It's great to be back. It's raining here, which Portugal needs, although the drought areas are mainly in the south and Braga is in the North. But the first few days of rain, it was a warmish springlike rain, and it's always so pretty to see what rain does to the colors everywhere. In the top left picture, the beautiful gardened area of Avenida da Liberdad near the Praça República is sporting begonias. (They plant different plants each season, and each year, so it never seems redundant.) The picture on the right is on Avenida Central, near the hotel where we stayed.Then the Saturday after arrival, we went to Monforte in Galicia, Spain, where we rent a small apartment, to get some dishes, pots and pans, and some grains and spices we had stored there, as well as the car we had in a garage. We traveled up to Monforte — about 2 & 1/2 hours north of us by car, but we traveled by bus and train and then drove back after a few days, resting up and visiting only a couple of friends, saving our social visits for the future.
While we were there, the teacher at the Escola da Idiomas EOI Monforte invited me to talk about my books, especially the mysteries set in Braga, and about the writing process. She did a beautiful job of displaying all my published books and especially the Braga mysteries.
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For one thing, one of the students took notes! (That doesn't tend to happen in 6th grade, lol.)
But I also had a nice writerly experience before we left Sacramento. A woman we met at one of our open mic nights at Fox and Goose - no, not Karioke, but musicians showing up with their guitars to play and sing blues and folk and rock and country every Monday night. We were listeners only.
Anyway, a week before we left Sacramento I was interviewed by Donnella Fraser Fradkin (a terrific singer of country and blues) for her Vlog, BookMeUp. You can see it at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-2XcvMJg9I
I enjoyed this interview so much because it was so relaxed and in such a conversational style. Donnella is an excellent interviewer. I hope you will go take a peek and leave a comment. Meanwhile, it makes for a very happy memory before departure.
But - we are here to stay. Whew! What a year. What a two years, in fact!
How nice to be home! Braga sounds wonderful and I'm sure you will keep us up to date on your experiences.
ReplyDeleteHi, Vicki. I'll certainly try to. :-) Thanks for stopping by, and I hope all Internet matters are back to normal.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to be home - and to have such positive experiences to reinforce the 'rightness' of your move.
ReplyDeleteHi, E. C. Yes, it really is heartening. We're glad we made the move. Naturally, we will miss everyone in the U.S., but hopefully we'll get some visits. And email, Skype, and WhatsApp help. But we feel like we are in the right place for the "home stretch" so to speak. :-)
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to your hopefully forever home. I have a childhood friend who has made her home in Portugal. Although she is fluent in seven languages, Portuguese isn't one of them, which made the transition shaky. I hope it is all smooth (or at least enriching) sailing from now on.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing it took you to return to San Francisco to appreciate Braga enough to return there. It is good to feel like this is your final journey home. Beautiful photos, too. I'm off to watch the interview next, Elizabeth.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, Your comment is spot on: I have thought more than a few times that somehow we needed to return to California (Sacramento, not San Francisco) to realize we had really made the shift and Portugal was "home". On return to Portugal, that seems to be the case. We really feel at home here.
ReplyDeleteHi, Mirka, thanks for such lovely wishes. We are glad to be back. Miss everyone, but are glad for things like Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc. I am just gobsmacked that your friend is fluent in seven languages. I am confident she will soon be fluent in an 8th (Portuguese). Although, to be fair to her, even the native speakers here admit Portuguese is a difficult lantuage and that THEY have trouble with it. Good wishes to your friend. When ytou have time, let me know WHERE in Portugal she is living. Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteSo many wonderful things happening in your life, Elizabeth! Woot. Woot.
ReplyDeleteHi, Sandra. Thanks for coming by. Yes, I feel very grateful for how everything has turned out.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great interview!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandra. I really enjoyed doing it, and usually that sort of thing I find intimidating, but Donnella made it so relaxed and conversational. That's a real talent, I think: the ability to interview someone and do it well.
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