Essentially Incalculable

We had plans for the day.

But then we got up and went outside, as we always do, and it was so beautiful, decided to go for a walk and appreciate it - misty and sunny and sparkly, newborn lambs everywhere, geese and cranes honking, and fields festooned with shining cobwebs. Giving me a huge problem - which photo to choose??

Ended up at the posh hotel that opened sometime back, not a car in sight, looked closed, but thought we'd see if we could get a drink... ended up being shown around by the owner's very pleasant son. We especially wanted to see what the facilities were like for Mike's brother, who uses a wheelchair, as there's nothing suitable in Mourão - it looked good, a lift, two wheelchair friendly suites, and a two-bed apartment with a kitchen. And views over the Lake and the castle (see extra), indoor and outdoor pools, just wonderful, though strange to see such luxury so close to home.

Ended up staying for lunch, which was superb and reasonable Alentejo prices (another son is the chef) - dining room and waiter for our exclusive use, no other guests - sad, really. See Mike's dessert in second extra.

Gratefuls:
- the freedom to take most of a day to just wander in beauty
- getting a video done for our church's Livestream
- lanche (snacks) out at Ana's monte (country place), with Cecílio and Ermelinda

The Body, ch 12 - The Immune System, p231 - surely hugely relevant currently, especially in terms of this virus...
The immune system is big and kind of messy and all over the place. It includes a lot of things we don't usually think of in the context of immunity, like earwax, skin and tears. Any invader that gets past these outer defences - and comparatively few do - will quickly run into swarms of 'proper' immune cells, which come pouring out of lymph nodes, bone marrow, the spleen, the thymus, and other corners of the body... By one calculation, we have some three hundred different types of immune cell at work within us, but Daniel Davis, professor of immunology at the University of Manchester, thinks the number is essentially incalculable.