Laurissilva da Madeira

A palavra Laurissilva deriva do latim Laurus (loureiro, lauráceas) e Silva (floresta, bosque).

Laurissilva é o nome dado a um tipo de floresta, composta maioritariamente por plantas da família das lauráceas e endémicas da Macaronésia ( do grego “ilhas afortunadas”), região formada pelos arquipélagos da Madeira, Açores , Canárias e Cabo Verde.

A Laurissilva remonta à era terciária. Muitas espécies chegaram a ocupar grandes extensões no sul da Europa, mas devido às alterações climáticas acabaram por ter como último refúgio as regiões insulares, onde, devido à menor flutuação climática proporcionada pelo efeito amenizador do Oceano Atlântico, conseguiram sobreviver e até mesmo prosperar.

A Floresta da Laurissilva encontra-se nas terras altas do norte da ilha da Madeira, de relevo e acesso difícil, clima frio e húmido (devido à exposição dos ventos predominantes de nordeste- os alíseos). Ocupa o equivalente a 20% da área total da ilha. 

Na Laurissilva encontramos o til (Ocotea foetens), o loureiro (Laurus novocanariensis), o vinhático (Persea indica) e o barbuzano (Apollonias barbujana).

A Floresta da Laurissilva da Madeira foi considerada pela UNESCO como Património Natural da Humanidade em 1999.

TIL

A madeira, quando recentemente cortada tem um cheiro forte e desagradável.

LOUREIRO

A sua madeira é inferior à das outras lauráceas.

Na ilha da Madeira, o óleo obtido da baga do loureiro endémico é conhecido por possuir propriedades anti-inflamatórias, sendo utilizado localmente como remédio caseiro para diversas maleitas, podendo cada litro atingir preços de mercado elevadíssimos.

Os seus galhos são também utilizados para espetar a carne de vaca nas famosas “espetadas” e as folhas como tempero de comida.

Também é a madeira preferida para fazerem colheres de pau e o pau da poncha ( a bebida mais tradicional da Madeira) 

A planta é conhecida desde a Grécia antiga, onde as coroas feitas de folhas de louro eram entregues aos vencedores de competições como símbolo de vitória. Daí a expressão "louros da vitória".

BARBUZANO

A sua madeira é muito pesada e dura, difícil de trabalhar.

VINHÁTICO

Ao longo dos tempos a madeira de vinhático, de cor amarelada ou rosada, foi muito valorizada. Conhecida como mogno da Madeira, foi muito utilizada em marcenaria. Uma mobília de vinhático era uma mais valia. A casca foi utilizada para curtir peles.

Também fazem parte da Laurissilva cerca de 66 espécies diferentes de árvores e arbustos, como perados, folhados, sabugueiros, pau branco, musgos e fungos

A floresta é essencial para a sobrevivência dos Madeirenses: além da beleza que proporciona e das raras espécies botânicas que abriga, garante o abastecimento de água aos centros urbanos e irrigação dos campos agrícolas.

A partir da segunda metade do século XX, as águas, transportadas por extensas "levadas" (canais de irrigação), passaram a produzir energia nas centrais hidroelétricas.

Laurissilva foi o tema de uma belíssima exposição de pintura de Pedro Vaz na Galeria 111 em Lisboa, em Abril deste ano.

Referências:

Augusto da Silva, F e C. Azevedo de Meneses. Elucidário Madeirense Vol II. Secretaria Regional de Turismo e Cultura. Funchal 1998.

Quintal, Raimundo. Madeira. The Discovery of the Island by Car and on Foot. AAPEF, 2005

http://www.pnm.pt/

http://www.madeira-web.com/pagesp/protected-areas/laurissilva.html

http://www.igespar.pt/pt/patrimonio/mundial/portugal/118/

https://revistajardins.pt/laurissilva-floresta-da-madeira/?fb_ref=lNnfwPDg7k-Facebook&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=ShareButton&utm_campaign=GetSocial&fbclid=IwAR2t8zpUCZAySaxkbBUJBsAcUmd5f45M_xpEEjD-QV0k9K7SbsRCXdP44QY

Who do you believe?

One day a friend visited Hodja and said:

- Hodja, I want to borrow your donkey.

- I´m sorry, replied Hodja, but I´ve already lent it out to someone else.

As soon as he said this, the donkey brayed.

- But Hodja, I can hear the donkey! It´s in the stable!

Shutting the door in his friend´s face, Hodja told him with dignity:

- A man who believes the word of a donkey above my own, doesn´t deserve to be lent anything!

