Chapter 124: Rabbit Stew

nerd blog post #135 Isabella

I have wanted to write about the cork trees for awhile. This may be a bit bah-ring, but I think it's really cool. Portugal is the lead producer of cork, and right next to the farm is a huuuuge cork tree farm. They take off the bark and then the tree is red and then they paint the last number of the year on the tree. As the years go, the bark regrows and the number fades. So you can see all shades of brown and red on the trunks of trees, with the number of when it was trimmed. Every ten years, the cycle is repeated. And that's all about cork.

Next. When I was a teenager, I was seldom left home alone. And the first time I was ever left alone over night was when I was 19 and had already left home. My parents thought I would throw a party in their absence. Me?? A party!? Ahhhhh, how wise they were. I would have thrown the biggest jam Malvern had ever seen. Unfortunately, Gemma does not know me as well, and on Saturday she left me all alone at the farm from 5am until 10pm.

The morning went well. I realized how much I have learned in such a short time. I did all of the horsie things alone, and with confidence. I worked on Piri-piri's couch and raked sheet lane and pulled weeds and cleaned houses and washed clothes. And theeeen I wanted a bit of adventure.

On the week-ends I always hear gunshots in the fields behind our farm. It's the sound of men hunting wild pigs, quails (or some sort of small, fat bird), and rabbits. I have wanted to try my Mallorca gun skillz out, so decided I would join them. I couldn't get to the field any normal way because of how the property is built, so had to shimmy out of the bathroom window and over a fence and into their field. I wore bright colours so they wouldn't shoot me by accident. The men were very nice and spoke no English, but with universal sign language, they told me what they were shooting and that I could try. All of a sudden, a rabbit popped his ears out of a hole and the man gave me his big gun and explained I could try three times to get the rabbit. So when the rabbit came out of his hole, I had my first try at real life shooting. I missed, unfortunately, learning that a moving target is far harder than one pinned to the wall. Still, it was great fun and I thanked them and then watched for a bit and then returned to the farm to read my book. I think I'd like to learn the skill of the huntress one day.

Yesterday, Latoya and I came to Alcochete in the evening and had a really good time. We decided to go out for dindins, and chose a nice restaurant in the main square. There, we shared a big fish dish, their house specialty. It had cod and shrimp and was really tasty. The waiter seemed to like us, and gave us a free litre of wine, dessert, some Spanish liqueur, and his diggies. Latoya and I are getting along really well, which is good since we spend so much time together. She makes me laugh a lot. She says the most absurd things and is such a teenager and I love it.

I have two friends in Alcochete. One is the woman who works at the library and whose name is Louisa. She has adult braces but is really nice and trendy. I discovered that she spoke French, and then that she's half French and born in Lyon, so the other week we got to talking. And last Wednesday on my day off we went for lunch during her break. She's nice. The other is Lukas, who works at the beach-side restaurant. Lukas serves me cafe and is about sixteen. He speaks no English, so our friendship consists of me standing at the bar and pointing to things and him telling me their name in Portuguese. It's really, really deep. Straw. Napkin. Tray. Yeah, Lukas and I are tight.

That's all I have time for today. Hope this finds you well!

Signing off,
Hincks.