“How we choose to organize our memories is in part how we choose to imbue meaning in the present moment.”
– Rolf Pots
When we bought the land, and decided to document our journey, I never once thought that more than 7 years later it would still feel like a building site. Ignorant of the amount of time building projects take, I focused my dreams on how I would live on the land when it was all done. I’ve inhabited my oversight ever since, and have come to understand that life happens in all its messiness and joy exactly in the space we occupy while reaching for our dreams. Not in some imagined social media kind of perfect way, but clumsily bumbling along, trampling a path through the thick undergrowth of choices.
Both Michael and I have come to realise that it is important to occasionally step back and remember where it all started, and just how far we’ve come since then. Even though the main reason for this blog is to serve as the keeper of our memories, which can be fleeting or easily forgotten in the tumult of daily life, scrolling through digital pages can be fragmented and frustrating. I also prefer to limit my screen time, which is why I’ve made it my goal for the year to create a tangible memory for us by transferring the photos and stories contained here onto the physical pages of a book that we can hold in our hands and page through at random to remember and appreciate the journey.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve come to appreciate the different seasons for what they are, and not what I would like them to be – each offering their own beauty and special gifts. Winter with its short, often rainy days, is the perfect season for teaching myself how to use Affinity Publisher, and embark on such an ambitious project amidst the usual daily demands and chores.
Although it is slow going at the moment, I’ve at least started the process, which has been interrupted during the course of the month by a faulty underfloor heating system that coincided with me being sick, and the obsessive way I prepare and plan for a trip.
Michael and I haven’t been away together for a holiday, since our trip to Baku, Azerbaijan in July 2019, but we’ve finally been able to commit to a holiday, with my sister being able to take care of the quinta and cats for us. We will meet halfway in the city where East meets West, and cats are loved and taken care of – Istanbul.
A Special Memory of Moment or Joy:
It seems that I have started a little ritual without setting out to do so. For the second year in a row, I’ve made a point of visiting Lisbon in winter. With only handfuls of tourists scattered throughout the city, it is the only time during the year it feels like the place I fell in love with almost 8 years ago. This time I visited specifically to attend a candlelight concert, but also made good use of the scheme in which citizens and residents can visit all the state museums for free on any 52 days in any given year. And of course, I visited various wonderful restaurants to make up for the lack where I live. Although all of the above were wonderful, the moments that stand out has nothing to do with places, but everything with people. The little old lady in a passing car who made eye contact with me, and when I smiled at her, waved and smiled; the young French couple I met in Jerónimos Monastery; the various immigrants I talked to in the restaurants and cafés; and the bubbly, young Portuguese guy who works part-time in a luggage storage facility, while also pursuing acting.
Notes:
# January was marked by freezing nights and frosty mornings, and although temperatures in winter can dip to below zero Celsius, this year was marked with longer hours and lower temperatures than in any of the previous 4 years since I’ve started keeping a record.
# We’ve finally had the quantity of rain needed to fill up the sharka and get the seasonal stream running. It has been much later than previous years, and by far the wettest January in 5 years with a total of 327 mm (with more predicted for the 29th).
Unknown facts or quirks about Portugal:
Politicians the world over can get themselves embroiled in scandals, but this recent story is one I’ve never encountered before: Chega MP suspected of luggage theft at Lisbon airport
Written by: Jolandi
Putting your photos in a book sounds like a great idea: I love scrolling through my pictures on my phone, but I am also painfully aware that they can be easily lost if my phone suddenly stops working. (2022 doesn’t exist on my camera roll because the motherboard on my accursed iPhone burned out and apparently none of the pictures from that year were saved on the cloud.) I also ought to stay away from screens, but it seems like the only way to stay in contact with anyone these days is via text or FaceTime. Getting my children to write me letters is like asking them to pull out their teeth! But they will text me and send me photos via phone, so I guess I should be grateful.
It surprises me that you have been in Portugal that long! I guess I have been following your blog for as many years, which is astonishing, all things considered. It hardly feels that long! I look forward to reading more about your life in the countryside and your many travels!
Like you, I am grateful for technology to be able to stay in touch with loved ones, Hangaku, even if it comes in tiny bite sizes. Not so much when technology eats precious photos. It feels to me that I am backing up to a million different places, and then still can’t always find what I am looking for.
I often marvel at how time passes, seemingly without me realising just how quickly. That is unless I look in the mirror, of course, which can be a cruel reminder that time waits for no one. – Jolandi
Hello my dear friend Jolandi!
I am happy to start catching up on your updates again. I am delighted you continue your tradition of visiting Lisbon in winter and how the experience remains special. As much as I lament ‘humanity’ you are absolutely correct, it’s human (and humane) encounters that make the difference.
