Dia de Portugal

Feliz Dia de Portugal!

Happy Portugal Day!

According to Wikkipedia -- that always reliable font of information -- June 10 is the National Day of Portugal. This is the day which marks the anniversary of the death of Luis de Camoes, writer of Os Lusiadas, the epic poem of Portuguese history. Yep, I'll admit it - I didn't know it was Portugal Day until a friend posted something about on facebook, then I had to do a little research to see what exactly it celebrated. But little knowledge late is no reason not to celebrate, right?!





So away we went - an impromptu Portuguese dinner party with some American friends we met in Portugal. They brought the Vinho Verde and I provided the codfish! Not the salted and dried variety, though, that would have taken a little more preparation.


Since we couldn't exactly come up with fresh sardines to grill at the last minute (I know, it doesn't sound that appealing, but fresh, grilled sardines with yummy bread and sangria on a summer day in Portugal - lovely memories and very tasty!), I decided to try a recipe I found for one of my favorite dishes from Portugal - a very simple pasta, tomato & fish soup. It isn't exactly a famous dish - just a good, solid, homey meal, but I love it and loved it so much when I was there that I made sure to remember the name and to look for it on menus.



Massada de Peixe -- Fish Pasta, I guess is more or less the translation because massa is pasta in Portuguese. It can be made with fish, shrimp, lobster, whatever...the basic broth and pasta is the same. Since we had little ones eating who don't get shellfish yet, I decided to go with the cod I had in my freezer - so there you go...more Portugues influence of a sort.







What a treat to have an evening of celebration with friends whose lives have changed as much as our since our early married days in Portugal. We will miss them as we move in different directions with this crazy career. And Marshall will miss his sweet friend.



Obrigada, Porgual!

Our Yard

Young bluejay - photo taken on Memorial Day

I really love our backyard and I'll miss it when we leave. It isn't fancy or nicely landscaped, but it is a gift of space in a busy area. We have birds, squirrels (of course), rabbits and we've even had a fox around. To me, it is amazing that we live about a mile from the Pentagon, yet I get to look out my back window and see so much wildlife.

Sleepy fox in our yard in January - he was outside our fenced area, but still on the property.

After checking out the situation for a while, he curled up and took a long nap in the sun. I saw him a few other times, but haven't seen him since the tear-down on the lots next to us.

When the weather is nice, I spend as much time there as I can. And when it isn't so nice, I spend a lot of time looking out the back window into the yard.

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Yesterday evening, after a stifflingly hot and sticky day, a breeze came through and cooled things off just in time for us to grill some steaks and decide to eat them outside. Ahhhh...what a treat, perfect weather for eating out and enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitos away. As it grew darker outside, Marshall was excited to point out the newest critter he has discovered -- lightening bugs! There were lots of themIt is a rare thing. So rare and enjoyable that I never even thought to pick up the camera.

Last week, while David was away in Japan, Daisy kept waking me early so she could go out. While I was not excited to be awakened so early, I figured getting up and taking care of her might save me a big clean up job when I did finally get up. On Memorial Day morning, I actually thanked her for the wake up call (as if she could understand). It turned out the be a hot and humid day, but before 7 in the morning, it was still pleasant and quiet out. While I stood outside with the girls, I started watching a couple of blue jays in the trees. After I while, I realized there were two who were finding food then taking it to a baby. While I am absolutely NO great photographer, I got a few shots that weren't too bad.

Above and below - the baby. He looks grown in this picture, but beside a parent there was a significant size difference.

Breakfast time -- I didn't get great shots, but you can see the mama (or daddy?) just to the left of the baby in the first one, then you can see the parent bent over and feeding the little one in the next.

"What? Our blog hasn't been updated since October?!"

That is what David said to me recently. Funny how he didn't know how out of date our blog was. Hmmmmm....seems that life with a toddler is just so much fun, I never find the time to sit and write about it.

Well, our time in Washington, D.C. is rapidly coming to a close. Next up -- Newport, Rhode Island. Isn't that just the kind of exotic locale you think of the Foreign Service taking you? Maybe not exactly, but we are looking forward to experiencing a new part of our own country -- instead of a new part of the world.

But before we go, we are trying to take advantage of DC a bit more.

A few weeks ago, thanks to the efforts of some good friends in Philly, we all went on a tour of the White House.


Marshall was most interested in pointing out the American flags he saw, looking for the "tractor" he saw mowing the lawn and riding on Daddy's shoulders.





Since we weren't allowed to take cameras inside, we had to rely on John's phone for outside pics after the tour.

After the tour, we decided to check out the Museum of Natural History where we saw lots of animals and even some dinosaurs. I think this was a little more Marshall's speed.


Hopefully, we'll make it to the zoo and a few more museums before we roll out of town...