Chocalhos

The soundtrack both here and in the Brazilian sertão, where we lived for 24 years, is of sheep and goat bells, known in both places as chocalhos. They come in all sizes; lambs wear tiny ones, bulls huge ones, and each has its own sound; altogether, it's a beautiful background noise.

Making the chocalhos is a dying art, and has now been made a Unesco cultural heritage - here is a fascinating video of a place near here that still makes them, and towards the end, you'll hear what we hear every day.

Because they're quite valuable, Rodrigo, our neighbour, has had the ones on his sheep stolen more than once, but never while on our Land, thankfully.

Gratefuls:
- tackling some tidying
- Mike managing to at least and at last get a document to prove that we've applied for our residence permits (which we're entitled to after five years here) - which will hopefully enable us to begin again the process of swapping our driving licenses
- afternoon walk to the Lake