So it’s been a while…

Life is new and eventful while being also completely prosaic. I am happy, Mark says he’s happy too. River seems happy as a clam. There is a lightness to our living here that is really lovely. The reasons for that could be many, retirement being the biggest behind moving to Portugal which should be the biggest but…that may not be true. Retirement is huge! And the pandemic has made our lives not terribly different from our old one in all the daily ways and life now is about daily ways, not big events. Shopping is the most exciting thing I do.

Thinking about the holidays is tripping us up and we are not alone there, aren’t we all? And yet, being in a foreign country with no family or old friends adds a layer of distance hard to quantify in miles. We had hoped Sebastian could come but even with a ticket in hand that is not going to happen. We need to be patient and conservative with a vaccine so near but it is the most difficult thing we have encountered. Our first Christmas without Sebastian feels truly desolate but that is more about expectations dashed, not reality. We are safe and well as of now and so is our son and the lady he loves so very much (although they have been exposed and have entered quarantine). A visit will come soon, just not yet. Our Zoom Christmas will be enough to bridge the distance for this year. We will all make it so.

But you are all on our minds as Thanksgiving approaches and we sit alone with a bloody great turkey breast to devour. The butcher, Alberto, wrapped it beautifully in a layer of fat, butterflied on the top and tied with string. I wanted to hug him but even without Covid, I suspect that would have been too much. I just finished smashing up well toasted bread for dressing and that will heal what ails you, fun. I’m still searching for sage but I will find it! I saw fresh Brussel sprouts for the first time since leaving Texas and my heart sang. It really is ridiculous what makes you cheerful when you’ve left hearth and home for a new land. We’ll have a windy Thanksgiving and I will give thanks.

*As a side note, I learned this Thanksgiving that turkey is called peru in Portuguese. I had genuinely thought that Portugal and Peru must have a special trading relationship for birds!!

And speaking of Thanksgiving, we have been on the great sage search. Can find nary a bottle, bag or plant. And then I remembered the spice display at our local mercado, little grocery, the place for locals and tourists, lots of tourists. On River’s damp morning walk, we marched our way there between rain bursts and yes, lo and behold, there it was, a shiny bottle of sage, twinkling with the promise of perfect stuffing. Happy happy, Thanksgiving without sage gives thyme too big a job, fighting rosemary alone. But it wouldn’t ring up, IT WOULD NOT RING UP but I remained calm. The clerk, smiling apologetically, called his manager. It still wouldn’t ring up, they hung up. He retrieved another label, the other bottle which now sat alone on top of that really expensive price tag. It would not ring up. I was beginning to panic, stomach churning, but no, I wasn’t going to leave it. He shook his head sadly and began to take the bottles back. I said ‘no, no, I must have it’. He knows nothing of Thanksgiving, tomorrow is just another day. I explained desperately that I’d searched everywhere, I ‘d pay anything. Cash? Cash, he said? He thought and then smiled, yes, yes, cash. And just like that my world righted. Thanksgiving was not lost. I had sage.

So we are living quietly as most of us are. And we hope your quiet Thanksgivings are full of warm aromas and Zoom love.