Father's Day. In which I miss my dad.

Meu pai (my dad) was about to turn 73 when he passed away unexpectedly nearly 8 years ago.

My father, Antonio, refused to return to McAllen to visit Marissa and me because (in his colorful Portuguese) “pareceu a boca do inferno cuando saimos do aviao” (it felt like the mouth of hell when we got off the plane). I don't blame him because that's probably the best way to describe the weather here. If nothing else, Dad was blunt and honest (but he was so much more). That was back in June of 1990 when Marissa and I were married and the last time Mom and Dad visited us here in McAllen. We would go on to visit my parents, of course, in their adopted retirement home every New Year's holiday during our semester break. The weather in West Palm Beach averages a temperate 80, a fact my dad never forgot to remind me about during our annual visits.

At 26, my father emigrated to the United States from Portugal after marrying Mom in 1962 (she was 36). Both of them had grown up in the tiny farming village of Lombomeão (near Aveiro which is near Porto) along the northern coast. Dad worked at the General Motors assembly plant in Sleepy Hollow, New York until he took advantage of early retirement when GM closed the plant down. Since then, Mom and Dad had been living in West Palm Beach and for the last 10 years of his life Dad was devoted to caring for my mom who developed Alzheimer’s in her mid 70s. Caring for my mom took its toll on Dad’s health, but he persevered up until about a year before his death when we helped move Mom to a private care facility near their home where she received personal attention and hospice care until her death a few years after Dad passed away. We chose not to tell her about Dad’s death, but I suspect she knew.

My dad worked at least two jobs his entire life to provide for our family and continued to work into his retirement taking care of Mom. I'm very proud of his sacrifices and always try to put others first in my own life as a tribute to him.

Dad grew up a farmer and, although I have not inherited any of these talents, I have fond memories of lush vegetable gardens in the backyard of our childhood home.  Dad's specialty was tomatoes as you can see.

That's us on a summer visit to Portugal back in 1975.
Gotta love the extra-wide white belt!

Along with my mom's meticulously crocheted tablecloth (Mother's Day), another family heirloom, from Dad's side of the family, is featured in our dining room.

During our summer family visits to Portugal, we always stayed with his parents in my father's childhood home. I remember seeing this old clock daily as we passed the never-used dining room on the way into the kitchen every morning and hearing its chimes echo throughout the house every hour and quarter hour.

While its overwound 100-year old mechanism now keeps it from playing its hourly Ave Maria, I recall hearing the hymn's periodical refrain throughout those childhood summers. The clock, now officially antique, hangs in our new dining room addition, close to a display of family pictures and close to my mother's handiwork and, of course, close to my overly-sentimental heart.

I look forward to the regular task of winding it, opening the carved front and turning the brass key as if turning back the hands of time once a week. Then setting the pendulum to swinging again, moving the whole process forward again and again until it is time to relive the treasured heirloom's memories the following Sunday.

I have shared many stories and reflections with you, dear reader, as I have traveled near and far and have traversed memories close and distant, but I suppose I would have to admit that Mae's tablecloth and Pai's family clock are my most valuable treasures.

Here is my most recent photo of Mae e Pai together. They are both enjoying their retirement, together, and smiling.

It makes me happy.

A treasured moment for them and another treasured memento for this very grateful son.

Until next time.

Following our safe return from this summer's travels (and after some welcome-home-lovin' from Mamita), I promise to continue our London adventure.  Look for an update in early July.

London, episode 4. In which we take a Texas-size stroll along the Thames.

With heavily-studied and colorfully-flagged Lonely Planet London City Guide in hand, Mari and I made our way above ground at the Westminster tube station early morning on the Wednesday of our 2007 Spring Break.  We were about to follow one of the recommended guided walks for which Lonely Planet had allotted a few hours, but for which we had reasonably rationed the full day, knowing we would stop for photos, sustenance, and a little dramatic effect along the way.  I highly recommend the recommended walking tour, but you can pretty much just cross Westminster Bridge as we did with the morning rush and walk down to the South Bank where you will turn left towards the London Eye (hard to miss) and follow the Queen's Walk about three meandering miles until you reach Tower Bridge where you will cross back across the Thames to end (not meet-your-end, of course) at the Tower of London.

You could do that or you can follow along and enjoy our eight-hour walking & talking, stopping & touring, and souvenir photo snapping & temptaliciously tasty snacking tour.

When you find your way above ground at Westminster, the colossal enormity of the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) is impossible to miss, but also impossible to fully appreciate (and photograph) until you've crossed Westminster Bridge to the south bank of the Thames.  Here is your view as you turn back around and (if you're lucky) Mari steps in front of your camera.

Previously pictured was one of our views from the top of the London Eye, an experience I highly recommend despite its touristy nature.  You will see the enormity of this beautiful historic city whose history, skyline, and warm and generous population is constantly on the move.  I also highly recommend purchasing tickets with a reserved time in advance so you can avoid waiting in one line at least.

Visit the site to purchase tickets and to learn about special packages offered to make your 30-minute spin even more of a whirlwind.

londoneye.com

After enjoying our spectacularly scenic look at London from above, Mari and I ambled along the pedestrian walk, finding much more along the way than my guidebook's predicted list of top sites.

As you make your way around that first bend and begin walking east, you will pass Waterloo Bridge where you will sight the National Theatre, its majesty barely able to contain the memorable mark its impossibly talented visitors have left on British culture.  Then as you pass Blackfriars Bridge, you will come upon the Tate Modern, pictured here, where we made our next stop.  Along the way there are small shops, galleries, and friendly local vendors selling souvenirs, books (yes, book stalls!), and refreshments (perhaps even a Starbucks to quench your non-tea cravings).  There are plenty of picture-perfect photo opportunities and roaming pedestrians along the way to keep your casual stroll serendipitously entertaining.

