Holding on to time

June 15, 2007

In my final days of being in Portugal, I feel an urgency to capture some of the many rare and wonderful moments that we have been experiencing. Through my writing, I want to bottle it up and keep the memories just as I would if I took a photo. Though it would be impossible to truly describe it all. The emotions are complex, the light is just right, the food carefully prepared, there is a sense of freedom, the smell of wild flowers fills the air, the feeling of impending endings… all of this sets the scene for my days as I face leaving for the United States.

Saturday: Duarte and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Our wedding took place at Quinta da Mata and it was the most fantastic event. On our anniversary we went out for dinner to a friend’s restaurant. He asked us what we wanted to order and Duarte replied “Well, we are just going to order food as an excuse to enjoy a really good bottle of wine.” The owner said “ahh…then I have just the thing. It’s not on the menu. Do you trust me?” We did and we enjoyed an earthy wine from the Dao region of Portugal. We toasted our 6 + years together and enjoyed a wonderful dinner.

Following our wine and meal, we met up with two of our favorite people Paulo and Patricia (Duarte’s best friend and his girlfriend). We had a fantastic evening in Chaves…walking through the narrow streets of the city center, watching models from a fashion show that had just ended parade through Chaves in their far too skimpy clothing, we drank caipirinhas’s (all of them included one ant) at the “Life café.” Talked and dreamed and planned until we could no longer keep our eyes open.

Sunday: Duarte and I went kayaking on the Tamega river. It was a mellow stretch of river abundant with wildlife. We saw herons and waterfowl and an old mill submerged in the river. Back at Quinta da Mata, we took Jenna for a tractor ride around the farm. We picked a huge basket full of ripe, red cherries. Duarte and Marcos went to see Mr. Bean at the local community center. Marcos loved it!

Monday: The sun was out and it was nearly 90 degrees. Nothing to do but float around the swimming pool to keep cool.

Tuesday: A beautiful day. The weather was crisp and cool. We drove around to the other side of the valley and rode our bikes through chestnut trees and incredibly green meadows. We rode easily for 3 hours and we only got lost once or twice.

Duarte and I went to Vila Real with Lipe and Susana for its annual saint celebration. We had a beautiful evening together sitting in an open café talking and laughing and enjoying fresh fish and a couple of bottles of excellent wine. Once again, these bottles were not on the menu.

Oh yeah, we purchased a few lottery tickets for the huge European lottery to be drawn on Friday night – over 27 million Euros. If we win, we’ll be moving back to Portugal! Duarte has big dreams of starting his own vineyard and producing high quality wine.

Wednesday: Rain, rain, rain. Duarte, Marcos and I went to get our haircuts with our “favorite” hairdresser “Pimpa.” Every time I leave her salon I am surprised at how muddled my requests turn out and my hair. There is much lost in translation and my hair never turns out to be what I expect. Oh well.

Thursday: A break in the rain allowed us to get out for a day of mountain biking. As always, our trek turned into a grand adventure. Duarte’s front tire went flat about 20 miles from our car. We did not have a replacement tube - which is astounding considering he has had about 10 flat tires since our arrival. I was sent to fetch the car. That didn’t turn out to be the best idea as I had no idea where I was, where I was going, nor did I have a cell phone to call for help. On my journey to the car I became disoriented and a little nervous. I ended up stopping at a village to ask directions (note: this was not an easy task for me.) I found a few construction workers who wanted nothing to do with me but after some coaxing finally allowed me to use their cell phone. Unfortunately, I never memorized Duarte’s cell phone number so I could only call Quinta da Mata (hence more Portuguese). I finally resolved to sit and wait. After too much time had passed, I found a nice man who patiently listened to me. He explained that my car should be only one mile up the road. How embarrassing. Just as I started for the car, Lipe came to pick me up. Lipe has rescued us more times than I want to remember from our crazy, epic rides.

Dinner at Quinta da Mata was so much fun. Lipe and Susana joined us along with Tia Ilinha. Tia Ilinha is a cousin of Filinto and she is a nun...a tiny, meek, old nun who regularly wears a habit. She brought toys for the kids. For Marcos she brought toy motorcycles that pull back and when released roll forward. Duarte tried tirelessly to teach "the nun" to make the motorcycle go. She never could figure it out. What ended up happening, however, was a huge motorcycle fiasco as Duarte, Lipe, Marcos, Filinto and the nun all raced and crashed their vehicles back and forth across the dinner table. I think Tia Ilinha had a blast.

Friday: While dropping Marcos off at school this morning, another little girl was being dropped off at the same time. She waited for Marcos and then took his hand and they walked into their little classroom together. Marcos didn't think much of the experience but it was revealing to me as I can see that Marcos has truly been accepted among his classmates.


I sit in the living room at Quinta da Mata writing this blog. I feel anxious….there is so much to do, so much more I want to experience. I will leave one week from today. My feelings are overwhelming. Tears fall easily. I am not ready to let it go. Our plan for the day (which will inevitably change) will be to drive out to Duarte’s uncle’s farm and spend the afternoon running and biking amidst the patchwork of cherry trees, vineyards, olive trees, peaches and almonds. I think this too will be a very good day.