Rain.... 

For two days now it has been raining almost non stop in the Alentejo, and many other parts of Portugal. Much needed rain to fill, or very likely, only partly to refill our water reservoirs. The southern part of the Portugal has not had a lot of rain the last two years, and although the rain is not always very convenient and will cause problems from time to time, I am truly hoping for a lot more this year.... 

Leaving Castro Verde this morning to walk the dogs, I passed a 'flood warning' sign, on the way to a small hamlet called Geraldo.

The usual gentle creek had turned into a wide river, and must have flooded the bridge yesterday during the down pour.

When walking the dogs I also found some rocks covered with lichen..amazing colours these lichen have.

Have you ever seen a lichen and knew that it was a lichen? Not many people know what lichens are, and who would? They seem as though they are from another planet! 

Lichens are bizarre organisms and no two are alike.

Lichens are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus and an alga. The dominant partner is the fungus, which gives the lichen the majority of its characteristics, from its thallus shape to its fruiting bodies. The alga can be either a green alga or a blue-green alga, otherwise known as cyanobacteria. Many lichens will have both types of algae.