Moving on up...

To the east side...of the island!  We're moving this week!  So in preparation, we bought another car.

It's a 99 Daewoo Lanos.  Ever heard of it?  Me either.  It is less rickety than the other car, though, so that's a good thing. 

Also, our first shipment of household items arrived this week, and we think our minivan.  When shipments arrive on the island, however big or small, it is always a big deal in this community.  If you hear that a shipment arrived for a fellow island member, smiles and congratulations are in order.  The same at the post office when letters and packages arrive.  Some people wait for items from home, others for mail order goods, some for Netflix.   But when your household goods arrive, that's the mac-daddy shipment of all.

We'll get towels and sheets, a computer, Barbies, and other essentials this week, just in time for our move out of temp housing.  We'll also all get to ride in the same vehicle when we go places without sitting on laps.  Woo hoo!

Ironic fact of the week:  we were told that school is never out because of snow, because it stays too warm here, but they cancelled school on days with high winds.  

School days cancelled because of high winds at Lajes School, Azores for this year:  0.  School days cancelled for high winds in southern Indiana:  1.  You win.  Game over.

Anyway, we heard about St. Mary's New Albany and saw it on the Tribune online:  sad.  We heard the damage was covered by insurance:  happy.

So, anyhoo, it turns out life is pretty good, and we have so many cars suddenly that Mary and Bonnie get to drive their own.

Peace.

THE BULLFIGHT

We're walking up a small street dodging cars and people, 

Not really knowing where we are to go.  The streets are

lined with short stone walls allowing most of the crowd

to  already be into their viewing positions, but these 

 are backyards, so we walk on.  

After a little while, I'm starting to 

get nervous.  We're walking

and the crowd is lessening.  

 Where is this bull?

I know it's going to come down this street.  Are we going to

be right in the middle of this thing? 

 

Finally, we find the bull,

the police, the end of the street, and an empty pasture

 behind a stone fence.

Luckily we were settled when the boom sounded because I might have simply jumped over someone's fence.  The cars were stopped but many of the street crowd stayed.  The bull was released by a group of men dressed in white shirts and black hats.  They were in control of the bull by a rope (or so was the assumption).  I only saw the men pull the rope to get the bull out of the pin and in the direction of the crowd.

 

This went on for about 15 minutes.  Some men had umbrellas another had a blanket sown to a rigid bar. They all taunted the bull in some way making for a good show.  Randy likened it to Nascar, waiting for the crash.  The bull didn't look so good though, and so this run ended with the bull trying to get back into his own pen.

Next blog will be our new home set to be furnished on the 18th!   Tootles!  Karen

The island bomb

Just to show you our living space and my personal need for space I add this picture.  We have two living rooms with both chairs pulled out for sleeping.  I think we have more room in the car.

We have acquired our new vehicle!  It's a 6 speed Fiat.  Metallic lime green with a special jingle sound no one knows quite where its coming from.  It's almost like jingle bells but only at a certain speed.  Past 30km/hr a much louder and more alarming sound takes over making us wonder when the explosion will occur.  

It served its purpose though.  We spent a lovely labor day on the beach of Praie.  The sand has been shipped in from somewhere creating a combination of sand and volcanic ash.  Black mud.  It made for some fun castle building.

It was fun and now our small apartment is also full of sand.  Hugs and Kisses,  Karen