SPRING HAS SPRUNG IN BRAGA

What a difference two weeks make! Spring has arrived in Braga, although the weather isn’t particularly consistent: One day it is hot; the next, cool and breezy; the next, hot; the next overcast with threatening clouds and finally rain; then hot again. And so on. Yesterday was hot. But everywhere greenery and flowers are unfolding: The Jardim de Santa Barbara has relinquished its tulips and is bursting with an explosion of color from a variety of blooms. The trees lining both sides of Avenida da Liberdade have ruffled out in leaves in their promenade down to the river and the mountain beyond.

Standing at the edge of the gardened area of Avenida da 

Liberdade, looking toward the mountain. See the far salmon colored building on the right? The lower one, not the high one. Well, at that corner, you turn left to go to our flat. You go one street, turn right, and then a zig-zag of cobbled streets and walks will bring you to our little street.  

Below is a cute little separate house right on a street around the corner from our flat. It just captivates me everytime I walk past it.

     

The Santa Barbara Gardens in all their splendor, and the dragon sculpture in the plaza across from them:

And everywhere around the historic center, redbud is in bloom:

 

What else have we been doing? Well, we bought a set of shelves for the balcony to start an herb garden in pots. So far, we have rosemary, cilantro, thyme, sage, basil, and mint, and they look very happy. We still want to find oregano and, if possible, dill and tarragon.

We’ve been walking every day, exploring different neighborhoods and new routes to fill in our mental map of the area and have discovered 4 different routes to our favorite bakery. Most days we walk at least 3 miles.

 

On Palm Sunday, during our walk-about, we floated along Rua do Souto, listening to chanting that had been piped over loudspeakers above shop doorways. There is something so peaceful and soothing about chants. It gave a lovely feel to the day, and we finished the afternoon with a new bag of hot, salted chestnuts, eating about half of them while we sat on a stone wall next to the sculpture of three mountains in Avenida Central across from the Centesima Pagina bookstore. A few doors away from the bookstore is the Casa do Professor, which is a home for anyone who has been a teacher in Portugal and is also a restaurant/cafeteria open to the public. A few doors in the opposite direction is the Hotel Bracara Augusta with the Centurium Restaurante (where Carla and Owen have a mysterious dinner with an old college chum in my new book.)

This is the sculpture. It represents three mountains around Braga, although I don't yet know their names. It's smack in the middle of the little park area flanked on each side by Avenida Central, and it's across from our favorite bookstore: Centésima Página. In addition to being a super bookstore, Centésima Página has a little lunchbar and outdoor seating in back. 

One day we went to the Rio Este at the end of Avenida da Liberdade and took a river walk upstream. Another day we followed the river downstream. In both cases, benches and trees and grass create a continuous meandering parkland.

The "upstream" side of the bridge.

And yesterday was the big day for Portugal: cafés opened to outside customers, no more than four to a table, and on the esplanades only; no one inside. All last week in Braga you could see the proprietors and servers washing doors and windows, polishing up the tables and chairs, and you could feel the excitement in the air, because this is a culture that likes its cup of coffee or glass of wine at plaza tables, socializing with friends and watching the world go by. We were excited, too, and started lining up meetings with friends we’ve only been able to visit online since arrival. Across the street from our flat, we’ve watched the Pastelaria get ready, and the tables and chairs put outside. But it was when we walked to the historic center to meet a friend that we were just amazed: In pre-Covid days, the streets were thronged with tourists who filled up the plaza tables. Yesterday they were thronged with locals who have been waiting for the day! We felt like half of Braga must have turned out for the opportunity to share a cup of corree, a glass of beer or wine, with friends at last. I just hope there will be no ill effects that send us all into lock down again.

And that wraps up our news for the day. I hope wherever you are, you are weathering confinement well. What special things do you do to pass the time? Are you writing more? Do you take walks? Keep houseplants? Read more?

SETTLING IN . . . .

 

 

When you come out of our little neighborhood onto Avenida de Liberdade, if you turn right, it leads to Rua do Souto and to Praça República. If you turn left, however, just a couple of streets away is the Rio Este (East River). Across it is a pretty little park with a church in one section, and picnic tables and benches all through. Beyond the park is a mountain. So close! (My apologies for the poor lighting.)

On the southern side of the bridge, walkways and a jogging path flank each side of the river, well-used by bicyclists and joggers as well as people just strolling along. (I am sorry to say that in the book I’m presently writing a body will be found on the jogging path, though the victim didn’t die there.) You can see the park beyond.