More Nasreddin Hodja´s Jokes

The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July holiday is coming up, and Americans all across the United States will be celebrating with events to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Founding Fathers on July 4, 1776.

     John Adams  

                 Thomas Jefferson

By incredible coincidence John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two Founding Fathers who helped draft the Declaration of independence, and later became Presidents of the USA, died on the same day- July 4, 1826- 50 years after the historic document was signed.

Monticello

http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens

When Jefferson's health began to deteriorate he called his family and then asked. "Is it the fourth yet? His doctor replied, ''It soon will be". Some hours later Thomas Jefferson died in his home in Monticello, Virginia.

On the other hand, when John Adams was told that it was the Fourth, he answered clearly, "It is a great day. It is a good day." His last words have been reported as "Thomas Jefferson survives".

However Jefferson had died hours before Adams did.  

                 http://www.nps.gov/adam/historyculture/index.htm

Read more about the 4th of July (in Portuguese):

http://relvateresa.blogspot.pt/2011/08/4th-of-july-independence-day-in-usa.html

"History is the sum total of the things that could have been avoided"

Konrad Adenauer (1876 - 1967)

This is how Paulo Portas started a conference two years ago. A very up- to- date quote.

Cork Boat

I have just finished reading Cork Boat, a memoir book. 

It was written by John Pollack and published in 2004 by Pantheon Books, New York.

Most people have childhood dreams; however few of us ever fulfill them. John Pollack followed an idea he had in his mind since he was six years old: to build a boat out of wine corks and take it on an epic journey.

In this book the author tells the charming and inspiring story of his adventure. Overcoming one obstacle after another he managed to collect all the corks he needed, most of them donated by Cork Supply USA.

He teamed up with an old friend and architect, Garth Goldstein, recruited a hundred volunteers to do hard manual work, and built a boat made of 165,321 wine corks held together entirely by rubber bands.

The boat that took them two years to complete (1999-2001) had a wooden deck, a Viking-style V-shaped prow, and two oars. 

 Later he won sponsorship for a launch in Portugal in a trip down the Douro River from Barca d'Alva, near the Spanish border, till Oporto in a 17-day journey. 

John Pollack had become disillusioned by his job in Washington, D.C where he worked as a former speechwriter for a Congressman, so he decided to quit his job, although he sometimes wondered “Had I made a mistake, leaving behind a steady job with perks and benefits just to build a cork boat?” (page 36). Later, when his savings were running out, he accepted a job in the White House, where he worked as one of President Clinton´s speechwriters while he was still assembling the corks to build his boat and collecting more corks from the White House. 

He gives us an account of the cork wars with their plastic rivals and quoted Paulo Portas, our current Minister for Foreign Affairs: “Paulo Portas, a prominent Portuguese politician, told the Guardian: This is a campaign based on falsewoods” (page 39)

In Portugal he was interviewed by Expresso and answering a question about why he had chosen Portugal and the Douro, John Pollack said: “ Portugal was the king of cork, exporting more cork than any other country in the world; that the Douro region was known worldwide both for its beauty and its wine; and that Portugal had produced some of history´s greatest navigators- Magellan, Cabral and Vasco da Gama. Finally I noted that our sponsor, the Cork Supply Group, was based in Portugal. How could we celebrate the Cork Boat´s maiden voyage anywhere else?” (page 171). 

When the book was published the cork boat remained in Portugal. 

Cork Boat is a happy story of friendship, determination, the power of imagination and humor. In the epilogue “…the wooden bowl is filling up again (with corks). But Garth says that for our next project, we ought to build a rocket ship out of bottle caps. I´ve always wanted to go to the moon”. 

http://www.corkboat.com/author.html

DINING & WINE

Eric Asimov is an American wine critic for The New York Times. In DINING & WINE he wrote about the Portuguese Vinho Verde. “Vinho Verde means green wine, suggesting not the color but that they are intended to be enjoyed in their energetic youth. The Vinho Verde category in fact does not discriminate by color. It comprises red and rosé wines, too, though, practically speaking, the whites have come to dominate production and consumption in the last 30 years”.

Read more.

This was not the first time Eric Asimov wrote about Portuguese wine . In A Love, Fortified he wrote about Madeira wine.

