Author: ana

about me

Categories
weeknotes

weeknotes, 41/25

an in-between week of sorts — sandwiched between the intensity of the world postcard day and our impending trip north. a week trying to get things back under control and failing. a week spent getting the house ready for our next guests.

i took out the last of the tomatoes from the backyard, and planted some wintery crops, like cabbage and beets.

we saw eden in the cinema on monday, and it was unexpectedly brutal. the new theatre place in town is great though, and it was well worth the wait — i’m looking forward to many more movies there.

on thursday we went all the way to quarteira to get a couple new spokes put on my bike — it seems like we’re on a streak of bad luck with bikes recently, but it was nice to find a shop that services the same brand i use. and because we had to wait around for some time, we had some delicious korean food there and even stumbled on a romanian shop! it really felt like we were visiting a big city and discovering lots of new things… even though the city is not that big nor that far.

i finished remarkably bright creatures this week, and it was such a wonderful book, so tender… it’s probably going to go on my top 3 of the year.

and i finally managed to score yellow bird on vinted, for little niece. it’s a book about an inventor bird, and the book includes both postcards and the accurate names of birds (not an easy feat!). so of course, i had to get it for her.

did i mention that i’ve been sending her one book every month since she was born? it has become a really enjoyable project for me, to discover all these nice books and also take in suggestions from friends and their kids. and of course, it’s nice to see her enjoy them too and become a “reader”!

on sunday it was the local election day. an independent group of people lead by a local driving instructor won the presidency of the parish council, so they’re going to be responsible for what happens in our part of town for the next 4 years. i don’t know them, but in a way, it’s kind of nice that none of the big parties (nor the fascists!) won here and that the population organized itself to take matters into their own hands. let’s see what they do in the next few years! :)

Categories
weeknotes

weeknotes, 40/25

how is it week 40 already?!

this was a super busy week, probably the busiest in the year, because of world postcard day. but, fueled by the usual mix of cookies and ravioli (both stamp-shaped) and a healthy dose of adrenaline, it went well. sometimes i get a bit teary-eyed thinking about the whole thing, the global scope of it, how we’ve (very slightly) influenced the lives of thousands of people out there, who are celebrating a day that didn’t exist some years ago. :)

the rest of the week was kind of nice too, with lots of culture thrown in. the old cine-theater in town reopened after years of reconstruction and we did a guided tour of the place. it’s brilliant — small, but super modern and versatile (the shape of the room can change as parts of the auditorium move!), and there are already lots of different shows planned for the next three months. of course, we immediately bought tickets for a movie and a classical concert. it’s just so nice to have this infrastructure in town again, to know that the cinema club will have a place to show their hand-picked movies and that we’ll be able to see plays and concerts in a place that was designed for that. i can’t wait! :D

we also went to see a modern art exhibition at the local museum (meh!) and attended a concert in a church. one of our friends sings in a choir and they did a show there alongside a dutch choir. it was a refreshing change of pace and we enjoyed it, though some songs worked better than others.

and we saw hackers, a movie that the boy is fond of. it’s kind of trippy, with the wild graphics and soundtrack, but fun too. i guess this was the “ally mcbeal” for computer science geeks — the movie that defined cool and inspired a generation. this week, i finished daisy jones and the six, which was nice but not my favourite taylor jenkins reid book. i don’t know… books with drugs and people being stupid kind of put me off.

the chinese classes finally started this week! the teacher is all full of energy and already assigning homework, so we’re jumping in with both feet, i guess. i’m kind of looking forward to it though – maybe after this semester i’ll finally register for the hsk5 exam!

Categories
foooood weeknotes

weeknotes, 39/25

another mostly quiet week, briefly interrupted by an impromptu trip to the north to take the boy’s mom to do an MRI. she tripped and hit her head, but stubbornly didn’t want to do what the doctor recommended… 🙄 anyway.

other than that, just getting stuff done ahead of world postcard day, preparing blog posts, newsletters, zoom gatherings and writing postcards. i refilled one of my nice fountain pens with permanent ink that i got in sweden in june, so i can write all the cards with it.

i finished both tom lake and every summer after this week… and then realized i shouldn’t have read two books that take place by lakes at the same time, because now they’re all mixed up in my head! i started the summer i turned pretty because lots of people were mentioning the tv adaptation… but found the book so meh that i ended up quitting. still making my way through daisy jones and the six and now also remarkably bright creatures (audio).

the best entertainment of the week though was a youtube movie by brothers quentin & owen reise called listers: a glimpse into extreme birdwatchers. this is the blurb that got me curious about it:

Listers is a must-see, quirky, charming, homemade documentary about two brothers competing to spot the most number of birds in a year – the list. To make it more challenging, they know zero birds on day one, and they have no money so they sleep in their car as they travel the country for a year, and of course they film everything and it turns out they are remarkable nature photographers. The bird footage is award-worthy, but the rest of the film has the vibe of a shaky punk skate video. They constantly mock birdwatching and the obsessiveness of listers, while they become deeply obsessed themselves. This is not about birds; it’s about extreme bird-watchers, and it’s funny, entertaining 2 hours is a master class in obsession and what is possible to learn in one year. This doc has a lot of heart. Streaming on YouTube for free.

the movie was hilarious — birders are a different species. :) it did make me want to get out there and see some birds though… we’re going to miss the birdwatching festival in sagres next week.

because of extraordinary attorney woo, we tried our hand at making gimbap! paulo did a better job than me, as i ended up with deconstructed slices. 😅 to end the week and fortify us for the busy times ahead, we went for some soupy chicken with chickpeas on the hills above tavira, one of our favorites.

Categories
weeknotes

weeknotes, 38/25

we’ve had an eventful week with the bicycles. first, the electric bike started doing a weird noise when pedaling, so it went into the shop for maintenance, and ended up having the pedals replaced. when it came back, it was doing a different weird tinkling noise… turns out one of the spokes is broken, which is a more serious issue. 😩 we’ll have to deal with that next week. but on the better news, the boy managed to replace the tire of my other bike with a bit of brute force, which yay! i missed riding that bike — it’s amazing how much comfortable it is.

other than that, i reached inbox zero on my work emails, an event that happens maybe once a year. i tried an aqua fitness class and the boy ran a 10k race in town, and did well!

the week was also busy in terms of entertainment! we watched a few episodes of extraordinary attorney woo and also the thursday murder club movie, which i really enjoyed and felt like it did a good job bringing the book to life – i hope they’ll do the rest! we attended david fonseca’s concert in olhão too, always a sing-aloud, high energy affair with a bit of dancing thrown in. :) and we went to see an exhibition in town about some neighborhoods that were built by the population in the post-dictatorship years, but the exhibition was way too abstract and thus a bit disappointing. these newspapers from that time were one of the best parts about it:

we arranged a home swap for azores early next year, which is exciting! we’re always ready to visit the islands for hiking and birdwatching. although winter isn’t ideal, i hope we’ll still have some sunny days in between all the rain, so we can get out there and enjoy nature. maybe we’ll even see some whales!

Categories
one second everyday

august 2025 — one second everyday

ah august, you magnificent beast!

the month started in the north for little niece’s birthday party, but the rest of it was very much spent at home and it was glorious. we spent time with friends who were in the area, fixed stuff around the house, fought the eternal battle against summer ants, attended a few concerts and movie nights, dipped in the pool, cooked new stuff, watched kleo and then welcomed my parents and small cousin just as the month was wrapping up. :)