If you have followed me for some time you know by now that I love summer in all its manifestations – even the heat doesn’t bother me. Unlike many Portuguese, who show up with black shadows under their eyes due to lack of sleep on hot summer nights, the heat suits me – in fact it is the cold that makes me want to hibernate and only wake up after the long dark months are over. However, as much …
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When I see her photos, taken only a few days ago, and I see her dismal look, her stooped shoulders and her lost eyes it seems she cannot be the same happy, vivacious girl of decades ago, or the smiling, happy bride who was getting married to the most handsome sportsman in Spain. A golden youth The “infanta” (as princesses are called in Spain) Cristina is the second daughter of former King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain. …
“She” is the title of one of the most beautiful, meaningful love songs I know. An original by French singer Charles Aznavour, some years ago there was a new version by Elvis Costello that has become extremely popular. It is a song that is often played, especially when one wants to pay homage to a woman, and many of us women consider it very special, so it’s not surpriing to hear it in celebrations such as weddings, birthdays and …
Lying on his hospital bed, he knows this is the brief moment of twilight when it is no longer day but night hasn’t yet arrived. He is dying but somehow he won’t let go. His wife of many years sits on the bed holding his hand. She speaks softly to him, but suddenly her image is not the one he sees, her voice is not the one he hears. Standing before him is another feminine figure – a slim, dark haired …
Wednesday evening of the strangest summer I can remember. Are we really in July or have we set the calendar wrong? – we ask ourselves one grey morning after another. Last year it was the tragedy of the wildfires – now sadly replicated in Greece – and now there is even a joke on internet about someone asking our prime minister – highly criticised last year because his government was anything but effective regarding the fires – how he plans …
I began writing as a young girl; I wrote a diary, and I kept it to myself, locked in a most secret place, Back then I wrote simply because I enjoyed pouring my thoughts onto paper, and like Anne Frank – whose Diary had impressed me very much – I wrote to an imaginary friend, whom I called Ana. I kept a diary for several years until one day I suspected Granny was going through my secrets and I dropped …
These four words inevitably remind me of the first scenes of the Disney movie “The Lion King”, one that I find very special, for several reasons – it tells a story of love, courage and tenacity, it has a beautiful soundtrack – featuring the incredibly powerful song “The circle of life” – it takes place in Africa… or simply because it was the favourite of my son Afonso who loved to watch it while sitting on my lap. Now that I …
She came down the castle hill and looked at the magnificent square facing the river Tagus. The blue sky reflected on the river and the sun was warm. It looked like summer had finally arrived. Below the arches of the old late 18th century buildings there was a handicraft market. She was walking by distractedly when she saw a table full of ceramic plates featuring the many professions andshe remembered that her elder son was doing his last exams at university, …
The girl sat in the backseat of the car together with her brother and Grandmother. After giving some last instructions, her Grandfather sat next to the driver and told him sharply “Let’s go””. The driver started the engine and they came down the path on the left of the house for the last time: she saw, as if in a dream, the tall araucaria tree, the green lawn where she had so often played with her brother; she glimpsed her …
It all began with the TV series, based on a true story I had never heard about: that of the mysterious disappearance of British ships Erebus and Terror in the mid eighteenth century in the frozen waters of the Arctic, along with 129 men who were never seen again. Facts The series and the book – both under the same title “The Terror” – are based on true events – the expedition (known as the Franklin expedition due to its …