Wednesday March 30

 

Today was the nicest weather day so far. I was up and gone early for my solo walk early. It has been some time since I did this because of bad weather and thinking perhaps it would be better to not go places without grandma and because I am lazy. We went for a walk when I got back and in keeping with grandma’s desire we walked for one hour and 3 miles. This is 8500 steps according to my phone. On the way home we passed a sign advertising a band concert.

 We came home and hurried to district meeting. After the meeting we walked home and had a great lunch of fries and chicken and salad. We left and visited the oldest member we have. He is 84 and him and i had difficulty communicating.  He speaks softly and blends his words and he can’t hear me and also has difficulty with my accent. We left there and headed out to visit a member in another town. It was interesting to visit with them and find out how little they remembered from when they were taught before baptism. Many of the members can’t even tell you who Joseph Smith is or about the Book of Mormon. No wonder they quit coming to church. We had an activity tonight. Not many came, but for those who came it was a great time.

We left and got home late. On the way we could see one of the cruise ship sailing away. It was all lit up and looked good, but when I took a picture it just blurred out. Grandma said it was a wonderful day. We love you all.

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Tuesday March 29

 

We decided to walk while the weather is nice today. Grandma thinks we are walking too far each day and wants to cut back. We probably will compromise somewhere in the north middle. We headed down towards the ocean on our normal route. We encountered this electric wheelchair with a cab on it.

It looked awkward but whatever works. When we arrived where we could see the water we were surprised to see 2 cruise ships tied up. One was larger than the other but even the small one was large. I tried to get a picture of them together.

There were a few more people out and about but still being early not to an extreme. In the picture there are many buses lined up to haul the tourists around the island. These ships will leave tonight, they only stay the one night. They have these jeep tours where they have 3 seats n a jeeps and haul the tourists around. I caught 3 of them.

Red white and blue. We soon turned for home and we had things to plan and get ready for. We headed out for a visit and we spent an hour reviewing the membership list trying to determine who is gone. Next we hurried out to villa franca to visit a member out there. And then back here. On the way we left the missionaries at their appointment and stopped to pick up a few things. We came home in time for supper and had rotisserie chicken, salad, and chips. It was a nice day. We love you all.

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Monday March 28

 

Today is p-day so it’s cloudy. Everyone wanted to go to lagoa do fogo or the lake of fire. But when we left the apartment it was still nice, but the lake is on top of a mountain and we drove right up into the clouds. We dropped off the missionaries and grandma and I went for a drive. We dropped down below the clouds and found this forest park. They had a sign that made me think of hose slow children at play signs even though this one just says slow down.

They had neat playgrounds and tables and grills to cook on.

We drove around a while and went through some small villages. They look so colorful.

We went back up and picked up the missionaries. We ate then left for lunch at our usual cafe in ribeira grande. As we were leaving a homeless guy came along with his homemade cart salvaging metal and stuff. I liked his ambition and creativity.

Then we passed a guy leading his horse while riding a bicycle.

We came home and drove by the coast to look at the latest cruise ship a large one from germany.

We had some apartment cleaning and our normal zoom meetings. Good day. We love you all.

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Sunday March 27

 

It’s Sunday. With the time change it was light at 7:00. I started a large batch of scalloped potatoes for lunch.

I always did peel potatoes without complaining. We headed for church and it was fun. We had more kids there than normal and it seems nice when they are there. After church it was home and finish preparing lunch. We had a good meal and everyone ate well. It’s elder Olds birthday so I made a cake.

Next we had another sacrament meeting out at Ribeira Grande. On the drive we went through the area of the road rally.

There were hundreds of  cars and many more people watching where the cars entered the highway. It reminded me of a parade crowd. The police were out directing traffic and doing crowd control. We went to the chapel and some were cleaning.

We had a good meeting then home and called all the family. One of the islands são Jorge is having little earthquakes all the time and people who are supposed to know think there will be a volcanic event. I don’t put a lot of stock in their predictions, but they have evacuated the majority of the population. The theory of being on the side of caution sure gets used these last couple years. We love you all.

