Acupuncture, singing, work, greenery, caterpillars, sky, and clothes Yesterday's third acupuncture treatment was wonderful. It gave me energy and calm; precisely the two things I needed last night to survive the choir practice - a slightly different group of singers from Tuesday night - for this Sunday's festival at São Faustino, the little chapel on... Continue Reading →
Sleep
Sources of Joy - Days 11 and 12 I love sleep. I especially love the rare occasion when I get 8.5 hours' sleep in a row. Last night's unusual headache had me retiring early. The real joy is experienced today: No headache, and a marked increase in concentration. This makes me a happy, efficient translator. So... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 10
A good day's work always makes me extremely happy, and that is what I had today. With one urgent assignment thrown into the mix, I did not even have time to go out and buy another pack of cigarettes, and that will make quite a few other people happy. I am grateful for that little vapour... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 9
The health centre The first joy is that of being able to report something fairly concrete. João and I arrived home roughly three hours after we left. During that time we spent about an hour both having bits of our lives fed into the Social Security's RNCCI system. RNCCI stands for National Network of Integrated... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 8
Easter Sunday My day started in Australia just after midnight my time. I phoned my sister (the new mother-in-law) to wish her a happy Easter. What a lovely conversation that was! My subsequent hour-long conversation with my mother and father absolved me for not having written to them for three weeks. I went to sleep... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 7
I am getting confused without subtitles to these joyful posts. So I have added a subtitle to each post in this series so far, as a kind of quick reference. Flowers and bicycles I had trouble with the joystick until mid-afternoon, by which time I had dealt with two loads of laundry and removing every... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 6
Autographs, Shelley, and sacred music I lent my proofing copy of Scatterling to someone to read. We met for coffee today so that she could return the book. She wanted to buy it, instead of ordering her own online. I said that it had three errors marked in purple in it. She said she liked... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 5
Fear, health centre, acupuncture, and kneeling in general Today's sources of joy lie in the incongruous bordering on the paradoxical. I discovered that fear has no place if one is to relish wholeheartedly in the incongruity of it all. The fear I talk of is much more unsettling than the kind of dread with which... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 4
Video message, posterity, and tumbleweeds I am grateful today for long arms. They are useful for taking a selfie video to send a congratulatory message to my niece and fiancé who get married on the 17th in Australia. I am glad that my father always advised his two children to "be who you are". This... Continue Reading →
Sources of Joy – Day 3
Birdsong, long deadlines, a wedding, and devotion Birdsong at 06:00 reminded me that I am really a morning person, despite my love of burning the midnight oil. I got phoned from Switzerland today (Tuesday) with a request to do an effective 140-word translation by Thursday 10:00 a.m. For those of you who are not translators,... Continue Reading →
That elusive pair of jeans 