Some excellent news...

Bom dia!
First, two news flashes:
1) I'm not flying out till the 23rd of April due to payroll/pay period complications.  Sort of deflating, having already said my goodbyes to office mates.  But the unanticipated week here is proving to be a blessing, in spite of logistics - changing the shut-off date for my phone and the hotel reservation for the night before we fly out.  Also, l had to take Emma to the vet again to get new health certificates - they can't be dated more than ten days before we travel (hint).  Putting back my departure date means that Ann, another of my unconditionally generous and loving friends, who was going to take Emma and me to BWI (hint), will be in Roanoke for Easter weekend.  So Steve will make the Friday - Saturday trip with us (hint).  At the hotel Friday night my brother and I will enjoy our last "Pizza Night," a tradition we established in the three years we've been house mates.  We order Papa John's pizza on line, rent a Red Box movie, and eat/watch on his couch.  Yum!
2) RE: hints - From a follow-up phone call to USDA, I learned that Portugal has not yet  implemented the requirement for the blood test that would have kept Emma here for over a month.  This means she can fly with me! I hustled our butts right over to Kinko's from the vet clinic and FedEx-ed the new forms to USDA.  The approved documents should be back to me by Tuesday.


Charmed, I'm sure!


*  Yesterday was a glorious spring day - sunny and breezy.  A shame to be in the office, especially since I've turned over both operations and energy programs to Terry and Major Betancourt, leaving me little to do.  I'm mostly serving as a "consultant," making recommendations for how they handle issues.  
*  Next week I'll write a couple of energy articles for the AFDW e-newsletter and put my documents and e-mails on CDs. 
*  Also, during lunch with Marsha, a friend in a high place in AFDW, I learned that Major General McDew, our 2-star, is disturbed by the results of a climate survey he sent to all of us, which made it clear that morale is low.  In an effort to counteract that, he's implementing programs to promote professional and personal development.  From his Commanders Calls, in which he briefs AFDW personnel on current issues, we're all aware of his focus on saying "thank you."  I had told Marsha about an appreciation program I knew of from one of the architecture offices I worked in, and she encouraged me to put it into a plan to give to Maj Gen McDew. That will be my last "project" at AFDW.
*  Now it's  gloomy, cold-ish Saturday morning, and I'd very much enjoy staying in bed - even if that bed is a twin-size air mattress of which I am allotted slightly less than one-half due to my not-so-small four-legged Velcro friend, who is dozing on her "half" as I write.
*  Most of my pre-travel business is already under control, so today will be laid-back. Just a trip to the post office to mail boxes to my Lajes P.O. address. Steve and I will do our traditional Saturday lunch.  Then dinner with Mike and Karen - you might remember them from the sewing machine and vacuum cleaner story.
*  Last night, Ann helped me acquire a new wardrobe.  We had planned to see The Lincoln Lawyer, but I pointed out that sitting in a theater for two hours wouldn't be "quality time" together.  So we headed for TJ Maxx. She loves helping me spend my money. The movie would have been MUCH cheaper, but I'm excited about my fun, island-oriented new clothes.  Besides, having set aside outfits for only this week, I had to have new ones for my four  additional days in the office.  Right?  Now if I can just fit them into the suitcase!


*  A friend at the office asked if there's a way to comment on/respond to the blog postings.  There is!  If you look at the top, there's a dark blue strip that includes "Follow."  When you click on that, it opens a box that gives you the opportunity to "Follow this Blog."  Nothing to sign up for.  Just select one of the two options and "presto!" you'll be able to make comments.


That's all for now.  Sorry there aren't any photos.  The next posting will be from Lajes!


Tchau for nau
Aisha

Ta da!!!!

