I'm so proud of me. It's one thing when others are proud of you, but it's always meant a little more to me when I am proud of me. I remember when I booked their tickets...and I smiled as I saw the total price, including a full day tour for them starting out in Portugal, was within $6 of the money I had saved from my organizing work here on the island from November-April. In true Casey fashion, having waited until the last minute to get his passport applied for, we were down to the wire for the tickets to get his passport # attached to them. It came in with 5 days to spare.
Wendi and the 3 kids were in South Florida, enjoying family and time away from this rainy island for the 2nd week, John was busy doing his thing all week and I had gotten the skeleton of my organizing website built and up.
Knowing they were on Sao Miguel all day, only a 30 minute flight away by Wednesday, I just wanted to press the FFWD button on the day, until it was time to pick them up @ the airport @ 8P. By the time John was in the kitchen preparing a special Mediterranean dinner for their arrival, I was pacing and asking him to give me something to do to help the time pass. Then, soon enough, I was off to the airport and there they were. Upon first sight of them, I didn't know if I wanted to just stare @ them or hug them. So, I did both. Casey said, "Wow mom, now that I see you, it doesn't feel like almost a year @ all!" After John's warm welcome of a wonderful dinner and getting to know each other a bit, I showed them to their room. In true Colin fashion, he went to bed w/in 15 minutes, leaving Casey and I to stay up talking until I don't even know what time.
Having traveled from Tuesday morning through Wednesday evening, they were tired and there was the 4 hour time difference to get their inner clocks switched over to. I woke them @ 11A and it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. They swam first:
Then we took a long walk along the ocean front, giving Casey the opportunity to scope out good skate spots:
We deviated from the ocean-front to walk up through the village of Porto Martins. We came upon an abandoned property, where Casey found some old-abandoned treasures for some mixed media art ideas he had going in his head. We were also surprised to find an old easel that he could use during his visit and we could re-purpose for something in John's garden.
The next few days were packed w/showing them the sights in Praia, Angra, Porto Judeau, Villa Nova, etc. My friend Mianna organized a great little BBQ in her back yard, on base to welcome them. We spent a day w/Carly Swenson, w/whom Casey connected with as a fellow artist and we did a lot of thing finding and photography through abandoned buildings, finding skate spots.
We went to the Bull Fight @ the Arena in Angra and we attended a village bull run. While these were cultural experiences that I am glad we got to be part of, and I have a good knowledge base as to where they came from and how they developed, I found them to be an example of human cowardice and inhumane; to the dichotomy of the celebration of the Holy Spirit gatherings we were privileged to be a part of.
Sam and Lindsey Helfrich offered us a full day - paid-in-full - of a personal tour w/their good friend and cabbie to ensure we saw the Furnas', caves, the city of Angra, Split Rock, etc. - w/lots of flexibility to stop for good skateboard filming and culminating w/a wonderful Filet Mignon and Grouper dinner overlooking Split Rock. Needless to say, I have tons of photo's, so to save space, I'm just putting up some of my favorites:
All too soon, it was time to bring them back to the airport and say goodbye. Of course we went early to get that one video shot of Casey skateboarding a great spot right in front of the airport. So different from the States, even a police officer passed right by us, smiled, nodded and went on to the Cafe across the street. I noticed the customs officer watching me as tears filled my eyes, watching them leave. The tears were not so much from sadness, but from gratitude of the time we had together again, just the 3 of us in PORTUGAL for g'ness sakes. And, easy to wipe away as I knew I'd be seeing them in just 3 weeks.
Wendi and the 3 kids were in South Florida, enjoying family and time away from this rainy island for the 2nd week, John was busy doing his thing all week and I had gotten the skeleton of my organizing website built and up.
Knowing they were on Sao Miguel all day, only a 30 minute flight away by Wednesday, I just wanted to press the FFWD button on the day, until it was time to pick them up @ the airport @ 8P. By the time John was in the kitchen preparing a special Mediterranean dinner for their arrival, I was pacing and asking him to give me something to do to help the time pass. Then, soon enough, I was off to the airport and there they were. Upon first sight of them, I didn't know if I wanted to just stare @ them or hug them. So, I did both. Casey said, "Wow mom, now that I see you, it doesn't feel like almost a year @ all!" After John's warm welcome of a wonderful dinner and getting to know each other a bit, I showed them to their room. In true Colin fashion, he went to bed w/in 15 minutes, leaving Casey and I to stay up talking until I don't even know what time.
Having traveled from Tuesday morning through Wednesday evening, they were tired and there was the 4 hour time difference to get their inner clocks switched over to. I woke them @ 11A and it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. They swam first:
The next few days were packed w/showing them the sights in Praia, Angra, Porto Judeau, Villa Nova, etc. My friend Mianna organized a great little BBQ in her back yard, on base to welcome them. We spent a day w/Carly Swenson, w/whom Casey connected with as a fellow artist and we did a lot of thing finding and photography through abandoned buildings, finding skate spots.
We went to the Bull Fight @ the Arena in Angra and we attended a village bull run. While these were cultural experiences that I am glad we got to be part of, and I have a good knowledge base as to where they came from and how they developed, I found them to be an example of human cowardice and inhumane; to the dichotomy of the celebration of the Holy Spirit gatherings we were privileged to be a part of.
Sam and Lindsey Helfrich offered us a full day - paid-in-full - of a personal tour w/their good friend and cabbie to ensure we saw the Furnas', caves, the city of Angra, Split Rock, etc. - w/lots of flexibility to stop for good skateboard filming and culminating w/a wonderful Filet Mignon and Grouper dinner overlooking Split Rock. Needless to say, I have tons of photo's, so to save space, I'm just putting up some of my favorites:
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| I love the happy I see in Colin's eyes and I love that I was able to get this shot with my Portuguese Amiga, Hita |
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| Colin and Scrubby bonded |
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| Brothers - a perfect depiction of them |
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