I love being from the Serra da Estrela. It’s where I consider more home than home really is currently, or shall I say physically in New Jersey. It’s what I envision my ideal living situation to be. Our tiny village is my happy place, my haven. The place where I can be the best me, feel the most like me. To ground myself with nature & even more, within my own soul, often when I need it most in life. I love that our “aldeia” is almost untouched, a few houses updated to fit more modern tastes, while others withering slowly with the wear of time, yet still hanging onto their history as hard as possible – through drought, forest fires and everything in between.
Most villages in the countryside of the Serra da Estrela mountains are at their core, very similar. One particular afternoon, one where I was feeling pulled in a million directions by several people, needs, should’s; one I really wanted everything to just go away and not have to deal with. But of course it’s when I learned patience the most during my trip, because it’s when life throws a bunch of what you really don’t want to deal with, that it knows you can handle it. Life, somehow nudged me to enjoy the lovely sunset that was approaching, to get in the car take a drive around our beautiful surrounding Serra da Estrela Mountain towns. Amongst all the anhsk or what I had been feeling earlier in the day, life knew this simple act is what I needed in my own way to find the courage to attain the calm, peace and motivation within to overcome and find solutions to those frustrations.
I hear the birds on the summer breeze,I drive fast
I am alone in the night
Been tryin’ hard not to get in trouble,but I
I’ve got a war in my mind
I just ride
Just ride, I just ride, I just ride….
But I did have an intention, not about the destination in particular, I did of the area, but what I did plan to do was stop at each roadside stop area with a view. I was lucky I got the best ones going up on the my side since the sun was going all its Golden Hour magic and softly lighting the breathtaking mountains.
Every time I stopped, yes I snapped a few photos, but each time I’d take in a deep breath, capturing that moment for what it was, to be present in that moment, in that location; to focus on the good, all I had to be grateful for – to allow my wandering {wilder} mind to daydream of goals, and plans, and naturally of more travels.
And although I missed out on experiencing local warm weather fave spot of Loriga, or even manage to walk alongside the river to take in the fresh water and eucalyptus air to snap a few photographs, I had just as a wonderful time if I had. It is actually making the anticipation of really enjoying a afternoon in the Loriga area, swimming in the clean mountain waters, having a picnic beneath the breezy pine trees, exploring a bit more of my hometown region of Seia in Serra da Estrela, and finding joy in the simplistic comfort of the things that speak to our souls.
While working on this post, the first of many of my travels throughout Portugal and Ireland, I spotted this photo and it made me, pause. It’s one of my favorites, bringing back so many lovely feelings. But this time I was seeing some pretty colors in the scene that have now become the PERFECT modern inspiration for a unique take on a pretty Children’s birthday party theme. See travel stays with you in so many different ways, and will come back to you from time to time, in the least likely of ways.
I was hit with a bolt of new unique creative energy at the sight of these photos, that in a very long time was able to envision an event entirely from the look to the feeling, using the spark or burst of motivation to plan the entire birthday, allowing my special and unique skills and ideas to shine through….Oh, I CANNOT wait for you to see the inspiration for this little girl’s 4th birthday celebration, which takes color inspiration from these pretty mountains and another lovely and colorful critter found in nature 😉 
Traveling will always
leave imprints onto you.
Some travels aren’t ones
with destinations in sight, instead
they’re really about
the journey,
the present moment.
Some of these travels
will linger with you much after
the moment has passed,
but that’s the great wonderful thing,
you can always go back to a photograph,
find new joy & inspiration in that memory🌿
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