As of tonight, Emma has walked into the crate on her own six or seven times!  I started the familiarization training Monday night by crawling in, working on my laptop for a while so she'd see it was safe (actually, it was quite cozy!), and then gently pulling her in.  She shook for a bit, but then was willing to sit and lie down.  Last night I threw treats in for her to go after, and she managed to put her head in the door opening, but the raised threshold (4-5 inches) was too daunting.  So I crawled in again and pulled her in after me.  That time she didn't shake at all.  After hanging out for about 20 minutes, I said she could go out.  Tonight I threw in a new squeaky ball, and she walked in all by herself!!!!!  Hey, the Dog Whisperer don't have nothin' on me!  I've even consigned myself to sleeping on an air mattress, instead of a real bed in a hotel, since I want to be able to continue her training.
*  So that's my biggest news, though there was a development Tuesday that required drop-back-and-punt logistics.  I learned that I'd have to change my flight to the 23rd instead of this Saturday.  Though it was deflating, after telling everyone at the office that Thursday (today) would be my last day, it's all for the best (as usual).  It gives me more time to work with Emma and the crate, and more time for Steve and other friends.  I did have to take Emma back to the vet (I just had her there Saturday morning) for updated travel certificates so they'd be within the 10-day window from date of departure, but those are now with the USDA Vet Services folks in Richmond and should be back to me Monday or Tuesday.
*  Also, today I received the letter from Wells Fargo that authorizes me to ship my car out of the country.
*  That's all for now - tchau!

Loading as I Write

Bom dia, faithful readers!
Emma and I are sequestered in the kitchen as the movers load all the aforementioned worldly possessions onto their truck.  It already looks pretty full to me, but Joe and Calvin tell me that there's enough space.  They got here at about 10:00, and predict they'll be finished by 2.  It's possible, 'cause they're moving (heh heh heh) pretty fast.
Miss Emma is being SUCH a good girl.  She helped me launder the linen, take the bike cave apart (it's like an igloo-shaped tent), dust the bed headboard/foot-board/frame (MS Word likes "headboard" as all one word, but it wants "footboard" to have a hyphen or a space between the two words. Weird.), and other miscellaneous tasks I couldn't have done by myself.  At last we were done - sheets and dust ruffle are in the dryer - so I can relax and write this post.  Or at least start it.  I moved one of the two bar stools I'm leaving here into the kitchen to create an impromptu desk, brought my little baby into the kitchen, and blocked the door to the rest of the house.  Calvin and the unhinged front door are in the photo below.

*  And speaking of photos...after dropping Emma off at the beauty shop yesterday, I went to Goodwill - none of these in the Azores, I'll wager - and found the absolutely most perfect album for 5 x 7 photos - unused!!!!  And get this: the front and back covers have pen and ink architectural drawings, the plastic sleeves are on archival plastic/paper, and there's space along the sides for memos.  For $3.79!!!!!  I had searched on line for one, and in Barnes and Noble, and they were at least $20.  And they weren't as nice.  See?  Charmed life.

*  Hope - one of my very best, unconditionally-loving, and generous friends - came over yesterday afternoon to put photos in frames and the album.  She spent 2 hours cutting off the white borders and organizing them (the photos, not the "crusts") by country and subject.  Whilst she was thus engaged, I packed one of my suitcases.  It's ready for the plane, and the other one is for clothes/stuff I need this week.  Damn, I'm good!!!!

*  Mike and Karen Morse - another two of my very best, unconditionally-loving, and generous friends - showed up at 10:30 to fetch my vacuum cleaner and sewing machine from the repair shop and get it here in time for them to be packed and loaded (not to be confused with "locked and loaded.")


....just had to dash outside to make sure Joe is going to box, or at least wrap, my bicycle.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So....it's 10 PM. I'm on the air mattress and Emma is experiencing her first time in the crate (which required two movers to get upstairs!). I, also, exerted some intense physical persuasion - otherwise known as pushing - to get her

Emma in Purgatory

She Survived!

93 lbs (no exercise over the winter) inside, and she is NOT a happy camper.  She's shaking and panting, but, as I told her, it's a necessary evil.  I wouldn't like it, either.  I let her out after 15 minutes, and I'll go through the process again a couple of times each night.  The idea is to get her accustomed (yeah, right) to being in it so she won't be as traumatized when she flies over.  Which won't be with me, as it turns out.  Apparently there's a blood test she has to have to determine if she has rabies.  And, since there's only one lab in the country that performs this work, it takes over a month to get the results.  Would have been nice to have that little tidbit of information about six weeks ago.  Really, though, the only down side is she won't be on the same plane with me.  This way she'll have longer to get used to the crate, Steve will have another month with her, and I'll have time to explore Lajes on my own.  
As you can see, her incarceration didn't leave her a nervous wreck, so I guess it wasn't too bad.

Emma  Crashed

She was a big help today, making sure the movers didn't forget anything.  Hot work, too: the temperature reached 88 deg!

