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Remembrance of Parties Past
All parties are outstanding, but some are more than others for all the right (or wrong) reasons. Once in a while, something triggers a specific memory, and I hurtle into long-past moments. And sometimes I don’t even need to attend a party to have all the joy of being present. Chilli & Balinese Dancers Bachelor Continue reading
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Deadly Colours
Colours have different origins, compositions, and meanings. Some pigments’ names evoke distant and exotic lands, brought to the west by merchants’ caravans or ships that have crossed seas teeming with, what they thought back then, monsters. While some pigments used by painters and manufacturers are run-of-the-mill stuff, others are, or were, deadly, such as the Continue reading
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The Queen of the Road to Bali
My mother’s whisper from Brasília reached me through the crackling phone line in Jakarta, “You’re doing what?” “Going to Bali by bus. “Are you out of money, out of mind, or both?” “We want to see all of Java, the north coast, and take the ferry, Java Sea! A truly wonderful trip.” “I see Continue reading
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The Emperor’s Fickle Heart
When Dom Pedro I, the first emperor of Brazil and later King Pedro IV of Portugal, died in 1834 at Queluz, Portugal, he left a will ordering the transportation of his body to Brazil, and his heart to Porto. Could such an exalted man have made his feelings clearer? He loved Portugal beyond life itself Continue reading
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Welcome to Regina’s Rants
Welcome to Regina’s Rants, where I write about whatever tickles my fancy, for I have to keep up my reputation of being irascible. The idea of Regina’s Rants started as new things usually do: I had the flooring of my home changed and in the process of removing items from one room to another, akin Continue reading
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The Pope’s Second Coming
Hide the Phallus and Your Wallet The Catholic world revolved around Portugal from 1 August, 2023, for five days. Pope Francis descended on Lisbon for the 37th World Youth Journey (Jornada Mundial da Juventude, JMJ), to perform an ultramarathon of a programme with 20 events, something I did not have the energy to do even Continue reading
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A Question of Language
The Portuguese female nurse on the other end of the phone was clear, “How come these people, who have been here for a dozen years, do not speak Portuguese? And you speak Brazilian!” I stopped my translation of a friend’s questions about her husband to the hospital nurse and her answers, and took a deep Continue reading
Regina's Rants 