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?

Poem - Wednesday, September 8, 2010

After the rain, the clean sky and the white clouds.
Which remind me two of my favorite poems. Those "pocket" poems, which have accompanied me for year and make part of my growth. Of course that I'm not sure if I can do a proper translation, but I'll try.

To be great, be whole: nothing
Yours exaggerate or exclude. Put everything you are
In the minimum you do.
This way on each lake the whole moon
Shines, because in the high it lives.

(Fernando Pessoa)

More than being the first one
Hero is the one who knows to give himself whole
Inside himself go beyond.

(Manuel Alegre)

Wet earth - Wednesday, September 8, 2010

It's a pity that you can't see the rain drops or the smell of the wet earth. What a comfort. The high temperatures haven't gone away yet, I know, but in the meanwhile I'm enjoying the cleaning and renovation of the air. And I fulfill the lungs, feelings renewed myself...

The autumn is coming - Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The sky is so blue...

... the brighter light seems to clean the horizon...

... the fluffy and drift clouds are so intimate. The smell in the air is already different, mornings and evenings are chiller and it even has already rained a little bit. This is the arrival of a new season. It's so good...

More animals - Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Becas has two new friends...

Kika (Kikolini as the cousins call her)...

And Poupas (Poupolini).

The cousins went on vacation and the little cousin here is the one who takes care of the pets, or at least that's what is supposed. The turtle is always starving and Poupas is still very shy, I think that he needs more time to get used to us. Nevertheless is all excited when we go and talk to him. Well, I'll be an animal handler for two weeks.