Home is were paper goods are

Ah, the office.
The place where i now gather years and years of hoarding of stationary goods and practice my most effective relax therapy: writing and preparing letters to send to old and new friends all across the world - and a all lot of them even living in the same city as i am, ahaha.

I treasure the idea of dedicating time and some old hand-written calligraphy to show my love, to let these people know they are appreciated and sometimes i slow my pace and make little tiny paper surprises,wondering about their faces when they go into the mailbox, when all they expect these days are bills and unwanted publicity.

Once a friend of mine told me that she used to imagine what would wake her up out of a hypothetical coma and she said :' i think hearing the voice of my kids would do it for me and for you dear Sara i always imagined somebody covering your bed with letters'.
i always smile when i remember that, i think she knows me well.

P.S. Thank you, C for your post and for making me come back to this very neglected blog.
(life getting in the way of living, as usual)

Introducing...

Simão

A few months after we moved in to this house we started to recognize the stray cats in our street and sometimes stayed outside playing a little,dreaming of taking one of them home.
There was a hole bunch of  kitties with two, maybe three months old and everybody that passed by loved an unusual white one with amazing blue eyes, but my heart was with this little black one that hid beneath the street dumpster, always sneezing and looking worryingly sick.

One day when i got home João surprised me at the door holding Simão.
He had indeed a really bad cold but we took him to the vet, he got better and although the vet said that Simão was always going to be tiny and weak he grew up to be a big energetic panther that was left with  only one particular sequel fom his earlier disease: Simão breathes in a funny weird sort of way, he has many 'voices' and makes everybody that visits our home laugh a lot.
His favorite hobbies are running like a horse,stalk Matilde and sleeping on top of my face.

Catching up

Last week i finally catch up with Nuno for a cup of tea and talk face to face after months of not seeing each other while living in the same city.
Nuno travels a lot on work and it's hard for us to gather up,but we finally set a date and meet in his apartment, drank some tea, chatted about love, rocking Nuno´s new swing in the terrace like kids.
I think of Spring as a bright bridge that connects me to others, making me want to communicate and get out of my stay home winter mode.
I feel lucky to have a few great loving friends to reach out and feel our city blossom together.

A surprise visit

A couple of weeks ago me and João went to Vila do Conde on a surprise visit to Apolinário and Carla.
Sunday,once a day i dreaded it´s turning into one of my favorite days of the week in 2012.

Introducing...

Matilde

It's been almost a year since Matilde is living with us.
João found her on the street just outside in front of our door. We already had Simão, a male cat that makes funny breathing noises and as soon as João called me downstairs i said 'bring her up,she´s home'.
Simão and Matilde aren't best friends but learnt how to live together and are in this very moment sleeping very close to each other next to me in bed.
It´s a rainy saturday but i feel so lazy and happy that i don´t care.

Saving my eyes for the trip

 

A couple of weeks ago me & João went  to Marco de Canaveses (a rural city 50 km from Porto) do get some plants - we came to the knowledge that there was a Green House there giving the trees,vases,flowers - everything away because they sold the place and wanted to get rid of everything(!!).

We woke up really early and went there but when we got to the place there were a lot of people that already took it all and we were a little disappointed but decided to enjoy the trip, it´s been a while since the two of us did not got out of town together.

We discovered another greenhouse along the way and bought a beautiful Bambu tree and went exploring the roads with no signs and decided to get back to Porto by the river side.

I was so excited to be outside the city limits that forgot to take more pictures.

I just left the anxiety of capturing everything behind me and focus on my senses.

In being there.

It was a good Sunday and i intend to repeat this little car rides along the year.

Picnic Nostalgia

 It´s freaking cold outside and i´m dreaming of days where i can just wear a dress and sandals and go onto the streets for a walk,no need for heavy coats,boots or long sleeve sweaters.
It´s a good night to invite the girls and plan a picnic to celebrate Spring as soon as April warms up a little more!
I took this pictures in August, last year  - it was the first picnic i remenber beeing a part of  since i was a kid and it was a great afternoon.