WAGS 13.05.2020: Quarantine Diaries: Week 9

Wednesday 13th May. Isolation fatigue is setting in, particularly among the young the feckless and the uncautious, but also among those driven by economic necessity to take risks. This will be with us for a long time - it may well become the norm. Hard to be optimistic in the face of some of the pronouncements from prominent Western Leaders When in doubt, distract and assign the blame elsewhere. Or my own rugby adage - 'When in doubt - kick , don't pass!'

We thought about going for a walk along the Alvor Boardwalk as we had to go to Portimao, but by the time we got organised, and set off, it was raining and windy, so gave it a miss.

First in on Wednesday evening was a short message from Lindsey. If you can't remember what she looks like, she is the one on the left next to the slim, handsome blonde guy. Anyone recognise the raven-haired beauty in the centre?

She wrote:

We had another wet walk this afternoon - in fact 12mm of rain - which is welcome. But it was muddy, slippery and of course wet! The dogs loved it though because the scent is stronger and they had a good hunt until they both stopped - froze - and got rather frightened. There was evidence of recent Javali with the soil disturbed in one area and then an area of seed sown for birds had been flattened. We moved on quickly.
No more excitements after that and home for tea.
Love Lindsey

She added three illustrative pics too:

The Boar eats, roots, shoots and leaves.

Obviously some Splendour in the Grass here!

Boar Hunter!

Thanks Lindsey:

Much later, Terry sent in a lovely photo of Jill sitting in the shade of his prize Amaryllis - a mighty plant indeed.

And now my bit!

Looking for inspiration for my non-active Wednesday contribution, I saw a friend invitation pop up on Facebook. It was from a person styling herself as Karma Rx. It brought a new meaning to the phrase 'Your Karma has come', so I quickly ignored and deleted the invite.

However, it gave me a thought - perhaps it is Karma and I should investigate the concept further.

First definition: "Karma (car-ma) is a word meaning the result of a person's actions as well as the actions themselves. It is a term about the cycle of cause and effect. According to the theory of Karma, what happens to a person, happens because they caused it with their actions."

This was Wikipedia, and seems simple enough - in other words " What goes around comes around."

Or as Doris Day had it:

However after only five further minutes of in depth Googling, I quickly came to the conclusion that the popular concept of 'karma' as being virtually synonymous with 'fate', was a grievous error. Future events are not prescribed or set in stone as some would believe.

A Buddhist Master exposed the 'get out' clause. :

Wow - the course of your life can be changed if you change yourself. Sounds easy!

The important thing is - Karma means Action. If you take good action you will get good consequences. If you take evil action you will face equal consequences.

First you have to understand what was meant by Good or Bad or Evil.by the Eastern philosophical thinkers.

Good means Selfless: Bad means Selfish. That is more the spiritual side of things.

From here on the discussion gets really deep and abstract and I am fairly sure that you are yawning already, so I will stop before you skip to the next segment.

The big lesson is, in terms that most will understand " Don't piss against the wind"

So to end this sermon, lets have what you have been waiting for since you saw the first mention of the word Karma.. Some Culture - Club that is!

A true earworm, and a video that has almost half a billion views on Youtube since it was posted in 2009 The song itself was released in 1983 and most of you know the words but never thought about what they meant!

As an indicator of whether you just look at the pictures, I have a question. ' What is the meaning of the many references to red, gold and green in the lyrics?' Answers by comment or email if you are sufficiently motivated to research it!

And what has all this to do with WAGS and Walking? It turns out that quite by chance I happened on a modern 'Thing'. Karma Walking.. It is a possibility for a future WAGS walk.

One step at a time for a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle

Obesity and other related diseases are quickly soaring. We desperately need a positive change. If we cannot have time, or money, or will to go hit the gym or dedicate ourselves to exhausting physical regime, walking is the simplest activity we can incorporate into our everyday lifestyle. Walking doesn’t cost anything. It rarely causes physical injuries and can be taken up by people of all age groups.
Karma Walk is an independent health promotion initiative by Karma Foundation. Our objective is to encourage walking for recreation, active lifestyle, social participation, and everyday transport.

Read all about it HERE

And once you have done that, you can relax and read what the WAGS Irregulars have been up to this week. Over now to JohnH.

Those dedicated readers who persevered to the end of last week´s very long blog and managed to open the final video clip will recall that, when he was offered Super-Sex in the massage parlour, the Reverend I. M.Jolly opted for the soup. This week the same readers will learn how the WAGS Irregulars also landed up with the soup.

I am also given an excuse to re-open

The Guinea Fowl Chronicles

because Antje has at last revealed the secrets of her pheasant cookery, although modestly she attributes the recipe to a certain Clarissa Dickson Wright (full name Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright, believe it or not, and she didn´t even use her mother´s name which was Molly) who was one of the Two Fat Ladies TV cooks.

The other Fat Lady was Jennifer Paterson, seen driving the motor bike - Dickson Wright in the side car, who was also the Boardroom Chef for The Spectator magazine (just imagine a magazine having its own special chef) and had a reputation of throwing dishes out of the window if they didn´t go to plan.

I will try Antje´s recipe once I find a compliant and plucked pheasant. Watch this space.

Anyway to the walk.

The Irregulars met once again at Pescadores where, judging by the number of brandy glasses on the outside tables, the first green shoots of a reviving local economy are to be found. We knew the password so starter coffees were obtained, despite the front door being firmly shut. The forecast was for rain mid-morning, so this might be a short walk

We staggered up the long hill valley, at the top of which we paused briefly,

wondering which of several paths to take, before following the poet´s example:-

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

(Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken.)

