Butterfly Hooks

Today Mike finished the second coat of varnish on the shelf/drawer built-in artefact he's made, and screwed in the cast iron hooks I found in Évora. The thing now is to be minimalist enough on the open shelves to keep it looking good. Not our forte.

Have heard no bells tolling today. Cecílio was comparing these seven deaths so far, with stories his grandad told of the 1917 influenza epidemic, where Mourão also escaped the first wave, and then got hit badly in the second wave. No records were kept, but almost every family lost at least a couple of (mainly young) members. There were so many deaths that the carts would circle the streets and if they heard folk crying in a house, would load the bodies into the cart to be taken to trenches dug in the cemetery, even if not quite dead, to save another trip. One of these was his grandad, 17 years old, who woke up and managed to climb out of the trench and return home. And who recovered, obviously.

Gratefuls:
- our wood burner; almost no sun today, so didn't dare use the pellet burner; it's been cold, rainy and windy all day
- managing to keep on making good meals without going shopping (no delivery here)
- Julia ringing up excited because their landlord has allowed them to have a kitten - anyone know of one in the Manchester area needing a home?