Angra do Heroismo hosts GLEX again …enlightening!

Fabien Cousteau, a famous aquanaut and ocean conservatonist, came to Terceira for this years Global Exploration Summit to discuss his role in conceptualizing, designing, and funding a major underwater research facility similar to the International Space Station, only under our seas to learn more about the environment which encompasses seven-tenths of our planet’s surface.

June was a busy month for some of us Terseira retirees. Also extremely enlightening!

After our trip back to the states to visit family, friends, medical checkups, and, of course, the zillions of obligatory shopping adventures, we came back to Terciera. We flew through JFK instead of our usual Boston-Terceira flight (probably not our brightest adventure, appreciably more challenges going through New York instead of Boston:)) we flew in on the same plane with Lisa, a colleague I was stationed with in San Antonio and hadn’t seen in nearly 35 years. Lisa stayed with us a few days, visited Sao Miguel, and returned for some great times. I always try to maintain perspective while sitting in airports awaiting flights to Terceira; more courageous generatons spent months aboard sailing ships with great uncertainty while crossing the same ocean we’re concerned about after a one-hour plane delay:)

Just days after our return to the island with Lisa, we joined friends Molly and Jerry attending GLEX, the Explorers Club summit at Angra do Heroismo’s world-class Cutural Center for several days of presentations and networking about humanity’s future on planet Earth. Fabien Cousteau, Beatriz Flamini, and NASA Astronauts Nicole Mann and Mike Massimino, just to name a few of the dozens of contemporary leaders pushing boundaries in everything from fashion to sports to insect research.

One has to marvel at how our lives have changed, are changing, and undoubtedly will continue to change. Confusing, challenging, and downright scary sometimes, but I have often maintained that we each adapt and overcome through the strengths of our friends and family. Seeing family and friends, then being exposed to the GLEX subjects, I must be right!

Celebrating Immigration The Terceira Way

Sofia's family at her sister's celebration for her birthday in Angra do Heroishmo.
Back home with our Azorean family, Mena invited us to join her XX aniversario dinner at the new Quinto do Azores restaraunt at Angra’s bay. Near perfect summer, surprise party and family fun with my sister in Michigan and then a birthday dinner for Sofia’s sister when we got home to the island:)

Tradtionally, most of our freinds on the island who were not born here take some time every summer or every other summer to return to their birth country to have fun with family and friends of days past. So this summer we took a break from beach time, bullfights, and festivals, to visit friends and family in Michigan, Virginia, DC, and Maryland. A tight, well-planned schedule led to some stressful, but totally enjoyable celebrations.

Especially since we moved back to the island, we have compartmentalized “family” with different periods in our history. Thirty-two years of marriage very happy marriage have given us a very generous history of different families: Our siblings and their extended families, our daughters and their wonderful families (Aidan, Summer, Gerry and Darcy, etc.), our Gazette family (Linda and Dan, Norm and Val, Rene and Mary), our BSEE family (Vince and Heide, Gino, Jolie and Veronica), old neighbors (Brett and Christine, Jim and Claudette, Rosa and Craig, etc.), our Falls Church family (Deb and Tessa) and many more too numerous to mention. I won’t even name the doctors and nurses, lab and radiology techs, etc.

Personally I’m convinced as we get along in the years, memories and mistakes in our history “change,” erode, become more brilliant, etc. But these trips back and forth to the island amplify the great friends and family we have made throughout our history. These trips home, I appreciate, are hectic, expensive, and sometimes challenging. But these visits, whether an hour, a day, or a week, makes us appreciate the people who make us what we are today.

And very few things compare to that feeling of getting home to your own bed, back to the beaches and bullfights, and our family and freinds on Terceira!

Summer Travels; great visits and just not enough time:)

We pin the first worldwide pin on the Azores for the House of Flavors in Ludington, Michigan after some great ice cream and fabulous service!

Visiting family and friends back in Michigan for the first time in six years, we had a wonderful visit; my older sister’s 70th birthday surprise party. She was surprised, and we had a great time in Ludington on Lake Michigan. The beach was beautiful sand, the SS Badger ferry appeared from a fog bank, and Lake Michigan was not as cold as the Atlantic by our house in Terceira:)

We stopped by many old friends, had some great dinners and drinks, and regretfully, didn’t have time to visit many old friends. We did see whitetail deer, sand dunes, go for a couple of boat rides on “the big lake” and saw all my brothers and sisters, which was great. (Yes, I did notice they are aging…but not me!!!:) They are still wonderful, somewhat quirky, and we love all of them!

This trip was highlighted by meeting new family as well, future inlaws, wedding dress shopping, and… oh yes, drinking Michigan Cherry-flavored coffee and testing pies and cookies. I had my first experience with American Spoon Bloody Marys made with horseradish vodka. Yum!

As always, we miss home life on the island, regret not having enough time to visit so many great friends and family, and spending more time with others. But that is one price we pay for our life as ex-pats on Terceira. Make the best of whatever you’re living, and enjoy it all.

We do!

