So Here Is What Has Been Happening . . ..

So here is what has been happening that has kept me too busy to post, but not too busy to read and relax from all the hustle and bustle: One big thrill is my book signing coming up. But here is bigger thrill (for us):

Rajan and I are moving back to Portugal. I know this is a surprise, but we find we miss the European lifestyle and the slower pace of life, and we would like to finish our days in Braga. Life here in the states is too intense, too stressful, way too expensive (for us). And, since we aren't downtown anymore, to go anywhere for any reason (grocery shopping, bank, doctor appointments, coffee with friends, eating out, whatever) requires lots of driving. When we were in Braga, we could walk to all of these things. (Luckily, we still have our flat there, as we canceled the sale.) 

True, we worried earlier that in the future one of us may have to have medical procedures that take one to a different city and there might be transportation problems. Well, since we now are in a suburb and not in Midtown or downtown, we are in the same plight here: It's a sweet neighborhood with nice neighbors, AND . . . it's a suburb. Once we can no longer drive, we'll be stranded. Our other worry had been whether we can become fluent in Portuguese: Well, that's on us. We have the time if we take the time, and we had (and will have again) a very good tutor.

One good thing is that we've been able to visit some family and several friends - something we couldn't do when we left California before, because everything was still in lockdown. Now that we have gotten some very important visits in, I think we'll be able to "let go".  I was able to attend some poetry group meetings and I have the book signing coming up on October 8th, but . . . our hearts really are in Portugal. 

We are leaving on November 3rd. I'll be posting before then because a lot of things have been taken care of. Meanwhile, wish me luck for a good book reading/signing on October 8th (2 pm, The Avid Reader on Broaday, 1945 Broadays,  if you are in Sacramento. And if you are not, you can learn more aout the book HERE.)

Question: Have you ever decided to reverse a poor decision? Or did you just stick with it and hope you would soon adjust to it? 

But actually . . . .

 There are additional reasons I've been too busy to post, but I will be back soon, posting away. 

Too Busy To Post Because . . ..

 I've been on a reading binge. Oh the pleasures of reading a good book! 

A HAPPY COINCIDENCE

 

I subscribe to "Poem-a-Day" at Poets.org and the site sends . . . a poem a day. Some I like and save in a folder, and some I don't and delete. I saved this one. (Check out the site by clicking the link.) 

Naturally I loved today's poem, a sonnet by Luís Vaz de Camões, the famous Portuguese Renaissance poet who figures so prominently in my mystery, Deadly Verse.

I seriously doubt this was the sonnet in my book. The sonnet of my mystery is handwritten, original, and never-before-published. (And therefore worth a lot of money and worth killing for.) But it was exciting to get a poem by Camões in my inbox! Since it is in the public domain, I'll share the English translation here: (No, I did not tranlate it - alas, my Portuguese is not that good. It was translated by an Irishman back in the day,  Viscount Strangford.) The Mondego of the poem is the river of Camões's beloved city of Coimbra. Here is the poem in English:

Sonnet VIII

Mondego! thou, whose waters cold and clear 
Gird those green banks, where fancy fain would stay, 
Fondly to muse on that departed day 
When Hope was kind and Friendship seem’d sincere; 
—Ere I had purchas’d knowledge with a tear.
—Mondego! though I bend my pilgrim way 
To other shores, where other fountains stray,
And other rivers roll their proud career, 
Still—nor shall time, nor grief, nor stars severe, 
Nor widening distance e’er prevail in aught 
To make thee less to this sad bosom dear; 
And Memory oft, by old Affection taught, 
Shall lightly speed upon the plumes of thought, 
To bathe amongst thy waters cold and clear!

And here is a little blurb bio about Camões:

"About this particular sonnet, Strangford writes, 'The earliest and happiest years of [Camões’s] life were passed at Coimbra. The walls of that town were bathed by the river Mondego, to which this beautiful Sonnet is addressed.”'

I can't say Camões is my favorite poet because I have so many, but I will say that after reading about him and reading translations of many of his sonnets, the sonnet is growing on me.

How about you? Do you like poetry? Do you have a favorite poet or poem? A favorite poetry form? And have you had any happy coincidences lately?