Os 27 países da UE e suas capitais The 27 EU countries and their capitals

ALEMANHA  (Germany) BERLIM (Berlin)

ÁUSTRIA  (Austria) VIENA (Vienna)

BÉLGICA  (Belgium) BRUXELAS (Brussels)

BULGÁRIA  (Bulgaria) SOFIA (Sofia)

CHIPRE  (Cyprus) NICÓSIA (Nicosia)

CROÁCIA (Croacia) ZAGREB (Zagreb)

DINAMARCA (Denmark) COPENHAGA (Copenhagen)

ESLOVÁQUIA (Slovakia) BRATISLAVA (Bratislava)

ESLOVÉNIA (Slovenia) LIUBLIANA (Ljubliana)

ESPANHA (Spain) MADRID (Madrid)

ESTÓNIA (Estonia) TALLIN (Tallinn)

FINLÂNDIA (Finland) HELSINQUIA (Helsinki)

FRANÇA (France) PARIS (Paris)

GRÉCIA (Greece) ATENAS (Athens)

HUNGRIA (Hungary) BUDAPESTE (Budapest)

IRLANDA (Ireland) DUBLIM (Dublin)

ITÁLIA (Italy) ROMA (Rome)

LETÓNIA (Latvia) RIGA (Riga)

LITUÂNIA (Lithuania) VILNIUS (Vilnius)

LUXEMBURGO (Luxembourg) LUXEMBURGO (Luxembourg)

MALTA (Malta) LA VALETA (Valletta)

PAÍSES BAIXOS (Netherlands) AMSTERDÃO (Amsterdam)

POLÓNIA (Poland) VARSÓVIA (Warsaw)

PORTUGAL (Portugal) LISBOA (Lisbon)

REPÚBLICA CHECA (Czech Republic) PRAGA (Prague)

ROMÉNIA (Romania) BUCARESTE (Bucharest)

SUÉCIA (Sweden) ESTOCOLMO (Stockholm)

A Croácia tornou-se o 28º membro da União Europeia no dia 1 de julho de 2013/Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union on 1st July 2013.

No dia 31 de janeiro de 2020 o Reino Unido deixa formalmente a União Europeia/The UK formally leaves the European Union on 31 January 2020.

Katharine Hepburn

Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Watch more

On the 10th anniversary of Katharine Hepburn’s death at the age of 96 (on June 29, 2003), LIFE.com paid tribute to the four-time Best Actress Oscar winner with a series of photos — many of which never ran in LIFE magazine — offering a glimpse inside the making of The African Queen. 

New Yorker cartoon

Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ended a law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. President Obama said it “treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people.” 

What do you think of the court’s decision?

A same-sex marriage cartoon by William Haefeli:

The New Yorker is a weekly American magazine. It started in 1925. Although its reviews focus on the cultural life of New York City, it has a wide audience outside of New York and abroad.

President Barack Obama in South Africa

Air Force One landed at a military airbase near Pretoria on Friday evening, the second stop after Senegal, in Obama´s three-country tour of Africa. During his stay, he is scheduled to meet President Jacob Zuma. He is also expected to visit Robben Island, where Mr Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.

However President Obama said he did not expect to see former President Nelson Mandela, who is critically ill in hospital: "The last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned with Nelson Mandela's condition…I think the main message we'll want to deliver is not directly to him, but to his family - is simply profound gratitude for his leadership all these years, and that the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with him, his family and his country."

President Obama met Mr Mandela in 2005 when he was still a US senator. Both men became the first black presidents of their nations and have received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The US president has described Mr Mandela as a "hero for the world", whose "legacy will linger on through the ages", and who had inspired his own activism as a student.

Michelle Obama met with former President Nelson Mandela at his home in Houghton, South Africa in 2011.

Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton

Read her post My Return to Africa

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/

Top European Destination for 2013: Oporto

After the Urban City Guides have included Lisbon on its top 10 most beautiful cities in the world, now the Lonely Planet, the world’s leading travel publisher, has named Oporto and the Douro River Valley as the Top European Destination for 2013. “Once a sleepy riverside city best known for its fortified wines, Porto has emerged as a vibrant arts capital that's rightfully getting a lot of buzz as a great value destination,” said Andy Murdock, US Digital Editor.

Photo: Rooftops of Porto and the Douro River, by Dmitry Shakin / Getty Images in ALL YOU NEED IS PORTUGAL (facebook)

The Top 10 European Destinations elected in 2013 by the editors and columnists of the Lonely Planet are:

Porto (Portugal)

Budapest (Hungary)

North Iceland

Cinque Terre (Italy)

Moravia (Czech Republic)

Bern (Switzerland)

Marseille (France)

Zagreb (Croatia)

Northern Ireland

Copenhagen (Denmark).



