This past week brought the second monthly gathering of Serendipity – a social group of women from all over our region of Portugal. This month’s activity was held outside the nearby town of Palmela, at a small ceramics workshop/factory. Helena and I arrived early and had a chance to drink in the charm of our surroundings. This little place called Fortuna was a small cluster of buildings that included the workshop where tiles and other ceramics are made, a showroom of their products, a painting room, the little restaurant, and a tranquil picnic grove. there was a splendid bougainvillea tree overhanging a stone terrace that included a quaint turtle pond. It was set in such a remote location that when we closed our mouths and our eyes, all we could hear were the gentle sounds of nature.
Naturally, that all changed when 10 women gathered! We had a tour of the workshop, given by Margarita, one of the handful of long-time employees of the business. Her English was slightly better than my Portuguese, so she spoke mostly in her native tongue while Helena and Cori translated. She showed us the various kinds of local clay they use, and demonstrated how various pieces were made. She mostly works with molded pieces like pitchers, cups, and the like. The rear section of the workshop is where the ceramic tiles are manufactured. It’s all done by one man using his own two hands and some ingenious tools. Most of the tiles they produce here are custom orders. This is one of the few places that will reproduce tile designs for folks who are restoring an old structure and want to replace broken or missing tiles with exact matches. The process for doing that is difficult and time consuming, but the results are magnificent!
After learning about the manufacturing process and watching the experts hand paint exquisite detailed pictures on some mural tiles, we were invited to paint a blank tile of our own design. The work table was filled with brushes and glazes of different colors, so all we needed was our imagination and a great deal of skill. Sadly, I came up short on the latter, but had fun anyway. We adjourned to the restaurant for a delicious meal of local specialties.
This outing gave us plenty of opportunity to visit with each other and get to know each other a little better. I was happy to become reacquainted with Angela, Carolyn, and Terrel, whom I’d met last month. I also got to talk with Tanika, from South Africa, as well as Kim and Gina from the US. All these women have such interesting stories of how they came to live in Portugal. The fact that we all ended up here by whatever means gives us a foundation of understanding and sympathy. One of the things I miss most about “back home” is my friendships with strong, smart, funny women. It takes a long time to grow and old friend, but I’m happy to see that potential among these women I’ve just met.
It will take a few days for our tiles to be fired and ready to go. Cori plans to collect them and distribute them to all of us when she has the chance. I predict mine will spend its life in a bottom drawer where I will discover it at infrequent intervals and remember this very pleasant day with fondness.
Exuberant bougainvillea 
Turtles, known in these parts as tartartugas 
The tree and me 
Examples of hand painted tiles 
Made and painted by hand, by three artists 
Our work table and tools