Caprichos #626

 La bella Torino, a Dicembre

Sem título #149

The universe and its mysteries

Espantos #611

À descolagem de Faro há laranjeiras a curta distância da pista,

 

longas praias cercadas por aldeamentos de luxo,

certamente vazios nos tempos que correm...

com a economia Algarvia altamente dependente do turismo,

não admira que doa.

Pouco depois já em altitude, um manto cobre o resto do território

com tons dourados de fim de tarde

e a noite que cai vinda de Leste.

Espantos #610

Quantas cegonhas... quantas encomendas!

Palavras lidas #455

For Maia

by Gary Johnson

A little girl is singing for the faithful to come ye
Joyful and triumphant, a song she loves,
And also the partridge in a pear tree
And the golden rings and the turtle doves.
In the dark streets, red lights and green and blue
Where the faithful live, some joyful, some
troubled,
Enduring the cold and also the flu,
Taking the garbage out and keeping the
sidewalk shoveled.
Not much triumph going on here—and yet
There is much we do not understand.
And my hopes and fears are met
In this small singer holding onto my hand.
      Onward we go, faithfully, into the dark
      And are there angels hovering overhead?
Hark.

Coisas bonitas #54

Fim de tarde de Natal

Conselhos úteis #18

Christmas gift suggestions by Oren Arnold: 

To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

Sem título #148

Supporting

Palavras lidas #454

The Present
by Dana Gioia

The present that you gave me months ago
is still unopened by our bed,
sealed in its rich blue paper and bright bow.
I’ve even left the card unread
and kept the ribbon knotted tight.
Why needlessly unfold and bring to light
the elegant contrivances that hide
the costly secret waiting still inside?

Espantos #609

Crescem como cogumelos

Palavras lidas #453

The Want of Peace
by Wendell Berry

All goes back to the earth,
and so I do not desire
pride of excess or power,
but the contentments made
by men who have had little:
the fisherman’s silence
receiving the river’s grace,
the gardner’s musing on rows.

I lack the peace of simple things.
I am never wholly in place.
I find no peace or grace.
We sell the world to buy fire,
our way lighted by burning men,
and that has bent my mind
and made me think of darkness
and wish for the dumb life of roots.

Ditto #462

Nobody understands human psychology like Dostoyevsky, and that’s why I’ve banned him.

--Joseph Stalin

Retirado do contexto #286

Regressos

Sem título #147

 Indecisions

Foi neste dia #369 (1770)

2020 marca o 250° ano de nascimento de Beethoven e deveria ter sido um intenso ano de celebração da obra do grande compositor mas a pandemia cancelou todos os espectáculos e ajuntamentos, limitando muito as viagens dos quais estes dependem. O mundo não fica mais pobre porque não se pode celebrar aquele que indubitavelmente deixou o mundo mais belo. Muitos dias estarão para vir com maravilhosos concertos. 

De Beethoven não se sabe ao certo o dia do nascimento, apenas que foi baptizado a 17 de Dezembro de 1770... mas não deve estar muito longe deste dia, dado que os seus pais tiveram sete filhos e apenas três sobreviveram a infância.

Parece que estou a ouvir #322

Memories

Maroon 5, here by One Voice Children's choir

Here's to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the dreams bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through
Close to the ones here today
Close to the ones that we lost on the way
'Cause the dreams bring back all the memories
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

There's a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain
When I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same
Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name
'Cause I can't reach out to call you, but I know I will one day, yeah

Everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody hurts someday, ayy ayy
But everything gon' be alright
Go and raise a glass and say, ayy

Here's to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the dreams bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through
Close to the ones here today
Close to the ones that we lost on the way
'Cause the dreams bring back all the memories
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo
Memories bring back, memories bring back you

There's a time that I remember when I never felt so lost
When I felt all of the hatred was too powerful to stop
Now my heart feel like an ember and it's lighting up the dark
I'll carry these torches for ya that you know I'll never drop, yeah

Everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody hurts someday, ayy ayy
But everything gon' be alright
Go and raise a glass and say, ayy

Here's to the ones that we got (oh)
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the dreams bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through (no, no)
Close to the ones here today (ayy)
Close to the ones that we lost on the way
'Cause the dreams bring back all the memories (ayy)
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo
Memories bring back, memories bring back you
Doo doo, doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo (ooh, yeah)
Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, doh, doh
Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Parece que estou a ouvir #321

(somewhere between a Christmas song and a lullaby)

(algures entre o cântico de natal e a canção de embalar)

Bred dina vida vingar

Traditional Swedish

Bred dina vida vingar, o, Jesus över mig
Och låt mig stilla vila i ve och väl hos dig!
Bliv du mitt allt i alla, min visdom och mitt råd,
Och låt mig alla dagar få leva blott av nåd!