Much like our first rushed tour of the Louvre (which would actually be the following chunnel-transported day) we limited ourselves to a touristy-quick two hours at the modern art museum, enjoying every bit of the wide variety of art as well as the beautifully spare surroundings of the century-old institution.  Visit the site for up-to-date information about current exhibits as well as help planning your visit.

tate.org.uk

As you leave the Tate and continue walking the walk, past the correspondingly modern (and just a bit groovy, baby) Millennium Bridge, you will chance upon a site which was near and desperately dear to my college English major and (at the time) high school English teacher heart and soul, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Although no productions were scheduled at the time of our visit, we immersed ourselves in an informatively entertaining tour of the recently reconstructed (completed in 1997) theater--a tribute to Shakespeare, British history, and its talented citizens.

Not to worry, we would have our day in the viewing gallery

on a future summer's day (and in a future blog post).

Visit the informative site to learn more about Shakespeare, the history of the Globe, and to plan your visit.  A performance schedule is also available.

shakespearesglobe.com

At this point in our extended walking tour, much like Cassius, a lean (not so lean in my case) and hungry look took over my countenance and we found ourselves in desperate need of sustenance.  As the Queen's walk came to an end, we would found a savory solution a short and satisfying detour away.

More on the best brownie ever next time.

London, episode 3. In which it is not such a lonely planet.

May our pale blue dot glow brighter today in memory of the victims of last night's senseless attacks at London Bridge and Borough Market.  May it glow brightly in honor of London's heroes as well.


This was the first picture I snapped that 2007 Spring Break.

I don't ever plan the first photo, it just happens.  Sometimes it is still at the airport, some simple welcome that will later be a reminder of our adventure.

Being our first trip across the pond (a trite expression which I will always love because it shows how easily connected we all are, never so far away to be forgotten or to forget family and friends--and pets--temporarily left behind) we were a bit overwhelmed by the size of our new favorite city, not to mention overwhelmed by the journey from the airport with our unmistakably large "they must be American" luggage.  Point of information, elevators are not a right in England, not at airports and most definitely not at train stations.

You and your luggage have been warned.

Mari and I are finally on the downward swing of the learning curve when it comes to packing light.  Our "problem" which I don't exactly consider a problem is that we like to shop.  We are fleamarket travelers after all!  We plan (always a plan, remember, and bubble wrap) for shopping, even though we never quite know what to expect.  We also didn't know exactly what to expect from ourselves and our 40-year-old bodies (at the time) as far as jet lag.  Other than being one of my favorite films (Juliette Binoche!), jet lag was really just an expression and had never affected me during prior international travels as a child and as a teenager during family visits to Portugal from New York.  What I knew at the beginning of our 2007 Spring Break, however, was that I was exhausted after lugging half my personal belongings halfway around London and that I absolutely needed a nap.

That first international post-arrival nap would become a most helpful and necessary natural cure for our jet lag.  It doesn't matter what time we arrive at our destination and stumble into our new quarters, a nourishing nap is first on our carefully and obsessively planned itinerary.  

After our jet-lag nap, Mari and I decided to just go out for an unplanned walk and explore.  Up top, Mari is exploring the densely-packed pigeons leading our way into the National Portrait Gallery.  Before heading out the door of our hotel room, I remembered to grab my new digital camera, a first for me, so we could mark our touristed territory, and thus goes the story of our first London photograph.

See?  Always a story.

Our first week-long visit to London was filled mostly with time-honored touristy sites (it was our first visit after all), culminating with that brisk visit to Stonehenge pictured at the head of episode 1.  That first trip abroad as a married adult was also the first time I put my list-making skills to the travelers' test.  Finding and booking a flight (absolutely flipping free thanks to accumulated reward miles on the airline formerly known as Continental), selecting and reserving a hotel (unfortunately far from flipping free), reserving and purchasing attraction tickets... as much done and paid for in advance as possible.

That last part is probably among Lou's Top 5 All Time Best Travel Tips:  pay before you go.  Don't plop down on your couch after unpacking (and giving your cat some lovin') to find a stack of credit card bills among your magazines and catalogs.  Paying in advance keeps you on budget and is also an extra opportunity to take advantage of hotel and car rental pre-paid discounts, usually ten to twenty percent.

I would be remiss not to acknowledge the help of a tried and true trip planning partner, that stalwart of reader-travelers and amateur travel gurus everywhere:  the lowly travel guidebook.  After a pretty thorough investigation in an actual, non-viral, book store all those years ago, I found this helpful not-so-little guide. Posing here with its Top 10 guidebook brethren (their alphabetical order a great equalizer of locations foreign and domestic, exotic and exciting, visited and yet unexplored), Lonely Planet's London City Guide was my constant companion for the six months leading up to our first London visit and an essential addition to my backpack during the trip.  There are lots of guidebooks out there, but Lonely Planet guides offer accessible and surprisingly entertaining depth and details with a bit of a puckish playfulness that supports my subversive nature.

lonelyplanet.com

The Lonely Planet site is also incredibly well-stocked and will give you a suitable sampling of the entertaining travel writing you can expect from the guidebooks.  The site's multi-layered layout and incredible photographs will further tempt your travel itch.

I do have some of my own recommendations, of course,

and (just a few) more photos (and stories) next time.