He’s looking out of the window. Outside it’s raining – it’s been raining all day, a grey, dreary, winter day, one of those days when you just want to stay at home, doing nothing and feeling happy that you don’t have to go out. Only today the only thing he wanted was to be playing in the rain, wallowing in the mud, tackling his adversaries, fighting to get the ball through and score. Instead, he’s watching the match from the …
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“Blue Eyes, Baby’s got blue eyes, Like a deep blue sea, On a blue blue day” – so goes the beautiful song by Elton John that always makes me think of my elder son. My own Blue Eyes was a much desired, much longed for baby. On the very happy day that he was born I looked at him and told everyone “this baby will have blue eyes” – everyone said no, it’s just the “milk” (supposedly all newborn babies …
I absolutely love reading – it’s one of my greatest pleasures in life. Not only because you learn so much but because it allows you to travel, both in space and in time. I’ve just finished reading a most incredible book by Julia Navarro, a Spanish writer. The title in English is “Shoot me, I’m already dead”. Over the years I have read several books by her and loved all of them. But for some time I had not read …
I met my friend Gabi when she started dating Zé, who was my (then) fiancé’s best friend. When I met Zé he was going out with a very peculiar girl who was on drugs and led a very strange life. They had broken up several times but still he kept going back to her. She had a strange ascendancy over him that we couldn’t understand. Particularly my fiancé, who didn’t like her one bit, so when they finally broke up …
I’ m putting the dishes into the dishwasher. My elder son Afonso and I had to have dinner in a hurry “Mom, please, I have to study for tomorrow’s Physics exam”. Of course I hurried. He has been studying hard these last few days, and the last few weeks, and months. Since he got into University and a lot more before that – to get into University. So I’m used to the rhythm and I naturally adapt. All Moms do! …
Once upon a time, our life was like a fairytale. We lived in a beautiful house with a garden full of trees and flowers and a swimming pool with crystal blue water. Most of the trees bore fruit, and the mangoes would fall down from the large mango tree and into the swimming pool. There was no winter in that blessed land, only summer during nine months, and then there were three months that were cooler, but never cold, and …
Motherhood is the most intense experience that a woman can have – in my opinion. Yesterday evening I went to see the musical “Mamma Mia” (in Lisbon for two weeks). It was my second time (I saw it in London last year) and I’ve seen the movie several times. Amidst all the music and joy there is a poignant scene where Donna, the mother, sings a song where she remembers her daughter when she was a small child going to …
We have worked together for 10 years now. She started as my assistant, but she has become so much more than that, so much more than a colleague: someone who is always there to help you, to support you, to listen to you when you need a friendly shoulder, to make life easy for you, to keep your secrets, to be by your side for better and for worse, someone who has never failed you…even if I know – I’ve …
It’s incredible how old stories keep creeping back into our memories. Today we were having New Year’s lunch with my boyfriend Nuno and his family, and his sister in law Cristina remembered that, as a young wife, she had very strong views about men who were abusive and hit their wives. She was laughing as she told us that, back then, when she imagined what she would do if one day her husband hit her, she had decided she would …
Unlike many of my friends, I find New Year’s Eve a very happy occasion and always want to do something very special. I think this must be due to the fact that I spent many New Year’s eves in Madeira, the place to be on this occasion, and famous throughout the word for its New Year’s eve parties and above all for the amazing display of fireworks at midnight, as one year changes into another. When I was a young …