When we received a quote from our builder to build a retaining wall below the agricultural building he was busy erecting for us, we not only realized that we couldn´t afford it, but decided to do it ourselves. Well, let´s be clear, Michael decided, and I idiotically went along with his hairbrain idea, completely misunderstanding […]
“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 […]
“I like to believe that life is half-light, half-shade.” – Fernando Pessoa Any big transition is filled with uncertainty and stress, but making one now currently has an added layer of ambiguity, as official rules can change in the blink of an eye. So, when the Immigration Lawyers strongly recommended, a week before my scheduled […]
“Change is slow and gradual. It requires hard work, a bit of luck, a fair amount of self-sacrifice, a lot of patience.” – Robert Greene We’ve been in a state of change since the land was transferred into our names in November 2017. Work on the little ruin started in January 2018. Since then work […]
“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore When I visited the land in November 2018 to be present while they drilled the borehole, I vowed that there will be no more visits to the land in winter. It was just too cold and rainy, not to […]
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” -Epicurus When Michael opened his e-mails this morning, he found an unexpected gift waiting for us. The last communication we’ve had from the Electrician was mid-November. We heard […]
“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living; heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.” […]
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” – Carl Jung The two most important things we wanted to achieve in the two weeks we spent on the land at the end of August was to complete the dry walling and get the ceiling up. We knew it was rather ambitious, and […]
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius- The most important thing we are learning with our project in Portugal is to cultivate patience. Not easy, but definitely crucial, as there is not much else we can do, living so far away. Since Michael’s visit in […]
“If you expect life to be easy, challenges will seem difficult. If you accept that challenges may occur, life will be easier.” – Rob Liano – The Shephard squinted, and waved his hand in the direction of the only piece of unkempt land on the 3.1 hectares we were busy purchasing. A volley of Portuguese […]
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