European Travels Raymond and I were fortunate last month to travel to the continent for a week-long vacation. The impetus was the 20th class reunion of my grad school program at the University of Freiburg in Germany. As we missed the reunion 10 years ago, I vowed that we would attend this one. So we…

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Happy May Day! Today is the first of May, celebrated in Portugal as a national holiday. While it was unfortunate that Raymond and I had to work on this day honoring the workers of the world, it was nice that we were paid double-time. Today is also the anniversary of my starting to work on…

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Happy Spring! The calendar claims it’s Spring, but we have had some unseasonably cold weather the past month. For about a week, we had brisk north winds and temperatures down to about 43 degrees – factor in wind speeds of 50 mph and the windchill was below freezing! The above photo is from the port…

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Almost Spring… Greetings from (sometimes) sunny Ilha Terceira! The above photo captures the wonderful convergence of the rare sunny day AND our day off. On our way home from errands in Praia da Vitória, Raymond and I decided to stop by the UNESCO world geopark site called Fajã da Alagoa to watch the waves crash…

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Feliz Ano Novo! Happy New Year! January was notable as the first time Raymond and I were able to take vacation time since we started working. In Portugal, after six months at a new job one qualifies for two days of vacation for each month worked. Since this is the low season at the hotel,…

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Feliz Natal! Merry Christmas from (sometimes) sunny Terceira! The above photo captures the capital city and marina on a particularly sunny afternoon after Raymond and I finished work. Though we do not have a Christmas tree, it’s nice to see them around (above, at the local bakery and restaurant). We did, however, put up our…

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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:…

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New Additions Raymond and I welcomed two new additions into our home at the beginning of October – two darling kittens! We adopted the two brothers from our neighbor’s son who lives just up the hill. His cat had four kittens at the beginning of August and initially we were only interested in getting one,…

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Above: view of Monte Brasil from our new favorite bar/restaurant after work Summer’s End It was a beautiful season on the island, but alas, summer is over. Like in past years, the sun and (relative) heat of July and August were quickly replaced with gray skies and mist. Oh, and our first hurricane! Above: driveway,…

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Above: view from our driveway of the park where people gather to watch the bulls, drink beer, and eat from the food trucks Tourada! At the beginning of August was our village’s annual festival and its accompanying bull-on-rope running in the street. We had a few friends over to the house beforehand and, between drinking…

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