After a super busy and super wonderful high season of photography, I felt like the time was overdue to grab my wolfpack and travel. It was years since we all had been on a proper holiday together. Such is life when there is a lot going on at home and there are a lot of people and animals involved! So finally, come October, we packed our rucksacks and headed south for a week of basking in the Portugese sun.
It was so good. The best parts were leaving work behind and being able to be completely present with my family, to have us all together for a whole week of fun and play. Nothing else but being together. It was true healing for us as a family. And yes, the sun and the sea and the magical scent of wild herbs in the Portugese landscape made it pretty good, too. 

Here's a whole bunch of photos! 

(click on the image to see the next)

Both Nik and I have lived in this area in the Algarve; and that's where we met, too. I lived and worked on a horse farm/riding centre there in 02/03, and we met there years later, when I went back to visit my friend Tiffany, who runs the farm. Nik had then established a close friendship with my friend's man, Martin, so he hung around there all the time. He also worked for Martin as a tree feller. After Nik moved back to Norway we have kept in touch with Tiffany and Martin, and every time we have travelled down there, we have seen them. Last year, Martin got very ill, and Tiffany lost her beautiful man to cancer earlier this year. Nik managed to go and see him before he passed. Now was the first time he'd been there after Martin was gone. It was emotional. Martin's ashes are under a beautiful tree on the farm, and there is a bell there, his bell. We rung the bell, talked about him, hugged Tiffany tight, cried and laughed and remembered this unique, soulful and hilarous man we had been so blessed to know, one of Nik's very best friends.
This place, Tiffanys farm, is one of the places where I have been the happiest in my life. It keeps so many lovely memories for me, of hours on horseback in the hills, of beer lunches and great company and good hard work. The kids are always welcome to come and ride there, and so they did this time, too. A wonderful end to a great week!