Sandra Naranjo, our speaker, gave a workshop entitled “A Healthy balance from our body posture”. After a brief theorectical introduction, she suggested, in her gentle manner, some useful exercises and activities for strengthening and stretching our muscles, raising awareness about the importance of good posture. We did try to do some of the exercises, which was really fun.

Ahmy, our photographer, took a few snapshots, which might be a bit blurred, though, since it’s not easy photographing moving subjects.

The workshop was followed by a delicious meal, prepared with creativity as ever by Eduardo. This was our last meeting this year. We look forward to seeing you all next year at the Casa Pombal on January 13th to welcome in the new year.

Amélia Tellechea

View photos (by Ahmy)

Patricia Couto was be our speaker and talked about the most successful and the most influential art forger ever, the Dutch painter Han van Meegeren. The specialty of van Meegeren was Vermeer. With his fake paintings he sold as being original, he amassed a fortune worth more than half a billion dollars in today’s currency. After the van Meegeren exposure in 1945, a wave of self-criticism surged through the world’s art museums and many an Old Master or a Vermeer disappeared from their walls.

Patricia, member of Centro de Estudos Comparatistas (UL), was born in the Netherlands, studied Germanic Philology in Coimbra (FLUC 1975) and holds an MA in Comparative Literature (FLUL 1996). She has worked at Portuguese schools and taught Dutch Language and Culture at FLUL. She has translated authors such as Jan Slauerhoff, Cees Nooteboom, Gerrit Komrij and Etty Hillesum into Portuguese. Currently, she is writing her PhD thesis on Glazemaker’s seventeenth century translation of Fernão Mendes Pinto’s Peregrinaçam.…..

After this presentation we had a special summer-dinner. This was our last activity before the summer and we will restart in September with our monthly meetings in Galeria Bar.

Unexpectedly our guest speaker, Anja  Masteling, had to fly to the Netherlands due to family matters, but her colleague Regina Azevedo volunteered to give the presentation herself, as they have been working together  for 20 years in Assol.

The title “Walking slowly” refers metaphorically to the long, slow itinerary they have followed working with disabled people. Quoting Regina they have to be approached in a very gentle way, “as light as an angel’s feather.”

And art is indeed the best therapy! The presentation was very moving and Regina conveyed all the energy and dedication required to perform such a noble task.

Eduardo cooked excellent food, as ever, prepared with creativity and a lot of care. All in all, a very warm meeting in an otherwise cold Carnival day!

Amélia Tellechea

View photos (by Ahmy)

View photos (by Ahmy)

Around twenty women from a variety of different countries , including Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, Spain, and The Philippines, to name but a few, got together to learn, exchange ideas, socialize and “eat, drink and be merry.”

Our guest speaker was Cathelijne, a Dutch PHD research student who is currently investigating the impact of fire on the landscape. Her presentation was on fire, by which I mean she gave her talk with the sparkle of the young research student who loves what she is doing.

Although we usually associate fires with destruction and soil degradation, Cathelijne explained how fires actually have their benefits. Fire can be used to fight fire and “queimadas” are still used to clean the soil and fertilize it. We do hope Cathelijne’s “experimental fire” will contribute to implementing better fire-prevention practices.

Eduardo cooked excellent food, as ever, prepared with creativity with ingredients which reflected the season – plenty of chestnuts and delicious “Míscaros”, a kind of mushroom that grows in the wild in Portugal.

All in all, a very warm meeting in an otherwise cold November Sunday.

View photos (by Amélia Tellechea)

Our guest speaker, Sandra Marques, gave a presentation about the schist villages in Serra da Lousã, with special attention to the role of women. She spoke of the project Lousitânea with enthusiasm and dedication and her natural communicative skills made the presentation interesting and appealing.

After the presentation we were ‘presented’ with excellent food and drink and soon the cozy dining room was full of lively conversation. As I wouldn´t be able to express it in such a beautiful way I will cite Carla Gomes: “There is no other group of women I would like to celebrate international women´s day with”.

For those who are interested Sandra will organize a guided visit to the villages in April or May.
For more information about the project you can visit the website http://lousitanea.org/tradicoes-do-xisto (in Portuguese).

Amelia Tellechea

View photos (by Winy Schalke)