new You

why not bring in folks
who are strong enough to boost
good enough to try?

maybe i'll try that.

seek who you want to
and allow simple finding
by closing your eyes

***

morning, i lost you
momentarily gone, but
your come-back grin won

o, honey.

frankly, mon cherie,
your string-of-pearls trip-wires, your
smoke-ringed voice wisps foul

your words are in lipstick
your loyalty, powder. i'll
take you with gloved hands.

crossroads

you've approached a fork;
what's funny's when you don't know,
you need only move

Lucky bird

The rooster is Portugal's national symbol of good fortune. Souvenir shops are full of rooster-shaped bells, rooster-painted tiles, rooster flags, rooster plates. Rooster corkscrews.

On today's visit to Lisbon's dewy-fantastical-mountain-etched neighbor city, Sintra, I found two live roosters.

Since I was alone in a keen hillside park when I heard the clucks, my small cry of delight at this novelty was mostly swallowed by the park's boulders and wood chips. Amused and thrilled by the roosters and their sweet park, I hung out for a bit. The roosters posed. Clucked. Dug a few arbitrary piles of dirt. Mesmerizing.

When the roosters disappeared behind some trees, I continued up the path, and kept hiking a few miles up to the crest of the mountain, to catch the beautiful gardens of Palacio da Pena [photo left]. Ask me about 'em.

Flight to Dublin-New-York-Chicago tomorrow!

Lisbon expert e bom vista panoramania

Yesterday morning, I met up with my flatmate Ray's good friend, Christie, who happens to be a wondrous city host, and delightful company.

Christie ordered us two Brazilian-style coffees (half strong espresso, half milk) and we opened my map. In Lisbon about a year and a half, Christie claims to be part tourist herself. I beg to differ. As I looked on, thrilled, Christie bullet-pointed a few of her favorite spots in Lisbon, giving me an idea of what places to consider indispensable and what to avoid during my abbreviated stay here.

While I grinned, Christie led me beyond a hillside park and down an ensconced set of narrow steps to a great little lunch spot–an eclectic, informal outdoor cafe with a view over western Lisbon and the water. (It's hard to get enough of these vistas. Lisbon's colors and texture are intoxicating.)

We walked up and down Lisbon's Chiado and Barrio Alto areas and Christie pointed out that she'd never been to a place with so many publicly available city view-points. Sure enough, after we gazed out at the eastern half of the cidade, I followed Christie's advice to climb to the hill-top Castillo on the other side of central Lisbon for another perspective, and to a nearby church to add to the panorama. Thanks to this girl, yesterday I caught some of the best vistas I've seen yet in the city.

Christie's easy, fun company enriched my afternoon in Lisbon, and I look forward to hitting up more of her nifty recommendations...Thanks again, girl! (And thanks, flatmatey, for hooking us up!)

Many more photos on Facebook.

Multicolored sunglasses

San Sebastian, Espana. Woman on the middle beach. Not enough space left on Flickr this month, so I uploaded a few more photos of San Sebastian, and some early Lisbon shots, to Facebook!