Being a grandparent has its perks, especially when around children who are misbehaving. One of the aspects of my behavior that I used for my grandchildren was the "Granny Look." When they saw me looking at them a certain way, they knew to cease and desist with unwanted behavior, or suffer the consequences already mentioned.... Continue Reading →
'What I love about being here in Portugal is the preservation of the past, which allows us to connect the past to today, and it will allow future generations to experience the beauty and engineering expertise of generations that lived long before them. In Faro, I was astonished to see the juxtaposition of modern and... Continue Reading →
I am experiencing what many people fear: needing a doctor in a foreign land where you cannot speak the language. But, praise God, the body is the same wherever you go, so you only have to point to what hurts. Or, as in my case, the doctor could see that I would not move my... Continue Reading →
We are in Seville, Spain! We arrived here yesterday and will leave tomorrow, going back to our Portugal apartment. Douglas is like a kid in a candy store, with his tourist maps and phone apps, finding all the places he wants to see. Today, we walked for nearly seven hours (I earned nearly 16,000 steps!),... Continue Reading →
I am once again a passenger, dependent on someone else to drive me wherever I need to go, mainly for two reasons. First, I cannot drive here because the cars in Portugal that we can afford to rent are manual transmissions. I have no idea how to crank one up, much less drive one. I... Continue Reading →
We all need a safe space, a place of refuge from the difficulties and challenges of life. It is important to choose a safe space that has the power to strengthen and keep us in times of trouble and upheaval in our lives. In the psalm for this week, Psalm 46, one of the descendants... Continue Reading →
Walking along the boardwalk listening to people talk, I am amazed at the numbers of languages spoken here in Portugal. I am just nosy enough to want to know what everyone is saying, and whether they are words of joy, love, fear, or anger. What is comforting for me is that until people start to... Continue Reading →
For weeks, the
Troubles are equal opportunities events, having no regard for social class status, race or ethnicity, gender, or occupation. Everyone at some time or another will suffer a trial or tribulation that seems too overwhelming to survive. One trouble that often appears too dark and deep to weather is an attempt to defame our character by... Continue Reading →
Using the definition of talisman as anything whose presence (and by extension, lack of presence) exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings and actions, I believe that love, by its presence or its absence, is the greatest talisman. This is why it so important that children learn that their parents love them. When... Continue Reading →
