Help!!!

Camões do me a favor 🤡

Okay, don’t worry. We are not in danger (at least I hope we aren’t).¹ We are both healthy and happy, and we aren’t broke. The fact of the matter is we have been cruising the Croatian coast for the past week. As you read this we are spending a few days in Dubrovnik.

The Olimp, a 36-passenger boat was our home last week.

If You Are in Portugal

If you are in Portugal, today, you are celebrating Portugal Day (Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas) which coincides with the death on 10 June 1580 of Luís de Camões, this nation’s greatest literary icon. In Os Lusíadas, Camões 1,102 stanza poem, he recalls the Age of Discovery (specifically Vasco de Gama’s discovery of a sea route to India). This work is the Portuguese equivalent of the Iliad or the Odyssey. Legend has it that he and his poem survived a shipwreck by swimming with one arm holding the poem above the waterline.

However, regardless of where you happen to be today … I have a favor to ask.

Por Favor

When I asked for your feedback last summer we had just over 2000 subscribers…but today we are rapidly approaching 5000. That means more than twice as many people read this newsletter than 10 months ago. Perhaps your needs or interests have changed. So with that in mind, I am asking for your feedback. Please click on this link to access the short, anonymous reader survey. Tell me what you like and don’t like and please suggest topics you would like me to include. (I am running out of ideas.) The survey is short so please take a few minutes to help a struggling writer. 😁🙏🏻

This is not Onix … but is what she looks like when she wants one more treat.

Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?

Since I don’t often ask for your help … I will ask for one more thing. Substack now has a Reader Referral Bonus Program. It is more applicable to Paid Subscriptions because writers can offer free months to those readers who refer new subscribers. But it can be used by people like me. To encourage you to earn the “bonus” I could offer

• An ebook (10-15 pages) — I could write about buying real estate in Portugal, planning a scouting trip to Portugal, or the finances of retiring in Portugal.

• A 30-minute video call (via WhatsApp or Zoom) to personally ask me your questions or chat.

• An unframed painting — Several readers said they liked my artwork. I could send you an unframed portrait or landscape.

Would you participate, and if so, what could I offer that would be of value to you? Please let me know by adding a comment below or by email.

Next week we are back to normal … I promise. Most likely with something about Croatia.

Obrigada pela ajuda, até logo

Nanc

1. This post was written on 23 May.