– my hair is mostly white around the temples these days, so i paint it now and then (usually when there’s some event coming up) and let it run wild the rest of the year. we had a big meeting on the weekend, so earlier in the week, i painted it — this time, pure black. the color looks a little radioactive in its blackness but it gives me some wednesday addams vibes, and i like it! now, if only the hair paint would stop running into every pillowcase and towel, that would be just perfect.

– book #5 of the year was part 2 of joe sacco’s palestine series. still as gut-punching as the previous one, though the stories are so short and disconnected that sometimes you feel like you’re just getting disjointed glimpses, and not really the big picture. i guess reading a more broad book on the topic would help.

– we had a quote for transforming the space around our house into a minimalistic zen garden (aka, covering the floor with little stones), and we’ll probably go ahead with it soon. it’ll be nice to have a clean space that isn’t overgrown with clover and stubborn grass, and the succulents will migrate to a smaller patch in the front of the house. i look forward to the end result.

– it’s tree-planting season and so, off we went to marinha grande to re-forest a bit more of the huge pine forest that burned there in 2017. the weather was perfect, and it felt wonderful to be out there with friends, chatting the whole time and getting those tiny maritime pines planted. the ground there is mostly sand, which makes for really easy digging!

– we spent a couple of days up there with our local friends, before driving back south on sunday. they took us to explore s. pedro de moel, and we ended up having lunch at alcobaça, where the food (and especially the conventual sweets) are to die for.

– the month of letters is on! i started out strong, but failed to write in the days we were up north… no matter — i will try to do better the rest of the month, now that we’re back home and our calendars are free until the end of february.

– less than 50 days to taiwan! :D