News from the Locked Down

We have been here for just about three months. Two of those months have been in lock down. However, things are looking up. The main reason is that the Portuguese government is starting to ease the restrictions and will continue to progressively ease them through the middle of May. Starting this week, some schools opened along with salons and a few other types of businesses. As of yesterday, my hair looks a little less like Martin Van Buren on a bad hair day and Will's has lost the Farrah Fawcett vibe. And, no...there are no before and after pictures. Shops and outdoor dining will be opening up over the next few weeks. We have no update to share about the vaccine. We have completed a request for those of us who live here but do not have our residency cards yet. We are hoping that will work. We remain hopeful that we will get our shots in April.

As I reported earlier, obtaining our residency permits entails meeting with the national immigration office. Both of our meetings had been scheduled for late March but they have both been canceled due to the lockdown. It will probably take several months before we are rescheduled. So, we will not be able to leave Portugal until we get that permit. The good news is that there is a lot to see here in Portugal and we can't wait to get out and about. We still have no regrets about coming when we did. Judging from posts on the Facebook groups we belong to it has become extremely difficult to get over here, even with the visa approval. There are very few flights and it has just become much harder than when we came.

After several weeks of cold and rainy weather, we are enjoying wonderful sunny spring weather. The gardens around the house we live in are coming to life. There are a bunch of hydrangeas that are going to be in bloom in a few weeks and it will be glorious. Here is just a small sampling.

Happy spring!