A while ago Ann and I started talking about how much has happened over the past year - much of it planned, so much unplanned. Or at least unknown. Sometimes though, it’s hard to tell a story without someone, or some thing, to center the story around. So while this post is about a couch, it is also about the way things have often unfolded for us during this period.

It’s been since I’ve rattled off the musings in my brain so I figure it’s time to do a brain dump of what’s going on in our lives. Welcome to August’s musings.

Monday was an exciting day for us. Fairly early in the morning Ann yelled down the stairs, “Dan, it’s moving! The CAP Jackson is on the move”. So throughout the day we checked on her progress and although its several days later (ok, I’ve been very busy at work) it’s still worth sharing a pretty exciting day!

One of the weekly challenges we have is whether we try to get things done on the weekend, or get out to have some fun. Often, it’s the get things done that wins out, with a bit of just plain old relaxing thrown in there. We’re planning on running into the Porto area next Friday (. . . . for the first time in, well at least a decade I’d say, that she is going to let anyone other than Art, or herself and then Art, touch her hair . . .) so we were planning to stay in the area this weekend. At Sunday breakfast though, I tossed out one of the ideas Ann had earlier in the week, and we made a half-day trip of it. Where do you think we went?

As Ann and I try to transition into a normal routine, we have to periodically remind ourselves that we moved here to maintain a quality of life, albeit one that might be somewhat different than the one we had in the US. So despite trying to get everything done and taking care of those things - from daily needs to migration issues to just plain working - we have to incorporate routines that bring some richness to life. Come check out one of the strategies we’ve come up with.

The other night as Ann and I were getting things together at the end of the day Ann said, “Dan, come take a look at this sky!” And what a sky it was!

After visiting the Barcelos market last weekend, Ann and I decided to check out the Braga market this weekend. Our first effort, to check out the permanent market on Friday (hey, we don’t like crowds), was a bust. It’s mostly a flower market. So we returned the next day and violá, the market was in full swing.

Despite the disappointing news from the Cap. Jackson from earlier in the week, last weekend Ann and I decided we weren’t going to let the news stop us from continuing our explorations. So Saturday we fueled up the Renault (still with a quarter tank left after a whole month’s worth of driving) and decided to finish our drives through the north - this time heading towards the coast and then up north.

Ok, while it wasn’t in the main-stream FAKE media, the Cap Jackson made the news!

My apologies in advance for stealing from J.R.R. Tolkien and the fact that no dragons were involved (then again, maybe there were . . .), but it wouldn’t be much of an adventure story if shit didn’t go south every once in a while. Join us to find out what I’m talking about.

The past couple of days Ann has been tracking where our household goods are. Come on over to check out where the Captain Jackson is!

Lately I’ve been a bit . . . dismayed . . . with Americans. Not just about politics, but about people and the qualities they choose to display whether on-line or in public. It’s caused me to think a lot and to weigh if their actions (evidence about how things “really” are) call into question my beliefs. So check out this week’s musings and see whether I’m right or wrong.

Well, Lidiane was right! Come to the blog site to find out why I say that.

Ann and I finally said enough is enough and we need to start doing what we moved to Portugal to do. But given that we haven’t really done much (read: any) planning, and the fact that it was supposed to be somewhere between 36-38 C (97-100 F), we decided a road trip was in order. A day trip to hike around some area would have to wait another day. So join us on our cruise around northern Portugal.

Just because we haven’t gone out photographing yet here in Portugal doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to blog about. Join us in this week’s somewhat lengthy musings about ships, horns, food and more food as we transition from totally lost Americans to a more normal life as Portugal residents.