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Anyone been tracking progress knows that we came back to America to visit family and friends, ended up getting caught in Virginia during lock down, and until the world is safer, we’re not going back to the island. Good friends and a good reputation got both of us our old jobs back, and we’re “settled” in with some camping gear we left in storage for family and what we could bring in our three suitcases. Now we’re working part-time, watching Netflix, and waiting for the situation to change. We know some people who have made it back to the island, some who were turned around at the airport. We’re in good shape, got jobs and friends, a nearby liquor store, and some work to keep our minds busy. So yes, we’re back into the “rat race,” the rules are changing almost on a daily basis, but it’s a much slower race!

Hard to believe that we’d miss traffic jams and tall, cold buildings when we can look out the window every day and see this serene, pastoral setting. But a taste of the Rat Race reminds you how good it is to be away from it:)

We’re travelling to be with family. Our house in the Azores has had some horrendous winds and cold temperatures, but family and friends watching over it have kept it safe and keep us updated. We have resigned ourselves to not having a white Christmas or a file in our favorite wood stove this year, but we’re with family and friends, missing home and other family, but all are happy and safe. Hope you are as well. If not, please contact me and let’s see what we can do to make your Holiday Season happier and safer. We’re here for you, no matter where we are and where you are:) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

1. Beach
2. Coffee
3. Beach
4. Festivals
5. Bullfights
6. Family lunches
7. Family Dinners
8. Romantic Dinners
9. Beach
10. Coffee

As a major portion of the United States battles record triple-digit heat, a slightly-warm day started with a pulse-stirring sunrise. So while I do miss the fast pace of life of the East Coast, there are some redeeming elements to life in the middle of the Atlantic.

We have had our share of excitement on Terceira this week. In the marina just below our house, authorities seized a sailboat (single mast, looks to be about 26-foot or so) and tore the boat apart to find nearly 500 kilos (a little more than one ton) of cocaine. The two sailors have been locked up. The boat has been impounded, and sources say the policia will soon burn the cocaine. None of this had any impact on the majority of the population; we sat on our beach catching some rays on the opposite side of the bay.

In all honesty, a major drug bust does not crush our idea of an island paradise. Traffic jams still consist of four or five cars and tracks and tractors waiting while a herd of cows goes down the street. We still have to wait a minute of two for a parking spot downtown. There are still long lines at the gas station…sometime three cars waiting at once.

So, with my apologies to Ernest Hemmingway, Errol Flynn, and Tyrone Power, I repeat my discovery for today…the Sun Also Rises…on another magnificent day in Terceira!

Throughout the years as an Air Force enlisted, officer, government civil servant, and several other roles not mentionable, there have been a few defining imprints on my memory.

1. Basic training and ROTC graduation ceremonies where friends and family came to see me take my oaths. Grandma Crall drove from Michigan to Texas to see me march and graduate at Lackland AFB. Major Don Bogue drove from Alabama to Wichita overnight to give me my commission oath.
2. A C-130 finally (did I emphasize finally!) arrive in the uncharted parts of Honduras to lift my team out of a dirt runway where we’d spent hours wishing for Godfather’s Pizza from San Antonio, and got it…with ice cold cokes!
3. Directing an F-15 Flyby of the Luxembourg American Cemetery for memorial Day observances and the guys from Bitburg AB executed THE PERFECT Missing Man formation.
4. Retiring to our small island and then seeing the Stars and Stripes sail into harbor below our humble home the day before our troubled nation’s 2019 July 4th observance.

Maybe “Defining imprints” should be redefined as “things-you-never-thought-could-make-you-feel-better-and-then-you-learn-you-were-wrong.”

I’ve known some great “Coasties” in my time, top among them might be Admiral Salerno, Admiral Watson, Nick Pardi and Captain Fish, but to a guy sitting at breakfast on a small island in the Atlantic away from family and remembering many Independence Days in the far corners of the world, no one looked better today than those cadets bringing in the USCGC Eagle. None of them will ever know what I felt; and God willing, none of them will ever know where and how I’ve felt on many July Fourths, but they are absolutely the top of the United States military today. Some will be great leaders, some will lose interest, some will and leave their uniforms behind, but today, they are my greatest American Heroes.

Thank you, U.S. Coast Guard. And as Lee Greenwood sang to us in a hangar in Korea at the end a week-long combat exercise…”God Bless The U.S.A.”

Seven minutes ago, I turned a year older. Not at all what I expected when I was younger, not even what I expected ten years ago. But here I am, and believe me, there are many differences. If you’re not willing to adapt, to embrace those changes, I expect you will not be happy…in retirement…in a new land…with new new traditions and expectations.

Some of the changes are noticeable. Yesterday in my home of Michigan the temperatures were record-setting minus 25 and snow. I miss that a lot. Yesterday temperatures in my back yard were 60 degrees, the sun was out, and I was helping cook fish and clean house (not my favorite, but hell, I can survive anything:)) Today I helped a good friend (the best man at my last wedding) celebrate his birthday by climbing a mountain…and he’s older than I am. We had a wonderful time.

