"followers"

Is anyone else irritated by the 'new' way that the gadget 'follower's' works (or doesn't) I like very much having the list of those who follow my blog as it was. I could get to you easily, read what you have to say and was happy. Now it takes up too much space on the page and if I click your icon I get a drop down with your bio - and list of your blogs - AND a list of blogs you follow. Then I have to click your blog name again - anyway what is irritating is NO ONE ASK ME IF I WANTED THESE CHANGES....... If they want'd to improve their gadget they should have made it easier to work with it, edit it etc. for example while trying to get rid of the 'aron' gadget that doesn't have his picture, I ended up with my own on the list and can not remove it.... does anyone know how to remove an icon from the list?

ANYway, I am thinking about eliminating it and have only the list of "My Favorite Blogs" like I did originally. Not all change is for the better.

It’s a small world

The world is shrinking, aided by cable TV, Internet, and Internet phone services such as Skype and BLOGGING. It is possible to watch international news programs, see how the weather is in Singapore, talk daily if you wish to your mother or sisters or, thank goodness, to your grandchildren and to meet people from all over the world. Several weeks ago I received an email from a man in England (UK). He was searching the Net looking for information about Brazil and more specifically about Mury and he found ‘flowers’. He has a friend here, a woman that has retired back in Brazil and is now living in Mury. He is planning on visiting her during the next few months and wanted to know more about the area. I replied and ask him to have his friend contact me. Whoopee another possible friend who speaks English!

Within 24 hours I had an email from Wendy – How Delightful! (I wrote that to sound British, do I?)

Wendy (on the left in the photo above) now a resident of Mury is Brazilian/English but has lived in the UK for many years. She has returned with many skills such as making an afternoon tea. British tea time. Within another 24 hours I was having tea with Wendy and meeting her friends from Niteroi. Besides speaking ‘very good king’s English’ Wendy also speaks Portuguese. She already knows the local names for birds and other animals in the forest. I will start going to her home with a note pad so I can remember what she calls them; it is so great to be able to say, ‘wait, repeat that, what?’ and to use other normal communication aids.

Welcome home Wendy.

Carnaval 2009 – Nova Friburgo Part 2 - the VILAGE samba school

Let the photos speak for themselves.

There was NOTHING home grown about the costumes, the floats, the music or the organization as they marched down the main street. The colors, the smiling faces and the total enjoyment are all Brasil. Wish you’d been here.

Carnaval 2009 – Nova Friburgo

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I know you must be Carnaval(ed) out but I wanted to share my photos – maybe you will feel you were there.

I have been to the BIG parade in Rio, Carnival Revival I even marched in 2004. I have also been to several Blocos or street parties in Rio, but I had never seen the parade in Nova Friburgo. This year I wanted to go Sunday night to the opening parade of the samba schools in Nova Friburgo. Sunday night’s parade had three separate Samba Schools marching.

I have to admit my expectations were not very high. Friburgo is a relatively small town of about 250K residents and it does not appear to be affluent so I expected a ‘home grown’ quality and I was wrong. I arrived in Centro by taxi at 9pm and arrived home at 2:30 am. Each Samba School took close to an hour to complete their part of the show and there was about 35 minutes between each one. The time between was the hardest for me but the Brazilians are great about taking delays in stride. The children got out in the street, played soccer with plastic bottles, practiced their samba steps and generally acted like children left with no adult supervision.

The first samba school sang and danced with enthusiasm, pulling the crowd into their samba music, pleasing the children. Their floats were made of simple materials, had great imagination. It was ‘nice’ and after the first show I was ready to go home….. Thank goodness I waited around. My feet hurt, my ears hurt, it was past my bedtime but I waited.

With each Samba School it just got better and better. Before the third one, Tatiana and Paulista begged me to wait – the third one was a group of people they knew and they didn’t want to miss the show. The third samba school was fantastic!

[I have had almost 12 hours trying to download this blog – I decided to break it into pieces…. stay connected for part two]

Off Line - two days W/O internet

Thank you all for your comments and emails. Sorry it took so long for me to get them posted. I will give you a blog worth reading later tonight. My Internet went down mid-afternoon Saturday and was down until late afternoon today - Tuesday. When called Gigalink said, "... cause of Carnaval.... blah, blah, blah - I get really tired of hearing this - this excuse for not doing what you pay them to do.... Later!

Rewards

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I have been so good this last week getting a long list of needed chores done, including cleaning the greenhouse (estufa). During the rainy season the inside of the estufa’s plastic walls become covered with mildew. About twice a year I go in and move all the plants around, wash down their leaves with clear water and wash the wall and ceiling with a combination soap and bleach. AS I was moving the plants this time I found one orchid in bloom and one sending buds out from two different leaves…… I thought it would be great to follow the opening of the buds. You have to go to ‘view full Album’ link above, click to open then click view as slide show. There is also a bottom at the bottom to view in full screen. I am hoping that by doing this you can see these orchids opening in my estufa over the past 5 days.

The actual color of this orchid is more towards lavender than shows in these photos, but you can definitely get the idea of the joy they produce.

Learning to fetch

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Today Spritzer has been real quiet – I think there was an emotional set back at finding himself outside the yard in the dark last night – don’t know how long he’d been out there, like most teenagers he just thinks he wants to be free, but likes knowing that we are here watching out for him. BUT yesterday, Camillo played with him about 2 hours tossing him a tennis ball that he would pounce on and run off down the hill, then drop it and run around the hill and come back up a different set of steps, Camillo would patiently go down to find the ball and fetch it back. Camillo got very good at fetching a ball. They are teaching each other and they both took a long nap at the end of the afternoon.