Box #187

*  Once the two reinforcements showed up, loading sped up.  The last of the 192 items, which had all taken their turns strewn across the yard and the street in a staging area for loading, went onto the truck at 1:30.  By the time the guys closed the doors, they had filled five of the crates like the one you can see in this picture. 
*  Even though I was exhausted, I spent the next couple of hours sweeping the all the floors and mopping the muddy mess on the kitchen floor.  If I had let myself rest, I wouldn't have had the momentum to persevere.  At 3:30 I finally cratered ;-} on Steve's couch. 
****************************
*  Until about 11:45 Friday night, it was looking as if civil servants might be "out of work" starting today.  My boss called Friday afternoon to tell me that if a furlough happened, we should all report Monday morning to get information, and then we'd be released.  Guess the country dodged that bullet.  For now.
*  Time to turn off the light and rest my weary bones.  And muscles.  And head.  And....
Boa noite!

All Packed Up

 These are just a couple of photos of the view from my bed, where I have collapsed after working to pull things together - like unplugging lamps, cleaning them, and wrapping the cords - since 6 AM.  Frank and Brian arrived at 9:30.  They started packing in the dining room and parlor while I hustled to make sure I put everything into a closet if I didn't want them to pack it.  The morning started off sunny, but by noon the clouds scudded in and it got wet.  Except for a short run to Mickey D's, they worked through till 4:30. As soon as they left, I crawled under the covers.
As you can see, Emma is exhausted, too.  Poor baby.  First I closed her in Steve's room, then my room, and then I made her stay in the dressing room with me while I sorted more clothes and put liquids in bags (e.g. nail polish, perfume) while the guys packed the bedroom.  In between carrying stuff out of their way, I did a couple of loads of laundry. The piles of brown paper bundles are more impressive downstairs, but I'm upstairs and I ain't movin' just to take another picture.
*  I hadn't been ensconced in the only usable piece of furniture in the house for ten minutes before I got a call from my boss.  We're supposed to go into the office Monday morning, and if the furlough actually happens this time, they'll give us some information and then release us.  ETA for the movers is 9 - 11 Monday (instead of Tuesday).
*  Tomorrow morning Emma has an appointment at the vet clinic to get the paperwork done for her permits.  I'll send it right off to the USDA via FedEx.  Then we'll go to our respective beauty shops for grooming so we look all purty for the Lajes reception committee.
*  After the movers load everything into the truck and there's floor space for Emma's mondo crate, I'm going to bring it up to my room and get her used to being in it.  Yeah, right.  I just know there's no enticement that will get her to go in on her own - not even piggy ears, which is her treat of choice.
*  OK.  Time for some Aleve.
Tchau!

And now for a short post!

Tuesday, 5 April
*  After all my talk of ease and excitement in the last post, yesterday I was overcome by another migraine.  By this morning I was still feeling scattered and dizzy, so I stayed home and pushed through the fog to get ready for the movers.  I indecisively moved clothes back and forth between piles: "take in luggage," "mail," "today," and "the long haul."  Maj Betancourt sent me a text to "account for me" - the base was conducting an exercise and accountability of all personnel is a big deal.  A bit later he called with a healthy dose of morale support, which helped me calm down.
*   It was Steve's day off, so I had his help, too. And if I had let her, Emma would have been happy to sit on me as her way of giving reassurance and nurturing.  
*  The movers were scheduled to show up between noon and four, but Luis and Fernando arrived at 11:20 to pack up 170 lbs of my worldly possessions.  Good thing I was already home! 
*  Naturally, the warm weather of yesterday had been blown out at four this morning by a big east-moving storm.  Steve watched the packing while I ran around looking for more stuff to put in the boxes.  He said, "Clothes!"  I gathered up a pile of summer stuff I was going to put in the big shipment, and more hanging clothes, and took them downstairs.  I used the mud room as the staging area, thinking it would be easier to get boxes to the truck from the side door that opens onto the driveway.  
*  That worked out well, since it was wet and muddy.  Cold rain pelted Luis as he carried each of the four large boxes - and the aluminum garbage can with 20 lbs of Emma's food - to the truck. I asked them if they flip a coin to decide which of them will handle the paperwork and which will haul the boxes. Fred, from the Ft Belvoir quality assurance office, stopped by to make sure everything was going well.  He said, "We want to make sure your daughter's or granddaughter's things are taken care of."  I said, "These are my things. Would you like a shovel to dig yourself out of this hole?"  We laughed, and I ribbed him about his gaff a few more times.  

