We’re in Paris. I promise to post all about it. Promise. But right now I’m making my kids popcorn after a long day of site seeing. I’m having red wine with mine;)
We’re in Paris
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Author Archives: cbt
God help us.
Lana has a favorite author. This author, for good or bad is prolific. My daughter’s life goal is to read every Jacqueline Wilson book. This is a collection I can support, and I so I do. She has read most of the her children’s books but is saving the young adult, and adult titles for the appropriate time.
A new book, Diamond, was just released, and of course I had to order it for her. She was also owed a new copy of her Paris ‘not for parents’ travel guide since she loaned, then gave her copy to her friend AM who was visiting from Australia.
I couldn’t order Lana two books and none for Nuno. So, when I had a peak around I decided on a book about Charles Darwin as well as one on Evolution.
Nuno is a believer. And this does my husband’s head in as he’s agnostic or atheist depending on the day. SO, being a believer as well as a believer in science I thought we could handle reading both Bible stories as well as this book on Evolution.
Today I had to visit the ER/ A&E with Nuno. He injured his arm yesterday and we needed to make sure it wasn’t broken. The school nurse said it was the best idea, so off we went to Cascais Hospital. While waiting to be seen, we started reading Evolution Revolution. It seemed that every paragraph led to discussion. Species, God, extinction, continental shift, etc. I realized that even though it might take us a year to get through it at this rate, this just might be the most thought provoking book my son has ever read. And I’ll tell you, I loved having time to have such a good chat with him.
Super Duper Dan
Lana had a project to do about a hero. She first thought about writing about her favorite author, Jacqueline Wilson, but after a bit of thought she quickly remembered that she knew a real life hero. How many of us can say that?
One day in April 2008 our friend Dan saved a woman’s life. When this happened, Lana renamed him Super Duper Dan and that is what she has called him since. Even if he had never saved a life, he would still be a good man. He is a great friend, a loving husband (his wife is fabulous too) and they have raised a pretty spectacular young woman. But Dan has done some spectacularly heroic things. Yes, plural. I think Danny’s accomplishments should be shared and since he doesn’t do that for himself, I will do it for him by sharing Lana’s report.
Dan Hayes …Â My Hero
Dan isn’t like any ordinary man. Dan went to war at age 25 . He served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm from 1990 – 91 for 6 months. He trained at Fort Bragg for a month prior to departing. He was in the ARMY, Special Operations, USACAPOC(United States Army Civil Affairs Psychological Operations Command). He received a Bronze Star Medal for putting his life in danger to help his 6 man team during the war. That was the scariest moment of his life !!!!!
He and his wife Peggy, have been together since 1982. Holly, his daughter was 4 months old when he went away to war. She is now 23 and just graduated from UCONN with a Biology degree and a minor in psychology. She is still going to continue her education in Medicine or Law.
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Something you would never guess about Dan is his love of sharks. His love of sharks actually started because of his daughter Holly’s love for them. She and he are both certified divers and have been in shark cages to study sharks.But none of these reasons alone are why he is my hero.
Dan is also very active in the community. He is president of the War Memorial which is a community center in the town where I was born. That is how my mother and he became friends and how I got to know him. Even though he is a really great guy, that is not why he is my hero.
This is why he is my hero…
One day, Dan was driving his car and he saw a car that looked like it had been in an accident and was on fire, so he stopped his car and went to get a closer look when he saw a man running from who said that he couldn’t get the woman out. The lady was stuck in her burning car. Instead of getting in his car and driving away, he ran up to the car and got inside behind her seat. He told the lady inside the car to stay calm. He saw that her legs were stuck under the steering wheel and her door wouldn’t open. Dan said that it would hurt a little bit and, with all of his force, he broke the back of the chair and dragged the lady out of the car and lay her on the ground. A minute or so later the firemen came and he got in his car and drove away once the lady had been taken care of.
But that is not all, he has also saved 5 people from drowning, one in a river, 2 in the ocean and 2 in swimming pools. He also chased a car on foot that was driving across a parking lot with no one in it. He jumped in and stopped it before it crashed into someone. Three  years ago there was a snow storm that brought the worst damage to power lines in Connecticut history, he had Dan had over 80 people stay at the War Memorial for 10 days  all of which he  slept in his office to be available to help take care of everyone. Then 2 years ago we had hurricane Sandy in which we had over 100 people stayed for more than 2 weeks. We also had the army bring in food and water to give out to the tens of thousands of people that had no electricity. Again he stayed and slept in his  office for 15 days while running the shelter.
Dan was awarded Citizen of the Year 2 years ago, and Veteran of the Year last year for his help with the community. He also received a life saving award from the Police Department and one from the Fire Department when he saved the woman from the burning car.
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“I don’t think about this stuff or that I am a hero, I just do what I think Jesus would do.” Daniel Hayes
He is my hero.
Fridays
Fridays used to involve us picking up the children from school and heading straight up to Caldas where my family has our home. Occasionally when we had something on we would stay in town. But most of the time we were out of here. And people, that’s how I liked it. It’s not a bad place to be at all. I just love going home.
