A Sheepish Walk

In showing my new neighbor and colleague, Naomi, around, I thought she might enjoy a nice walk through our village.  As we rounded a bend in the road, we came upon a four-footed traffic jam...and were thoroughly amused and entertained by it!  Naomi grew up on a dairy farm, her father being a third generation farmer, so the traffic jam observations were very informative thanks to her!

The one goat at the back looks like he is velcroed to the side of the hill!

They made their way down to the pasture.

We had fun!  It was especially enlightening to have the 2006 New Brunswick Southern District 4-H Queen along.  She could tell me all about the sheep!

By the time we walked back, this herd made time going down and around the hillside to another pasture!

It was funny to also think how Europe's largest mall is about 15 minutes from here! :-)

We'd never seen a rainbow quite like this - seeming to come straight down from the sky and so broad (look at in comparison to the buildings!)

The Not-So-Quiet-nor-Uneventful Day

Some work had to be done on part of the gutters that are just above some of our classroom windows.  To help secure the scaffolding outside, the workmen had to put a brace in our window.  I prayed more than once for the workmen; the scaffolding made me nervous.  Thankfully, the workmen didn't seem bothered by being up over 30 feet in the air on a not-that-wide metal plank!

Needless to say, the class was buzzing with excitement and interest of it all and not so much in what was scheduled in my lesson plans.  So we made the most of it and chatted a little with the workmen via a couple of the kids translating to/from Portuguese.  I asked the boys to ask him if he would mind if we got a picture with him.  He didn't mind at all.

It was also Estefania's birthday, and her mom brought yummy cupcakes and juice for us at the end of the day!

Oh what an exciting day!!

Working Late

While working late one night I looked out the window and thought I would see if my camera would capture the beauty of the evening.  It did ok, but nothing like seeing it person! :-)

Medieval Celebration

The fifth and sixth grade finished a history unit on medieval times and invited the elementary to join them in a medieval celebration.  Seventeen pint-sized lords, ladies, knights, princesses, jesters along with the king and queen could be seen parading through the halls of GLCA.  A grand time was had by all!

The princes, princesses, and knights of the 3rd and 4th region of the kingdom

Our brave men ready to defend our land!

Pretty princesses :-)

The king and queen hosting the feast.

 

The court jester entertaining the crowd :-)

The kids really enjoyed themselves throughout the whole day.  It was fun to watch at recess as knights dualed each other on the playground and the fair ladies daintily held their skirts so as not to get them dirty!

Remember His Promises

It started out as a very overcast morning, but the sun was breaking through just a little.  This is the view from my classroom window by my desk.

The sun is reflecting off of part of the Tagus River on this particular cloudy morning.

Same view, just a few minutes later!

Then a little bit later in the morning, looking out the other side across the street from the school, we saw this!

Picture perfect :-)

So we thought we would run outside and get a picture.  However, by the time we got out there, it had almost disappeared.  You can see it, if you look REALLY closely, to the right of the telephone pole.

Looking out the window by my desk again.  The sun shining through the clouds and reflecting on one section of the river.

Belem or Bust

On another sight-seeing venture, we went to Belem, but first stopped by the school to see the campus.  

 
 

Two teachers in the classroom. :-)

 

One of my favorite places!

Mom had the lemon tea, which is made by placing lemon rind in hot water

On to St. Jeronomo's Cathedral and Monastery

Peering in a leather worker's store front

Mom and Dad in front of some beautiful, quintessential Portuguese tilework

The lemon tree at the corner of my house.  Can't wait for fresh squeezed lemonade...in January???