Patricia Feager is hosting a ActiveRain Contests this month titled "ActiceRain May Contest - Life is a Story".  A popular entry seems to be telling our life story, or at least a part of it.  It has been a long time since I blogged anything about my past, so this seemed like a good time to share some of my life story with you.I was born in Portugal on a small Island in the Azores called Santa Maria.  To the left is the house I was born in.  Back then you were born in houses not hospitals, and a mid-wife performed the delivery. My Family came to the US in 1960 when I was eight years old.  We were able to come to the US, because the US Government made it possible for people who were born in Faial, the Island my father was born on to be able to immigrate to the US, because of a Volcano that... 05/31/2021

Today is 2021 Memorial Day In Middletown, CT.  Memorial Day is a day our Country has set aside to honor the fallen men and women who have served in our Armed Forces, and put their lives on the line to ensure the freedoms we have.Memorial Day has also become a time in past years, where families get together for picnics and family fun. These gatherings were limited last year, and the customary local parades were canceled because of the COVID-19 Virus.  However, this year all the customary activities will be going on again, and hopefully there will be a lot of participation.My message this year is one I request every year.  Whatever you do today I hope a part of your day is spent on reflecting upon the meaning of this day, and those who we honor.   05/31/2021

Middletown Connecticut can be identified by five major sections, South Farms, Westfield, Westlake, Downtown, and the Northend. With the most rural, and diverse sections being the  South Farm sections of town.   South Farms, In Middletown, CT is the most centrally located to major through-ways, shopping areas, as well as Downtown.South Farms is bordered by RT 9, and RT 155.  While this section of town has a very country atmosphere, you can be Downtown, grocery shopping, taking in a movie, or having your favorite fast food within 5 minutes.While South Farms is the home to several small farms which are still run by families who first started them, such as the Harvey, Lee, Graves, Harris, and Brock families.  South Farms is also the home of three Planned Residential Communities with cluster... 04/29/2021

Wesleyan Hills Planned Residential Community In Middletown, CT was one of five Planned Residential Communities that were built in Middletown, Connecticut during the 70's and 80's.  Of the five Planned Residential Communities Wesleyan Hills, Cedar Village, Sand Hill Road, Knox Boulevard, and The Farms, Wesleyan Hills was the largest and best planned of the five.Wesleyan Hills Planned Residential Community is comprised of over 560 units, which are almost split equally between single family homes and condominiums.  Wesleyan Hills is divided into sections that are identified by colors, and within each section all the street begin with the section color. The Blue, Yellow, and Green sections are composed of moderately priced houses that are affordable to "First Time Homebuyers", and well as t... 04/27/2021

Harborpark in Middletown, Connecticut has played an important role in the development of the Connecticut River, the City of Middletown, and the State of Connecticut, from the early days of Indian settlements, to the present day.Settled by the English and early Pilgrims, Harborpark in Middletown, Connecticut quickly developed into an important port along the river.  Shipbuilding began almost as soon as the first settlers arrived. Shipbuilding and steamboat construction became a major industry. Many of our fighting ships in the Revolutionary and Civil wars were launched from Harborpark.  Harborpark became the home base during the Revolutionary War for many colonial warships,  including the first commissioned warship in the newly established United States Navy.After the Revolutionary War, ... 04/22/2021

Happy Easter Sunday 2021.  Tomorrow is a special day my family and I look forward to each year.  The day starts out with all of us going to Church.  Once Church Services, and Bible Class are over we all head to my house for a special lunch/dinner. However, the family time will be a little bit different again this year since my oldest son Matthew, his wife Ashley, and my gorgeous granddaughter Elizabeth are now living in Seattle, WA.  So after dinner we will do FaceTime with them, and watch my granddaughter Elizabeth open up the gifts and candy we sent her. I always enjoy the special meal my wife so lovingly puts together, but it is the time we spend together as a family that truly makes this day an extra special day for me.  Even though the family together time this year will be via Fa... 04/03/2021

Happy St Patrick's Day 2021.  I hope all of you have a special day, and have an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends.  Hope everyone keeps safe and do not partake of TO MUCH GREEN of anything!!! 03/17/2021

Happy Presidents Day 2021!!! Today is Presidents Day, and for most workers in the U.S. and a day off from work.  Presidents Day was not always known as Presidents Day, in fact up until 1968 there was no Presidents Day.Presidents Day was originally known as Washington's Birthday, and established in 1885 by President Chester Arthur.  Later many states decided that Abraham Lincoln was equally a great President, and started to celebrate his birthday as well.In 1968 Congress decided that both days should be combined into one Holiday, celebrated on the third Monday of February, and call it Presidents Day.  Today few remember the two separate celebrations in honor of Washington and Lincoln, and think that it is in honor of all Presidents, and special Sales Promotions.Today will be a work day f... 02/15/2021

Happy Valentine's Day 2021 To All My ActiveRain Friends!!!  This is wishing all my friends here on ActiveRain a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow.  I hope everyone takes the time today to tell everyone who is special to you how you feel about them, and spent quality time with them.Tomorrow my wife and I will start the day by going to church, then I we will have a special lunch at one of our local restaurants.  After 46 years of marriage it is not about what her and I do to celebrate Valentine's Day, it is about celebrating and enjoying the day together we enjoy that is most important to us.   Happy Valentine's Day 2021!  02/13/2021

Martin Luther King, Jr. Deserves Our Respect And Honor.  Martin Luther King, Jr. deserves this honor and much, much more.  Some may argue that his dream has not been fulfilled, but I would argue otherwise.  However, this is not the blog to make that argument, this blog is to honor a man who saw beyond color, and focused on equality for all.Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream not for himself but for all mankind.  A dream of equality, freedom, and justice.  Nothing Martin Luther King, Jr. did centered on himself, it all centered on others.  His life was one of service to others unconditionally.As a young boy from a different country, Martin Luther King, Jr. taught me a major life lesson, one that I learned very early in my life.  He taught me not only to dream, but to fully expect the dre... 01/18/2021

  I just want to take this opportunity to say Happy New Year 2021 to all my friends here on ActiveRain.  I have been blessed to know several of you for many years, and have been blessed with new ActiveRain friends this year as well.  I am all set to kick off 2021, and leave 2020 behind.  I have completed all of my licensing requirements for the six states I am licensed in (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Florida), and all the licenses have been renewed for 2021.  After all the challenges COVID-19 has brought this year, I am looking forward to a banner year in 2021, and hope the same for everyone of you. Life is to short to waist a precious minute of it.  Be thankful for what you have, and enjoy every minute of it. I look forward to reading each and ... 01/01/2021

Life has been very busy lately, so I have not had much time to participate in the recent ActiveRain challenges/contests.  But this month's challenge hosted by Anna Banana Kruchten and Carol Williams brings back some great holiday memories, so I am carving out time to participate in their challenge "Holiday Fun and Cheer December Challenge". This special memory below is my third entry in this challangeThis particular memory is a Special Christmas Memories From My Childhood, and it also gives insight into my past. As many of you know I was born in the Azores, Portugal on a small island called Santa Maria. A Christmas tradition my parents had when we lived in Portugal was to wake me, my brother, and sisters up on mid-night Christmas Night. Mid-night on Christmas Night is when Santa Clause ... 12/28/2020

Merry Christmas To All My ActiveRain Friends In 2020.  Christmas has always been a day my wife and I have spent with our two son's, but now that both of them are married and out of the house, we have to share them with others.My oldest son oldest son moved to Seattle, WA last, and even though my youngest son is still in CT we have to take turns sharing the Holidays with the In-Laws.  So we have had to get a little more creative in celebrating Christmas.This year was the in-laws turn for my youngest son and his wife to spend Christmas with.  So we did a Christmas eve dinner at my house.  We had a spiral baked ham, and all of the trimmings that go with it.  Right after we ate we gathered around the TV set, and FaceTimed my oldest son, and my gorgeous granddaughter, Elizabeth.  While FaceT... 12/25/2020

