When silence presents itself. When the veil drops and people leave and all around me is still. When all I have is the dead quite of nothing, or the quiet rhythm of the natural world.
When some or all of this happens, my heart feels at home and at rest and asks, “why not more often?”
Evening treats.
Finished reading: The Gift of Stones by Jim Crace 📚
Joana Macy has died at the age of 96. I found out this morning while browsing my RSS feeds and a post on Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Discovering Macy’s work around 25 years ago had a profound effect on me. She tied together for me my Buddhist practice and concern for the environmental crises, taking me into the world of Deep Ecology, a body of thought that was missing from my life, but started to tie up some loose ends and deepen my reflection.
Taking in the view.
Dinner at sunset.
Tide out on the Sado River estuary. I find it so relaxing and peaceful there.
The Netflix series of Patricia Highsmith’s book The Talented Mr. Ripley
Moon over the rice fields around Alcácer do Sal. Part of the remains of the old castle in the foreground.
🦗 Sitting in a quiet house, beams creaking as the hot day gives way to the cooler temperatures of the night. The sound of crickets drifts in through the open windows.
To Infinity And Beyond (Atlantic version).
Pacific versions here and here.
🥱 I can’t get up this morning. In an attempt to leave my bed, I made some coffee…but only ended up bringing it back to bed! I’ve got to get up sometime, but right now I’m not sure when that will be.
Two weeks ago I had no idea who Benjamin Clementine was, though I had unknowingly listened to a track of his used by Apple in their opening credits to The Morning Show.
Walking through the old Jewish Quarter of Seville last week the narrow streets were a relief from the baking sun above. While still hot, the narrowness of the streets did not allow the sun in and the perennial shade kept an element of the heat at bay.
🌥️ A welcome reprieve with the weather this morning. Enough cloud to hide the sun, and a gentle but steady breeze. All adding up to cooler temperatures.
I have found GPS can send me down interesting routes at times. Sometimes these routes necessitate a turn around and are of no interest or scenic beauty.
These directions, provided by Waze, we were actually grateful for. The views were beautiful, out in the middle of the Alentejo countryside, bouncing down farm tracks. We kept following the directions and thankfully they looped back round to where we started!
Sitting in a visiting room in a very nice Lisbon hospital…with a distant view to a cemetery. Maybe not the most encouraging of views?!
🎾 Summer is here - Wimbledon commentary is playing in the background.
When I first arrived in Portugal, specifically the Alentejo countryside, I wondered why all the houses were shuttered in the middle of the day? Why close your windows and shut out a beautiful sunny day? And anyway, it must feel so claustrophobic? “Let the light in, enjoy the sun," says the know all visitor. There’s plenty of time to close windows at night. “I’m going to leave them open."
The alchemy of words, strung together to conjure images of a place and time, both real and imaginary.
These from The Gift Of Stones by Jim Crace,
There were outsiders close by on that morning, said my father. ‘As we came onto the hill, breathless from the climb, all could see a distant, breakfast fire, plaiting a rope of smoke for the sky. There was the sneeze of tethered horses. There was the smell of meat.’