Happy Thanksgiving!

Raymond and I are celebrating our third Thanksgiving here on “Third Island” and for the first time attending an American-style get-together. We are excited to celebrate the feast with some new friends we made in the last year. We are immensely thankful for all that has come our way in the past year: hosting Raymond’s mother and the ensuing trip to Rome; meeting and befriending our doppelgängers from Michigan who live three villages over; finding local jobs and earning income; visiting and touring about the island with Lukus’ aunt and uncle; finding new (better) employment at Terceira’s first 5* hotel; working together and sharing the same schedule; being able to donate our millstones to the new working windmill in our friends’ village; and, most recently, successfully renewing our residency permits! We are now legally allowed to remain here for an additional three years. <sigh of relief>

Autumn Waves

The winter winds from the north have returned, creating some dramatic scenery. The above photos were along the coast of Biscoitos looking towards Quatro Ribeiras. Needless to say, our glasses became quite salty watching such thunderous waves. A few times during the month we could hear them at night crashing into the cliffs near our house.

Rainbows

The rainy/misty weather of late Fall brings its share of rainbows. The top three photos are from our commute home just above the capital city of Angra. The bottom two photos are from the parking lot in Angra where we park the car during the work day (taken just before my appointment with immigration for the residency renewal – it seemed like a good omen!).

Kitties Update

Archimedes and Nicodemus are doing very well and are good boys most of the time. They have grown a lot in the two months since we adopted them and their personalities are definitely taking shape. Archie is cautious, cuddly, and obedient – Nicky is very curious, caring, and sensitive. They both love to play with toys, wrestle with each other, and have quiet lap time with Raymond and I.

Nature’s Bounty

We have been harvesting some beautiful purple-skinned, white-fleshed sweet potatoes from our garden and cooking them in soups as well as a Thanksgiving pie. The anonna fruits seem to be a bit delayed this year, but we have already eaten four that we ripened in the basement and they were delicious as always. Lastly, a big bunch of bananas reached maturity and were similarly ripened in the basement – something like 20 lbs of bananas… We gave some away to colleagues at work, some to our neighbor, and made a total of three batches of banana bread. Even after that, there are still about two pounds hanging up downstairs.

Serra Santa Bárbara

This is a view from Angra of the Santa Bárbara mountain/volcano, the high point of Terceira at 3,300 feet above sea level. The youngest of the volcanoes that formed the island, it is also the one from which nearly all seismic activity originates. After a lull during the summer, the number of earthquakes has increased dramatically in the past month.

This map shows the location and severity of earthquakes for the past 30 days. While most have been in the 2.0 – 2.9 range (barely perceptible in my experience) there were two (3.4 and 3.5) that many people felt. It made for interesting conversation at the hotel breakfast buffet – who felt it and who did not. Raymond and I were sleeping at the time and did not feel it.

Above: the island of São Jorge in the distance with Mount Pico towering behind it