The Varanda
Where stories unfold
First, I want to say that not a single day goes by that we do not express our gratitude for being able to sit out on our beautiful varandas overlooking not just the sea to the south, but so many other things that bring us joy.
The Gathering
Last week, our Granddaughters were here (speaking of joy) and they were entertained from our varandas by a parade, over several days, of superyachts - or I should say MEGA yachts. These are crafts that rent WEEKLY for €250,000 or more than 3X that much!!! I’m not kidding. Save up the entire cost of a modest house and you, too, can enjoy 7 days on one of these guys. Great names: Heeus, Gladiator, Infinite Jest (my favorite), Maltese Falcon, etc. There were at least 8 or 10 of them! (Ignore the cruise ships in these shots - they don’t count).
So, the Netas (PT for grandaughters) decided that, in Attenborough style, this must be SuperYacht mating season. They could only identify one yacht that they thought might be female because the others were all so …. overbearing. The teenie one (teenie, like only 80 meters long) to the left of the cruise ship was the one they identified as the lone female.
There was one with his underwater LED lights on the hull that flickered like a disco ball when the chop rolled along the waterline. Seriously? Is this attractive? (Thought I had video of this, but, alas, you’ll have to imagine it).
Mating season for the MegaYachts only lasted a few days, but the views from the Varandas were still fascinating.
The Anthill Antics - speaking of fascinating views
My Grandfather on the Italian side was an amazing mason. We think he maybe made a few dollars per day when he immigrated to the US from one of the poorest parts of Italy. There is a photo of him under a sign that says “No Wops” during his time working on the railroad or on the Water Works building along the Allegheny River. Yet, there are many homes and municipal buildings in that part of Pittsburgh where his handiwork can be seen. His work and the work of others like him were the reason that the poor Italian immigrant homes in that area became a huge draw when that area was “gentrified,” (AKA lots of rich folks found these amazingly well-built and designed homes along the river and bought them for unbelievable sums of money).
So, knowing Grandpa’s work, I am grateful to find myself in a very well-built home here. But, from my beautiful varandas, we have been watching our neighbors’ new concrete home being sculpted (and there is no better word for it) from scratch, before our eyes!
The team building this home is unbelievable!!!! I am not exaggerating— it is literally like watching a team of well-coordinated ants on an anthill. We think they (or most of them) are family. They work together like nothing we have ever seen! Of course, they are all men, BUT, one of the owners of the company is a young woman - and can she hold her own on the phone with errant subcontractors! The one guy who runs all of the machinery and takes such good care of all of them is someone who we think had to be born to do that job. The machines are like extensions of his own body.
Anyway, without trying to describe the level of manual labor and minimal machinery that has brought about the miracle of our neighbors’ house, I will just share this photographic chronology (not necessarily in order, but you’ll get the gist).
Fortunately, we have seen the drawings and we found that the limited scenery that will be blocked by this new house are of the ugly apartment building that was built (by some miracle of zoning during COVID when no building was supposed to be happening, and maybe just a tiny bit of the treetops and ocean in front of us. Mostly, when we saw the drawings, we saw a beautiful house that will increase the values of ours and other properties around here, and we are super happy for our neighbors.
Now that the kids are safely back home and our house is unbelievably quiet, we are getting back to our normal routine of Portuguese classes, gym and pool time, and hanging with friends over good food.
So, we leave you with some photos of the Pink Moon and “A Hurricane of Jacarandas,” as the netas called it, quoting a song from the Disney movie “Encanto.”
Today, 25 de Abril, is the 50th Anniversary of the bloodless revolution that overthrew the dictator Salazar and turned Portugal into a democracy, and, eventually, part of the European Union. More on that next time….
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My understanding is that with the species Yachtus giganteanum, the females are actually larger than the males.
Years ago I was looking through pictures with my Gramma from her childhood - so around the 1910s. She pointed at one little boy and said, oh! there's Joe the Wop. Before I could say a thing she went, huh, and retracted. But clearly back then it was how he was known. It was fascinating to see how things had changed within her lifetime.
love to read the history. I soon as I received the mail I need stop and read it immediately. right now with a very nice wine....cheers!! fatima