Bom dia, querida mãe! 
Como estás? Estou muito bem! ( Good day, dear mom! How are you? I´m very well!
I´ve been being a very hard working kiwi bird lately.
Let me tell you! 
I´ve been taking care of a very friendly guinea pig.
I was cleaning her cage and giving her fresh water and hay and carrots.
She wanted to cuddle with me all the time.
I was also keeping company for an elderly cat lady, who had just moved to spend her days of retirement for more suitable surroundings in Marias apartment.
She seems to be very satisfied with her new home. I like her company too.
Then I was making food for all of us.
Here I´m grilling some salmon. 
The cat lady got her portion too.
Here I´m cooking fish soup in portuguese style.
It has many different fish species.
Here we are eating fish almost every day. What a wonderful country! 
We ate the salmon with some boiled potatoes, carrots and cawliflower, over which we
sprinkled some olive oil and lemon in portuguese style.
Njam NJAM!
And we had some rough portuguese bread to go with it.
And olives from Marias parents olive trees, and the wonderful cheese we bought from the Festa da Mascaras.
Just look at this cheese, mom!
I´m sure you would love our meal too!
We had also some strawberries.
And cherries.
And apricots.
There was still a bit room in our stomachs, and so we made some fresh coffee.
And some choc cake, so that the coffee would not feel lonely.
This bunch is for you, mom. 
It is a tradition here to collect this kind of bunch in the "Dia de Espiga" which means the day of the Thursday of the Ascension.
The flowers in it symbolize different things:
Ear of a grain plant - bread
Poppy - love and life
Olive branch - light and peace
Wine leaves - joy
Marigold - wealth
Rosemary - health and strength
I wish all of these for you!
We heard that in earlier times it was a custom to decorate hats with fruit, and we tried it too.
What do you think, mom?
Aren´t we lovely?
I´ll write more to you soon!
Kisses and a warm hug from Zoë
