meiadeleite.com – Page 17

weeknotes, 31/23

– our niece is here! 3kgs of tiny baby LJ, already a champion of the eating-sleeping-pooping triathlon. :) we’ve barely seen her awake, but she seems perfect: healthy, pink and squirmy. looking forward to many cuddles and future adventures with her!

– the pope is also here for a week to celebrate world youth day, and the country seems to be under some collective spell. we’re still up north at the parents, which means TVs stay on at mealtimes… the coverage is constant, overwhelming and a little hallucinatory. going by the street interviews, every passerby seems to have their life changed by the mere sight of the man (it reminds me of this). i start to sound like a grumpy old atheist lady, so i’ll spare you further whininess.

– did you know that the largest trilobites in the world were found in portugal? usually these fossils are just a few centimeters long, but in a shale quarry in arouca, specimens have been found with 70cms! we’re staying nearby at the boy’s parents, so we had a little road trip to see them and to try arouquesa meat (and top up the iron reserves). both recommended!

– the bad news is that the boy is still coughing his lungs out, and his doctor suggested we investigate other causes of the problem, so we’re making time here while we wait for blood test results. it seems farfetched… but if at least we had a clue as to what is causing this prolonged cough, we could at least try to address the root of the issue.

weeknotes

weeknotes, 29-30/23

– we came north to celebrate the boy dad’s birthday, and got invited to the birthday picnic of an 8 year old cousin. summer birthdays seem to be the perfect excuse for family to get together, and i’m here for it. plus, we’re all on baby watch, waiting for my little niece to be born any time now!

– because of the 8 year old’s birthday (and because we were in the center of porto), i went to a big bookshop and got a bunch of children’s books, including a couple of translated janosch books! <3

– i’ve been reading outlive, a massive book about the science of longevity, and it’s been a big eye-opener. i knew, in theory, that exercise was important… but i guess it didn’t quite register for me just how important it was. i took a lot of notes, and will probably re-read some chapters again soon.

– it feels so much fresher here in the north! it’s amazing the difference that 500kms can make.

– it’s summer and both parents’ farms are brimming with produce. pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, blackberries, plums, peaches… there’s a bounty out there, made of love and perseverance.

weeknotes

weeknotes, 28/23

– in the middle of this very hot week, our AC broke with a very loud bang. :( it seems like a relatively straightforward fix, thankfully, though arranging this in the middle of july in algarve is tricky.

– tavira has a mini street theater festival going on in the first half of july, with a little show taking place in town every night. it’s just nice to go, grab some ice-cream and watch the nightly shenanigans with friends. the boy got roped into one of the performances to play piaf’s la vie en rose with bells, and he did really well! :D

– i celebrated my 15000th day on earth this week! i really recommend checking when one of these nice round dates happens for you, and marking it on your calendar, for future celebrations. speaking of which, Postcrossing also celebrated 18 years this week… 18 years!! whoa.

– every morning, a trio of iberian green woodpeckers wakes us up with their loud laughter.

– i’ve been toying with midjourney, the image-making AI tool. its capabilities are mind-blowing and it’s just lots of fun to play with! discovering the right prompts, playing with the parameters and seeing what everyone else is doing are some of the interesting bits for me. here’s a study on risographs of coffee mugs, in tones of blue:

and a girl posting a letter, in a more anime style:

i did this with a text prompt, after reading a bit of the documentation and seeing what other people are doing. it’s astonishing what technology can do.

weeknotes

weeknotes, 27/23

– a boring week, with a lot of overwhelmed workdays, but also ice-cream to cool down! :)

– the whole week, i could not get this song out of my head:

let new zealand into eurovision already — they clearly understood the assignment and delivered!

– game night with friends, old and new. we played the game of thrones boardgame, which was amazingly complicated… i think we spent the better part of the night just trying to understand the rules. but now that we more or less know them, we’re ready for a rematch!

– i learned the expression “reading trombone” — did you know it? it’s this dance that people do when they’re trying to read the tiny ingredient list on the side of a package, pushing it away from their face so they can read better. the official name for this is presbyopia, and it’s something that happens to people over 40… and like clockwork, here it is! i need to get myself some glasses.

just life weeknotes

weeknotes, 18-26/23

so… where were we? so much time has passed since the last weeknotes, it’s hard to think back at everything that took place since we arrived back from taiwan. i’ll try though, because i really missed these!

– more than anything, we’ve spent these two months catching up with family and friends. there were many dinners and visits, and also hosting family here at home. i was asked to be my niece’s godmother, saw friend’s babies for the first time, and just spent a lot of time basking in and enjoying it.

– the boy came back from taiwan with a mighty cough that took him almost 2 months to get over. :( after having coughed his lungs out, hurt all his muscles in the process, and maxed out on his asthma inhaler, he’s mostly fine now, the cough having left as mysteriously as it came.

– i’ve been reading *so much*. the day seems filled with little spaces where reading can happen: bedtime winding downs, sitting in waiting rooms, house tasks with an audiobook… i’ve read silly novels and books about tuberculosis, asia-themed books and art books, memoirs and books from my childhood authors, and it’s been a pleasure.

– i turned 41, and the boy gave me a new kindle, with backlight, and now i can read even when insomnia strikes, in the middle of the night! :) my brother (who was spending some time with us) built me a spice rack on the cupboard that has been empty ever since the gas heater was removed, and it’s the best!

– i went for a check up because my heart was doing a funny dance, and after some blood tests, got diagnosed with low iron reserves… which makes sense, with the kind of heavy periods i get and the fact we don’t eat much meat these days. luckily, it’s an easy fix: some more meat here and there, and an iron supplement to build up those reserves.

– st. john in tavira, with fireworks and ice-cream, and the traditional play of the enchanted moura.

– festival med took place this week, and we went to see lavoisier and amadou & mariam! the first was a mellow affair at sunset, sitting in the lawn by the castle basking it all in, and the second was the opposite, everyone on their feet, dancing and cheering along. what a brilliant night in loulé!

– met some new and old dogs!