from deep within. That one freaks us out even more. Once when in a shopping mall my bestie friend, Sue, told me that the wheelchair wheels can grip the moving escalator floor going downhill. No they can't! The shopping trolleys can. Nearly lost Gran that day!

Gran is an absolute trooper for 90 years of age. Nobody knows her view of the world she lives in but I like to think she's having an 'absolutely fabulous' giggle with me and Ali...

Gran 90 years young...

Milo guarding Gran...

Gossiping with Gran...