Forlåt mig alla synder och två mig i ditt blod!
Giv mig ett heligt sinne, en vilja ny och god!
Tag i din vård och hägnad oss alla, stora, små,
Och låt i frid oss åter till nattens vila gå!

Tag i din vård och hägnad oss alla, stora, små,
Och låt i frid oss åter till nattens vila gå!

_______________

English translation (by google)

Spread your wide wings, oh, Jesus over me

And let me rest in peace with you!

May you be my all in all, my wisdom and my counsel,

And let me every day live only by grace!

Forgive me all sins and wash me in your blood!

Give me a holy mind, a will new and good!

Take in your care and care for us all, big, small,

And in peace let us go again to the night's rest!

Take in your care and care for us all, big, small,

And in peace let us go again to the night's rest!

______________

Tradução portuguesa (google)

Abra suas asas largas, oh, Jesus sobre mim

E deixe-me descansar em paz com você!

Que você seja meu tudo em tudo, minha sabedoria e meu conselho,

E deixe-me viver todos os dias apenas pela graça!

Perdoe-me todos os pecados e lave-me em seu sangue!

Dê-me uma mente santa, uma vontade nova e boa!

Cuide bem de todos nós, grandes, pequenos,

E em paz vamos de novo ao descanso da noite!

Cuide bem de todos nós, grandes, pequenos,

E em paz vamos de novo ao descanso da noite!

Coisas que não mudam #562

Dezembro é tempo de luz e de desejos de boas festas

December is a time of light and holiday wishes

Coisas que não mudam #561

The recent sharing of Christmas decorations among colleagues yielded some living rooms and some iconic outdoors too.

Sem título #146

 OK

Palavras lidas #452

Shoulders
by Naomi Shihab Nye

A man crosses the street in rain,
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.

No car must splash him.
No car drive too near to his shadow.

This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo
but he’s not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,
HANDLE WITH CARE.

His ear fills up with breathing.
He hears the hum of a boy’s dream
deep inside him.

We’re not going to be able
to live in this world
if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing
with one another.

The road will only be wide.
The rain will never stop falling.

Coisas que não mudam #560

Today is the start of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights

Ditto #461

I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.

--Jonathan Winters

Caprichos #625

This time the right size / Desta vez no tamanho certo

Retirado do contexto #285

Kindness

Sem título #145

 

Coisas bonitas #53

E pintou-se o céu de rosa esta manhã entre as 7 e as 8

Retirado do contexto #284

 Fala lááááá... diz! 

Caprichos #624

Sopa de grão com espinafres. Que boa que ficou!

Palavras lidas #451

Hands
by Jack Ridl

My grandfather grew up holding rags,
pounding his fist into the pocket
of a ball glove, gripping a plumb line
for his father who built what anyone
needed. At sixteen, wanting to work on
his own, he lied about his age
and for forty-nine years carried his lunch
to the assembly line where he stood
tightening bolts on air brake after
air brake along the monotonous belt.
I once asked him how he did that all
those years. He looked at me, said,
“I don’t understand. It was only
eight hours a day,” then closed
his fists. Every night after dinner
and a pilsner, he worked some more.
In the summer, he’d turn the clay,
grow tomatoes, turnips, peas,
and potatoes behind borders
of bluebells and English daisies,
and marigolds to keep away the rabbits.
When the weather turned to frost,
he went to the basement where,
until the seeds came in March,
he made perfect picture frames, each
glistening with layers of sweet shellac.
His hands were never bored. Even
in his last years, arthritis locking every
knuckle, he sat in the kitchen carving
wooden houses you could set on a shelf,
one after another, each one different.

Ditto #460

Human knowledge is a set of successive approximations… There are all sorts of things that we’ve gotten wrong, and all sorts of mind-boggling things that we can’t even glimpse that will be the established fact in a century or two.

--Carl Sagan