Painting, again | A pintar, outra vez

I must admit: I don´t paint at home. I don´t have enough "room", meaning both physical space and mental space. I think I ought to paint at home, but I just don´t. There´s all the work to be done, the to do list to be tackled, all other projects on hold and painting... well, that´s for those two hours a week, in a specific space, with a specific group of people who go there to do the same. I like it that way.


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Gosto de pintar, mas em casa não tenho espaço. Nem tempo. Nem disponibilidade mental, sobretudo não tenho disponibilidade mental. E se calhar até é melhor assim: a pintura fica naquelas duas horas, naquele espaço específico, com aquele grupo de pessoas que estão lá a fazer o mesmo. E é bom assim.

These were painted yesterday...

This was the week before. I´m glad to be back.

Yesterday | Ontem

It´s great to be a birthday girl in the summer.

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No ano passado, o meu primeiro aniversário no Verão, choveu. Este ano tive mais sorte e pude fazer o tão desejado piquenique. Estou feliz!

Lisbon love

Being back to Buenos Aires I´m now able to go through the photos taken while away at home, in Lisbon. I know it sounds funny to say "away at home", but I guess that Lisbon will always be my home, even if I live elsewhere. So pardon me and my love for my city, specially if I mention it a bit too much in the next few days.



This is a view of the aqueduct of Lisbon. This part of it is about 1km long, but it is stretches for more than 50km, from the outskirts of the city into downtown. It isn´t in use right now and it will be open to the public as of March 2009, as far as I know.

Even in rainy days, Lisbon is a beautiful city, isn´t it?

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Em português, aqui.

Some more knitting | E ainda o tricot

It´s not that I haven´t been working - I have. It´s just those jobs that I have no images to show, either because it´s too early or because printed pieces aren´t back from the printer.

So, a bit more of knitting. The Owls Sweater is almost knitting itself. I´m having so much fun and learning so much while knitting it that it doesn´t even bother me that the weather is so hot and I´m forming a sweater-shaped-sheep on my lap. I don´t mind, it´s just fun.

See how this was on friday?



This is how it looks today:

And I could hardly be described as a fast knitter. I´m not. I just did it for quite a long time over the weekend.


By the pool, let me add. (which is a very interesting addition if you consider this a "work blog". But hey, it´s definitely taking my time!)

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Estou tão entusiasmada com a camisola dos mochos que não consigo parar de a tricotar. Bom, não a consegui parar de tricotar enquanto estive de fim-de-semana, finalmente a celebrar o Verão depois do Inverno português. Quem pensa que tricot e Verão não combinam (como eu própria achava), desengane-se: parece que não há como estar a fazer uma camisola com um cintado muito bonito para que tudo mude.

Ora vejam como se processa a coisa:


E o resultado é este:

Vêem? Camisola que abraça a cintura de forma perfeita. Esta receita é mesmo muito boa.

Some knitting | Algo de tricot

While I was away in Portugal I completed a couple of small projects. These mittens are one of them, based on this pattern.

I also knit a pair of legwarmers for my sister, which sadly I didn´t have time to capture on photograph as I finished them just before leaving.

Now, after reading this, it led me to this piece of temptation and since then I found the appropriate yarn in my stash (and in enough quantity to knit a sweater. It was what it was intended for when I bought, I just never found - until now, that is - the right pattern for it. I started it and so far I´m enjoying it, even if it summer and the temperatures are high.

If I get too desperate with the hot weather and a bulky sweater-to-be sitting on my lap as I knit it, I´ll go fetch one of these new yarns:



and knit myself a pair of socks.

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Enquanto estive em Portugal, limitei-me a tricotar projectos pequenos para ter a certeza de que os terminava sem ter de os trazer de volta para a Argentina. Por um lado, eram presentes para pessoas do outro lado do oceano; por outro, gente, já foi toda uma odisseia fechar a mala tal como estava.

Quando cheguei a casa, quis actualizar as minhas leituras bloguísticas e vi neste blog uma ligação para este pedaço de mau caminho, tricoticamente falando, claro está.

Uma escavação na lã acumulada revelou quantidade e qualidade semelhante à pedida para a receita e já está nas agulhas, apesar do calor. Mas, se algum dia me cansar de ter uma pequenina ovelhinha em forma de camisola no meu colo, vou buscar uma das minhas aquisições mais recentes para começar um pequenino par de meias. Tricotar é um vício mesmo.

The reasons to my absence...

...are plenty, but let´s begin with the beginning.

Christmas, as I know it, needs cold weather, family, fireplace and hot chocolate - that´s something we couldn´t get here in Buenos Aires (Christmas with warm weather? It must be fun, but...) so we flew to Portugal to spend some time there with family and friends.

But Christmas wasn´t the only reason to fly home (or, shall I say, "one of our homes").

This was the reason:



My Prince and I got married in the end of 2008, right between Christmas and New Year´s Eve. It was a very intimate and beautiful ceremony and I´m thankful to have been given a chance to celebrate it just the way we wanted.

And because I probably have the bestest friends in the whole world, my "bachelorette party" was filled with laughter, fun, dance, good food, good company and mostly love. Love from those that could be there and love from those that couldn´t make it, because my dear godmothers organized the even-better-than-best present ever:



If you´re wondering what this is, it´s a chinese mailbox filled with messages sent by friends all over the world.

(Guys, if you´re reading this, let me tell you that I had tears in my eyes while reading some of your letters and laughed out loud while reading others. Thank you, thank you so much.)

The letters were so touching: there were photographs, there were real letters, there were to-do lists... All the messages were so "on equity" (Paulo would love to hear me using this expression!) with the people who wrote them. They were great and I could hear and feel you right beside me.

Well, last but not least, the broader family was increased with a new member as my second niece was born in Lisbon, on January 11th. She is doing fine and giving her parents and sister better nights already.

So, as you can see, there were lots of reasons to be away from the computer. I´m now back to Buenos Aires, away from my auntie-duties (and missing them), ready to resume my blogging action as usual. 2009 looks as it will be a great year, despite of all the negative crisis-talks.

Life is good.

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Para ler em português, aqui.

Kung hei fat choi!

Happy Lunar New Year, happy year of the Ox!

I´m back to Buenos Aires and blogging will resume its normal activity very soon (maybe after lunch).

See you then!

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Feliz Ano Novo Lunar do Búfalo!

Estou de volta a Buenos Aires e a actividade bloguística será retomada proximamente (talvez depois do almoço).

Até lá!