I’m in Porto in the north of Portugal for my immigration appointment.
I love Porto, known for its port wine and Baroque architecture. The narrow cobblestone streets, steep hills, old tiled buildings, wandering tourists, musicians tucked into alleyways.
It’s also the first city my love and I visited together when we first started dating, and now we’re back over three years later.
Yesterday a crowd gathered around one such corner where music was playing, a haunting tune I didn’t recognize.
I drew closer.
A man with a gray moustache and a funny hat was playing a street organ, turning the crank slowly to push out the sound. One each knee sat a fluffy Silkie chicken, and every minute or so he would pause to pet one.
The whole contraption of hanging chimes and bits of art seemed to be growing out of him, with doves perched on sticks above. A wooden box with Ho’oponopono and a black-and-white sign of a winking man with a skinny moustache with the words:
Listen…your world is a fiction, an illusion. Just one option: LOVE
love all and focus on the present moment – nothing else.
Be quiet. You are what you search for. Shalom.
I was transfixed and charmed by this bizarre display. It felt like a message just for me, delivered in one of those unexpected moments that made no logical sense.
My heart was full.
(The street organ grinder on Instagram with audio.)
I love the fact that creations like this exist for no particular reason other than someone was moved to create it.
Now this Portuguese chicken man lives in my heart, too, and possibly yours.
A strange little moment of wonder and curiosity, a reminder that the world is full of living, breathing humans making strange and beautiful art together.
What bit of quirky, weird delight have you stumbled upon lately? I’d love to hear your story.
Yours in love and play,
Steph 🐲❤️
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