Friday September 10

 This morning when I went for my solo walk it looked all gloomy. The ocean looked all dark with rolling waves I think they call it choppy. But as you can see in the picture by the time we left it appears nice. I reminded grandma that her birthday was coming soon and since she wanted some new clothes today would be a good time to do a little window shopping. My plan went well until one store was open and by the time we finished there they were all open. After a while grandma needed to use a restroom so we decided to stop at the farmers market evn though it wasn’t really on our schedule for today. We did need lettuce and tomatoes as had actually ran out this time before they went bad. Just as we were preparing to leave it started to rain. Really rain. Water running down the street rain. We were still inside under the roof but the Market is open on the outside walls. We found a bench next to the popcorn man and why not, we bought popcorn and waited on the rain. I looked around for something to take pictures of but only got one of the rain not so good.

After an hour or so it let up and we decided to make a break for it. We had to walk careful as water was running off the buildings and there was still water running on the streets and sidewalks. We soon came to a China store and I mentioned since we were so far from home maybe it would be a good idea to get one. But they also sold women’s clothes, lots of women’s clothes. But after all it was my idea in the first place. I was reminded of this frequently. Since we were close to the little grocery store with their own bakery where grandma likes to get her little custard pastries I mentioned stopping in. The store is connected to a store that sells high end souvenirs and yup women’s clothes. Eventually we headed home with the route we chose only one store remained fairly close to home. There was a wall where the homeless and old guys sit just near by so I sat outside while grandma shopped. She was frustrated as the shirt she had looked at before was gone because they were changing out the seasonal stock. She picked me up and we walked on home. Oh I need to mention after we bought the umbrella it didn’t rain anymore. Go figure. Sort of a relaxing walk. I cooked a late brunch we cleaned up and went to the American embassy. Strange but the other day when we walked past the embassy and took the picture of the flag being raised we got a call that afternoon and the lady in charge set up an appointment to visit today. She was a nice lady and after a more thorough search than at the airport we spent a little over half an hour with her. She has a small staff made up entirely of locals but she is the only American. Turns out this embassy is the oldest still open as it opened originally in 1797.  Well we walked home and headed out so the elders could teach while we took Maauuurra and her sister for a walk. Surprising how many people talk to us when we are walking the street with 2 cute girls trying to teach grandma Portuguese.

Tried for a better picture of the acorean dog, but not sure it worked out. It was a little better on the iPad. After an hour and a bit we were dropped off back home. Lots of walking but nice day. Here is a staged picture grandma had me take yesterday after reading the blog of her holding the panic handle. I need to not let her read them.

Well I love you all

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