Life has been very busy lately, so I have not had much time to participate in the recent ActiveRain challenges/contests.  But this month's challenge hosted by Anna Banana Kruchten and Carol Williams brings back some great holiday memories, so I am carving out time to participate in their challenge "Holiday Fun and Cheer December Challenge".Below is a blog I posted in 2016 about my favorite Souto Family tradition, our New Year's Day Dinner, which we always celebrate with a lobster dinner.  I picked this one because it was the second year we started to have the lobster dinner with a jumbo lobster.  Also this year was very special because it was the last year we were able to celebrate it with my oldest son and my only granddaughter, the gorgeous Elizabeth.  Shortly after this dinner my old... 12/18/2020

  Happy Thanksgiving 2020! I hope that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.   Do not let the day go by without taking a few minutes to truly give thanks for all you have been blessed with, and if possible take the opportunity to be a blessing to someone else.  Tomorrow should not only be a day of giving thanks in word, but in deed as well.   Happy Thanksgiving From My House To Yours. 11/25/2020

Veteran's Day 2020 Tomorrow is Veteran's Day 2020, A Day To Honor Our Veterans, and our Men and Women who are serving in our Armed Forces. I hope that everyone takes a moment out of there day to say thank you to either a Veteran they know, or one of the Men and Women presently serving.  It only takes a minute to do this, but the impact and meaning it has on the one you say thank you to is greater than you can imagine. Those who have served our country did so willingly and without expectation of anything in return.  They did it for the honor of serving the land of opportunity, and to secure the freedoms we enjoy. Many restaurants throughout the Country will be honoring our Veterans with free meals, and discounts.  So let us join all the organization who are honoring our Veterans tomorro... 11/11/2020

Fall Has arrived in Connecticut, which means it is time for my Progression Of Fall Colors series I started Nine years ago.  This is a series I hoped to continue for many more years to come, and have been able to do so far. The first two years the pictures were of a farm which is only about a minute walk from my house.  Seven years ago I decided to change the location for the 2014 Progression Of Fall Color Series to a lake about 5 minutes from my house on RT17.  I tried that location for two years, but the colors were not as good as I expected them to be.  Five years ago I decided to change locations again to a site on Lyman's Orchards in Middlefield, CT.  But once again that site did not produce the colors I had hoped for, so two year ago I decided to keep it simple and do my Progressi... 11/08/2020

Fall Has arrived in Connecticut, which means it is time for my Progression Of Fall Colors series I started Nine years ago.  This is a series I hoped to continue for many more years to come, and have been able to do so far. The first two years the pictures were of a farm which is only about a minute walk from my house.  Seven years ago I decided to change the location for the 2014 Progression Of Fall Color Series to a lake about 5 minutes from my house on RT17.  I tried that location for two years, but the colors were not as good as I expected them to be.  Five years ago I decided to change locations again to a site on Lyman's Orchards in Middlefield, CT.  But once again that site did not produce the colors I had hoped for, so two year ago I decided to keep it simple and do my Progressi... 11/01/2020

Fall Has arrived in Connecticut, which means it is time for my Progression Of Fall Colors series I started Nine years ago.  This is a series I hoped to continue for many more years to come, and have been able to do so far. The first two years the pictures were of a farm which is only about a minute walk from my house.  Seven years ago I decided to change the location for the 2014 Progression Of Fall Color Series to a lake about 5 minutes from my house on RT17.  I tried that location for two years, but the colors were not as good as I expected them to be.  Five years ago I decided to change locations again to a site on Lyman's Orchards in Middlefield, CT.  But once again that site did not produce the colors I had hoped for, so two year ago I decided to keep it simple and do my Progressi... 10/22/2020

Fall Has arrived in Connecticut, which means it is time for my Progression Of Fall Colors series I started Nine years ago.  This is a series I hoped to continue for many more years to come, and have been able to do so far. The first two years the pictures were of a farm which is only about a minute walk from my house.  Seven years ago I decided to change the location for the 2014 Progression Of Fall Color Series to a lake about 5 minutes from my house on RT17.  I tried that location for two years, but the colors were not as good as I expected them to be.  Five years ago I decided to change locations again to a site on Lyman's Orchards in Middlefield, CT.  But once again that site did not produce the colors I had hoped for, so two year ago I decided to keep it simple and do my Progressio... 10/15/2020