Life update

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(These days) Clare and I are moving around a lot of energy, on many levels. And – once again – I am trying to get back into creative mode ( the story of my life ), among all of the ( mostly positive ) distractions and explainable and in-explainable things that muddy my brain(y waters), these days.

It sure helps that I am finally sleeping a bit better, since the last two nights or so, which might have to do with Clare changing the setup of our temporary bedroom and making a serious attempt to clean this rental house that is so natural ( stone and wood ) that it’s pretty difficult to not let it turn (back) into nature, slowly bu steadily overtaken by insects and filled with cobwebs, sand and dust.

Or, who knows, perhaps last afternoon/night’s two little glasses of (vinho do) Port(o) and the hot chocolate that followed it, at the village bar, made it a bit easier to relax too ;<)

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Oh and before I forget, I am back to being a smartphone addict, since a month or so

I am Vincent and I am a smartphone-aholic

I am having mixed feelings about it. But, in all honesty, it does feel better, after a one month break: the first lengthy break after about a decade.

In case you missed it, I wrote a couple of posts on living without a smartphone.
You can find them here: Getting Smarter without a Smartphone

The reason why I'm back on a smartphone is that my love/lieverd @clareartista got herself a new phone ( she might share about that in the near future as it's a pretty interesting device ) and she offered me to use her old smartphone that is still working (relatively) well.

My plan was, at first, to still mostly use my retro Nokia that I bought about 2 months ago but that plan basically failed on day 1, after I moved my sim card from my Nokia 'dumb'phone to Clare's old 'smart'phone.

Perhaps I am not as smart as I thought I was ;<)

Anyhow, in a way it feels good to (re)connect/be a little more connected to friends and family again, even though I liked to actually talk to them ( via old fashioned phone calls ) and send the occasional email, like we used to do in the ol' days.

I was even considering to get back into the ancient snail mail, sending letters and cards...

🐌

_{the view from yesterday's afternoon walk before the Winter cold returned in late afternoon/early evening}

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As some of you know ( if you've read @clareartista or my recent @vincentnijman posts ), Clare and I are in the process of finding our own place to live in/our own plot of land to build and live on, long term.

It's a bit hard to decide on the next best step though, for several reasons but two day ago, we figured out that one of the main reasons is likely the fact that Clare still has a house for sale, in Italy.

It feels hard, energetically, to buy one place when the other is still around, let alone in a different country.

Also, the money that Clare's house would provide/generate would be super welcome too.

So, perhaps, focusing on actually selling her house is what we should prioritize.

Makes sense, right?

Therefore, Clare once again returned to/prioritized to focus on exactly that.

_{the street where her house resides in the medieval quarter of G.S. a town with approximately 5000 people and amazing food}

Also, the two of us decided that we will probably go back to Italy a bit earlier than planned. Likely next month instead of in February. And we plan to stay there as long as is needed.

We are even considering/I am opening up to the idea of looking for property in Southern Italy too.

Clare can't wait to show me a plot of land that she has set her eyes on and talked about to me, quite a while ago.

Life is exciting and change is the only constant of life,

TO BE CONVINUED...

For more info on our process and photos of Clare's arthouse in a picturesque mountain town called Guardia Sanframondi, I suggest reading her post from yesterday House for sale, Italy

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P.S. The first two pictures show what is supposed to be The Monster of Disco and possibly some of the 'Other Monsters', a book/story I started working on at the end of the Summer of 2023. I try to2 mice that met their demise in our compost toilet, the night before yesterday. share about this shape shifting fella on my other blog @diaryofacreative where you can also read a story about