Hey Americano! Welcome to the Umited States of America!

From and including the date of filing the fiance visa petiton:  Wednesday, May 28, 2008
To and including the approval of permanent residency: Thursday, August 27, 2009

It is 457 days from the start date to the end date, end date included

Or 1 year, 3 months including the end date

457 days can be converted to one of these units:

• 39,484,800 seconds
• 658,080 minutes
• 10,968 hours
• 65 weeks (rounded down)

Sure seemed a whole lot longer, especially the part where we were separated by an ocean! But looking in retrospect and after reading of many who have spent years trying to get this done, we really have got it sorted very fast. Just today we got the Notice of action for our I485 filing, even though it was official as of last Thursday, it’s nice finally seeing it in writing and on an official document.

Welcome Alison

Jane S. Weikel

September 13, 1933 – June 22, 2009

from our trip to Cape Hatteras last weekend

Yet another case against teaching children to spell it like like it sounds (hooked on phonics). This was at a local dollar store nearby. If only 3 screws are missing missen , then its probably a good deal!

Neat little iframe containing feeds and links to various pages concerning the swine flu outbreak.

[flv]http://www.garazon.com/video/discoinferno3.flv[/flv]

disco style

and just for the record, I had a burning permit 

Happy Easter!

Even though it was very cool and very windy this morning, Alison and I braved the weather and set out for the nearby park this morning to have our first Easter together. The park, Maple Park,  is about a 10 minute drive from home, right next to the Currituck Airport. Maple Park Its built on what used to be the county landfill I think. Well I know its built on the site where the landfill used to be, but I am assuming they did what a lot of similar landfills across the country have done and that is to cover them up and create parks where once was an eyesore. This particular one has a nice size man made water area, supporting fish and several species of wildfowl. There are about a dozen or so geese generally there on the water as well as several varieties of songbirds and usually a pair of wood ducks that we usually see every time we go to the park. We didnt see them today which was rather strange realy. Not sure if they have taken off for the season or they were just in the bushes trying to make a family!
We’ve got some pictures and vidseos of the these two ducks one of us will post sooner or later, either here or Alison will put it on her blog. I cant say the ducks and geese are completely tame although you can get very close to some of them and the ducks have several times come up and taken bread right out of Alison’s hands. This particular park in the county has several areas around the park where you can grill. There is a good size pavillion where large groups can be accommodated and 3 or 4 gazebos

around the park near the water side that each have a grill and table. Being as cold and windy as it was but still very sunny we looked first to see if any of the spots were having even the slightest bit of sun hitting even one seat.  Unfortunately it wasnt to be today and we had to brave the cool breeze and  deal with it. Being familiar with the sort of grilling that goes on around holidays in Cyprus and which Alison has posted about recently on her blog, I thought it would be nice to try and recreate the atmosphere a bit, even if it was on a smaller scale than what they do there by making up a few lamb kebabs. It was also my first time trying lamb actually and I have to admit I liked it! Its got a unique taste and I suppose to some its not appealing but I found the taste very nice and flavourful and very tender too.Well maybe that part had somethign to do with the preparation by having a skilled meatcutter remove all the gristle and cutting the lamb leg up into nice lean pieces. I coated the meat with olive oil and a little oregano and salt and pepper and then threaded them on the skewers, alternating with pieces of onion.

It was really just a bit too cool to be out doing this sort of thing but we had our minds made up and plodded on through. In the midst of trying to get the grill going and trying to get things going quick we forgot to put the potatoes and onions on the grill first as we had planned, but only remembered them about the time the kebabs were nearly done. Well we put some more coals on the grill and had a flame going that would fuel a nice nice furnace and a few minutes of having those packets of aluminum foil wrapped potatoes and onions atop that heat had the contents nearly steamed in minutes! ok not as good as they would have been if slow cooked but edible none the less and by this time anything warm was great eating!

this post or any on this blog wouldnt be complete without me mentioning how wonderful and amazing life and love can be. Another in a  long list of signs we have seen over these last few years is this heart shape that formed at the bottom of one of the Easter eggs Alison made yesterdaywhen she set it in the tray to dry. I guess some could say its just coincidence, but irregardless it made me smile and know that everything is meant to be in this world. We may never understand the whys and hows, but love never fails

Happy Easter to all!

Flying Pickets – Only You

These guys mesmerize me with this song and their acapella style

Light my fire

or is it “Smoke gets in my eyes?

Grilling in the rain, now that’s dedication!