The power of suggestion is a remarkable thing. It’s a seed dropped from a bird passing overhead, a seed culled from elsewhere unknown. That seed sits on the land, the land and the environment nourish it, so it sprouts and flourishes. As if out of nowhere, that seed is a tree. A little background. The…
SO YOU’RE A WHAT??
‘The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating — in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.’ — Anne…
THAT MOMENT WHEN THERE IS NO GOING BACK
Lisbon is calling. Hers is the low droning hum of a singing bowl before it rises to a coppery aria. It is also the moan of a wetted finger running along the rim of a glass before it hits a shrill. This early heeding is anticipatory. I have been inadvertently holding my breath, knowing that either…
THE SIGNS OF A GROWING TRIBE
Like the mini Fiat I’ve driven up and down Portugal a few times searching for a home, I’m in need of a tune-up. The car and I have revved out our engines though I’ll admit neither of us has much horsepower. I’ve used much of mine urging the little engine up and down mountains where,…
FINDING WITCHES EVERYWHERE
We need a lawyer. We need one fast. We have just a day before the winds of fate that blew us together will blow us apart. Sigrun is heading to Spain to see her family for a few days where they are on holiday. My stint at the farm in the middle of Portugal where…
DEFINING A SOUL’S PURPOSE
A spider is the symbol I adopted for my jewelry brand twelve years ago. The spider represents creativity – building a meticulously crafted web; The spider is independent and self-sufficient – the web a home and a food-trap at the same time; The spider is resilient – rebuilding a web if it is knocked down….
CLARITY, CATALYSTS AND A METAL SPIDER
Submerging fully in the ocean in the Algarve is a baptism of sorts. If wary or questioning before, I now am a true convert, fully embracing this country, Portugal. It is a strange reversal of fate, my father’s family descending from 16thcentury conversos (forced converts to Catholicism) by this nation. When my 11thgreat-grandfather, Henriques Dias…
THERE’S A TIME FOR EVERYTHING
After all that soul work at the lighthouse (see previous post), its time to chill. The sea in the Algarve is as refreshing as an acceptably cool Red Stripe beer which, if you ask any Jamaican, means just below freezing. Yet my friends jump in with the gusto of the English drinking warm lager. Then…
ILLUMINATIONS OF THE EARTH
The Lighthouse of Cabo de Sao Vicente is best visited in the late afternoon in order to experience the sunset at the southwestern-most point of Portugal. It’s immense cliffs are reputed to be the best place in all of Europe to watch as the sun slips beneath the Atlantic Ocean. We are on site but…
THE EXTRAORDINARY IN WHAT MIGHT APPEAR ORDINARY
In my favorite fairytale of childhood, The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton, whenever something mystical is about to happen, cold winds blow ferociously then suddenly dissipate leaving behind clear skies, a sunny day and a few other-worldly characters who participate in the next chapter of the story. Sigrun and I have arrived in the…
TRUSTING IN THE MADNESS
If you’ve grown up with Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree books, then you know, quite unquestioningly, that fairies and other magical creatures exist. A Norwegian mythological being, Sigrun, has suddenly appeared in my life though in reality it is I who suddenly thrust myself into hers. I’d offered to drive her to a train station…
DEPENDING ON PORTUGUESE AIR THERMALS TO SOAR
When white storks migrate between North Africa and Portugal, they avoid crossing the open Mediterranean Sea but detour it via the Strait of Gibraltar because the air thermals required for soaring only form over land. The land heats up in the sun, the hot air rises and creates currents that carry the robust avians over…