Rain and wind outside…inside dinner with great friends by a warm fire:)

Denis (left) and Lenka joined us for dinner amidst seasonal downpours and wind storms. Filet do Abrotea and many other “nummies” capped of an evening of fun and learning for all of us before Denis and Lenka return to Prague for more oral exams at medical school — we know they will do great! (photo by Denis)

This summer we added another wonderful couple to our list of fantastic friends, and when they returned for another study internship at the hospital in Angra do Heroismo, they made time for a nice dinner at Casa da Sonho.

Lenka Duranikova and her finace, Denis Dinga, have attended several medical school study opportunities from their program in Prague. Friendly, naturally curious, warm residents of the Czech Republic, they enjoy visiting the island, where we are honored to rank among their many friends here. Teresa Hill introduced us one day at a festival in Biscoitos, while my cousin Mike and Cindy were visiting. We’ve had fun ever since:)

The Azores is referred to by many as the “Gateway to Europe” and because it is also a growing tourist destination, every festival, bullfight, concert, and day at the beach offers us opportunities to meet folks from many other locations. Without doubt, this is one of the things we love and cherish most…meeting new folks and getting to know them and their culture.

A wonderful dinner last night also reinforced my mantra, “Even challenging weather brings something to enjoy.” Our future doctors may not get back to the island soon, but we may get the chance to visit tehm, and we’ll stay in touch!

Good times they are a-coming:)

Man and woman sandals relaxing on rock wall overlooking the ocean at Porto Martins last summer.
Any day now…we’re hoping to have the weather break and enjoy spring break on Terceira. No cops, very few naked bodies, never enough drinking, and pure relaxation!!!

The weather has been interresting around the world this winter, adn we’ve watched it very closely. During breakfast most days we watch variously weather in French, German, English, and Portuguese. We also look out our windows, a mountain top on one side, an ocean on the other. It’s always good to see what the experts expect, good to know how to plan our day, and always with the knowledge that what we’re seeing at breakfast probably will not hold throughout the day throughout the island:)

But astrological spring is coming quickly, and we’re getting ready. The tradition in my youth in the midwest was “spring cleaning” when you KNEW you were going to be called on to help clean those hard to reach places, under the dryer, the garage, etc. “Spring Cleaning” when you’ve married an Azorean means you do just about the same things you do every week…except you do it again every week, spring or not! Until the beach weather arrives in a month or so, in which case we can relax and only clean and cook half days, and then lay on the beach for a few hours.

Of course summer brings visitors, cookouts, picnics, camping, travel, suntans, and more yard and garden work. But most agree that’s when Terceira is inviting, relaxing, and beautiful. So when you come visit, don’t be too critical if the housekeeping isn’t as perfect as our normal spring cleaning, just check out our blood pressure and our tans:)

See you this summer!

Another two-edged sword…any news from friends around the world is great…even two months late!

Christmas Card from a very dear friend in the states….it arrived on my birthday in early February. Mail from the U.S. is about two months for an air mail letter (Par Avion) with plenty of stamps…but they still take two months. Packages… we don’t even think about, some never make it! One time we got a new sewing machine from Italy in three days:)

My birthday is in early February, and on my birthday, my darling wife suggested she see if there were any birthday cards in the mailbox; we hadn’t heard the CTT Delivery man’s scooter stop, so I was skeptical. Mail for us is very rare. So she went out and I heard her laughing histerically from the mailbox.

Nearly two months late, we got a Christmas Card from a wonderful friend who still remembers some great times together while I was in the Air Force. Marleen worked with me and became a great friend in Arkansas, and we’ve stayed in touch over the years, even when she moved to her home in the Netherlands for a time. She is so wonderful! So I was very pleased to get her card and a photo newsletter summarizing her year. It’s been years since we’ve seen her, but we still fondly remember each other. Things like this make me feel really “warm and fuzzy!”

But that brings up one of the critiical questions friends from around the globe ask me about our decision to retire to the Portuguese Azores. Many things defy understanding, explanation, or indeed, reason here. Why it takes nearly two months for an Air Mail letter to arrrive from the states? Isn’t the Portuguese system Socialist? Is the island of Terceira run by their own version of a mafia? All possible considerations. In defferenece to family and freinds, I refrain from commenting.

Some things I don’t try to explain, I just accept; much to my wonderful bride’s joy. Her culture is different. Portugal, until 1978, was ruled by a dictator named Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. That’s less than one generation ago, many remember “the old days” which were vastly different from my experieinces growing up in the US and eventually becoming part of the federal government. I can’t relate to the stories my wife and her family tell about growing up in schools and local governments controlled by a dictator. So I try to not judge how this culture reacts to government decisions, procedures, and such things. Like many ex-pats, I sometimes have to bite my tongue and not compare my adopted residence to cultures I’ve lived in around the world. Sometimes, I bite my tongue till it hurts:)

So you have to balance the warmth of neighbors supporting us, accepting us into their families, beautiful scenery, great wine, good prices, etc., and try to decide when some things should be accepted, some suggestion might help, or just bite your tongue.

