Amsterdam

My next exhibition

Go see.

The true actor

The wren

I managed to take this photo of the wren (in portuguese, carriça, Troglodytes troglodytes) that has a nest in my garden.

A wren´s nest

Recently I´ve spoted a wren outside my kitchen, and I can often hear it´s loud, beautiful songs. Suspecting it might have a nest near by, I finally went to look for it today, and there it was against a pilar and woven among Clematis and Jasminum branches. I wish all the best to the new family.

Harry Crews

Yesterday, 19/03/2013, another case of synchronicity happened to me. I had never heard about the american writer Harry Crews and then I read this quote on Facebook: "You have to go to considerable trouble to live differently from the way the world wants you to live. That's what I've discovered about writing. The world doesn't want you to do a damn thing. If you wait till you got time to write a novel or time to write a story or time to read the hundred thousands of books you should have already read -- if you wait for the time, you'll never do it. Cause there ain't no time; world don't want you to do that. World wants you to go to the zoo and eat cotton candy, preferably seven days a week." -- Harry Crews Later, in bed, I started reading this book that had arrived in the mail on the morning of the same day: "Reading like a writer", by Francine Prose. On page 3 I read another reference to Harry Crews: "Though writers have learned from the masters in a formal, methodical way -- Harry Crews has described taking apart a Graham Green novel to see how many chapters it contained, how much time it covered, how Green handled pacing, tone, and point of view -- the truth is that this sort of education more often involves a kind of osmosis."

St. Petersburg Review

My short short story "Arsuaga" was published in the St. Petersburg Review, issue 4/5. Such an honor and a joy! You can order the magazine here. I also colaborated in the translation of a short story by Jacinto Lucas Pires. Some photos: My short short story "Arsuaga" was published in the St. Petersburg Review, issue 4/5. Such an honor and a joy! You can order the magazine here. Some photos:

Avui si, que será un dia per gaudir

Wild viola, standing stone, lamprey and more

Figueira da Foz

Last weekend I visited Figueira da Foz, a town by the sea where I used to spent summer holidays in my chilhood. It´s situated at the mouth of the Mondego river. I once saw an old english print depicting the landind of british troops coming to help the portuguese fight (and defeat) the Napoleon armies, and the then small fishing village was named "Mondego Bay" by the british, which sounds fine too. I went to visit Casa do Paço, an old palace from the XVII century, famous for the Delft tiles on the walls of three rooms. Nobody knows exactly who put them there. They might have come from a shipwreck. The rooms have no furniture and the display of so many small, beautifully detailed tiles gives it an air of modernity, with the stress in repetition. Ai Weiwei ehxibition of milions of ceramic sunflower seeds, and other recent such exhibitions come to mind.

Globalization in my kitchen

White wine from Cabo Verde (excelent, just a glass left), farinha de mandioca, Angola, jelly fish tentacles, China, and smoked sprats from Riga.

José Maria Yague

I saw some paintings by this spanish painter/architect. He mixes art, architecture and Nature. The landscapes are from old masters and the delicate collages of protecting domes remind me of the Eden Project . This paintings show a sense of respect and protection for Nature and also for old traditional forms of art like watercolor.