“A silence where you interact with your thoughts is also a sacred act, a way of owning your interior being. Sometimes you need to wade through your thoughts in order to let them settle.” – Heather McRae-Woolf Brambles, producing delicate flowers in spring and juicy fruit in summer, are mostly a web of thorns growing […]
“Some places are for going through, others are for going to – and Monsanto is definitely one of the latter.”– José Saramago In his book Journey Through Portugal, José Saramago explains that he went to Monsanto expecting to find slate roofs, but instead found red Mediterranean tiles, and ‘imagined narrow, winding dark streets that would […]
When the name is mentioned, it is often quoted as the most Portuguese Village in Portugal, yet this title is almost never explained. Even a New York Times article on 14 June 1998 described it as Portugal’s “most typical village”. It is a misnomer, as Monsanto is not exactly what most people will term typical […]
“All that came before us and all that surrounds us is continually leaving its imprint on what we are and how we are, on what we do and how we do it.” – Miguel Moore Monday morning dawned cold, which promted Michael to send an email to the company that installed the heating system. “Unfortunately […]
“Those who don’t know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear our troubles until a better day.” – Deng Ming-Dao This past week, like the snowflakes when I woke up yesterday morning, was a flurry of activity that held great promise. […]
Surrounded by a cork oak forest and giant granite boulders, the chapel of São Pedro de Vir-a-Corça looks small and plain. Insignificant even, as it is the landscape that makes the strongest impression on visitors. It feels wild, mysterious, and ancient. The inselberg, against whose flank this chapel nestles, rises sharply from the surrounding landscape […]
“Walking helps thinking. You mull things, the landscape, your life, as you stroll along.” – Paul Salopek We often think that we have to travel long distances to find beauty and wonder, but we forget that it can also be found in our own backyards. Sometimes even without having to set foot in a car. […]
I’m told that it is tradition for families in Portugal to gather on the 24th of December, and like in most cultures it is the dinner table around which it happens. It doesn’t come as a surprise then that the Catholic Church recommends a period of fasting before Christmas. Families gather after Midnight Mass on the […]
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan Between the realisation that the heating system being installed wasn’t going to do what we thought it would (unless we spend […]
“. . . the degree of our awareness is the degree of our aliveness. What is invisible to me is what I have not yet learned how to see. The invisible becomes visible through our attention, through stillness, through silence. And patience.” – Terry Tempest Williams November was filled with a bounty of mushrooms and […]
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