A few days ago, the trees along the lower part of Avenida de Liberdade toward the river were just "misting," with faint green smudges along the boughs. By yesterday the leaves were unfurling. So quickly! Sadly, the view of the mountain in the distance is marred somewhat by billboards. But at many angles it’s an arresting mountain. and you can see it from many intersections in the main part of the historic section.

The mountain.

Trees along Avenida de Liberdade

I'm not sure what kind of trees these are, but the Avenida is lined with them, right on up to the Praça (which is Portuguese for "plaza.")

We walked on up Avenida de Liberdade to the Sé Catedral area, where we encountered another dear friend, Marisa Rocha, who was walking around with a friend of hers. What a happy surprise! We’ve really been limited for the most part to contacting friends here by email or Facebook because of the virus. Since this was out in the open, and we were all masked, we did elbow bumps and kept our distance, and then had a really nice chat. Naturally, we didn't think to take any pictures of our encounter. We were all too busy catching up on news.

Sunday, everything was closed, but we did more exploring, taking a new route out of our neighborhood and ending up on Rua 31 de Janeiro that took us up to Largo Senhora-a-Branca. And there we had another pleasant surprise: We have noticed places of business getting things ready for April fifth when hopefully more restrictions will be lifted. Hotel Sra.-a-Branca’s doors were open, and we went in to say hello to Maria and her husband, the proprietors, since we stayed there so many times in the past. We didn’t see anyone, so we came out again, and encountered our new American ex-pat friend, Bob, sitting on a bench. We had a nice "safe" (masked up) chat with him, and then Maria and her husband came out of Sra.-a-Branca and waved at us, so we went over and had a safe chat with them. It was great to see them again, and I do hope their hotel opens again and the Spanish border opens up. She said they get most of their tourist traffic from Spain.

Again, we went to the Sé area, even though everything was closed, since it was Sunday. Walking back to the gardened area of Avenida de Liberdade, we stopped and bought a bag of hot chestnuts from a kiosk run by two women. It was just before they were closing, but the coals were still hot. For 3 Euros, we got a dozen chestnuts and ate six of them on the way home. There is just nothing like the taste of hot, salted chestnuts!

On AVenida de Liberdade, at the Praça end, it's been beautifully landscaped, and the flowers change with each season. Right now there are red and white cabbage plants alternating with beautiful small flowers I can't name yet.

It also has some of the more name brand shops, as well as banks, and the Teatro Circo where concerts are preformed.

The end closes to our neighborhood and the river is made up of a lot of apartment buildings that have flats above and small businesses below. By small businesses I mean little produce markets, odds-n-ends stores where you can buy everything from dishes to mops and brooms and dustpans, storage jars, breadboxes, bathmats, towels (and more, seriously), clothing stores, etc. Right now, with some of the restrictions lifted, for the latter, you can buy at the door: stand in a socially distanced line, and when it's your turn, tell the proprietor what you want and pay for it at the door. (The odds-and-ends stores are different, you can go inside to find what you want, and then pay in a socially distanced line.) (Everyone here wears masks, by the way. It's only rarely you see someone wiwthout one.) 

Anyway, to return to the Avenida (and many side streets as well), every flat seems to have a balcón overlooking the street, and many of these are full of plants, some flowering, some even small trees. One captivated us especially: The balcony was overflowing with plants, and the woman was tending them so lovingly it was an irresistible photo.

How about you? Do you like to walk? Do you keep a small garden on a patio or balcony? Or do you have a yard with a garden?

WE ARE IN PORTUGAL!

 

We arrived in Braga February 21st, and have been busy ever since, having work done on our flat as we stayed at a hotel for 2 weeks, and then moving in and having some follow up work as well as doing lots and lots of cleaning. Our attorney arranged for the flat to be painted and then cleaned, but that was cursory cleaning: vacuuming, dusting, mopping. The people who lived here before didn't clean much, and you really wouldn't be able to pay someone to come in and do the cleaning we're doing. But we are undaunted. It's a beautiful flat. It just has needed some TLC.

What was strange was to see Braga without all the tourists. The streets in the historic part usually have throngs of visitors, and now it's normal life in the side streets and empty plazas outside the cafes and restaurants. Below is Cafe Vianna, one of our favorite hangouts, as it used to be, and as it is now. They even hung black on the door handles for mournng.

