Happy Solstice! After the remarkable trip to Rome there was, unfortunately, a price to pay for sharing the air with thousands of visitors inside museums…Lukus was the first to get sick (the last day in Rome, in fact) followed by Raymond about a week later. We are both feeling better now, but it definitely took…

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To Rome! After many months of planning, Raymond, Michelle, and I went to Rome for a week. It was the first visit for each of us and did not disappoint! It really is the ‘eternal city’ with history exuding from every building and square. Day I After arriving from a very late flight from Lisbon…

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Bom Carnaval! Terceira is known as the “island of festivals” and even in the heart of winter they find a reason to celebrate. Like the more famous carnival celebrations in Brazil, Portugal uses the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday to let loose before the somber season of Lent begins. And unlike in France (and…

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Feliz Ano Novo! Raymond and I had a low-key New Year’s Eve and like most years we were in bed by 10 PM (only to be woken up by some nearby fireworks at midnight). If there is one word to describe the month of January it would be WINDY! This was actually our first full…

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Feliz Natal! This was our second Christmas in the Azores and I still can’t get over how ‘un-Christmaslike’ it is. Aside from the occasional string of lights or Santa decoration, it is easy to forget what time of year it is. We had a rather nice stretch of weather in December – minimal rain and…

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Fall is here again on Ilha Terceira. Rainy, cool days are disrupted only occasionally by little bursts of sunshine (often with simultaneous mist). And let me tell you about the wind! It gusts through our little gully like a wind-tunnel, howling through the rafters in our attic and rattling the reed grass that grows along…

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Ah – the return of the dark and stormy North Atlantic. As beautiful as the sea and sky were in the summer, that brief season has passed and the great grayness of winter is now upon us. When the undistinguishable sea/sky is broken only by distant white caps and occasional breaks of blue. When the…

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Happy Equinox! After a very warm July and August, it was a welcome change to have cooler days (and nights) in September. Of course, all of this is relative – where we are on the north side of Terceira the hottest days in August were only about 81 degrees (in September the average has been…

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One Year Later… August 21 was the one-year anniversary of our arrival here on beautiful Ilha Terceira! It has not escaped Raymond and I just how fortunate we are to own our little slice of paradise, and how blessed we have been over the course of the past year. In that time, we have become…

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It has been said that Terceira is the “island of festivals.” Indeed, especially in the summer, one can go from festival to festival every week in some corner of the island. Raymond and I were happy to share in our village’s annual festival this past week in honor of the local parish, Saint Beatrice. On…

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