{"id":6342,"date":"2025-04-05T07:30:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T07:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/?p=6342"},"modified":"2025-04-05T07:35:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T07:35:16","slug":"family-update-march-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/?p=6342","title":{"rendered":"Family Update – March 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Donna:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;<\/strong> Songs of Solomon 2:11-12<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring is here! After 15 days of rain and wind storms, everything is blossoming! The sun is back and nature is singing its joyful song of life! It is interesting to live in a rural area for over one year and watch the seasons change and the trees go through their annual life cycle. In autumn, as the days get shorter, growth slows down and late autumn establishes dormancy in buds.  As colder temperatures arrive in winter, trees lose their foliage and the buds stay asleep. In the warm temperatures of spring, the buds burst as they are released from their dormancy. It is so lovely to see the flowers and baby fruits arriving! To be fair, we have had a beautiful month with chances to film and photograph and stop and appreciate all that is happening in this world which is all around us and which yet can feel so foreign and antagonistic at times.  I feel our human connection with nature is very complex, but once we connect ,we feel an instinct to take care of it and become co-workers with the creator in its preservation. A big task, indeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   We continue on our quest of zoning and improving our lot.  We spent time planting new greenery, mostly lavender and wild bushes as they can resist the heat during the dry season. We covered the underground waste tanks with stones and adjacently a parking lane  for the van. We are now setting the footage for a carport. He also set up a small metal storage facility for tools etc. behind the cabin.  We continue reorganizing and organizing. Rain or shine, things keep shaking and changing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

   We also made a trip to Lisbon to catch up with Jason and Gloria. It was Father’s Day in Portugal so we had a lovely dinner together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

   Happy Birthday to Julie, our March superstar! It was nice to connect again and see her radiating smile as she and the family are also very thankful for the longer days and heat that springtime is bringing to their home! Wishing her a very happy and fruitful year ahead!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The pond – o charco (still in winter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Majestic Serra da Estrela still full of snow <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mom with Gloria at her new place<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We would love to have those pictures you probably keep for instagram and facebook. Cmon share with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love and prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donna: For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; Songs … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wordproject_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6342"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6363,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions\/6363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordfree.net\/news2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}