But Braga is always a city of gardens, rain or shine: Above my first paragraph are tulips at the Santa Barbara Gardens (photo taken by my husband.) And below are some white and red cabbage plants also at Jardim de Santa Barbara: 

And here is Avenida da Lliberdade in the rain, yesterday:

             

And a few days before, looking out our hotel window, my husband saw this:

Meanwhile . . . the flat. It's coming along. It looks a bit stark in these photos because our shipping hasn't arrived yet. It was due to come in on the 18th to Lisboa, but now that has been postponed to April 7th. 

Thus the walls are bare of pictures and our bookshelves are empty. (Sniff.)

The dining area. (Actually the living room and dining room are part of one large room. This is one end. 

This is the other end: The sliding glass door leads to an enclosed balcony. We plan to put pots of herbs out there. 

It's a continuing adventure. But despite a few surprises and challenges (all  manageable) we are happy

to be here. BTW: the beautiful blue orchid was a house gift to us from the gentleman who was contracted by our immigration attorney to organise all the work to be done.

I've never seen a blue orchid before, have you? 

We are staying at a B&B until we leave Saturday a.m. (We leave the building at 4:00 a.m. Saturday!) Today is our "goodbye" day, walking around the old neighborhood, because tomorow we have Covid tests and one last Goodwill trip, a meeting with our real estate agent, the sale of our car, and other last minute "stuff."

But I want to put in a plug for Amber House on 22nd Street between M & N. It's really wonderful, and I wish I had time to post pictures. I'll take some to post from Portugal, as downloading and posting them is the time-consuming part.

The B&B is split between two old houses (and we love old buildings), one on each side of the street. The main one was built in 1905, and the one we are in was built in 1895. We are in room 13 (which I've always considered my lucky number), called "the Beethoven Room." (We love Beethoven, but that's just coincidence.) We priced out other hotel rooms, but they all charged extra for breakfast, for parking, for all kinds of add-ons that made them more expensive than a B&B, and Amber House is walking distance to two of our favorite restaurants through the years: Tapa the World and Kasbah Lounge, side by side with shared outdoor "courtyard" dining.

I'll take some pictures of Amber House today and then post them after we get settled in. Inside and out, both buildlings are beautiful and artistically rendered, with an aura of bygone eras. I'll leave this little teaser of a bedside table and our room telephone used to call the office.

Time is flying and still so much to do!

How about you? Do you like old buildings? Classical music? Beethoven? And . . . what is your lucky number? (Do you have one?)

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men (and Women)

🦋🦋🦋 Changes have been happening lately: Our buyers pulled out. They were a young couple in Seattle, and I think they got cold feet about moving to Sacramento. So now the condo is on the market again. But the good news is that it is generating interest again. We had one viewer earlier this week and another is coming tomorrow. 

🦋🦋🦋 Meanwhile, the airline called to say the flight of one leg of our journey was cancelled and had to be rescheduled to another date. Now - toca madera (touch wood) that it isn't re-scheduled again - we leave here on February 24th instead of 21st. The good news is that there is one stop less.

🦋🦋🦋 So those two things have called for a lot of scrambling — paperwork to cancel the sale, emails to friends in Portugal, new arrangements for dropping off our car to the woman who is buying it, changing the dates of our stay at the B&B, the date of our Covid tests, etc. All of that is done, now, and we had a nice zoom conference with our immigration attorney in Braga, who . . .

💗💗💗 . . . informs us the flat will be ready for us when we arrive: newly painted (she showed pictures, beautiful white walls), basic furniture we asked her to pick out for us - bed, bookshelves, dining table, chairs, sofa, chests - all good. The heating/a/c will be in. And we have changes of clothing in our suitcases until the shipping arrives next month.

So that leaves time for taking more walks around Sacramento (which we have always loved) and taking pictures of more murals and a couple of sculptures. There is quite a range of styles. Enjoy. 

This is called "Peace" 

This stylized dragon
is also a bicycle rack.

The next three murals are all part of the front of the regional transit building on R Street:

                    

I don't remember the name of this building, but it also is on R Street:   Cool, huh?

And then the next two walls. The first is in the R Street Corridor. The second is just before the R Street Corridor on the side of the 515 Grocery Store and Deli. It's a sylized ocean/beach scene.

The next three were on S or T Street. All by the same artist and marvelous.