Then again, every now and again, you get a wonderful surprise letter or card from a dear friend!

Christmas / Natal Peace

This year Christmas was slightly more challenging for us, our first Christmas away from our youngest daughter and, sadly, yet another away from our distant eldest daughter. So with Christmas carols playing, many family dinners, lunches, and several coffees and drinking with our close ex-pat friends, we celebrated quietly.

We retirees in the middle of the Atlantic often celebrate with a very short Christmas list…we largely have amassed just about everything we need to enjoy life here. Friends dropped off team, chocolates from Belgium, and of course, no holiday is complete without massive baking undertakings in the kitchen.

Friends and family around the world, through holiday communications, ask what we’re doing for the holidays. Simple:

  • We have traded crowds and mall shopping-madness for peace and simplicity. No major crowds (except the grocery store).
  • While we miss family and friends of the last 30 years in the U.S., we celebrate the love and company of family here, with friends from Sweden, Norway, mainland, the nearby island of Sao Miguel, and the U.S. who now live or visit here. (I learned decades ago while living around the globe to enjoy every minute with friends and family, enjoy memories, communicate often, and be thankful for said friends and family). I know there is never enough time together, so cherish what you have and be thankful for it.
  • We take the excuse to increase our process to check in on more distant family, freinds who have good news and sad, and to “touch base” with old and new relationships.

So if you wonder what retired holiday life is like on Terceira, it is exactly what you would expect. Some frustrations, some challenges, but mostly peace and tranquility. We watch the world news with some trepidation and some joy … while the world seems to have significant challenges from mankind, our little piece of the world is largely quiet, with Christmas lights, Christmas carols, coffee, tea, and holiday spirit(s).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wherever you are. Enjoy!

Winterizing on Terceira – no antifreeze check or jumper cables!

Insert Foggy Wind-blown rainy photo here!

No photos lately, mostly just fog, clouds, rain, high winds (23-40 knots) and visiblity barely 30 meters (a hundred yards) from the house:)

So as winter weather sets in, I’ve returned to my youth. Very Very young. Brothers and sisters and I watched the Ed Sullivan Show every Sunday on an old Black and White Zenith with two knobs and rabbit-ears antenna covered with tin foil! Now, I’m clustered into our comfortable place on Terceira (which I could not have found on a globe then!) and watching a Carol Burnett-hosted tribute to Ed. This leads me to smiles, sing-alongs, cringes about black and white TV, and fond memories of my very young family life in Ada, Michigan. Also leads to missing my dear brother and sisters:)

Remembering the Ed Sullivan Show does indeed seem like a simpler time, which kind of equates to some solationism on Terceira. the warden and I choose to watch news, debate many questions (I love my wife dearly, but she’s often wrong:)) and we can just turn off news from Europe, the US, Israel, Gaza, Germany, France, and tune in to YouTube memories. The memories, peace, and tranquility don’t last forever (neither of us are isolationists) but it does lead to fond memories, hours in front of the wood fire, and pleasant stories of our different youths.

So life here isn’t all bad, thanks to YouTube, Ed Sullivan, and many many others. We’re getting ready for winter:)

Excitment on the Island….not often, but when we have it, it’s big!!!

Breakfast recently looking out over our normally tranquil view of Praia Bay…billowing smoke plume reminiscent of a bomb attack on a neighborhood in some parts of the world I’ve lived in…but not!

Several weeks ago, before we started traveling to different islands for fun, we sat down to breakfast. Usual procedures, good morning kiss, feed the doggone cats, Sao Miguel cheese, toast, jam, and coffee. Then we turn on YouTube for last evening’s news. We listen to the US newscast, discuss the world’s situation, solve the problems of the world, and look out over our peaceful view of Praia Bay and the nearby Marina.

“Holy Smokes, darling. Look at this!”

About a mile in the distance, smoke rose over the Marina, blue lights and red lights flashed, and a plume of smoke drifted at least a kilometer toward the airbase and airport. The ever-present Steiner binoculars I’ve had for years came up immediately, and we determined it was a boat aflame. Naturally, like most of the folks around the bay, we jumped into the car and drove across town to the marina (about one mile), where we saw several U.S. A.F. and Bombeiros do Praia trucks putting out the flames on a huge cabin cruiser (I would estimate about 70-foot) that had been tied up for many many many years.The rumors were that it had been siezed by the Portuguese government for taxes, drugs, who knows, etc.

It now sat in the shallow marina, still tied to the dock, mostly submerged and covered in foam, ashes; basically a sunken wreck. Rumors abound. Not sure what “really” happened because part of the Portuguese culture seems to be not explaining everything.

Keep in mind that Terceira is an island of serenity, tranquility, peacefulness, and basic pleasantness. This appeals to many American and Canadian ex-pats. I, for one, have many family members in the US who are amazed that I have adapted to this serenity. But every now and again, we have excitement!!! Of course, after our cursory investigation, it was time to go home, wash dishes, and make lunch:)

Still wondering, of course, if, after all these years, the boat had insurance:)

Big day at a Little Church … a tight community in Porto Martins, Portugal

Catholic Church in our village, Porto Martins
Mass welcoming a new priest to Porto Martins

The ‘hood grew last week in Porto Martins as our neighbor’s newborn, Amelia, was baptized and a new priest arrived to shepard the Porto Martins Catholics.