Indian AF air-to-air refueler lands as Lajes en route to Nellis AFB, Nevada.

*  In 45 minutes flat I was signing the last of the forms, and the first of my things will soon be en route to the Azores.
*  To celebrate passing this hurdle, Steve and I went out for Mexican food.  Not San Antonio Tex-Mex, but pretty good for Northern Virginia.
*  I just found the Facebook page for Lajes, and posted a greeting on "its" wall.

Here are a couple of the latest offerings on the housing website...

Tchau!

A delayed post from last weekend - the next one will be current.

It’s the 2nd of April, and in 14 days I’ll fly into a new adventure, a new life. To an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. With all my worldly goods and my wonderful Emma.

* I’m uprooting myself from the 1913 house I’ve lived in for a record 3-1/2 years, which I transformed from dereliction into a nurturing nest with lots of fresh paint in warm colors and charming décor.

I’m saying goodbye to my housemate and wonderful brother Steve, who helped me (well, he did all all the hard work) attempt my first-ever gardening effort.

So here I am, at 10:00 on the Saturday morning a mere two weeks before I move aforementioned worldly goods and Emma, sitting in my pajamas in a lovely room on the 8^th floor of the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel on Lexington at E 51^st in New York City.

WHAT???????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*  Ann called me Thursday night to ask if I would like to join her here while she attended a weekend workshop.  A bad migraine had come on that day, due, no doubt, to the stress of the moving process, so I told her that I just couldn’t go.  In spite of repeated doses of Excedrin Migraine, it persisted through the night.  After calling the office, I went back to sleep.  Five hours later, Ann called to ask how I was doing.  The pain had started to fade, leaving a “hangover” of disorientation and fuzziness, but she convinced me the hotel stay, and getting away from piles of stuff that screamed for attention, would be relaxing.  So I threw some clothes into a bag, and “toys” – knitting, book on CD, Nook, journal, and laptop into my backpack - and ended up in New York City four hours later.
*  At the recommendation of the concierge, we walked two blocks to San Martin, which turned out to have the best Italian food I’ve ever put in my mouth.  A cute, short, round-ish waiter, with twinkling eyes behind black-framed glasses, stopped abruptly at our table, gazed raptly into my face, took my hand, and asked, in a thick Italian accent, “Are you married or single?”  When I said, “single,” he stepped back, astonishment in those twinkling eyes, placed his hand over his heart, and then bent down to kiss me on both cheeks.  Now that’s something to make a girl’s day! 

*  A sound night’s sleep, without Emma hogging the bed, worked wonders.  Now Ann is off at her workshop and I’m wishing I hadn’t promised to meet her at the Museum of Modern Art when they break for lunch.  I know.  Here I am in the heart Manhattan, with Radio City Music Hall and Central Park within walking distance, sitting in my pajamas writing to you, my faithful readers.  Be that as it may, the defining description of this brief get-away was relaxation.  Walking the streets here (figuratively speaking) is NOT relaxing.  Our window has a view of Lex – as the natives call it – and I’m perfectly content to experience honking traffic and bumper car-pedestrians from the peace of the 8^th floor.  How else could I observe that 99.9% of the cars are either black, yellow (taxis), silver/gray, or white?  Besides, you might recall from an earlier post that three of my goals for a new job were: 1) a small town; 2) a lower cost of living; and 3) no manic traffic racing to an imaginary finish line. Manhattan does not qualify.  
*  However, since spending time with Ann was the motivation for taking myself out of migraine-induced bed rest, I overcame profound inertia, dressed, and set forth for MOMA.

*  The weather was cool, but sunny: a beautiful early-spring day.  The Saturday traffic – foot and wheel – was light, and the views of Manhattan’s architectural (and retail) celebrities were delightful.  Having decided to leave my real camera at home, I pulled out my trusty iPhone and snapped away.  Some of the photos are even reasonably decent.  After a fascinating lunch (the most unusual menu, with the most unheard of food and styles of preparation), Ann went off to her afternoon session and I headed for RCMH.

We got to see the building from top to bottom, and we even talked to a real live Rockette!  Fortunately for you, I don't remember any of the details - weight of the curtain, number of visitors each year, how many sections of the stage rise and sink.  Here's a photo of the hall in preparation for the Christmas Pageant - and one of the hydraulic system that works the stage.

