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 |   Enga mellom fjella: where from across the meadow, poems sing from mountains and molehills. |
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Enga mellom Fjella  Sentinel Marked as if you own me I bow before the Bitterroots and just like you my rocky soil, my withered grass lays prey to the empty sky. © Kåre Enga 2007 "Sentinel"   Reader's Choice of Poems: "'heart's home'" "In Lagada, la vita" "Waterlily" "Boise City" "Wheat penny" Reader's Choice of blog entries from my old blog "L'aura del Campo" :"Death of Jeannie New Moon" "Winter: 18 Mas'il (December 29)" "When is it proper to tell someone you love them?" "Tupac and more poetry" "Wheat penny. Gave in, started a forum." FACES     PLACES            Kåre  Enga~ until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! And I let the fish go. ~ Elizabeth Bishop The Fish |
| Today... ? Nothing I'm likely to share. I did visit the train station, São Bento. Marvellous azulejos (tiles). Also went to the Bolhão market, but the day was wasted mostly as I had no energy. Breakfast was better at hostels in Lisboa and Coimbra but enough. I have no appetite. Ate a panado de peru (whatever that is) and goat cheese  for supper. At least Pingo Doce has cheap food and it's around the corner.Almost 10 pm and place feels ghostly. Nice chat with young French women last night... but no one here in common room at moment. I can only hope folks aren't loud when they reappear. Groups of travelers can be very disrespectful of others. It's as if no one exists outside their circle. I did better with Portuguese today. If I were here a month, especially if I were studying, I'd do okay. People in Porto seem nice. |
| I wish I were thrilled about this trip. The highlight so far was a ride with Rosa in her car. Lovely lady. She speaks excellent English due to work and clients in the UK, USA And Sweden. Even had a tiny Swedish flag in her car. She showed me some small places without tourists around Alcobaça. Today I'm in Coimbra. So little energy. It's a shame really. I'm looking forward to spending more time in Lisbon before I leave. I arrived exhausted and then didn't feel well. Hopefully I can keep posting photos on facebook as folks seem to enjoy them. And NOT share how depressed I really am some days. That I can share here. Off to Porto tomorrow. |
| Me: I'll be leaving Monday the 7th. I'll try to keep in touch while I'm gone for two months. I would really like to write more articles. Lord knows I have experiences and opinions! But: 1. journal - now over 10 years. 2. facebook and photos... 3. poetry - have written 3 this month, 27 more to go. 4. new vampire stories... one of the reasons I'm going to Portugal. 5. editing old stuff... thousands of bits and pieces... So, I want to write more in depth useful essays, etc. However, I'd have to make it a priority to fit them in. We shall see. This trip is more than just photos, a travel journal of senses, observations, thoughts, more than staying alive. The staying alive part is key though. To paraphrase: "I know I'm going to die but I'm not dead yet." So, I'll just keep moving until then. |
| I wrote a poem yesterday. If I write one today... 2 down, 28 to go. NaPoWriMo is upon us. If I discipline myself I can use the time in Portugal to a real advantage. Still working on hostels, choice of city. Gdañsk in Poland is still a possibilty. Ah... the angst. LOL I bought SD cards for my cameras. With 64gb available I should be fine. I ran out last year. One learns. Bought mothballs for my woollens too. 2 months is lots of time for wee hungry moths. I cancelled my phone service for the time I'll be gone. That should save $50/month. Got a call from the court today for jury duty. NOT. Need to put that in writing before I leave. All-in-all, I accomplished some things.  |
| ...on May 8th. I fretted as I saw affordable flights disappearing so I just went ahead and bought tickets. About $145 with TAP. That means whole there and back again cost me under $1,200. 50.333 |
| Meeeeee: Couldn't sleep for two hours last night. What if I do this... what if I do that... At least I realized it's Norway's bicentennial. May 17, 1814 ... duh. Remembered Kristi Himmelfartsdagen on May 29th too. That's Acension in English. With April 23rd anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal and Labor Day on May 1st it becomes tricky planning a trip. Ssslllooooowlllyy... it's coming together. Ask me how my plans went awry when I get back!  2 months... now to check music festival conflicts in Bergen, whether I can find a cheap place in Kristiansund, plan number of days in Portugal which may cancel or limit Spain. Is there a cheap-cheap ticket to Poland? Also... bus and train routes. I really like looking out at the scenery. Scored some wonderful sour dough pancakes yesterday, informed the bank, wonderful chat about being young, Mormon and gay with Michael. Didn't start packing yet... soon. |
