Category: Azorean Life

Traveling in Michigan…the Air Zoo with friends is the perfect way to spend a rainy day.

Working at the Kalamazoo Gazette, we watched the Kalamazoo Air Zoo grow and become even more interesting, professional, and fascinating. Years in the USAF, the growing list of static display aircraft and well-prepared professional exhibits are both reminiscent and inspiring.

The only thing I can think of that tops it is a cold brew with old motorcycling buddies (and perfect hosts) and visiting colleagues, family, church, and sharing their triumphs, disappointments, joys and sadness. Bragging about retired life in the Azores is just a part of the excitement:)

Special thanks to everyone who has helped us on this journey, past, present, and future.

Sometimes your parents were right…mom and dad always told me to “play to your strengths.” One of mine is history, so whenever I travel, I try to learn more about what happened in the past to better understand people and culture. It’s proven helpful in my past and led to some small triumphs in business, government, and romantic situations in Europe, the orient, Africa, central America, and especially in my new, retired residence in Terceira.

A group of “American” and “Azorean” friends spent a day in the city of Angra do Heroismo at the museum, which I hadn’t visited for about 20 years. We wandered through professionally-styled exhibits about the past 600 years on our island; I learned new things and many of the folks who’ve lived here their whole lives learned some new things as well. After a great lunch at Chico’s (yes, we did get to know the local cuisine and help the wine economy as well) the warden and I had dinner with friends from the states who’ve retired here, as well as a wonderful Portuguese couple (he’s an artist and historian) who know a lot of the island history as well. We talked well into the night, learning more about each other, the language (I’m slower than most) the culture, our personal histories, our likes and dislikes. We made plans to spend more time together and to visit some sites near our new home which may have evidence of residents here well before what has been recorded.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed in a new place, or even underwhemled, play to your strengths. Be brave enough to go to a sports field, automotive collection, even the local taxi stand where the drivers just talk while queued up, and offer to buy a cup of coffee. For many of them, it’s a distraction; for you, it might be following age-old advice from your parents…which I never did when I was a kid:)

No matter what it’s called, enjoy with friends and family!

Many people ask what do you do for fun on the island. During the first week of March, on Terceira we do the same thing most Christian cultures do…we gather with friends & family and enjoy Carnival … as only the Azores can!

Preparing for Ash Wednesday and Lent, much of the Christian world has parades, dances, (some drinking) and especially laughter, merriment, and a joy and respect for life. On Terceira, I have enjoyed parades through main streets, poetry, concerts, comedies, and each Freguesia (village) around the island hosts many “Dança”

We get together with friends and travel the few kilometers to each Freguesia’s “Casa do Povo” (House of the People — or Community Center) where volunteer community groups from all over the island perform. (Last night in Juncal we watched about 60 Americans from Cambridge, MA, with roots on the island return to perform). It’s amazing; powerful, fun, and inspiring. For a few hours, many (not all) put up their cell phones, sit with grandparents, little children, teens, young parents — all to sit tightly packed in folding chairs and watch performances.

I sat through many (some funny, some musical, some ‘less than appealing to me’ ) and tried to find a way to describe them, both literally and figuratively.

Figuratively, I find them inspiring. Positive. Empowering. Old people, youngsters, lawyers, farmers, school teachers, bartenders…everyone is sitting there laugh, humming, swaying, dancing, and enjoying.

Literally, I had more challenge to describe it. Late last night (very very late) I hit on it…it’s vaudeville! I wasn’t sure, so I checked with my buddy Julian: Wikipedia says: A vaudeville is a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation. It was originally a kind of dramatic composition or light poetry, usually a comedy, interspersed with songs or ballets.

On Terceira, each 45-minute performance is a volunteer group, often from the same village, who sing, dance, make their costumes (very elaborate and refined) and ignore stage fright aside to harmonize, recite, dance, tell jokes, and often memorize 45 minutes of dialog, to the enjoyment of friends and strangers.

These folks have fun, work hard, learn and pass on skills, thoughts, humor, love, and community. Personally, I’m not sure what the ancients had in mind for Carnival, but in my teeny weeny mind, this is a major part of it. And it’s a part of a different culture that I’m really enjoying!

Paradise?

Winter in Porto Martins means a lot of wind, a lot of rain, and a lot of mowing the grass. It’s cool, I love cutting grass, and that’s a good thing. I usually get up before the sun, get some work done on the computer, then when the warden gets up, we have breakfast, watch the news from the states, look out the windows, and plan our day.

Little did I realize that my day includes mowing that beautiful green grass at least once a week! Nearly every day this week, I’ve woken to beautiful sunny days, and by the time we’re working on lunch, it’s raining, visibility is down to about 2 kilometers, and we’re feeling sorry for the birds, the cows, and the neighborhood cats…all outside in the rain.

I am reminded of my first year in Germany where the weather statistically was worse than Pittsburgh, then the worst flying weather in the U.S. Everyone said “You have to live with rain and snow.” I did. My parents would always remind us kids that our native Michigan tribes learned to live with nature — and rain and snow are natural. So I’m not having much trouble adapting to the weather in the Acores…just mowing the grass all the time:)

So if anyone asks me what I’m doing with my retirement, I can honestly say I’m spending much of it with nature; walking the beaches, hiking in the mountains, and of course, cutting the grass.

Then we sat around and reminisced about many things, including the family’s visit to America for Christmas many winters ago in Michigan- and especially the shovelling snow, frozen lakes, and tobogganing.

Everyone laughed a lot (the Christmas visit to the states was the first and last time most of these folks had seen snow; the tales of shovelling, Christmas traditions, blizzards, and very very cold weather brought gasps of disbelief and reassurances – and laughter.

Surrounded by my “Portuguese Support Group” was comforting, but also made me very homesick. Born and raised in the snows of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, here they complain of cold when the rain brings clouds down from the nearby mountain peaks. For me, “cold” brings fond memories of a youth in minus-65 degree (f) weather on the banks of the Rat Root River with a wood stove and an outhouse.

Tonight emphasised a valuable coping skill I strongly recommend… Remember everything is relative, and you can’t step in the same river twice! Your life has changed, and you need to smile and remember your choices, value friends and family who can help you adjust, and enjoy tomorrow. Remembering the past is healthy (until you can no longer remember it:) – I dread that day) but when you move or retire, value tomorrow and the people who you are with now!