I saw it

We had a turbulent day today, here in Tomar. It was scary. I'd never seen a tornado before, only on television and it was worrying to see how much damage it caused and it was only a small one! It made a loud noise, the leaves flew in the air and got into our houses, the pigeons flew uncontrolled with the rolling wind, we could hear the people screaming, and it was scary to hear the ambulances all around. Traffic was chaotic. Everything was chaotic. As we were deprived of electric energy, we couldn't listen to the news anywhere and felt lost in these happenings. I just felt more relaxed when I picked my son up at the kindergarten and saw that everyone was ok. The weather forecast is not very optimistic with the coming weather but we hope that it won't happen another tornado.

Correction: due to the lack of means of communciation, I didn't know that my nieces were in the attic of a building when the tornado passed by. Beyond the panic, only one of them was hit by shrapnel in the leg and had to go to the hospital. Poor girls. But they're ok now.

Olive oil mill

Today was the day to go to the mill and bring some olive oil. That one with color, smell, texture and taste like the real olive oil. Oh my God...



It was really good to smell that perfume in the air and see that golden color gushing into the bottles. My little son was so excited. He wanted to see everything, to know how everything worked, he loved to watch the machines working and asked tons of questions. And he was keen to help us with the bottles. He was so happy to see something new and good. It was really good.

Old year, new cup

Rainy day. Day to decorate the house for Christmas and to worry about my little son's fever. But he's been brave, since he wanted to participate in everything and even helped with his opinions. Great son.
Pause. I'm always breaking dishes, so we often put new dishes on the table. Now that we're almost in the end of the year, it is time to go to the bottom of the trunk and search for the old coffee cups. They have so maaany years. I'm not sure but I think that they've been kept for almost 30 years! I'm becoming old, ain't I? But I liked them. They are old but new to our eyes. Perfect to taste a deserved moment of pause... Until my little son calls again, of course.

Cold

Taken from my window in the morning. I preferred that the white grass was snow, but one has what can be... Cold, very cold.

Fire in the water

I love my work. Because it allows me to go through beautiful sites and still register them with my camera. And I love the cold. Well, maybe I don't love it that much, but I really like it.

I was going to Fátima today and noticed the smoke coming out of the earth. I knew that there were streams around there. I could not resist to stop by.

It was fantastic to see that. I was jumpy. I just wanted to leave my car and work behind and start breaking new ground around there. I was so excited that I even was not feeling cold. And it was cold!

I guess that there are some places in these hills where the sun doesn't go during the winter. The road is constantly wet and we have to drive very carefully.


Before arriving to Fátima I saw someone taking photos in a bend in the road. I found it funny and thought to myself: has he got a blog too? I looked in the rearview mirror and I just could see some piece of white on the base of the mirror. I thought to myself again: such beautiful clouds. He also must love clouds just like I do. I decided to find those clouds from the high point where I went to.

Well, I was wrong. Although the quality of the photos is not the best, what I had seen and that man was photographing was the snow on top of the mountains.

It was so beautiful. I tried to know where were those mountains but no answer was satisfactory. Alvaiázere? Impossible. Sicó? Idem. Lousã? No. The last answer was Pampilhosa. Maybe. I just know that it was wonderful.

Day 1

Our advent calendar!
Instead of buying one, we made it ouselves. It's only for 12 days and I still don't know what to put inside the bags. The traditional candies or a Christmas story to tell before falling asleep. Well, I still have 12 days to think about it.
I had everything in the house, it was just making it. A corkboard, a cloth to wrap the tubes, toilet paper tubes wrapped with sticker paper, small items, some pins and that's it. My little boy loved it. I know that it's not amazing but it's ours and makes us happy. That's the important thing.
Christmas Tree has to wait until next weekend. We couldn't decorate it today. Pity. But it's good to go slowly this way, to taste every day of this frozen and wet almost winter.

My month is arriving

December... I must have been born in December. It's really my month.

Rain, cold, green, cozy light, bright sun, drewdrops, frost. Bonets, scarves, coats, wool socks. Fireplace, chestnuts, quiet conversations, warm blankets, hot chocolate, coffe, tea...

And Christmas! Christmas. The preparations, the decorations, the Christmas Tree, the Christmas Eve, the King Cake, the typical sweets, the octopus, the codfish, the kales, the goatling and all the typical food.
The cosiness, the children's laugh, the adults conversations. Being united, the spirit which rises. The burning candles, the advent calendar, the gifts made and offered with love.
And Jesus. We don't know in which month He was born but we chose to celebrate it in December. It's because of Him that we join together and all those good values that we talk about during this season make sense. That's why Christmas is when men want, and I wish men wanted it everyday! After all, if God knew that our biggest need was for money, He would had sent us an economist. If for good looking, a beautician. If for big and good houses, a builder. And so on. But He knew that our biggest need was an interior need, in the level of happiness, peace, love, mercy, joy, altruism, hope, eternal life. That's why He sent us a Saviour. For us to reconcile with ourselves and with each other.
Does anyone thing about this in our days?