A dirt road. Trees on the left side, a fence on the right one.

This week started on a Tuesday, a very hot August day. Temperature reaching 41C at my in-laws. It would turn colder later in the week.

  • 🧸 movieStar still working from home, so I’m taking care of tinyMovieStar most of the day, with grandma and grandpa helping. A lot. We spent most of the week at my in-laws, with a couple of cousins staying with the aunt of lives next door. The houses are arranged in a way that it feels like they’re one, with connecting patios. We move back and forth a lot.

  • πŸ“· True to form, I got a call about an assignment due next day, a small one, in Lisbon. We’re about an hour away, but of course I said yes. It’s August, a very slow work month, always happy to make a buck. Rode to town on my father-in-law’s Harley, on what was probably the hottest day of the god damn year. I wanted to get back to the countryside as fast as possible, and driving to the city (and deal with traffic and parking) was not part of my plan. Turns out it was for nothing, and I had to go back a second time.

  • πŸ›΅ That second trip to the city felt great. The assignment wasn’t very exciting, a simple affair. But it allowed me to ride for almost three hours again, and that’s awesome. This was Scooter Week for me, and happy about it. Colder weather too, it felt incredible! The following morning movieStar ran out of her special oath flakes, and I had to ride to two different towns to find them. Again, a pleasure. Everything feels better when you’re riding there.

  • πŸŽ‚ THE party! Auntie had a birthday this week, a party was arranged. Loads of food, as usual with this particular aunt (she does all the cooking, even on her birthday - three main dishes, four desserts), and loads of family. All her daughters and sons came back home. That is not usual, as one daughter has to fly back from Helsinki, and another from London. Almost all her grandchildren also attended. One was missing, busy in LA. tinyMovieStar met a few new cousins, thrilled to find out she has an almost endless supply of those! It was a monster party, and we were still very tired the following day, eating leftovers.

  • 🌑️ tinyMovieStar had a temperature spike, probably due to excitement levels being high all week. A lot to handle. Or, maybe, a growth spurt. She seems taller, again. Over a meter by now.

  • 🌴 Weekend came, and went. The two younger cousins that were staying with us left after Sunday lunch, one back home, the other back to England. We took that as a sign, and drove back to the city. Had dinner with my parents. August is almost done with, tinyMovieStar starts school on Friday. She will also go on Monday, and then it’s off to the south, and the beach. She’ll miss the first few days. Truth be told, that’s all we can think about already. It was a very odd August.

  • πŸ‘€ Another unfortunate side-effect of spending so little time in the city, while spending so much time with the girls, is that sticker spotting ends up being almost non-existent. There are no stickers in the village where my in-laws live. Hopefully I’ll get back to it soon.

  • πŸ“Ί Afterparty, The Bear (we finished season 2, and immediately started watching season 1 again), Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn.

  • πŸŽ™οΈ The weekly episodes of Spy Valley, and Um EspiΓ£o no Kremlin, on top of the usual podcast list. I’ve been listening to a lot less of these at the moment. No time for podcasts, I’m sorry to say.