Read a previous post about Oporto:

http://relvateresa.blogspot.pt/2011/11/from-ny-times-to-oporto.html

John Lubbock

Have you ever heard of John Lubbock (1834-1913)?

It is amazing to think of the many different things he achieved in a variety of fields like politics, banking, archaeology, biology and, at the same time, remain practically unknown.

Lubbock was the son of a wealthy banker and a neighbour of Charles Darwin. He studied at the prestigious Eton College and at the age of 22 became a partner at his father´s bank.

In 1870, and in 1874, he was elected as a MP for Maidstone and had a distinguished political career: he limited the working hours for the working class; the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 established the first bank holidays in the United Kingdom; and the Ancient Monuments Act of 1882 recognized the need to protect the national heritage. Augustus Pitt Rivers, Lubbock´s father in law, was the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments (in 18 years he managed to catalog 43 monuments; nowadays there are more than 19 000).

Besides being a banker and a politician, Lubbock was also keen on archaeology: he invented the terms "Palaeolithic" and "Neolithic" to mean the Old and New Stone Ages and was a member of the British Museum. John Lubbock was also interested in the evolutionary theory and wrote many articles supporting Darwin´s ideas. 

He still had time for science and experimenting. As an amateur biologist he studied ants, bees and wasps. 

Let´s not forget John Lubbock! 



Lubbock´s Quotes: "What we see depends mainly on what we look for." 

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work". 

"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn."

The  idea for this post came from Bill Bryson´s Em Casa. Bertrand editora 2011.(pages485-489)

Michelle de Brito in Wimbledon

Read The Telegraph

"Old Court No 2 was known as the graveyard of champions. Now its replacement is living up to the reputation."

Coffee and social life

Coffeehouse in the 17th century

Coffee became popular in England thanks to Pasqua Rosee, the servant of a a british trader in Turkish goods named Daniel Edwards. When Pasqua moved to London he used to serve coffee to Edwards´s guests. This drink was so appreciated that Pasqua decided to open the first coffeehouse in London in 1652 in St Michael's Alley,Cornhill.

The Jamaica Wine House was originally London´s first coffeehouse

http://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pubs/london/jamaica-wine-house

Before Midnight

A beautiful film about human relationships and love

It belongs to a trilogy

I have seen them all and I really enjoyed them very much.

The importance of books

Library of the Convent of Mafra, Lisbon

Books have been around for centuries but they were not available to the common person for much of that time. They were very expensive and had to be copied by hand. It was not until the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg (c.1395- 1468), in 1440, that books became cheaper and more widely available.

Books increase our knowledge, and help shape our lives. Have you ever visited a house without books? I have and I must say that it conveys a certain feeling of emptiness.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), the main author of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the 3rd President, loved books. Without his books he could never have been the man he was. He was lucky enough to live in a generation where books were becoming more common. When his father died in 1757 he left a library of 42 volumes, something very impressive for that time. A library of 400 books – the number John Harvard (1607–1638) donated to the university that was later named after its benefactor- was colossal for that time.

Library of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland

In August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol Building, where the Library of the Congress was housed, and burned its contents, Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library (consisting of 6487 volumes) as a replacement. He had spent 50 years accumulating books, and his library was considered to be one of the finest in the United States, which included books in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy, science, literature, and other topics.  Nowadays the Library of the Congress is the biggest library in the world with more than 115 million books and other print materials.

http://www.loc.gov/about/index.html

SUPER LUA

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151501994853737&set=a.191055383736.125350.45573163736&type=1&theater

Hoje à noite vamos poder observar e fotografar a "Super Lua", ou seja, a Lua Cheia vai estar ainda maior e mais brilhante do que o habitual e só daqui a 18 anos se irá presenciar algo semelhante.

A "SuperLua" pode ser visível entre as 21h06, quando nasce, e as 06h14 de segunda-feira, quando se põe.

Normalmente a distância entre a Terra e Lua é de 384.400km, mas hoje, altura do perigeu, a Lua aproxima-se da Terra e a distância será menor- cerca de 363.100 quilómetros.

LUA

Olha a lua pequenina

Lá no céu a passear

E o Menino Jesus sem se lembrar

Que pegando nela e atando um cordão

Teria um lindo balão para brincar

autor desconhecido

Castelo de Sesimbra

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=601735516513369&set=a.274677239219200.67848.164665403553718&type=1&theater

Quartet in Hedsor House

http://www.hedsor.com/

Hedsor House is a Georgian style mansion in England. It was transformed into Quartet’s fictional Beecham House - a retirement home for musicians.

