the hot goddess

Midlife Made-Up Word Mash-Up in Portugal

If you’re a regular reader here or on my Instagram page, you know I like to make up words. Before I moved to Portugal in 2022, I featured Monday’s Midlife Made-Up Word here every week. Now, tune in on the last Friday of every month for a made-up word mashed together from Portuguese, or an English and Portuguese combo. This sometimes happens unintentionally as I continue to learn to speak Portuguese.

April’s made-up word post is a multifaceted mash-up of new words, experiences, photography, and poetry, including my second audio recording. Enjoy!

Caution: Reading this post might cost you your U.S. federal funding.

Desfrustaration

Today’s made-up word is desfrustaration (n): The state of enjoying life while also feeling dissatisfied due to unresolved problems.

Derived from desfrutar (Portuguese for enjoy) and frustration (a feeling of dissatisfaction due to unresolved problems).

Not to be confused with desfrustruction — the act of enjoying destruction.

#desfrustaration

Thoughts? Suggestions? Let me know in the comments.

Enjoying Life in April

April has been busy with many new experiences to enjoy and a calendar filled with observances.

In Portugal, today is a national holiday. April 25th celebrates Dia da Liberdade (Freedom Day) and the Carnation Revolution that brought an end to Portugal’s dictatorship in 1974.

It is National Poetry Month in the U.S. and April 6-12 was National Library Week there. Earth Day was the 22nd, followed by World Book Day on the 23rd, and this week is International Dark Sky Week, from the 21st to the 28th. These observances honor things that are dear to me and bring enjoyment to life in chaotic times.

The Milky Way in a dark sky park in Portugal last year
THG in a dark sky park in Dubai last year
Dubai dark sky

Enjoying New Experiences

This month I traveled by car three hours north to hike in Portugal’s only national park, the gorgeous Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês, north of Porto near the Spanish border. I also visited the nearby Portuguese city of Braga, and ventured across the border into Spain to check out the natural thermal springs there.

In Lisbon, I enjoyed a four-hour African Lisbon walking tour that told the real story of Portugal’s history. The one you don’t see portrayed in mainstream tourism, school books, or Lisbon’s museums. At the end of the tour, our group shared stories over a delicious dinner of dishes from Senegal and Angola at an African-owned restaurant.

Danger zone of deadly accidents, with reserved parking for ambulances.
This did not help my fear.
Santuário de São Bento da Porta Aberta
This thermal spring spa was not what I’d envisioned so I passed on partaking of the Petri dish healing waters.
Lisbon’s Praça do Comércio on the Tagus River was the center of slave trade.
Paulino José da Conceição, a freed slave born in Brazil, advocated for the rights of Black people.
Church of São Domingos, where the Brotherhood of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men was established.
Our tour guide, from Togo.
Our tour group consisted primarily of tourists visiting from America.

After all this April excitement, I’m now forcing myself to get ready   training for  desperately hoping I can manage another new experience — a 60-kilometer bike ride in another northern Portugal city next month. It’s only 36 miles (60 kilometers sounds more impressive, though), but I haven’t been on an outdoor bike in 15 years. I’ve been riding a one-hour hills course on my programmable indoor exercise bike two to three days a week, and my boyfriend bought a heavy AF an electric mountain bike for me, so it’s not stamina I’m worried about. It’s my balance, road traffic, fucking cobblestones, and my fear of heights — which almost did me in at the national park. We’ll see how this goes.

Poetry for Portugal and America

As April draws to a close, I thought I’d give a nod to America’s month of poetry by trying my hand at writing a haiku in Portuguese.

I am free here
where the sea hugs soul and mind

Finally, I’ll end with a poem by Langston Hughes. Read the entire work on Poets.org, or listen to my reading of the full poem below.

Image source: Poets.org
Listen to my reading of Langston Hughes’s
full poem here.

Thank you for reading (and listening)! ❤️ May any desfrustaration this weekend find you with more enjoyment than frustration.

All images are my own, except as noted.

The Hot Goddess

Instagram: retired_rewired_inspired

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28 comments

  1. So much good stuff in your post Natalie. Love your reading of Langston Hughes’ poem. We need to send your reading to a few political leaders. Maybe then they’ll re-evaluate their positions and see how foolish they really are! Oh, I know I’m dreaming. I just find it incredibly sad and powerful that Hughes wrote that in 1936 and it still holds true today. Ugh. Next up, I’m a big fan of “desfrustaration.” I was just thinking that I’m “compartmentalizing” or balancing happiness and worry all the time. Some of the things happening in the news certainly touch on that frustration and happiness. Ha, ha. Finally good luck on your bike ride. You’ve got this! Balance, cobblestones, heights . . . they’ve got nothing on you guys. Have fun and good luck.

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    • Thank you so much for your comment, Brian. It is a sad commentary on the current state of affairs when this poem by Langston Hughes could have been written in 2025. I’m with you on the happiness-worry balance too.
      Fingers crossed on the bike ride, but I think it’ll be OK.
      Have a great week!

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  4. Natalie, your posts always make me feel like I’ve gotten a warm hug! Your travels in April (and photos) look amazing! We took a trip in April and it was a disaster 🥴 No one got hurt but it was still pretty painful and now I’ve come down with a cold! I am ready for April to be GONE! Your haiku is beautiful and I love your voice reading that poem. Scary to see it was written so long ago but applies even more now 😕

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    • Oh Sharon, thank you! Sending you a hug for what sounds like a challenging month. I’m sorry to hear about your trip and your cold. Here’s to welcoming May this week.
      Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you feel better soon ❤️🌷

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  5. Natalie, your gorgeous photos take me to another place! Literally and figuratively. 😄 Your word is perfectly made up and should be the word of the year! 🌟 Thank you for sharing your beautiful and inspiring self. ✨🙏🏻

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  6. Natalie:

    Thank you for sharing this beautiful Langston Hughes poem. I had never read it before. Sadly, the words still ring true in 2025.

    Good luck on your biking trip.

    Jametta

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  7. Thank you for pointing to Portugal’s history, Natalie. We need fuller – and accurate – histories of all our countries. Keep enjoying all your adventures and new vistas. Your pictures are glorious.

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