Today Camillo will travel to the USA and because we are now responsible parents I will stay at the house. I hope this time will allow Spritzer and I to fully bond. I don't know how good I will be at fetching the ball, I am not very patient. I'll let you know.

The Saga of the little dog and other Follies

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After nearly 17 years together Camillo and I finally decided to adopt. Meet Spritzer, soon to be big and ferocious guard dog and companion. He is 5 months old and I suspect has not had much human contact or attention. We adopted Spritzer from the veterinary clinic in Muri. He is purported to be a pure German Shepherd but his two brothers, that we had to leave at the Vet’s, had some pretty unusual shepherd markings. We had to pay R$300.00 which was for his shots-to-date, and a general medical check-up and whatever - they did bath him for us which was a god-send. Of course, the costs don’t stop there, a dog house and paint (which is VERY expensive in Brazil) R$280.00, several bags of reward biscuits and a bag of food (only the best available for our dog!) R$75.00, a couple of toys, food and water dish, some wood to fill in a gate to the garage which it took him about 6 hours to figure out how to jump through, and name tag (s) & etching of name on the tag, collar and leash, R$150.00 (probably closer to 200.00 but I am being nice). Tomorrow, two men will come to put a higher iron gate by the drive and a net up on a retainer wall…. because last night at midnight he cried from OUTSIDE the gate to come in. We can’t figure out how he got out so we are ‘improving’ our new fence for his protections (so he can protect us later). Camillo isn’t telling me how much this will be …. he likes the dog and we will “put it behind us”

He has been with us for 5 days and is still rolling the white of his eyes if we try to touch him, jumping at loud sounds, and generally ignoring us – his companions - unless we have a reward biscuits in our hand. We are told this is normal for a 5 month old that has lost his family. He will follow us if he thinks we are not looking and we take this as an improvement in attitude.

We will lavish him with love as soon as he will let us.

From the veranda - Dedicated to the Owl

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Great_Horned_Owl_dtl.html#sound I have spent almost two days pondering. I got such concern over the injured owl entry. I thank everyone for their comments. For these two days I’ve been frozen with no words to say. I was unsure whether to say more or to just let the story pass…. Then I decided that being a coward was no way to be. I am not sorry that I wrote about the owl in the blog even though now I must also share the death with you. Yesterday, Camillo and I went over to the veterinarian’s clinic to see the owl. He did not make it. Apparently his right wing was nearly severed up in his shoulder. I don’t know if this is the right terminology or anatomy while talking about a bird, but bottom line, he had internal injuries and refused to eat. The day I wrote my blog entry he was already gone. I am not one for weeping, sitting and crying about what I can’t change - instead I spent several hours on the net yesterday looking for information about owls. The one I took pictures of seems to be a great horned owl and is one of our endangered species. The encroachment of man on their habitat is one of the major causes of threat to them. This question of animal / nature / versus man is too large for me to answer but I think we should at least put some of our energy into respecting the life of all the other animals within OUR habitat. If you are interested in learning more about this beautiful animal here are some links for you to visit to learn the basics. Know about Owls http://www.tooter4kids.com/owls/owl_links.htm http://domains.similarbase.com/owls.html

The Injured Owl

In Muri there is a small Veterinary clinic. The veterinarian, a young woman, collects stray dogs and helps local people find homes for extra puppies. We go into the yard often and see what puppies are being given (sold!) away. Last week while there, a couple Bombeiros (firemen) brought in a box. They were holding it with extreme caution. Finally the contents were transferred to a cage and I got to stick my head in the room to see. It was an owl with a broken wing. It had been hit by a car on the road to Friburgo. The owl was hissing and clicking its beak in warning to an assistant that got too close, but I was able to snap a couple of shots…. What a beautiful and elegant creature. He (she?) would turn his head towards me and exam what I was doing but showed no fear of me, just curiosity. I will try to get by again today to see how the wing repair is going and give you an update…

The lunchtime show (Edited and Improved)

There is a small store near the bus station in Nova Friburgo that sells handmade bird houses and feeders. Each one is individual and unique. I finally convinced Camillo that we needed one and so I bought two…. well you know how it is… it is hard to chose just one and they were only R$30.00 each. They are both hooked directly to a tree on either side of our patio (piazzetta – or the little Plaça) The blue one may be too low because the food will set there several days but the yellow one is about 20 ft from the table and very popular.

I could easily fill it 3 times a day. We have gotten so we put fresh feed out right before we bring out our own lunch and it takes about 15 minutes for the birds to start stopping by. First the little ones come. It is interesting because they seem to wait their turn, only one small bird in the feeder at a time… one will wait on the tree trunk or branch and if someone takes too long the fly in and make a challenge, but usually not two at a time are in the feeder (Probably these are daddy birds) These little birds are about 3-5 inches from beak to tail, with chipmunk like stripes on the back of the head and a red-brown collar around the neck. I don’t have a bird book so I can’t give you any idea of the names for any of these birds.

There is a yellow breasted bird that sits up in the tree – he is quite a distance and my 135 doesn’t get a good shot – but his colors are apparent. We hear him but have not yet seen him at the feeder, may be a night raider.

After the little birds show them the way, our guest parrots from the attic come in. So far they always come in 3s, two in the feeder and on one the branch as watchdog. These guys are messy eaters, they sort through, taking what they want and spitting onto the ground what they don’t like. This sound wasteful but then the little sparrows come and yesterday what we were told is a forest pigeon to clean the ground. All of this show with our lunch