Also delighted to hear you and Michael will take a much needed and much deserved holiday. Hope you both enjoy every moment again.
I look forward to updating you more via email soon.
And, there are piles of postcards waiting to be sent to the quinta within the next few months 🙂
Please do continue to take care!
I am looking forward to that, Takami. 💚
I love the misty photo above…
Things always fall into place, it’s important to enjoy the process. I hope you have an amazing time in Turkey, can’t wait to read about it!
That is so true, Sarah. We loved our time in Istanbul, unencumbered by the endless projects and chores of our life. – Jolandi
What a bizarre story – a politician stealing other people’s suitcases. Not merely a case of picking up the wrong one off the airport conveyor belt but hiding them in larger suitcases. I wonder if the man suffers from kleptomania. I once worked with a woman who did. She was such a lovely person, and was well-known in her small village, but she simply couldn’t help taking things that didn’t belong to her. This was in the seventies, and she was a mature-aged housekeeper, so in all likelihood she had been brought up during the Depression. I wonder if the Azores is an economically challenged part of Portugal? It’s easy to be the first to cast the stone, especially where politicians are concerned … but you never know, perhaps there is a deeper story.
And speaking of stories, what a great idea to store yours in a book. We may live in the modern age, but there is really nothing to replace two people being able to leaf through something tangible and recall their memories of that time. Mind you, as you would know, no two people ever hold the same memory, and often cannot agree on actually what took place, when, or who was there 🙂
xx Gwen
Indeed, Gwen. You never know . . .
So true about how we hold and recall memories. Even though I wrote almost all the blog posts here, I even marvel at how I remember things and what I wrote about them at the time. It is at times like discovering someone else’s memory when I can’t remember certain details. – Jolandi
I love the idea of a physical book! Enjoy the process and I hope you have a wonderful holiday with Michael. You two deserve it, xo
Thanks, Lani. We had a marvelous time, even though the last three days were absolutely freezing with snow and rain. – Jolandi
The beauty of nature and such a peaceful/graceful way of life you’ve created shines through with your writing, but especially with your photos. Simply a beautiful post to read and soak in this morning, Jolandi. The opening photo fits so well with the mood of your opening, and there is no way to experience such a life you’ve created than “… clumsily bumbling along, trampling a path through the thick undergrowth of choices.” This is what I love about reading you! You capture the essence of living, of life. Thank you!
Aw, thank you, Randall. I am certainly working hard at embracing the joys and struggles of life in equal measure, as something to appreciate and perhaps even celebrate. Life is never one dimensional after all. And a compliment like this, coming from you, who captures these concepts so well yourself, is always treasured. – Jolandi
I enjoyed your conversation with Gwen about memories and keeping them in books. I also support that idea. I’ve been making photobooks of my travels, and I combine blog posts, souveniers (photos of tickets, napkins, bankotes and coins, receipts in other languages, gifts brought home, etc.), and photos into a single book for each trip. A scrapbook that won’t fall apart, but with words because I will forget most of it and ask myself, “Now why did I think this photo was important to keep?”
I LOVE having the blog for fact-checking my weak memory. I began blogging in 2007, and have all those years right here for me to look up photos and descriptions and dates. I began journaling in 1977, but you had better believe I do not spend any time flipping through my hand-written journals when I’m trying to fact check. Ha!
There is WATER everywhere in your photos. What a relief. I’m sorry your January was so rainy, but only a little bit sorry because I think your region really needed all that water. I wish next winter for it to be better dispersed throughout the season. Those pretty kitties of yours. I wish they focused more on what they have in common than on why they don’t like each other. But then, I wish that for myself and my fellow Americans too.
I spent a couple days in Istanbul and fell deeply in love with it. Most especially the people, whom I will never forget. And though I know the country has had a social shift, I’d like to believe they are still generally the loving, gentle, generous people who were so good to me when I was there in 2000. Speaking of people….Jolandi, I am delighted to see you glow over people when you were in Lisbon. I relate very much to your joy in being apart from people, and I think it is healthy for us introverts to remember to love people too. It is special to have a smile so easily returned. :o)
I love how you also print books of your travels, and still have your journals from way back, Crystal. These will become more and more precious as we age I suspect. You will be happy to know that the people in Istanbul are still lovely and gentle, despite all sorts of changes, including economic and political. We’ve had some really lovely interactions with both its people and cats. I think the cats (and dogs) that live all over the city is a reflection of the kindness of the people, as we didn’t see a single one that didn’t look healthy and cared for. – Jolandi
I have heard occasional stories about caring for cats in Istanbul, Jolandi. It was true when I was there too. What a special quality for a city.
It is indeed, Crystal.