Photos

On my sidebar, I have a banner that randomly displays 10 images that I've loaded onto flickr. It changes every time the page reloads. Sometimes I find the 10 images that are placed there to be a little story, telling parts of my life in quick moments. A picture is worth 1,000 words, right? That disturbs me to think of how many words it would take to write about DM and I visiting Portugal. We took quite a few pictures.

The little stories told by the banner strike my interest. One of the reasons I love to take pictures and to scrapbook is because I love being able to remember little details and feel the happy feelings again. I like sharing the stories that pictures hold.

These are the pictures the banner showed during the last loading of my site:



Fireworks on New Year's Eve. I took this picture at my mom's house. She threw a party to celebrate the ending of 2003 and the beginning of 2004. This picture tells me the story of a night spent meeting new people.



A picture taken while DM and I walked the streets of Lisbon. This was our first walking tour while in the city. We were unable to enter the grounds behind the door (the red at the left of the picture). I remember us using the Rick Steve's guide to Portugal to guide us on this tour. It was a good day of a great vacation.



The ocean. This picture was taken the first day DM and I went to the ocean with Johnny. I want to be back, watching Papolia run around in the sand and seeing DM stand there declaring, "It's My Ocean, Dammit!" I know most of these pictures are from that same trip and yet I still feel better each time I see them.



The monastery. Talk about beauty. I'm not religious in any way shape or form, however; I do enjoy seeing the monuments that are made for worship. The details in the carvings, the vastness of the grounds, and the memories that DM and I made while visiting this beautiful structure all move me.



DM! She was singing "Strokin'" at this point. At least I think so. I love that a couple of pictures from karaoke ended up on this story board. It shows how important my Sunday and Thursday nights are. We have fun each and every time we visit the Chalet. I think back to the summer of '04 when DM and I were going to karaoke every other Sunday. One night I just said to DM, "Let's make the Sundays we don't go the exception." And I know our lives have changed for the better because of it.



The monastery again. If you can visit Portugal, Lisbon in particular, make sure to take the time to go to the monestary. It is worth the 8 Euros.



The train station when we went to Evora. Who knew I could look back on us getting lost in this city, speaking very few words of Portuguese (bacon and rat bastard do not get you far in a foreign country), wandering uphill and being eaten alive by pesky little bugs and being able to laugh? It was worth it for the stories alone.



The Chapel of Bones. The reason why we visited Evora in the first place. Can you believe that it was because my dentist said, "My friend said he saw a whole chapel made out of human bones in Portugal." Creepy, yet fascinating.



More karaoke. This is Rev. James. It is so cool that we have a Thursday and a Sunday night group to hang out with. I love karaoke. I don't like singing all that much, but I love going to the Chalet. It seems like we meet someone new at least once a week. Pretty cool.



The sky, as seen sitting outside the Gulbenkian museum in Lisbon. What another great experience in Portugal. Someday I will go back. So will DM. And Johnny will come to visit us. The trip of a lifetime does little to describe how wonderful it truly was.