Notes from A Chair

Last Leg in U.S.

In November 2021 we decided to relocate to Portugal. We listed our Arizona home with an agent and closed escrow in May. We determined that an exploratory stay in Portugal of two months would enable us to find a suitable location to lease an apartment for a term of twelve months as the residency visa application requires. In March while in Porto, we selected an appartment in a high-rise close to grocery and other shopping. We'll rely on public transportation, Uber, and occasionally we'll rent a car. Yes, we are all done with car ownership, and good riddance we say.

We returned to the U.S. at the end of April to begin the process of obtaining our D7 residency visa through the Portugese consulate in San Franciso. Our latest communication indicates that we should have final approval by the end of June. We are already booked on a flight back to Porto. This is so happening, y'all.

We Swoon Over Our Grandchildren

While awaiting the visa approval here in the U.S., we took advantage of this holding period to fuss over, embrace, and enjoy our offspring and grandkids. Oh, my they all do bring us such joy, right up to the onset of fatigue, at which point we retreat for recuperation and happily anticipate the next day's opportunity to again fuss over, embrace, and enjoy.

We have eight grandchildren: two in the California contingent and six in the Florida contingent. Each is a masterpiece. Scholars, athletes, a scientist, a nurse, a retail entrepreneur, and babies still willing to sit on our laps, compel us to play make-believe with them, and occasionally demand a hug.

The photo to the left captures the youngest granddaughters of the Florida contingent and the abundant pleasure they bring us.

And So, for Now We Travel

To some, driven by compulsion to earn, acquire, achieve, compete; the stress of life can be overwhelming. And to some, it can be exilirating, even life-sustaining. Saved from what for me were the hazards of stress, I escaped such destructive compulsions a few years ago with my forced and now fully embraced retirement. Check out the laid-back posture and attire as I peruse some inconsequential publication. Oh yes, I belong in this chair, heart rate and respiration at very comfortable levels, gathering thoughts for a post.

A friend we were visiting in South Carolina took this photo while we were waiting for our wives to finish their shopping/browsing/acquiring in a quaint, charming little store in the town of Bluffton near Hilton Head at the center of the low country of South Carolina overlooking the May River.

The SC Friends

He labelled this event and the image: "Notes from A Chair". Well bless his heart, that is exactly what all my musings/writings are--jes' notes from the chair, y'all. I'm going to incorporate that phrase into my blog posts now. Thanks for that, my old and dear friend.

Biltmore Estate

From the home of our friends near Hilton Head, SC, we travelled north to Ashville, NC to tour the Biltmore estate. George Washington Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius, purchased over 700 acres of land in the Blue Ridge Mountains on which he built his summer home. Employing thousands of laborers, artisans, and craftsmen, construction began in 1889 and completed in 1895. Vanderbilt's descendants retain ownership of this the largest private home in the U.S.

The chateau is impressive, of course, but the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the estate's gardens and conservatory are worth at least a full day of touring, and that won't be enough to experience all of the wonder of this place.. Pictured here is Mary Lou beneath the canopy of a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar.