Let me just say up front that I do not like winter. At all. And before you all get upset and say how much you like to watch the rain and eat the chestnuts and drink the hot chocolate, well yes, I like those things too, but they could quite easily go into the “autumn” department and then we could skip straight to spring. As I write this I am listening to the south wind howl under the door and watching the clouds race across the sky. This is never good. This is the wind that brings the rain and…
Cabo da Roca is the western-most point of continental Europe and therefore, this South African feels a little bit at home here. Why? Because its windy, has a lighthouse, a shop selling icecream and wild seas threatening to smash you to bits should you venture too close to the shore… very much like my own southern-most point of Africa, Cape Agulhas. And the connection between these two wild capes runs deeper than than what meets the eye; the name Cape Agulhas means “Cape of Needles” in Portuguese, and was named as such by the first Portuguese navigators to sail past…
I am a collector of things. All sorts of things, depending on my mood. Right now my obsessions are cigar boxes, fabrics, vintage postcards, buttons, 19th century botanical prints, art nouveau fonts. When I was 5 I went through my “pretty soaps” collection period. Then, at about 8 years old was my “candle” period. During my early teens I was obsessed with bird watching and therefore accumulated an enormous selection of ornithology books. My angsty teen years were characterised by the collection of random articles that had “significant meaning” and were connected to some event in my life. Shoeboxes overflowing…
Yesterday Zé Pequeno (our dog) and I played “tourist” in the big city, which is always fun except that dogs are maybe not the best photographic assistants… And I know that this one is a repeat of the first photo, but really, I just love lens flare too much and couldn’t decide which one I love the most… so you choose.
So. I’ve been in Portugal for a year now. So far, so good. I’m not going to lie, it hasn’t been all daisies and ice-cream but the good things have by far outweighed the bad. Have (sortof) learnt to speak Portuguese. The basics, you know: “Do you have fresh ginger/peanut butter?” in the supermarket. (the answer is usually no… but thats another story) Am not yet able to have a fight with someone in Portuguese, but not for lack of trying (A man accused my dog of pooping on his from yard, total lie! but I had to yell at…
Kerry Murray 