Saturday, playing catch up…

I finally got a photo of Ansley (on the L), all decked out for Fall Ball with two of her besties.  Somehow or other in all the teenage haste, no photo was taken of her alone.  She is loving the ease of her short hair after donating for Locks of Love, remember?  Sure you do.

Did y’all know that both black and green olives grow on the same tree?  Not me.  Bob learned the hard way that they are NOT tasty right from the tree.  I would trust him on that tip.

We literally saw hundreds of acres of terraced olive groves that are centuries old.  These terraces were created by manual labor.  Think about that!  OUCH, says my back.

The Portuguese government has control over where grave vines can and cannot be planted…in the shale ground.  The vines never get watered, except by what rain provides and shale shares.  Shale is good, because it absorbs the heat of the sun that then gets released to the vines during the night.  They even use shale strips to stake the grape vines, rather than use wood stakes.  That solves a rot problem!

Check out this orchid “tree” that was in the lobby of the Lisbon Ritz:

There were dozens of pots containing hundreds of orchids in this big, fat arrangement.  Really outstanding.

This photo was taken from the rooftop of the Ritz, overlooking a beautiful plaza and the city of Lisbon:

It was 23 at our house this morning.  Thankfully, the sun is out and we are now above freezing.  This is unusual for the North Georgia Alps, even for late November.  I’m thinking palm trees already!

Who wants to go to Florida?