Nearly eveyone agrees life on Terceira is tranquil, relaxed, and friendly. When asked why we retired here, the first answer is usually “to be near Sofia’s family” or “because the people here are so great.” The tale of how we found an overgrown plot of land across from her sister’s new house, turned it into a wonderful home with a great view of the ocean, and grew to love our new neighbors is a major success story. We look out the window, watch news of the world, and hug each other!

How do we guage acceptance and freindliness? This year one neighbor invited us to his Esprit do Santos celebration, a week of friends, feast, drink, and meeting his friends and family. This past week, another neighbor invited us to his daughter’s baptism, a celebration and feast for the first of many sacrements for this darling little infant. Also noteworthy was this gathering at our little (tightly-packed) church built in 1901 was the arrival of a new priest, a man stretched with sheparding over Praia Da Vitoria and several other churches besides Porto Martin.

Many who know me know I’m not Catholic, not practicing very much, etc. (One friend, a pastor in Michigan, always quips “the church wasn’t hit by lightning when you walked in?”) So I maintain it’s not the practice of faith as much as the tremendous community feeling here. As neighbors drive by, they wave, invite us to family events, and ask how we’re doing. To a guy who lived in apartments where we never saw our neighbors, that feeling is very inspiring. Kind of refreshes our view of humanity.

Not a big deal in the balance of the world today, but reinforces our continual happiness of retiring into a little Portuguese village!

PraiaFest 2023…a great time is being had by all…including these retirees:)

Selfie in front fo the multi-colored "sails" heralding the excitement which overtakes the entire town each August.
Not normally a fan of “selfies,” but the friendly crowd and cool evening breeze during PraiaFest’s Antique Car Parade seemed to require a photo image of the moment. About 5,000 folks (my estimate, never an easy thing to do) surrounded us as we sampled food, bands, and drink; greeting many friends and neighbors.

Maybe I’m a slow learner, maybe I just needed the ‘right’ incentive, or maybe I’m getting more acclimated to life on Terceira, but this year the annual Praia Festival has been so enjoyable. Sofia and I venture out many evenings (some we just listen from our veranda) to enjoy the people, planned events, captivating array of foods and drinks, and enjoy music and dancing. (All right, in all honesty, you who know me know I don’t dance, but i sway with familiar music😎)

For nearly 30 years, we have returned from our stateside lives to visit family and celebrate our anniversary in August. I have never totally embraced the crowds, loud music, and the efforts to meet folks who remember us but I don’t always remember them; and then share a drink or beer and try to discuss life over the crowd noise and music. I’m just not good at it.

I’m improving with age. My magnificent wife and translator has worked out signals and introductions to help me remember who is greeting us, how they know us, and sometimes I even get a quick intel breif on their family; if they knew me when I was stationed here, were they at our wedding, did they help us design or build the house, or do we hike with them on many of the islands trails through volcanos and fields. I’m getting better at shaking hands, smiling, and greeting women with the familiar Portguese greeting of kissing both cheeks. I’m improving. Slowly, but improving.

My analysis is predicated on the fun I’m having. Spending time with the warden, walking, talking, reminiscening — ah, forget it, the spell checker isn’t helping, let’s go with “remembering” — is very relaxing, comforting, and falls into the category of enjoying my reitrment years! When in the Azores, enjoy the festivals!

Another “Day in the Life” of Life After the Rat Race:)

Cut the grass, clean up, beach, and spend the evening listening to Nuno Bettercourt and most of the family play in the square…wait, what?

Not sure how this link will work, but…

It always starts with…”Honey, if you want to, we can go watch this concert tonight…” My response is always the same, with some hesitation, “yes dear, if you want to.” “Rui and Cesar are saving us seats…”

It was just another day in paradise… breakfast, mow the grass, make the bed, you know, the usual. Hot day here, so we had a fantastic lunch, then headed to the beach, baked and slept and swam for the afternoon, came home to dinner, and then headed out for Praia da Vitoria. True friends had saved us a nice table in the small plaza where, just the day before, Cousin Mike and Cindy had sat, looking out the sea, watching some guys run power cables and lights from the nearby Ramo Grande auditorium across the street. I explained Praia Festivals were coming in a week or two.

“The band is supposed to start about 8 p.m.” In island time, expect about 10 p.m. Sitting and drinking beer, met a couple of new friends from Callfornia here for the festivals, and an a visit to the table from from Luis Bettencourt, in charge of the concert and raising money for the Praia da Vitoria Philharmonika band. Very nice guy; someone said he’s an awesome guitar player. OK. Seemed like a nice guy and a good cause, very well organized. Just running late. Sold more beer and sangria.