Less travelled indeed, and some difference. We had been there only a few week´s before but, thanks to the recent rains, sections of this quiet track were now thoroughly overgrown and Hazel did valiant work up front clearing the track through the scratchy bits for the rest of us.

Back on the main track at last, we found that we had not even covered 4 kms, far too early to be turning for home and, as there was at this stage no sign of the forecast rain, we decided to go up yet another long hill track – the one that Rod had led us along in early March. As nominal Leader, I prudently stationed myself at the rear and issued the instruction to the vanguard:-

“Turn left when you come to the yellow plant in the middle of the track.”

This direction was greeted with a certain amount of derision since, truth to tell, this path too was now fully overgrown with among other things, plentiful yellow flowery things as well as lots of fresh brambles. Again, splendid work by the ladies slashing and bashing the way through.

Eventually, vindication for the Leader – there was the yellow plant just as I had said, in the middle of the track, an unmistakable landmark. Who could miss it?

The rest of the walk was very nearly all downhill, so to speak.

Hazel did her usual floral photography, for which there is, I believe, an avid audience.

Yves was able to indulge himself in his hobby of adding stones to the little cairns at the side of the track, building them ever higher and higher......

…..or not.

Noise of machinery in the woods nearby told us that foresters were hard at work terracing the eucalyptus groves.

Half an hour from home, the wind came and with it – finally - the rain, in buckets, so we hastened to put on our wet weather gear and that naturally got us all steamed up

so that we were all quite damp by the time we reached Pescadores. Luckily, once again, the password to the side door did the trick and we were soon, if not actually in the soup, in clover, what with hot bean soup, plus bread, beers and coffees.

Herewith the map and the stats.

And our motto once more, for those who have forgotten it:-

“In solis sis tibi turba locis”

Frew Sr sans fils

Discouraged by threatening rain and a few other things a formal WAGS walk for us was suspended for this Wednesday. Instead I opted for a ´tween showers walk with Ember to get a breath of air. This was going to be a standard 5k circuit which was unlikely to have any thing of particular interest as I had covered it umpteen times before. Crossing our field on the way out a brief ray of sunshine illuminated Susan´s horse, Beluga enjoying a thistle or two from a splendid array this year.

Thereafter I went into overdrive contemplation assuming that there really

wasn´t likely to be anything worth mentally recording.

How wrong can one be! Suddenly rounding a bend, deep in reverie, I couldn´t believe my eyes, there appeared a fleet of Bombeiros pick-ups, 4X4´s, an ambulance, a number of GNR´s and half the complement of Silves Bombeiros, some seemingly scouring the hillside. As I approached, somewhat apprehensively I saw beside the road a tractor and harrow, the right way up but with its nose buried in the shrubbery. So what to think? Murder most foul? Squashed by a rolling tractor? There was no sign of a victim but the ambulance was firmly and perhaps ominously, closed. A group of Bombeiros were gathered near the track deep in conference and one looked my way. I enquired what was happening...an accident perhaps? The grunted reply almost inaudible in view of his preoccupation and social distancing I rather interpreted as affirmative. There seemed more than enough people involved so I hastened on my way. Perhaps I should have taken a few photos but I didn´t wish to appear in any way ghoulish!

Enquiries with a number of local inhabitants, including John, elicited no information, indeed nobody seemed aware that anything had happened.

A few minutes after that Hazel called up; she had heard my saga from John....and said she had just come in and had heard from from her hairdresser (who else?) that there had been some sort of fatal event in our neighbourhood!

No further news until the following day when a local newspaper confirmed there had been a fatality there. It later was alleged that the luckless victim had not been killed by his tractor overturning but had suffered a fatal heart attack whilst driving his tractor.

https://jornaldoalgarve.pt/acidente-com-trator-provoca-uma-vitima-mortal-em-silves/

So, reverting to my walk, I continued on my way without further incident except to confirm what John mentioned last week that the oft walked track leading down from Tufos to Poço Bareto was now a strip of tarmac. There are over 20 houses along it so I suppose there was some justification but one might have thought that water and drainage was perhaps a priority.

And so back home and once more back to nature, being greeted by our recently arrived, very friendly Goldfinch and family.

Some Photos of Gary the Goldfinch by Frew Jr

and a jolly nice sunset

Stats

CB Endpiece

Having had the opportunity to preview the blog before circulation,, I noticed that apart from walks, the main topics are flowers and birds. As we didn't do a walk this week, so I thought I had better add a comment on the other two topics:

First flowers: Obviously we didn't snap the wonderful spring flowers blooming at present, but Myriam has been attempting to grow all manner of strange stuff on our terrace.

Maybe you remember the Peter Peppers she successfully erected last year!

Well this year she has another entry in the Anatomy of Nature field.

.Anyone any idea what the plant is?

And as for the birds, on the QD week 7 Blog 29.04.2020, I reported that not only had an exhausted Zebra Finch found its way to salvation by arriving in my kitchen, but by way of balance against the Dark Side (that is Karma for you), one of those evil rapacious noisy sh**ty seagulls had expired and ended up on our terrace. Post Mortem exam indicated that it could have been a mid-flight heart attack brought on by the stress of seeing Myriam donning her Anti-Seagull Hat and armed with a broomstick, preparing to check out the rooftop for signs of unwanted squatters.

However, I had heard that if you wanted to discourage seagulls from nesting, all you needed to do was to acquire and position a recently deceased one of their number, near where they wanted to nest. Myriam ascended and did this, and it appears to be working. Apart from a couple of maintenance trips to the roof, to spray the dead bird with insecticide to keep the flies under control, our roof is nest free this year.

This was confirmed by a climb yesterday, but we have noticed the ex-seagulls mate still frequenting the area, and Myriam took this picture.