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Saturday March 26

 Today it rained. Pretty much all day. This morning I had to do an online class with people from the other island. It is hard enough to just have to listen and try and understand, but to also teach. Well the best I can say is we survived. We headed home and had just a little time before heading for lunch. The food was excellent, but I forgot the pictures. Then back home and I made a birthday cake for one of the missionaries for tomorrow. It has rained pretty steady today. I had a leadership meeting again tonight which is always an animated meeting. I sit there understanding little and wonder why we are talking about these things. Must be a cultural thing. I finally got home and tonight is the time change for us so we lose an hour. The other day I got pictures of some wind surfers and a helicopter. We only see helicopters when the road rally is on. I think they haul them in on a ship. We love you all.

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Friday March 25

 

Today the weather was unsettled. It was warm, cloudy, and very windy. The ocean on our side of the island looked very rough with high waves out our kitchen window. Grandma didn’t want to walk and she didn’t have to talk very hard to get me to go along. So we went shopping. We bought a lot of food in preparation for Sunday and next week’s general conference. We also got food for a young adult activity we are planning. While shopping I noticed the new spring window display with bright contrasting colors.

Then I walked around the corner and there they were on a real person.

We came home and I got lots of phone calls arranging visits for this evening. The missionaries and members kept calling to change their times, and for some reason I became the middle man. The life of a senior missionary. We needed gas so we left a bit early and then drove along the ocean headed for Ribeira Grande. Our side of the island usually is the protected side with calmer seas, but today the waves were extreme. We drove slowly along not finding a place to stop and take pictures. But believe me it was fun to see, and would have been miserable to be in a boat. Remember the road rally. Well they were getting started and so I drove in the slow lane while a bunch passed us and grandma got two good pictures.

I thought it was fun. We arrived on the other side of the island where we always take pictures on Sunday of the huge waves rolling in to a calm sea. Getting the missionaries we started visiting people, t was good. We had a dinner appointment at 6:30 and we arrived and had a really nice meal. I wish I had remembered to take pictures. We had clams cooked in tomato sauce with small pieces 

of beef and seasoned up nice. With rice and home fries and tossed salad. It was wonderful. I hope I get it again sometime. We headed home and just as we arrived it started to sprinkle. Great day we love you all.

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Jim good eye seeing the drywall. It was nice to see construction more like home. Laura thanks for the kind comments.

Thursday March 24

 

This morning we went walking earlier. We left at 8:10 and the weather was fantastic.  65 with no wind. We headed down to the coast on our regular route. I am not sure if it was the nice weather but probably more likely the day of the week, but the whale watching boats were headed out.

Meanwhile there is another road rally in town, with the cars and support semi trucks and field kitchens.

We had a nice walk then turned for home. We stopped at the farmers market and I got a picture of my butcher.

The beggars are out in force, I wonder where they are when it is cold.

So even in a t shirt by the time we arrived home I was sweating. Passed a funny sign sometimes they get the spelling wrong.

We got back and just had time to get ready and off to lunch. We had all of our plans sort of go backwards from then on. We did stop by the ocean in a different part of town where some wind surfers were trying it out.

We love you all.

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Wednesday March 23

 

Today grandma didn’t want to go walking, but I convinced her to go with me down to the park so I could exercise and so we could get out of the apartment. Right across the street is the American consul. I have shown pictures before, but perhaps some who read this have not read all of the blogs. This cosul is the oldest being established in 1777. Back then the Açores were.an important destination for ships crossing the Atlantic. Look close and you can see the flag.

We went back and got ready for our district meeting. We had a good meeting. On the way over someone yelled at us and we talked with a less active member who we visit sometimes. The neat thing is he was where we would not have seen him if he had remained quiet. Good to visit with him and his wife. We had walked to and in return from the church. Later we left to visit a family on the north of the island after picking up the missionaries from ribeira grande. We had a nice visit. The young woman in the family always comes to church and I wanted to visit the family for myself.

That part of the island is peaceful and pretty. All pastureland. We drove home and all the missionaries called to tell us they will stay for 6 more weeks. They seemed to be happy. We had a good day. We love you all.

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