Band settles in about 10. Not a troop to the stage, Luis calls his band members from the bar, family gatherings, beach, etc. Finally everyone settles into the small stage and the rock and roll starts. Great tunes from CCR, Beatles, Elvis, etc. Fabulous vocals, jokes, forgotten words, more jokes, fun emanating from every mike! Awesome. My sister in law and her friend Paula dancing by the stage, trying to hail Sofia to join them. Crowd grows much larger; we’re darned glad we have seats:) Music was loud, not unbearable. Overall a fantastic time. Another group of musicians join the stage, again, members of the local Familia Bettercourt. Nuno on drums. Luis on guitar. Great sounds. Sisters singing and dancing. (cmoore, I often thought about you…I think you would have loved the music and the great guitar work!!!)

Sofia says in my ear…drummer is Nuno Bettencourt. That’s nice. I’ve heard the name, he’s from Praia. I didn’t realize he’s Rock and Roll Royalty, and basically comes back to Praia for the festivals and a family reunion most years. I seem him playing drums, joking with family on the mike, and then later he’s helping a cute little blond child dance to the music behind the stage.

I was never a fan of concerts, but this ranked as one of the best nights I can remember since moving here. As the warden pointed out, I knew the words to almost every song they played. We hugged and moved in our seats (never got the sisters together dancing, but I tried!) No one complained about my English or Portugeuse or German, I didn’t even get through the crowd to have too many drinks. I did bump into my neighbors, Eduardo my best man, and other ex-pats and folks. Just pure fun with family and friends. I’m certain Nuno and his family also had fun with family and friends.

So as we’re driving home in the wee hours, Sofia reiterates…”That’s what festivals on the island are all about…fun times with family and friends!”

She seems to be always right! 🙂

Family visitors and yet more chances to learn more about our island

Three family folk sitting on the wall atop the Praia Bay with our house in the distant background
OceanEmotion’s guide Jao explains to Mike and Cindy more about the dolphins and whales we saw touring around Angra do Heroismo. Cousin Mike and Cindy spent a wonderful week with us before returning to their home in Texas. They agreed the swimming and sunny days were much cooler than Texas:) **Note, Sofia did not join us on the boat…no surprise, right:)

Cousin Mike, my oldest cousin, came for a visit, the first family we’ve hosted from stateside. We all felt the visit was a great success, gave us a chance to visit after many years apart, and see how they were doing and show how our retirement life is on Terceira.

Growing up, Mike was a strong influence on my education; cars, guns, mechanical innovation, attitude, etc. So it was facinating to see how were similar and disimilar as we’ve aged, learned about family we’ve not seen in years, and compare memories of youth, aunts and uncles, grandmothers, and days of misspent youth (his was misspent….I was a perfect angel! :))

As we’ve distanced ourselves from my family in retirement, it’s refreshing and rewarding to get these visits for several reasons. Reminiscing and catching up is a laugh riot! It forces us shift slightly out of our comfort zone; months of the same lifestyle makes for some stagnant habits, which are useful to break on occasion. Even different breakfast schedules, new broadcast preferences, even lanugage preferences … flexibility is necessary to enjoy, adjust, and evolve. We are loving such things more and more.

Some things are not easy. Changing habits and lifestyle take some effort, and all efforts require some balance. Fortunately, with family and close freinds, the effort always pays off, and the end result is a tighter group, and I beleive family and good friends deserve such effort. Like most things which require effort, the end result is worth it.

Thanks for visiting, Mike and Cindy. I know it’s not easy to travel from Texas to Terceira and back, and we know it was worth it for us. Hopefully it was also worth it to you guys:)

guide and Cindy and Mike aboard Ocean Emotion whale watching boat
guide and Cindy and Mike aboard Ocean Emotion whale watching boat

Where you been? Exploring a new country with new friends!!!

Traveling around the globe has always had joys and challenges. I’m a firm believer that everything in life is a two-edged sword; some good, some bad. When you’re traveling, you make choices, some turn out great, some turn out ok (better memories than moments:)) and some things are unbelievably excellent.

So I invited a distant friend to our place to recuperate from surgeries. She accepted, suggested brining her family from the US and then we all go visit his homeland in Romania. My wife and I had never met her husband, daughter, and I really knew very little beyond a tremendous like and respect from working together on a project. A little nervous, but her husband, an ace project manager by profession, promised to show us Romania like we’d never seen it. So we booked the tickets, planned a few days for them to visit our island, some sightseeing in Lisbon, and then accepted Gino’s itinerary to his beautiful place in Romania. Gino did all the planning, scheduling, reservations, and driving. Which was significant, including the Transfagarasan Highway, more than 130 kilometers of motorcycle heaven.

Transylvania's Transfagarasan Highway into the highest reaches of the Carpathian Mountains. Fabulous driving, and no one felt queasy...thank you amigo:)

My bottom line is simple…travel again with these great friends, return to Romania with more time, and most importantly…get a BMW motorcycle and ride the Transfagarasan Highway again!

