🎾 Summer is here - Wimbledon commentary is playing in the background.
Shutting Out The Heat
When I first arrived in Portugal, specifically the Alentejo countryside, I wondered why all the houses were shuttered in the middle of the day? Why close your windows and shut out a beautiful sunny day? And anyway, it must feel so claustrophobic? “Let the light in, enjoy the sun," says the know all visitor. There’s plenty of time to close windows at night. “I’m going to leave them open."
The alchemy of words, strung together to conjure images of a place and time, both real and imaginary.
These from The Gift Of Stones by Jim Crace,
There were outsiders close by on that morning, said my father. ‘As we came onto the hill, breathless from the climb, all could see a distant, breakfast fire, plaiting a rope of smoke for the sky. There was the sneeze of tethered horses. There was the smell of meat.’
This morning’s work. Waiting in line.
Finished reading: Of Thorn & Briar by Paul Lamb. A year in the life of a West Country (England) hedge layer. A lovely read. 📚
Finished reading: The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh by Thich Nhat Hanh. I read a little each morning, just to remind me, just to set a tone for the day. 📚
It’s one of those days when I do not want to go anywhere. Just stay at home and have a quiet day, reading, writing and reflecting. My wife on the other hand wishes to go on a road trip.
I’ll be digging deep today!
I am very much locked into the Apple ecosystem. I use a 2020 MacBook Air - no Tahoe for me - and an iPhone 13 Mini. When I move on from my Air, maybe in the next year, I have been wondering whether to move to an iPad and leave behind MacOS. Why? A good question. A part of the answer is in simplification - I am thinking of an iPad Mini, though I will first need to see it in store, in case it is too small - though would it really be simplification?
I have been asking myself what I use my devices for? Mainly a handful of things, namely,
- Web browsing
- Writing
- Note taking
- RSS
- (Picture taking and editing mainly happens on my phone)
I have not looked into this in detail yet, simply because I am not ready to make the move right now, but I do have a couple of concerns.
- File storage: My files are mainly stored on my MacBook Air. What are my options for an iPad?
- Backup: I currently have two backup strategies. A hard drive powered by TimeMachine & Backblaze for offsite, cloud backup. Again what are my options for an iPad.
- Applications: At first glance, most of the apps that I use on MacOS are available on iOS. One exception that does come to mind is Calibre. I’ll have to take a closer look at this, see if there are any other apps that would cause me concern, and what other options might be, if any.
No rush here providing my trusted work horses keep going, but I’ve given myself plenty of food for thought.
A reflection of Alcácer do Sal’s pedestrian bridge in the River Sado.
Empowered by Music
Some music seems to allow me to see past what I perceive to be all the blocks in my life, all the limitations, all those invisible and maybe not so invisible barriers preventing me from moving forward. I hear a specific piece of music and doors and windows are suddenly flung open. The grime is cleared from my foggy mind and I see before me a world of possibilities where there were none before.
Looking across some of the newly flooded rice fields in Alcácer do Sal, this morning.
Some people, I find, have a way of making me and my day feel so much better through a simple action.
Thank you to the woman working at a cash register this morning at Continente on the edge of Grândola, Portugal. With our produce rung up and paid for, before I could speak any of my bubbling Portuguese, our teller gave the most natural smile and said in perfect English, ”Thank you and have a good weekend.” Her words felt heartfelt.
A simple, gracious deed, especially against the backdrop of the world’s problems, made my day that little bit brighter. It’s the simple things that make a difference.
Visits from our Neighbours and Apple Maps
Our neighbours from Maui stopped by over lunch two days ago to visit us in Alcácer do Sal. They had been up north in Ericeira visiting their daughter’s family and were heading to the Algarve for a long weekend. Their visit was all too brief, but in their favour they managed to get lost coming into town, which negated us having to take them around town - they did the self-guided tour!
Thankfully this little guy was not for real.
Just after I arrived in Portugal, the weather in Alcácer do Sal was in the high 30’s°C for a few days. The heat literally beat down on us. It was tiring, exhausting to be out. But not wanting to stay in, I went for a walk and this fountain in the local park was a welcome respite, the force of the water offering a cool breeze.
Dreaming of Wales. Back to an image that I took a couple of weeks ago while I was in Bristol, England. This is taken from Seawalls, looking down the River Avon towards the Bristol Channel. In the distance are the hills of Wales. I lived in South East Wales for almost 20 years, and a part of my heart is still there.
It’s been a week since I have posted anything here, and I am probably behind with a few stories and images. So here is a photo from yesterday in Lisbon. This character greeted us after lunch.
Finished reading: Spring by Michael Morpurgo. 📚
I finished reading this while listening to Ralph Vaughn Williams’s Lark Ascending, which felt wholly appropriate for a book describing a British Spring.
I came across this conversation on YouTube and found it fascinating. A short conversation with physicist Dr. Brian Cox and Stephan Colbert, in which Cox explores or asks the question of what it means to be who we are in the vastness of the Universe.
A rainbow, or should I say a double rainbow that showed itself while I was in Britain. My wife sent me the photograph, so photo credit to her. 🌈
