For some reason I redownloaded Ulysses just now. I have not used it for a long time. I have been getting along just fine with my two workhorses - Drafts and iA Writer. Tot has also been a part of the mix. But not Ulysses. Not for a long time…until now. I am writing this with Ulysses.
Maybe it is because my subscription will expire in three weeks. I’m just checking back, you know, just in case. I guess time will tell where this itch scratching will take me?
I’ve now heard back from Hawaii Elections.
Your ballot has been accepted
This message is from your County Elections Division. Your 2024 General Election ballot has been received, validated, and accepted for counting. Mahalo for voting!
🇺🇸🗳️
🏁 A first this morning. I drove from Alcácer do Sal to where we usually park in Lisbon without using GPS (Apple Maps). I’ll need it to get out this evening, but I’ll chalk that up as a win for familiarity and knowing my way round.
A reading nook.
Capela de Arraiolos.
The weather was so grey this evening at sunset, that it almost looked as though it had been snowing over Alcácer. While cooler than yesterday, snow though was very definitely not in the air.
My wife and I will be out of State on Election Day. Today we submitted our votes electronically. This is the first time that I have voted in a US Presidential Election since becoming a US citizen. What a first election this is. 🇺🇸🗳️
Finished reading: Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan 📚
The bus aisle is a long series of choices.
My sisters and I would arrive home, caked with dust. As if God were baking with red four and sneezed.
Even I know a sunset doesn’t save us but still I swerve to the side of 405 just to see the sky squish pink beneath night’s dark thumb.
Pedro Nunes looking out over his Square in his birth place of Alcácer do Sal.
(Some of) the colours of Alcácer’s bridge by night.
Night time is quiet here in Alcácer do Sal. I sit here now and the only sound that disturbs the quiet is the podcast that my wife is listening to downstairs and the crickets outside. Otherwise there is no sound…oh, the roof cracks and creaks occasionally as it cools down from a day of sun shining on it.
With the quietness comes a stillness as well. Nights are still and quiet.
This time in the evening rests me. I sit here reading, jotting down notes, sitting and reflecting.
The first rays of sunlight striking this morning.
📰 I came across a British Sunday newspaper while out today, the FT Weekend for the curious. I love a Sunday newspaper but rarely see one these days (living in Hawaii, the weekend is almost over for most of the world by the time that we wake up). Being here in Portugal increases my chances of finding one, and today I found a source.
So this evening I’m sitting under a light with the paper spread around me. I’ll probably still be dipping into it at week’s end.
I’m a happy chap tonight.
The clean up, stage two. I noticed as the washing machines started turning, that another level of stress felt released from my body. Finally being able to clean the mop up towels.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Process Zero is a feature of the iPhone camera app Halide. My understanding of Process Zero is that it removes the processing that Apple apply to the photos that iPhones take. The result of Process Zero has been described as more film like, unprocessed. This morning I sat in our living room drinking my coffee, reading the news. Occasionally I would look up and sit silently, looking out of the window at day’s emerging light.
Early dawn light this morning.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
If there is a movie buff in the family, it is my wife. I enjoy watching a good film, but my wife, loves movies and the movie industry. So when she heard that the Tribeca Film Festival would be holding a two day event in Lisbon while we were in Portugal, it became an immediate fixture on our calendar. Yesterday - Friday, 18th October - was to be the day that we attended.
🥱 Almost without fail, I wake up later in Portugal, sleep longer.
I love stepping from the noise and hustle of the street, into the silence and calm of a bookshop. This evening it was Livraria da Travessa.
Where we spent a good part of today, here in Lisbon.