In the meantime, the greatest lesson was not a new one, it was a reinforcment of one of our primary rules of thumb; meet new folks, try new things, and take pictures and memories. You’ll never regret it!

Protecting children’s inheritance – getting ready for summer

Two men painting Casa do Sonhos even in cloudy weather - experts make the work fast and excellent

Busy summertime activity at Casa da Sonhos.

Even though the house is only five years old, we plan on portecting the investment for future generations here by painting with high-quality paint against the sometimes-vicious elements. Even though we scheduled the painter last year for June, he was unavaible and signed us on with a team which is going through our one-story house in record time, and doing it perfectly. The blue trim, picked before building by our daughter, turns out to be a painting nightmare, all done by hand by a guy with steadier hands than I have ever seen! Turns out one of the guys lives near one of my favorite towering pine trees (a landmark which has steered me toward home on many occassions) and the other lives near Sofia’s old schoool and knew her father. As does the electrician working on installing our new video camera on the gate.

While the guys are outside painting, I’m inside packing for our trip to Romania for a few weeks. (Did I need to mention that I’m also dicing vegatables, mowing grass, and updating blogs?) Friends are coming in from DC, spending a few days on the island, a few days with us in Lisbon, and then we’re off to visit their summer home in Romania. Looking forward to some well-deserve relaxation, learning more about a new culture, visiting the Carpathian mountains, and getting to know our friends better. Needless to say, in true Azorean tradition, the boss is cleaning house, cooking up a storm, and of course, telling me what to do, when to do it, and how to do it:)

Meanwhile, we are busy collecting vegetables from our garden, huge cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, and such. Peppers aren’t in yet, but we’re expecting them by the time we get home. Very few things beat garden-fresh soup, salads, and fresh fish for lunch.

So this summer promises to be warm and busy with our primary desires for retirement; learning more about our world, spending time with friends and family, and enjoying our wonderful Casa da Sonho on the island of Terceira. While in a restaraunt in Praia da Vitoria recently, we ran into a family of military folks who had a great time stationed here years ago. When they asked where we lived, we pointed to our house overlooking the bay, and they loved it. As do we.

Last weekend a group of our dear freinds in the ex-pat community took a boat trip around the island (A zodiac with two 300-horse engines!). The weather was perfect, not always the case. Had a wonderful time, emptied several coolers, and as always, I learned even more about our volcanic island. Every morning when I walk out on the veranda, I am amazed at the secrets this place holds.

Rest assured, it’ll be a busy summer, but a great one. Stay tuned:)

Enjoying an amazing Terceira tradition Espirit do Santo

Neighbor's home with the three crowns for the Holy Spirit observance.

We were honored to receive an invitiation to our neighbor’s Holy Spirit observance, an annual event at many homes and in every village around the island. Each Pentecost Sunday famliies pray to the Holy Spirit for some favor or help. The week preceding Pentecost the family gathers with extended family, friends, and neighbors, prays the Rosary at the altar in their home, and serves food and wine after the prayers. The sense of family and community is very strong!

On Sunday, everyone meets an an Imperious (little chapels in each village which honor the Holy Spirit, identified by a Dove and a Crown) and are only used one or two times each year, but are maintained very well year round. The family leads a processsion of friends and family to the local church accompanied by a local band. At the church, a Mass is said, the priest blesses the crowns, and the people wear the crown and lead the procession back to the Imperious for a traditional meal of Holy Spirit Soup, alcatra, meats and cabbage, and wine.

This tradition dates back to the 14th century, Terceira is one of the few places in the world where this celebration to the Holy Spirit is held.

Like so many things about living in a different country, I’m learning about the local traditions, cultures, and values. I ask questions, learn from the answers, and most importantly, I have a great time learning:)

Spring is Sprung…on Terceira everyone is Spring Cleaning…including digitally:)

Home computer network
Boasting high speed Fiber Optic cables, sitting in Terceira is exactly like sitting in my offices in Washington D.C.

Spring Cleaning — Digitally

After many years of earning a paycheck for online activities and travelling around the globe, I wanted to share some ideas of what everyone might try for a little digital spring cleaning.

Don’t let it phase you!

Living overseas or from a suitcase, I have avoided some digital disasters with a few simple actions. I run this list every few months, but Spring Cleaning might help shake cobwebs from the digits and accounts we all rely on when overseas. Some of them are common sense, some are simply awareness, and some can be downright daunting. If you’re not more comfortable, find someone who is, but please, do it.