Some changes are more subtle. They sing “Happy Birthday” differently. They have major traffic problems (10 cars waiting to yield in a traffic circle) and we’re never sure if Paderia Juncal will have fresh buns or not after lunch. (They did today, and very few things in life are better than buns just out of the oven, buttered, with Sao Jorge cheese)!

As I age, flexibility is less my forté (so I’m told:)) But I am slowly – and sometimes painfully- learning to embrace differences. According to Darwin, if I don’t, I won’t survive. So I shall. Happy Birthday to me, or Feliz Aniversario and Muitos Parabems. The words to the song might be different, but the thought is still the same!

All four seasons in every day…that’s what residents say…

Winter time on Terceira is always challenging. Last week high winds (can’t tell you how high, still working on getting my weather observation system up and running…the company’s web site is not authorized for viewing in Europe yet). Some mornings clouds hang low over the mountain behind us, so low we can’t see the wind turbines. Hours later the sun shines down on Praia and the white buildings look like jewels against the blue waters of the bay. Sometimes we walk along the beautiful new boardwalk along the bay’s shoreline, and the water is smooth as glass, or surfers are out playing in the Sea State 3 and 4 conditions. Still, the daily temps are around 16 °C (about 60° F) during the day and chilly when sun sets. The decision to build in a wood stove was smart…not cold without it (vis à vis Michigan and Minnesota) but pleasant, comfortable, and romantic. Plus splitting and carrying wood makes me feel useful.

Mom lied…there is no justice!!!

Talk about unfair…after we make the break for the island life in the Azores, all of my friends in D.C. get a Christmas vacation as the government closes down yet again…and I have to work harder than ever. Still assembling furniture,putting up our Container Store closet (it looks great, BTW) and of course, hanging holly, curtains, wreaths, lights, etc. Just not fair!!!

The good news is that this Christmas season is so wonderful for Sofia. Sisters gathered in the kitchen with daughters, nieces, and neighbors creating “out-of-this-world” aromas, and of course sharing some of the local cuisine, wines, songs, and memories of Christmases past…I love hearing her laugh.

So I’m still not enjoying dependable Internet (next install dates comes up late December, and hoping for the best). Meantime, I don’t post much, but rest assured, all ye who visit, our wishes are with you for a wonderful season, and prayers for health, prosperity, and a return to work soon for my government brethern (and sisters:))

Several years of work, packing, unpacking, camping in apartments and a brand new house with no furnishings, unpacking furnishing, painting, planting…all coming to a head tomorrow when one daughter arrives to see our new domicile. We’ve unpacked everything, put up curtains, planted grass, washed the driveway and truck, everything we can think of to her that we’re home and we want her and her sister to feel at home here also…forever. So the planner in me goes over the list again…clean sheets, favorite drinks, mom’s got the favorite menu ready…let’s hope she feels comfortable. And of course, part of me is also watching faces, listening to voices, planning on what we can do to better prepare for the next daughter’s visit:)

We enjoyed a wonderful traditional meal with our new friends in a foreign land. Just as Pilgrims and natives sat and broke bread (allegedly), we visited with friends, drank local wine, feasted  on turkey, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and passed hours with local residents, residents of distant lands, discussed freedom, the American dream, adjusting to challenges in local conditions (methinks the Pilgrims didn’t complain about various government bureaucracies) and reminisced about previous holidays. All in all, no football, no parades, but wonderful memories. Thanks to all friends and best wished, old friends and new.

No photos for this one…none could portray the warmth around the table:)

Last day of October, daughters are in the states making final adjustments to their costumes and party plans, and there is some Trick or Treat activity on the streets of Praia. Actually more emphasis on the holiday on November 1, which is a Portuguese kind of combination of Thanksgiving and Memorial Day. It’s called Dia do Pao Por Deus…The  Day of Bread for God.

So on a sunny Halloween morning, Rick and Sofia head for the beach, run, and go swimming before we start. The water was wonderful, the sun warming, and we got to meet up with several great friends!

Last week has been full of ups and downs: ups. the house is finished, the government paperwork is finished, and now it’s in the bank’s hands. The downs, still NO news on our container which got held up on mainland during a port strike and now has to find a new way to the island. Platinum Movers has assured us they are working on it, but still no container. Residency, citizenship, or in any other words, any program for Rick to stay longer than 90 days is on bureaucratic hold…my FBI check is older than 180 days and has to be redone…with fingerprints, of course. But we’ve been working every day on the house, specifically the weeds and rocks in the yard…so I expect my fingerprints are in Portugal and the FBI is still in the U.S. We’ll see, but we’ll have a great looking yard:)

Meanwhile, my multi-talented wife foiled at least one bureaucratic obstacle…we were told I had to present an authenticated birth certificate from Michigan (we got it after $95) and then my darling bride remember I had to present one to the same government 26 years ago for a wedding license…one phone call and that was solved. She is SOOOO smart:) Sadly, after our short glee, she made me go back to removing weeds and rocks…..no justice:)

After a few days of chilly rain and high winds (interesting timing, a hurricane passed 200 miles south of here as Hurricane Michael hit Virginia) a regatta of small sail boats from several islands met here for races while we were swimming at the beach.  Peaceful, serene, and beautiful. Guess I”ll have to take up sailing:)