| ME: I bought my tickets. Argued with the computer and the dates and the times and... ...decided that I'd had enough. I leave April 7th for Lisbon, arriving the 8th in the evening. I return from Bergen, Norway on the 5th of June arriving in Montana just before midnight. Am I thrilled? A bit. But mostly I'm relieved. The indecision was killing me (probably literally). Now I need to find a place to stay the first two nights, make sure I have a place to stay the last night in Norway, decide how/when I go from the south to the north (there are direct flights from Barcelona). I also have to work out Holy Week in Portugal soon or I won't have a place to stay. Same with the 17th of May in Norway. Luckily, pinse (Pentecost) is June 8th and not a factor. However... 1st of May is celebrated in both countries (and Spain and Poland), May 3rd in Poland (Constitution Day). The 25th of April is Freedom Day (Carnation Revolution) in Portugal and I'll have to be careful planning around that one. Holidays can create all kinds of havoc for the traveler if caught unawares. I have personal experience... So. I need to do my work. I hope to: 1. Write and take notes in Portugal so I can write more vampire stories. 2. Improve my Norwegian and my Portuguese. 3. Visit new places and old in Norway. I'm sure I'll do okay. Must be ready to take thousands of photos though. Last time it was about 8,000 in all. |
| Whew... passed 50k views without a blow-out... Me: Thinking of 2 Davids who used to blog here... and how much they loved *pank*.  My Compaq computer may have died... Bruce sent it to me way back when... 2005? Who knows though... I thought things were dead before to only find out otherwise. Like Elvis... rumors persist. May have to re-write one vampire story though. In other snews: moved my bed around late, very late, last night (it was on my to-do list) out of frustration. One less chore to do today. The sun outside is giving me some energy. Maybe I should deal with the other side of the room? Who knows what's lost there.  I still haven't found my universal plug converter for Europe. I'd hate to have to buy another. Don't like losing things. Anyone got shelves? They really help with clutter. If I don't get two or more soon I'll have to put things in boxes and pile those suckers up. I'm tired of the clutter. Happy thoughts: crocuses and grape hyacinths in bloom! As is the kolanchoe I rescued. Geraniums have put out some new flowers as well. Everything perks up this time of year. So... must look at costs/availability of hostels/flights today. Wish me luck. |
| Having computer issues... So... I'm 2 views away from 50, 000! Which means the next person to comment may put me over the top. I'll check tomorrow. Right now my computer is doing a scam... er... scan. Not happy me. I made a list of 5 that included some internet work. If I can't resolve it I may have to go home and clean... a fate not worth thinking about. At least I got 20 plus chapbooks folded today. Even minor goals are good. Trip is on hold until I resolve some tricky dates. May have to sleep in the streets on my birthday... Other than that... I'm fine. 49.998 and counting. |
| me: Written yesterday, the first day of the Bahá'í new year, Naw-Ruz 171 B.E. First day of a new year Snow-veils pass over the North Hills; frost pines waiting for a mountain Spring. Nature's calender shrugs its shoulders, at the vernal equinox stretches out its hours, to balance while it yawns. Earth wakes slowly from its slumber. A blanket of white covers its icy veins. A snow-veil passes over the hills, but a warm breeze will follow close behind. Frost melts in the hollows hidden by pines. © Kåre Enga [171.1] 20.march.2014 I know this poem needs editing... by next year? I soaked in the tub last night. Added hot water three times. My skin thanked me. Still didn't sleep much though. Set the alarm earlier than normal. Half-awake, I called Gary. After-all, I've been trying for three months! Still not awake when he answered. Oh, well. Nice chat. Everything there is fine.Not connecting had been making me more depressed and anxious than usual. Here? Sunny, cold. Quiet afternoon in the Senior Center. Every season I open up a new notebook for my journal. Book 42 is yellow. I'm on page 3,670... not bad. I wrote 101 pages in Winter, Book 41, (red). Of course, every new book looks so innocently pristine when I start. After a couple coffee stains... No other big news. I'll share when I have some. Getting a hold of Gare was huge. 49.910 |
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