And these last three were somewhere on Q Street (I think). Sorry I can't be more specific, but I vary my walks and then put the camera aside for a couple of days. 

                                    

I've become addicted to finding new murals. I think they beautify an area so much. How about you? How have you been using your lock-down time? Are there many murals in your town or city? Do you like them? Or do you prefer unpainted walls? (These murals are all samples of artists who take part in "Wide Open Walls" (whose acronym spells — appropriately, I think — "WOW.") 

The Condo is in Escrow.

 No pictures right now, because so much is happening, including far too many winds to go out and photograph the neighborhood.

But we accepted an offer, and now there is just the usual paperwork, etc. — which can be time-consuming these days with all the rules & regulations. Especially new regulations regarding Covid. 

But things are moving along. In just under three weeks we clear out the condo and move to a B&B, and on the 21st we board for Portugal. On the 19th we go for Covid tests, because a negative reading is required within 72 hours of boarding. 

Between now and then there are the good-byes. (Sniff.) But we are promised lots of visitors once it is Covid-safe to travel again. 

I'll post again before we leave, and maybe even with pictures! 

Yope you all are safe and healthy and the same for your loved ones. 

About These Long Silences . . .

 It seems my posts these days are punctuated with long silences in between. Life has been so eventful that everytime I plan to sit down and blog about it, something new happens. Originally I was going to post about the beautiful murals around town, you may recall, before I rewrote a new collection of poems. (And believe me, when the obsession to write strikes again after a long dry spell, I seize the moment.) Then there was our anniversary and then Xmas - both wonderful but celebrated indoors quietly. 

The poems are finished. Now I have to decide where to submit them. This is a little more complicated than usual, because . . . we are moving to Braga, Portugal. Next month. (February 21st.) And I'm wondering how to submit to American markets from Portugal, and to European markets in English. 

I know, I know, we just moved last summer, leaving our home in Midtown of 22 years! But Portugal has been on our minds and in our hearts for quite some time. We started going to Braga in 2014, and we went every year until Covid-19 struck the world. We've talked about moving there soooo many times, then talked ourselves out of it, then back into it, then out of it . . . which is why we decided a wiser move would be to the smaller condo downtown. But Portugal wouldn't let go of us. So we've decided if the desire to move there is going to keep recurring, we'd better just do it. The shippers came last Monday, and Thursday and Friday our wonderful real estate agent and her assistants staged the condo. It's on the market. 

So, I was going to write about that, and then the whole "stolen election" drum beat started overtaking the news with the projected march on Washington that culminated in the horrific coup attempt last Wednesday. The National Guard has beefed up  security this week-end and until the inauguration in all 50 states as well as DC. I'm sure that dissuaded planned armed protests, but what happens after the inauguration when the NG troops go home? Are isurrectionists going to vanish in a puff of smoke? I've been hearbroken over this.I never thought I would see such a thing happen in my country. And I don't think the trouble is over.

Not to mention the death toll of Covid-19. It's been hard to think about all of these things and whip out a  cheery post, but despite that last paragraph, I am feeling hopeful. 

Meanwhile, the weather has turned into early spring weather here. I took my walk along the river yesterday and families were out. The neighbors next door were having a barbecue and the grilled-meat smell floated over which, vegetarian that I am, doesn't really bother me. In the river yesterday, small boats were out. Along streets, people were raking leaves and weeding their flowers. And today was very similar regarding the leaves and flowers. If you stayed away from the Capitol (which I did), you would never know it was surrounded with Guards and a kabillion police. But blocks away from it, where I walked, two national guardsman were patrolling every federal building I passed. It was surreal. And so sad.

But beauty lingers still, no matter what is happening in the world. That is really what keeps us going, isn't it! So I leave you with pictures of the beautiful murals around downtown. (They are all over Midtown as well, but these are mainly in downtown.) They are also taken in different weather, but . . . better late than never.

And then there are the buildings. A whole building at "The Metropol," an apartment building, has been painted with scenes:

And across from Roosevelt Park on 10th Street, from P to Q Streets, the 10th Street face of an entire residence complex has been painted in a continuous scene. Below are cafes and a cleaners; above are residences: 

It's quite a surrealistic mural that wanders across the faces of the buildings from one street to the other, but delightful to see. 

How has your December/January been? I hope this finds all of you safe and well. What have your biggest concerns have been during this period?