  1. Back up all of your digits
    • Your cellular phone(s). Simple process, often easiest to jut search for instructions for your operating system (Android or iPhone), hook up a cable or point to a cloud and let it rip. It’s also a good time to delete some stuff…my wife uses her iPhone to help her remember appliance serial numbers, hard to see places under cabinets, etc. Takes up space and slows things down. Purge things you don’t need and back up.
    • Your desktop or laptop. Invest in an external hard drive (I always recommend Paulo at Ciberangra in Praia across from the police station…perfect English, good advice, and good prices. Depending on the size of the USB drive (just one cable and the plug) you’re up and running. Most external drives come loaded with backup software.
    • If you want to get braver, download or buy a program to scan your hard drive, remove useless software, malware, and things that will slow your computer down. Then back it up!
    • Update your software. Windows or Mac, sometimes your settings allow automatic updates; sometimes that’s turned off. Run updates to get the latest security patches, etc. Update your profiles for accounts if needed: retirement, investments, government(s).
  2. Think about investing in an Encrypted Hard Drive. Going back to my military days, I bought two virtually indestructible “thumb drives” that’s encrypted. The teeny tiny numeric keypad is coded with my secret combination, which then makes it so I can see the contents…scans of our ID cards, passports, important papers like home ownership, insurance, birth and death certificates, credit card and bank accounts, etc. Whenever we travel off-island, we take the drive, so no matter what happens, we will have copies of the important information we need to get our lives back on track. I’ve carried this thing for decades, around the world, and never had to use it — that’s a good thing!
  3. Take a few moments to “Google” your own name(s) and see what the world sees about you. You should see your social media accounts, perhaps a list of your past jobs and cities you’ve lived in, etc. Many times you will also find a few surprises. For instance, when I Googled my full name with middle initial, I discovered that the State of Michigan had an old tax refund check waiting for me, which I claimed and used to buy another subscription for anti-virus software. You could also run into some bad information which might need addressing.
  4. Check your security settings. On Social Media accounts, most are constantly increasing the “robustness” (not sure if it’s a word, but you get the idea😊) for personal security. Some accounts like Facebook also have preferences for if you can’t access your account, and/or if you pass and your friends or relatives have to decide what to do with your account.
  5. Record Passwords and Logins. I know such ideas are strictly Verboten, but I keep my login information hidden just so my family can cope with any situation -insurance, bank accounts, social media, etc. In my days as an Air Force planner, we documented things under the “if I get hit by a bus” presumption…my plans will still be accessible to those who need them. My wife, children, and business associates know this system and seem to like it. (There are those who think I use too much detail, but hey, different generations!)

These are relatively simple steps. This list is NOT comprehensive. But it is a start. Hopefully, it prompts you to think about “your digital footprint” at least every spring, time change, quarter, birthdays, any simple tracking mechanism. Also hopefully, it prompts you to be slightly adventurous, invest in some technology which you may never use, but will save you days of distress in the event of a natural disaster, cyberattack, lightning storm, power surge, blackout, etc. If you can’t or don’t want to face the challenge, hopefully it will prompt you to find someone who can and will help, and then YOU need to check the results. You are the one who has to live with them.

After you spend some time on this project, go outside and enjoy spring…or at the very least, do what I do and go help the “warden” do spring cleaning…don’t forget under the refrigerator😊!

Terceira continually works on their “Green Footprint”

Ancient stone house and and nearby geothermal station on the interior of the island of Terceira.
In the hills near the center of the island, hikers will see the old and the new. The quaint stone houses from generations gone by, many still in use, and this geo-thermal station taking energy from the volcanic substructure of the island and converting it to electric power.

Over the years I have named many pros and cons of life on a volcanic island in the middle (actually 2/3s of the way across from Washington DC to Lisbon) of the Atlantic Ocean. One of the main attractions I have to this island life here is the perpetual balance of people here of self-sustenance and dependence on Mother Nature. When I was stationed here at Lajes AB in 1990, I marvelled at how farmers used donkeys and horses to till their fields; how they rotated crops and cows, and even how the bulls and cows would graze on the mountain sides with two legs uphill and two downhill. Here farmers and fishermen bundle up before dawn to coexist with the elements and take care of crops, catches, their families and each other.

During return visits over the years, my wife and I have marveled and dreaded how modern technology has changed things in Terceira. Cell phones (the island only needs a couple of cell towers), many more cars, huge tractors now loom over the stone walls which border plots of land for crops and cows and goats. Fishing boats now stop to unload by the port’s giant ice maker to pack a catch and send them to our European Union customers.

Without doubt, one of Terceira’s sources of pride in today’s world is how they enjoy capitalizing on natural resources to further life and technological advances. Out our kitchen window, the Serra do Cume sports 11 giant wind generators spinning silently day and night to increase renewable energy. Each day we drive past a solar panel farm, and many houses here have solar panels on their roof. Hiking through the island’s interior, one might dodge some cows grazing to come across a geothermal plant that harnesses some of the sub-surface pressures and activity to generate more power.

So sure, there are some down sides to life on the island. It’s not a great fit for some. The Regional Government recognizes that and the Portuguese government sometimes offer financial incentives to attract doctors and other professionals to live and work here. Many of the blog readers here will visit and decide to immigrate to mainland Portugal (and visit the islands often:)) But overall, if you’re cut from the right cloth, love nature, consider yourself independent and largely self-sustaining, island life on Terceira is great.

Many folks from both sides of the Atlantic are checking it out, and one thing which many find attractive is the environmentally-friendly energy posture which is present and growing here. Of course, that’s one consideration…others include beautiful scenes, welcoming people, and a calm, relaxing life. Like everything else in the world, sometimes it’s frustrating, sometimes it’s fantastic, and always … it’s Terceira!

