CYNTHIA ADINA KIRKWOOD

The author with her old machine in the Beira Alta of Portugal. She now uses a black twisted cord, not the smooth green or yellow, because it is tougher. (Photo by Betsy Steel) My old Kawasaki 2-stroke and I were entangled in a trap akin to a bad marriage. I knew that things were not good, but I also knew how to get along in it.   My new roçadora (brush-cutter) is dependable, starting after I pull the recoil cord once, gentle on me and quieter than its predecessor.

The photo promoted an Embassy of Portugal in Italy concert in 2014 of the Symphony Orchestra of the Province of Bari conducted by Maestro Álvaro Cassuto. Of the four pieces on the program, three were Portuguese -- Joly Braga Santos ( Symphonic Overture n. 3 ), Federico de Freitas ( Medieval Suite ) and Àlvaro Cassuto ( Return to the Future ), while the fourth was Italian -- Gioacchino Rossini ( Barber of Seville , overture). Besides leading an ensemble in interpreting a scor

Newly elected President of the Republic António José Seguro kept his promise and returned, on March 10, to Mourísia, Arganil, which had suffered greatly in last summer's wildfires, reported Diário de Notícias . According to the president of Arganil Municipality, promised government support of about 4 million euros still was outstanding. "It is important that these promises are fulfilled, " said Seguro, who said that Parliament also had approved a law to create an Independent

Sister Maamalifar M. Poreku, Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa, said, according to Vatican News , that integral ecology requires not only compassion but systemic transformation. The path forward is "to align faith and economic choices", she said, referring to "martyred territories" sacrificed for profit. Inspired by the late Pope Francis' environmental encyclical , the Catholic Church initiated a divestment platform in global mining, which violates human rights and dest

"My grandfather, my father and my uncle were moliceiros. My son's passion is to have a moliceiro boat. My son started to ride with me in the regattas when he was very young. This boat is for him so that he too can participate in the regattas. With the help of master José Rito, I built my first moliceiro to fulfill my childhood dream. That's why my moliceiro was called Um Sonho (A Dream)," said José Rebelo. The flat-bottomed pine moliceiros of Aveiro are a cultural treasure, w

"I always wanted to help people. But this idea came about when my grandmother was scammed. I didn't have the tools to protect her. Now I do," said Rita Barbosa, (far left), according to RTP Notícias . (Photo by Diário da República ) Her avó (grandmother) had been the victim of numerous telephone calls from unknown numbers whose objective was to scam her out of her money. However, with one call, she lost not just money (She bought four water filters for €1,000 each, whe

James Pierson Beckwourth (1798-1866) About 62 years old (Note that "Beckwith", sometimes used, is stated as James Pierson's surname in these proceedings. However, his autobiography and signature in an early lead mining pay record used "Beckwourth"; he is credited with discovering "Beckwourth Pass" in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and his then-seven siblings, who would become 12, 22 slaves, mother, who was his father's slave, and father moved to "Beckwourth's Settlement"

The American bison, commonly known as the American buffalo, or simply buffalo in the United States, is one of two extant species of buffalo, along with the European bison, according to the Encyclopedia of Life , Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (Photo from Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative) Plains tribes initiated a transformational movement to re-introduce the near-threatened wild buffalo to the American West so that the keystone species can restor

Dust from the Sahara Desert is expected to blow onto the Portuguese mainland on February 24. The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere warned of "the possibility of implications for air quality and effects on health". The suspended particles from North Africa are forecasted to reach the Madeira archipelago first, on February 23, then head toward the mainland "gradually progressing from south to north, within a southerly flow, defined by the anticyclone located over t

The four-month-old son of Charisse Beverly, of Greensboro, North Carolina, meets his 91-year-old great-great grandmother, reported Today. (Photo by Charisse Beverly/ Facebook ) When my father died 23 years ago, I brought my three-month-old son with me from Santa Cruz, California, to his funeral. The flight had been late. One of my brothers-in-law picked us up at John F. Kennedy International Airport. We dodged traffic. Soon, we arrived in Hempstead, Long Island, at St. Ladisl

