BLUE FOR SKY, WHITE FOR HOUSING AND GREEN FOR TURF...

Whenever I tell someone I don't like going to a beach, it's always met with a look of horror, like 'how could you?' For something that I could not yet understand not liking beaches is associated with not liking fun. I am flexible enough so as to accept points of view different from mine. 

Actually, my feelings about beaches have to do with the fact that I don’t like sand. It’s coarse, it’s rough, it’s irritating, and it gets everywhere. If beaches were devoid of sand, I’d be all about the beach. However, I like watching the motion in the sea waves...

Therefore having been in the south of Portugal never means to me going to a beach but enjoying my stay in my very personal way. 

I have never used my camera but my smartphone, instead. Then, pls accept the not ideal quality of the pictures I share on here.

The region is also known for its oranges, carob and figs. I have added a flower that we see all over the Country just to balance with the colour of the oranges.

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~~Have a nice day~~

A MAN CALLED ARMANDO....

Wandering without a specific destination is one of my favourite hobbies. This gives me the opportunity to sometimes find out either something 'precious' or someone special. This happened to me a few years ago. Rambling in a Lisbon high-class residential district a bit distant from my place, on a somehow steep street, the farther I walked it up, a strange outdoors display was getting closer to me, making me get puzzled by such a big volume of miscellaneous items. I was curious to understand what that was. As I stopped just in front of it and peeped into a very narrow entrance I saw a man working inside a tiny space. He was a shoe cobbler...

We started talking and since then he has become my shoe mender. Perhaps I should say he is jack of all trades, a master of shoe mending.

Inside the store, we see seemingly chaotic shelves of shoe polishes leather cleansers, needles, threads and so many items that are not directly related to his job. Many of them are dusted over from years of quiescence

He does good work and has these pretty birds that I took a picture of in a cage but he often lets them fly out of the cage even outside which is nice. 

Armando is very proud of his activity that has been in the hands of his family for over one century. Last century, his grandfather was already a shoe cobbler and so was his late father.

He has skilled hands and he always tries to do his best  so as to please his customers. Even if he is requested to do something like a chef knife set case....

Super nice guy Armando is... He always provides an incredible service ...

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THE LANGUAGE OF A DOOR....

ALL DIFFERENT, ALL KNOCKERS

I have always been interested in door knockers. Don't you think they are something like the language of a door? Their shape, their size, their sound, well,  they are like words that convey a meaning to both passers-by, whoever uses them, whoever hears their sound....

Although hand door knockers are said to have been originated from the Hand of Fatima—a palm-shaped amulet used to protect against evil—hand-shaped knockers are common in countries bordering the Mediterranean whence they spread to neighbouring countries. This explains why in Portugal we find many doors, particularly not modern, whose knockers are hand-shaped. 
At a first sight they look all alike but as we pay a careful attention at them we notice that even a minor detail makes one different from the other: fat hand or not so, cuffs that are more or less adorned, different finger for the ring, even the finishing of the raw-material can exhibit a particularity, brass, forged or not, copper, iron, etc.
The collage shows some of the hands which I saw in Oporto.

But not all door knockers are hand-shaped. This second collage pictures some others, most of which are different from hand ones, and for this reason made me take a photo of them.

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ONE WOMAN.... THREE PASSIONS!

This week, one of my cousins who is a woman motard, a sketcher and a writer, along with her teaching activity, has self-launched her first book Passeando pela Vida - Russia 2015. It has been a success and I feel happy for her and proud of her. 

The book reports one of her very long riding journeys over roads, some more breathtaking than others, through several countries from Portugal to Russia and return. A long lasting feast for  the reader's eyes and mind.

She is going to leave Portugal soon for another adventure that will take her to Italy, Sicilia, Sardinia and Corsica and  then back home.

Safe journey, brave Gracinda!

NOTE: Gracinda's blog    https://passeandopelavida.com/

   https://www.facebook.com/gracinda.ramos

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HELLO, SCARECROWS!

Since I read The Wizard of Oz scarecrows have touched me. I never forget that The Scarecrow thought he had no brain but, in fact, he was a highly reflective thinker and given a little time to think he produced amazing solutions to problems. It was amazing to me!!!
Yesterday, the weather was fine and after having had a superb lunch at a good friends', I decided to go driving up to a village where I had heard there would be a display of scarecrows.

I like driving on windy roads across mountains so it didn't matter how twisty the road was until I reached my destination. Here and there, looking at both sides of the road, I saw scarecrows, some more solitary than others, which made me stop now and then to take a photo... 

My day in photos....

How she was cycling fast!!!

  

Engagement???


Ready to celebrate the wedding ceremony

The newlyweds 

We really enjoyed having been viewed by you... Many thanks!

Someone once said  that whenever he saw scarecrows  he always thought  the consequences of our actions are scarecrows for the cowards and beams of light for the wise....

~~ Have a good start of the week ~~