Blog visitors and Happy Wife story:)

Been a little relaxed in posts lately, but hey…I’m retired:)

What a great weekend! Yesterday was a first for our Life-After-The-Rat-Race.com blog which I started when I retired from the Department of the Interior in 2018. One couple who read the blog, R & G, contacted me a few months back, were coming to “check out” a couple of Azorean islands, and flew in to join us while we showed off Sofia’s home island and my adopted home. (I even got acknowledgement of my Gomez Addams impersonation of “Querida!”)

Although a short visit, these two divers from California shared many stories of their travels and cultural experiences from the back seat as we drove around the island before taking them to the airport. Fascinating couple with great conversations. We’re hoping they come back to visit longer and in a few years, consider joining our wonderful “ex-pat” group here!

Wife wearing motorcycle helmet in Wyoming on a trip from Michigan some years back.
Happy Birthday, Feliz Aniversario, Muito Parabems, Querida. Literally thousands of photos of my darling wife and co-conspirator, but this is her on a motorcycle trip with Dan and Linda from Michigan to Wyoming a few years back. My awesome woman from a little island in the Atlantic has been by my side for many decades, willing to try almost (she’s not stupid:)) anything with me. This weekend is her birthday, and I am so honored she is sharing another trip around the sun with me!

So many joys this weekend here on Terceira. Rain, sunshine, wind, and waves as we “cruised” around the island. Sofia and I do almost everything together, and have since we got married decades ago. But variances in weather, friends old and new, helping with some of our charitable efforts, nothing can compare with her birthday. So, please, allow me to briefly wax eloquent on this amazing (and now slightly older) better half of our dynamic duo.

To this day, one of the toughest things I’ve ever done was take my 27-year-old bride of three months away from her entire family and move to pursue dreams with my family in Ohio. We have many stories of how difficult it was for her, the joys and pains of such a major cultural transformation, and how we supported each other — sometimes well, sometimes not so! But we’ve prevailed, raised two fantastic daughters, and returned her home after 28 years. (I recall we courted in secret because her father didn’t want her dating an American … he said he didn’t want her being dragged away from her family to America. I promised I would bring her home, and we are home. He told me when we moved back here he didn’t believe I would return with his daughter, and here we are!)

Over the years, we have done many tough things together, dealt with life, death, disappointment, joy, elation, COVID … you know, life. I expect we’ll keep on enjoying life together just a few meters from her family. Terceira is a small island.

As followers of “Life-After-The-Rat-Race” know, here it is not always smooth sailing. As we enjoyed sharing our story with R & G during our whirlwind visit this weekend, we were reminded we have worked hard, lived amazing lives, and have done this together. And mostly, I have to say, because of the courage, persistence, love, and downright stubbornness of our birthday girl.

Happy Birthday, Querida.

Winter in the Azores…is it a return to childhood?

Ocean in high winds and trees blowing
Winds howl outside, the ocean churns, and trees bend to seemingly impossible angles… and I read comfortably.

I’m sitting here reading a brief history of Japan and how it grew into a colonial power like other “western powers” and the ironies which came with that.

Also sitting here listening to the winds howl. Had a fire going, a glass of wine (or two) and observing distant lights on the commercial port through the horizontal rain. Her cats are huddled together in the garage, and the warden is asleep, dreaming sweet dreams without care. So it’s me, the wind, and a good book. Actually, not a book, but a mini-iPad I have used for years; it travels well, doesn’t get dog-eared pages, and I can watch movies, listen to tunes, and read, all in the same amount of space on an airline seat. Teachers and librarians in the family don’t approve, but … oh well, if that was the only thing they didn’t approve of:)

As winds whistle (or blast) past the windows, I realize I am taking comfort in reading. All kinds of things. Biographies, novels, mysteries, war stories, you name it. I harken back to school days…from Grade 3 through High School. When I sought comfort, I read. I skipped classes, sat in the library or nearby woods, and read. Loved it. Pretty good at it (often a book a day). Now here I am, reading:)

Retirement is supposed to give you time to relax and enjoy the life you’ve earned. I’m busy… too often. Helping folks, which I live to do. But in the wee hours of each morning, as winds whistle, I read. I’m not into book clubs, group discussions, even comparing notes. (Actually, one daughter enjoys going to a used book shop in Virginia and picking out some older books, many of which I read and she has yet to, so we compare notes and bond!) I just read to be by myself and “enjoy the life I’ve earned!”

So years of hard work — very hard work sometimes — and planning have paid off. I’m enjoying a good book. (All right folks, not a good “book” but good writing on an electronic screen!) Let the wind blow, let the fire crackle, let the wine flow, and let me enjoy my peace. The sun will be up soon, and then it’s back to my other ‘retired’ life. “Yes, dear. I’ll set the table and sweep the floor.” Glad to help you change your tire, set up a new application on your computer, etc.

But for now, peace, quiet, and a good “book.”