I wove a haphazard route back to the hotel, and happened to come across the tiny Fire Department of New York (FDNY) museum.  What a treat!  There was the front half of a real pumper truck, authentic jackets and fire extinguishers, and, of course, the requisite souvenirs.  I bought a miniature ladder truck for my special Air Force fireman friend, SMSgt Kirk.  While I was looking at the displays, the woman who’d been behind the counter, Donnette, came over to chat. She asked me if I’d like to put on one of the jackets, which was stained with soot.  Not surprisingly, we started talking about the attack on the World Trade Center.  Donnette lives half a mile from where it was, and she was sleeping when the first plane hit.  It woke her up, but she thought she’d been dreaming.  When she went to the window, she saw the second plane fly into the tower.  She had been there just two weeks earlier. It was one of those magic encounters when you meet someone you’d like to know better.  

*  And oh, the Russian Tea Room!  Wow!!!!!

The winner of "most expensive wine" was something foreign and barely pronounceable, but I could easily read the price: $7,500.  I ordered a starter of three types of caviar on blinis and cream cheese – white fish, salmon, and trout.  Ann’s choice for an entree was Chicken Kiev and I had Boeuf Stroganoff.  When they were placed in front of us, the waiter made the first cut into the Kiev, which she did with much ceremony, so the heated butter inside wouldn't splash onto Ann.  Since one of Ann’s sessions was about our relationship to food and the importance of savoring it without the distractions of reading or television, we practiced doing that.  We didn't even talk very much.  Um um good! At 8:30, Ann went back to the workshop and I decided to explore a bit.  

*  The night was on the balmy side, and I was glad I hadn't worn my wool coat.  After stopping to browse through the M&M store (more crowded than the sidewalks), I moseyed to Times Square.  Is the present perfect tense of agog, “agoggling?”  That’s what I stood there doing, making 360-degree turns, dazzled by the glaring lights and twenty-foot high electronic images of must-have products that would confer glamor were one to purchase them.

A photo shoot was set up on a point of median: a bright yellow taxi (not one “that took away my old man”), lights, a camera track, a tent for the “talent,” and about 20 people standing around not doing anything - except standing around, that is.  I stood across the street next to a covered bus stop to stay out of the way of pedestrians, and a man next to me said that they had done multiple “takes” of a model sitting in and then stepping out of the taxi.  After seeing this for myself, I looked at him and shrugged, and then left the scene (pun intended).

As I told Ann, other than seeing Yul Brynner in The King and I on Broadway in 1977, this was the best of my five or six trips to New York City.  FAB!!!  That’s not superlative enough; suffice it to say that I'm glad I was able to go.

*   But back to the leave-taking process…

Last week, twenty-six of my office friends put on a heart-warming farewell luncheon for me.

We went to Mama Stella's, a small neighborhood restaurant near the base. Maj Betancourt (handing me the card) and Terry Ard (in my choke hold) planned and executed it beautifully! They brought flowers and two framed plaques.  After my boss presented one, I delivered my "speech," which I'd typed in size 36 font so I could read it without my glasses (ah, vanity!). When I've "said a few words" in the past, I always forget the really great things I want to say, so I decided to read between ad-libbing...or ad-lib between reading.  Everyone laughed in the right places, the food was delicious, and a good time was had by all!

*******
Now that you know that next week is “it,” you’re probably even more aghast that I’m not home in the final throes of preparation.  

But if you’ve been reading my posts, you’ll have learned that this move, and my life, has been charmed since I got the e-mail telling me that I’d been selected for the position at Lajes.  Every day has brought an instance of serendipitously perfect timing and wonderfully supportive friends and strangers.  Catherine flew up in February.  We got a lot done and had fun in the process.  By the time she left, though, she was sure looking forward to being back with her Andy-man!

Hope (daughter of Ann) has put jewelry into hanging bags with many plastic pockets, taken Oriental rugs, the vacuum cleaner, and the sewing machine to be cleaned.  She has also taken pictures off walls and pulled out nails and hangers.
Everyone in my immediate vicinity is at the ready with pep talks at the slightest evidence that last minute stress is threatening to overshadow my excitement.

I’m confident this pre-adventure adventure will continue to be charmed.  Onward with ease and excitement!