Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008

from Lisbon





Playing Poker

"... as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands,
the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing.
When their credit ran out, the game stopped."

Marriner S. Eccles
Franklin D. Roosevelt's chairman of the Federal Reserve

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Presentations in the Castle

The castle of Estremoz, Pousada Rainha Santa Isabel, is the result of the restoration of the magnificent Palace that King D. Dinis built for his wife, Queen Santa Isabel.



Monday, October 6, 2008

Miracle of Roses, Santa Isabel








The story is that when challenged by her husband the king, Dom Dinis, about giving bread to the poor, Queen Isabel opened her basket and it miraculously contained only roses, not bread.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Saudade


Saudade is an interesting word I learned while being in Portugal and seems to gain new meaning everyday. It is not able to be directly translated to english. I've heard several interpretations. One of the best I read was it is the missing or yearning for something that is not yet known.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Fado

Fado is a Portuguese music style, generally sung by a single person (the fadista) along with a Portuguese guitar. The most popular themes of fado are saudade, nostalgia, jealousy, and short stories of the typical city quarters. Fado, and Saudade are two key and intertwined ideas in Portuguese culture. The word fado comes from Latin fatum meaning "fate" or "destiny". Fado is a musical cultural expression and recognition of this unassailable determinism which compels the resigned yearning of saudade, a bittersweet, existential yearning and hopefulness towards something over which one has no control.






Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Exhibition at the US Embassy, Lisbon Portugal


Last night I learned that now that the exhibitions in Estremoz are officially over, they have moved mine and the other Americans' work to be exhibited in the Embassy in Portugal. Thank you to Wes Carrington, the US Cultural Attache as well as Harold Naaijer, festival director, and Maria Joao Martins, press officer, for making this happen. I'm truly honored. Featured in the photo from left to right is British photographer, Tim Ashley and Wes Carrington at the Opening in Estremoz.