“We find beauty not in the thing itself, but in the patterns of shadows, the light and darkness that one thing against another creates.”– Junichiro Tanizaki The beginning and end of June on the quinta had little in common with one another. Most of the photos in this post reflect the lush green of the […]
“Em Castelo Branco existem apenas três estações: verão, inverno e estação de comboios.”“There are only three seasons in Castelo Branco: summer, winter, and the train station.”– a Portuguese saying paraphrased by me In Portuguese the word ‘estação’ refers both to the seasons and stations, which makes the saying funny, and although there are certainly four […]
“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow – that is patience.” – Leo Tolstoy Progress on the quinta at times feels like a long, drawn-out and never-ending process, but at times the amount of work can leave me out of breath. Whenever […]
“My grandmother used to say, ‘Into everyone’s life a little rain must fall – rain, assholes, and assorted bullshit.’ I’m paraphrasing. But she was right. We all get our share of tragedy or insanity or drama, but what we do with that horror is what makes all the difference.” – Jenny Lawson It is difficult for […]
“I envy those who have a singular focus, whose work clearly revolves around one central point. I feel that this is one of my fatal flaws, juggling too many things and not having a laser-sharp focus on one.”– Jeremy Bassetti I relate to the above quote. My interests often feel too many and diverse. Almost […]
“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 […]
“One cat won’t fix all of your problems.But three might.Or they might just cause enough problems for you to forget all about your old problems.So get four.”– Unknown Years ago, when we had to put our first rescue cat in the UAE down, we were heartbroken. When Michael, not long after, came home one day […]
The new season of Threshold entitled Hark, an award-winning podcast concentrating on environmental journalism, starts with Amy Martin asking listeners to hit the pause button and listen to all the sounds they can hear. Perhaps do the same as what she suggests, and close your eyes for a moment to listen to what you can […]
“Do I have a single identity – based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, class, gender or geography? Or am I essentially a mixture of multiple belongings, cultural allegiances and diverse inheritances, backgrounds and trajectories?”– Elif Shafak In her book How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division, Elif Shafak urges the reader to ask the […]
“We are all driven to belong. To be part of the tribe, but not everybody fits in the same way. We want a life rich with purpose and meaning. That too is in our DNA, but that meaning can’t be prescribed. It must be sought, and found, and sometimes wrestled with, and fought for.”– Aaron […]
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