Coisas bonitas #157

One more for the Coventry sunsets collection

Sem título #356

Faithful penguins

Parece que estou a ouvir #432

Catch the Wind

Donovan

In the chilly hours and minutes
Of uncertainty, I want to be
In the warm hold of your love and mine

To feel you all around me
And to take your hand along the sand
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

When sundown pales the sky
I want to hide a while behind your smile
And everywhere I'd look your eyes I'd find

For me to love you now
Would be the sweetest thing 'twould make me sing
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

Di di di di, di di di di
Di di di di, di di di di
Di di di

When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind

For standin' in your heart
Is where I want to be and long to be
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

Coisas que não mudam #651

Alexei Navalny died today in a Russian prison on the Arctic Circle, after having appeared yesterday in good health before a judge via video conference. It's remarkable he kept alive for so long after his inprisonment in 2021 upon returning to Russia after being poisoned in 2020 and being flown to Germany. He was my age.

A grim reminder of the fate of dissonant voices in totalitarian regimes. For every voice that is lost, another rises... there is always someone who resists and stands for what's right. Dictatorships fall... with a loud bang.

Caprichos #437

Cuddly cats

Sem título #355

One way of seeing it...

Espantos #678

Borboleta portuguesa voa sobre a água em Doha... ou

Diogo Ribeiro ganha ouro nos mundiais de natação em 50m mariposa

Palavras lidas #576

Desire
by Lawrence Raab

for Jonathan Aaron

It was late, and I was trying to remember
what someone once said about our woes—
how they rise out of our unwillingness
to stay in our rooms. After which
I opened the window, and both of us heard
the rustling sounds outside, as if small
furtive things were hurrying away, or hiding.
You were reminded of the movie Frogs
in which one character after another unwisely
leaves the house only to be hunted down
by animals not generally known
for deliberate acts of revenge.
Thus proving that what we do to the world
returns to haunt us. Radioactivity,
I said, is the usual explanation.
Also carelessness, greed, and desire.
Maybe, you replied. But Ava Gardner
was the most beautiful woman who ever lived.
There can be no doubt about that.
Although Grace Kelly in Rear Window
comes very close, for different reasons.
That left us silent and transfixed.
Outside, something was moving around,
something which now seemed
to have found its way into the walls.

Ditto #575

There's nothing quite as frightening as someone who knows they are right.

--Michael Faraday

 

Porenores #180

Com a chuva cresce o musgo nos telhados

e nos muros

Coisas que mudaram #29

Orquídeas a caminho

a rosa é a mais recente aquisição para companhia

da branca que pela primeira vez refloresce nas minhas mãos

Primavera #179

Tulips to be

Parece que estou a ouvir #431

Os Teus Recados

Sara Correia

Tu querias-me convencer
Que me bastava viver
Dos recados que mandavas
Tu querias-me convencer
Que me bastava viver
Dos recados que mandavas
Só recados recebia
Não te falava nem via
Nem sabia onde é que andavas
Só recados recebia
Não te falava nem via
Nem sabia onde é que andavas

As noites que não dormi
À espera já não de ti
Mas de um recado qualquer
As noites que não dormi
À espera já não de ti
Mas de um recado qualquer
Pedi então que parasses
Que recados não mandasses
Para que eu pudesse esquecer
Pedi então que parasses
Que recados não mandasses
Para que eu pudesse esquecer

Para mal dos meus pecados
Tu mandavas mais recados
Indiferente ao que eu pedia
Para mal dos meus pecados
Tu mandavas mais recados
Indiferente ao que eu pedia
E até hoje sem parar
Continuas a mandar
P'ra que eu sofra o que sofria
E até hoje sem parar
Continuas a mandar
P'ra que eu sofra o que sofria

Mas não te prendas comigo
Eu já nem sequer lhes ligo
Tantos anos já passados
Mas não te prendas comigo
Eu já nem sequer lhes ligo

Tantos anos já passados

E agora um bom motivo
É que o homem com quem vivo
Acha graça aos teus recados
E agora um bom motivo
É que o homem com quem vivo
Acha graça aos teus recados

Sem título #354

POFF... and they go away!

Coisas bonitas #156

Em todo o seu esplendor

Primavera #178

Os primeiros narcisos são sempre os do meu jardim

Coisas que não mudam #650

Stretchy Rolfie

Espantos #677

Highlights of President Ramos-Horta's intervention

today at the Warwick Economic Summit

"... conflicts don't end because one party wins the war, conflicts end because of leaders"

"... to prevent conflict you should never demonise your enemy"

"... there is no safer border in the world today than that of Timor Leste and Indonesia; among Southeast Asian countries these two have the friendliest relationship"

"... President Habibie should also have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize"

"... Xanana Gusmão is the true leader of my country. When we got independence in 2002 he said 'we want reconciliation,' and we all followed"

"... we never wanted an international court in Timor Leste, we wanted reconciliation"

____________

In this day and age, it is refreshing to hear someone who only speaks about peace as (admittedly) frustrating as it may be.

Palavras lidas #575

Love Poem
by Paul Zimmer

1
Last days before first frost
we stroll out hand in hand
to see yellow sulfurs lift
in multitudes
over the fields
flittering in ecstatic pairs
to descend
and spangle the hay

2
Months later
trudging winter fields
in the morning sun
we see their million
rapturous spirits have risen
through layers of drift
to glitter
on the snow crust

Ditto #574

I come before you to declare that my sex are entitled to the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

--Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927), American suffragette addressing congress. in 1870