The people of Ereira, in Montemor-o-Velho Municipality, on the Lower Mondego River, have been in isolation for 14 days, depending on amphibious vehicles of the Armed Forces to take them for groceries and voting in the national election on February 8, reported RTP (February 16). Today, it is also possible to reach Ereira by truck in addition to the military's land-and-water vehicles, reported CNN Portugal (February 17). (Photo from Lusa ) Portugal faced drought in 2022. Si

A section of the A1 motorway, in the Casais area of Coimbra Municipality, where the Mondego River dike burst from the force of water on February 12. Traffic on the motorway, which connects Lisbon to Porto, had been stopped earlier as a precaution, reported SIC Notícias . (Photo from SIC Notícias ) Before dawn, I woke to the sound of strong wind and a slow ping, ping, ping, rain trickling in from the chimney, which has a defect that is silent, usually. However, livi

The Iberian wolf, endangered in Portugal, is protected by national and international laws. An international environmental law firm has joined the fight against the open-pit lithium mine project of Savannah Resources, which would destroy the country’s U.N. Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in the Barroso region of Vila Real District. The prominent law organization, ClientEarth, and the local Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso Association, which has been in the

About 6,000 secondary and college students responded to the victims of the flash floods of November 25-26, 1967, with medical and social assistance. It may be that more than 700 lost their lives in the neighboring municipalities of Lisbon, such as Loures, Vila Franca de Xira, Alenquer, and others. The exact number remains unknown, partly because of the difficulty of reclaiming bodies from the mud and partly because of censorship of António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo ,

The author with her mother and father At the table, when I was a girl in New York City, my father would say that Belize will never change, that the old man selling fruit outside Brodies general store in Belize City always would be there. Between mouthfuls of rice and beans, family and friends, other emigrants from then-British Honduras, got his meaning, shaking their heads in agreement. Change had been slow to nonexistent, and there was comfort in that. They could go back hom

Study in Red (1964), by Júlio Pomar: "The body of work dedicated to the theme of 'races' and 'entrances' -- namely through the representation of horses, jockey races, bull runs and cowboys -- is for Pomar a reason for intense exploration of movement in painting. Júlio Pomar is in motion and imprints movement on his tools. He moves while painting and moves spirits while writing. He seeks movement and this, as if already escaping his control, gaining autonomy, advances from hi

(Photo from Pixabay ) To protect young people from the "radicalism which leads to violent extremism", the Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) began an online campaign, said the force's national director, Luís Neves, according to Expresso  (January 13). Both the Judicial Police and the government warned of the possible dire consequences of exposure to hate speech at the conference, Prevention of Online Radicalization of Children and Young People, in Lisbon at the Judicial Police b

The Grand Sanatorium, one of 20 units, around 1930 (Photos by Diário da República  from Expresso ) At the beginning of the 20th century, Caramulo was only a few houses and as many buildings for commerce and the accommodation of patients convalescing from tuberculosis and other debilitating disease. By mid-century, what became a village in the Serra do Caramulo mountains, in Tondela Municipality, attracted thousands of tuberculosis sufferers from Portugal an

Since she was six years old, Ana Martins,16, has chosen the elective of Mirandese, studying it since Year 1 in school. She talks with older villagers in Malhadas, Miranda do Douro, in January 2019. (Photo by José Coelho/ Lusa) . When Portugal recognized Mirandese as a second language, "the people began to lose their shame and started speaking with pride", said Júlio Meirinhos who, as a deputy of the Assembleia da República, was the first person to speak the centuries-old lang

This filigree dress, which was exhibited in the Portugal pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka and Expo 2020 in Dubai, is on display at the Filigree Museum in Gondomar. This unique handcrafted piece took 2,040 hours of work. The bodice is made of several pieces of filigree. On the skirt is the embroidery of three Portuguese caravels, the sails of which also are made of filigree. The dress was a collaboration between master filigree artisan, Arlindo Moura, of Gondomar, and the stylis