However, this first term the children are enrolled in Saturday sailing classes. (I know, how very kiwi of us.) So rather than race away on Fridays, the kids each invite a few friends over and they have a play. It’s crazy, but I love seeing my children enjoying themselves with their friends. I may be losing my mind in the madness of they play dates, but my heart is at peace that they are happy.
Mornings…
We have a new morning routine these days. Lana has started swim practice for her new swim team. I would never have believed it, but here we are. Three days a week my kiddo gets up at 6:10am to get to the pool by 6:30.
I think she is such a cutie. I especially love her Stars and Stripes swim cap.
Since I’m here anyway I have decided to try my hand at swimming. Good Lord it’s a tough workout. I swim half the time, actually less than half the time she does, and at a slower pace, and I am definitely knocked out.
Lisboa, cut and color
I’m in Lisboa. I come here to get my hair done. For one, I found a great hairdresser that I trust to do my highlights. Highlights on brunettes are tricky and I’ve seen too many bad examples in Portugal to trust just anyone. It’s a splurge, but I figure my smile is crooked so the least I can do for myself is have a good hairstyle.
I also come here as a treat. I like Lisboa. I readily admit that parts of it need a facelift, but it has some lovely charming spots.
At the moment I am sitting on a bench in the Avenida da Liberdade waiting to hear back from a friend as to whether she can pop out of the office to have a bite with me. To my left is this.
And to my right is this.
When you come visit we’ll have a coffee here.
Here we go…
The school year has started. At least for my son it has. Lana starts tomorrow.
It’s his second day and he has homework. School here is no joke. The Portuguese curriculum is taken very seriously, and on top of that he is expected to also keep up with his English.
I will be very honest. I love the start of the school year. I always have, both as a student as well as a teacher. But now as a mom, seeing it through my son’s eyes I can see why some kids prefer summer to school. Some kids like my son.
To begin with, I think he’s exhausted. Having to wake up early is easy for him, but getting up early and getting dressed, fed, organized and out the door is for the birds. Then, even though he enjoys his after school activities, getting them done and still having the energy to do his homework can be a challenge. This is where I come in. I can not complain. I get to be a stay at home mom. I can focus on my kids, and them alone. But I would be telling a lie if I said I loved constantly redirecting/motivating my son to complete his work. Maybe if it were in his native language it would be more ‘fun’, but alas we gave him the ‘opportunity’ to learn Portuguese. And he has done beautifully. In his second year he is doing all the same work as his native language peers. That’s a tremendous accomplishment. But it continues to be a challenge.
I just need to keep reminding myself what a great job he’s done and that hard work accompanies great success.
A Portuguese phenomenon
Since arriving in Portugal I have stopped and admired this characteristically Portuguese phenomena. If you look at this chap you will notice that he is nicely dressed. Smart outfit, nice shoes and even though it’s summer, the gentleman is wearing a jacket. But do you see how he’s wearing it? Over his shoulders. I just happened to catch him adjusting it. Which begs the questions? If you’re going to wear a jacket why not just put your arms through the sleeves? Are you that much cooler wearing it this way? Is it some fashion statement? I honestly can not fathom the ‘why’. But regardless of why it’s done, doesn’t it detract from the how annoying it must be to have to balance the jacket on one’s shoulders? I mean it try it right now. It’s a bloody nuisance!
Since we arrived in Portugal I have been tempted to take a picture whenever I see someone doing this, but have felt a bit like a sociologist trying to capture an image of a unique cultural occurrence aware that taking a picture might cause an offense. My respect for people’s privacy has resulted in my only capturing this evidence now when I was able to sneak a shot.
Each time I see this ridiculousness I am reminded of the time we had a costume party and our friend Pete G. came as a Portuguese doctor. Besides carrying liquor in his doctor’s bag, his other brilliant touch was walking around all night with his lab jacket over his shoulder. You really can not be rushed or productive when you wear a jacket over your shoulders like this. It.Can.Not.Be.Done…PERIOD. So does that say something about pompous Portuguese people? Does that reflect on why our institutions and economy are such a mess? I think it may.
As part of my Portuguese language learning I am trying to watch more news in Portuguese. To be honest I never last more than 5 minutes, but alas as I turned the television on the other day I was met with this sight.
Don’t ask me what this woman was talking about because I could not see past that jacket.
One for the bilingual crowd
My apologies, but this little story will only be funny to those people who speak both Portuguese and English, sorry.
So Lana sails in Portuguese. Her lessons are in Portuguese, her girlfriend she sails with is Portuguese and her vocabulary for sailing is in Portuguese. She knows the words for the parts of the sailboat in English, but when she tells you about her day, even if she is speaking in English, the vocabulary she uses is Portuguese. So the other day, my very literate child, while telling me about her return to land, instead said when she was ‘coming back to earth’. It was so funny because she is so precise with language, but she kept making this error by literally translating the word as ‘earth’ meaning land. It was a simple mistake, one that if made by anyone else would not elicit a chuckle, but made by this young lady had us all in stitches.
It’s that time of year again
With pear trees bursting with fruit you can image that many farmers need help reaping the fruits of their labor, literally. It’s a job that needs to be done within a set time and takes many hands. So off go college kids, and many adults to pick the pears.
This picture was taken right outside my front door. My cousin, who works our land, dropped off these crates. I’m assuming he’s getting everything ready for a busy upcoming work week.