Quartet is a 2012 British comedy-drama film based on the play of the same title written by Ronald Harwood, which ran in London's West End from September 1999 until January 2000.

“Old age is not for sissies”

The film, directed by Dustin Hoffman, tells the story of the residents of Beecham House who give a concert every year to celebrate Verdi's birthday and to raise funds for their home. This year they decided to perform the Rigoletto quartet but they have to face Jean (Maggie Smith) who plays the diva part and refuses to sing in the concert…

University of Coimbra on World Heritage List

University of Coimbra: Courtyard of the old Royal Palace 

Established in 1290, the university of Coimbra is one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world, the oldest university in Portugal. Don´t miss the Joanine Library with its rich baroque décor when you visit the site.

The World Heritage Committee, which has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List is attending its 37th session in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (17-27 June 2013).

On June 22, 2013, the university of Coimbra was added to UNESCO World Heritage List.

It is the 15th property in Portugal on the World Heritage List:

 Cultural

·         Alto Douro Wine Region (2001)

·         Central Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the Azores (1983)

·         Convent of Christ in Tomar (1983)

·         Cultural Landscape of Sintra (1995)

·         Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications (2012)

·         Historic Centre of Évora (1986)

·         Historic Centre of Guimarães (2001)

·         Historic Centre of Oporto (1996)

·         Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture (2004)

·         Monastery of Alcobaça (1989)

·         Monastery of Batalha (1983)

·         Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon (1983)

·         Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde (1998)

·         University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia (2013)

Natural

·         Laurisilva of Madeira (1999)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/pt

Clam chowder and lobster roll

I´m craving for New England clam chowder and lobster roll.

The Fish and Chips plate and the tile belong to my kitchen collection.

I loved the way they used to sell Fish and Chips (fresh cod) in the streets of London, wrapped in newspaper paper. 

New England clam chowder is a milk or cream-based chowder, commonly made with potatoes, onion, and clams. Celery is frequently used. It is usually accompanied with oyster crackers. The Manhattan clam chowder or New York Style adds tomato for red colour and flavour. Many restaurants in northern Rhode Island sell both red and white chowders. The addition of tomatoes in place of milk was initially the work of Portuguese immigrants in Rhode Island, as tomato-based stews were already a traditional part of Portuguese cuisine. 

For the lobster roll you will need lobster meat (cut into bite-size pieces), mayonnaise, chopped green onions and celery, salt, lemon juice. After combining these ingredients spoon the salad into hot dog buns…Hmm. delicious! 

Royal Ascot 2013

Queen's horse Estimate won the Gold Cup

The Queen celebrates with her racing manager John Warren after her horse, Estimate, won the Gold Cup on Ladies' Day at Royal Ascot, Berkshire, 20 June 2013.

The Duke of York presents his mother,The Queen, with a trophy after her horse Estimate won the Gold Cup Ascot

Ascot Racecourse was founded by Queen Anne in 1711.

The five-day meeting starts on a Tuesday and each day begins with the Royal Procession - the arrival of The Queen and the Royal party in horse-drawn landaus, which parade along the track in front of the race- goers.

The Royal Procession passes around the Parade Ring on day two of Royal Ascot, 2013

More about the importance of sports in Britain:

"Mens Sana in Corpore Sano"- A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body

Verão-Summer-Été

Sommer    лято (lyato)       Léto     Verano     夏天- 
 Ljeto  Tag-araw       Été           καλοκαίρι      הקיץ
夏     Lato         Verão      vară    лето     Sommar
ฤดูร้อน     Yaz         Estate       Summer

I wonder why "Verão" reminds me of warmer and lazier days...Hmm...perhaps because of the Portuguese beaches... 

I think I´d better turn to a more universal language: music

Bom Verão 2013!

Summer is here! (2012)

World Refugee Day

June 20th is World Refugee Day.

World Refugee Day is an opportunity to honour the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homes under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to flee your community due to war or natural disaster? What would you do? Stay and risk being killed? Escape and risk rape, kidnap, violence, hunger, homelessness or worse? These are the harsh options refugees face.

The UN Refugee Agency protects and assists over 34 million people around the world, forced to flee their homes due to persecution and war. Most refugees are women and children.

http://www.worldrefugeeday.us/site/c.arKKI1MLIjI0E/b.8129627/k.76D9/World_Refugee_Day_Videos.htm