Vale das Estrelas Before Scott and I moved to Portugal and during this first year, I’ve participated in various webinars to learn more about what's required to live here successfully. Taxes, drivers’ licenses, etc. Last month, an email came from one of the organizations that does some of the webinars. It was an invitation to (buy tickets to) a fundraising gala. The funds were to support art-based programmes for children  across Portugal. It looked kind of fun and like a good

7 December 2025 Today is, of course, Pearl Harbor Day. 84 years ago. The population of people who can remember it, ever dwindling. One year ago today, our little family of four arrived in Faro, Portugal, to live. I can’t speak about the 84 years, but the ONE year, F L E W  by. Christmas decorations in Faro We were almost completely clueless about what it was going to be like. I think my expectations were somewhat curtailed by the effort of getting here. That effort mentally d

As a young child, I remember enjoying riding on boards, all kinds, but especially any little vehicle with its wheels having varying arrangements, soaking up the physics of it.  The board game Mouse Trap was cool until about the third time I played and saw that it just did the same thing every time.  But Mouse Trap was an important primer on potential energy and entropy.  What I really didn’t like was being thrown against the door of the car as it went around a corner, and don

Little sons of bitches need to get out of my house! Little mother fucker keeps getting peanut butter or cheese off without triggering the guillotine. This is completey unaccepable. We will be adding poison into this scenario. Then we'll take out his girlfriend. Does anybody else experience critters being in your home that aren’t supposed to be there? I don’t mean the bug variety, but actual critters. Anybody? I bought my first house in 1989. A cute little 1950’s brick ranch.