Flowers and more

Scavenger Hunt–Wood – Metal – Stone

2012-02-10T18:15:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the late post – long week.

This week My Town Friday Shoot-out comes from Rio de Janeiro

Wood on the hoof!

Elegant Metal!

The Biggest Stone

natural products – up close

2012-02-02T21:15:00.001-04:00

FMTSO - February 3 - Macro: Show case your town up close and personal!

Gosh dang-it, I can be so literal. [1. Being in accordance with, conforming to, or upholding the exact or primary meaning of a word or words.] It really blocks me. I read something; I hear something; an idea forms in my mind of what the words mean (to me). Then I flounder around, knowing or thinking I know what others might have meant by the words, the words don’t mean the same to me and I get stuck inside my literal box. I dig a hole for myself and I just keep right on digging until I run out of room and have to a choice.

I spent last weekend in Rio, digging….. Macro….[1. Of great size; large.] …. Okay that is Rio for sure, with 12 million and counting people, but how to take a photo of it – showcasing it up close and personal! I assumed that the assignee of this topic meant for us to do Macro Photography, to use macro photography to showcase an aspect of our cities – up close and personal…An aspect of a city of 12 million up close and personal…...Okay time to climb out of the whiney hole…..

Just today I decided to use some photos taken years ago instead of those I took this past week…. In mid June of 2010 FMTSO did Rock – large and small, and a few weeks after that our topic was Urban Macro – I decided I would bring you a few up close shots of Rocks and minerals of Brasil.

Out on the Barra – way out almost to Recreio, what seems to be south of the city but is really to the west, and good hours drive from Ipanema is a store that we often take visitors to see. Legep an wholesale outlet for stones and minerals from all over Brasil. Many come from their own mines, crafted and polish in their own workshops. They charge based on the weight of the stone and ship for you so you don’t have to lug your artwork through the airports or worry about baggage weight overages. Don’t miss going upstairs where there are bits and pieces of uncut stones that you can use to make into your own designs. Here is a few of my favorite pieces – up close and personal!

Delicate – the soft, venerable underbelly

2012-01-26T21:18:00.001-04:00

MyTownFridayShoot-Out January 27 - Delicate: Show us the delicate side of your town! The dancers, the flowers, the architectural ornaments...

You may read this post thinking that I have gone off on a tangent again, but this time I have just chosen to look at the word delicate as other than a soft pink tutu, or a single peach rose bud, which by the way couldn’t be found in Nova Friburgo. When I first read this week’s topic an idea immediately popped into my head. Then I spent considerable time trying not to use it. I walked through town, looking for photos that fit what I thought was the intent of the topic; talking with Camillo about my idea, having him try to talk me out of it, but, stubborn like I am, my idea didn’t go away. So I did what I always do when I am trying to prove my point, I started with definitions and I found the connection I was looking for.

Within the definition of delicate you can find the word fragile. When a word is used to define another those words are interchangeable…There are favorite or common word usages but they can be used as a replacements for each other without changing the meaning. For example, we would not say a delicate eco system, we would say a fragile eco system, both phrases convey the same meaning. {synonyms of Fragile; brittle, crisp, crumbly, decrepit, delicate, feeble, fine, flimsy, frail, frangible, friable, infirm, insubstantial, shivery, slight, unsound, weak, weakly}

I wanted to show you the delicate underbelly of my town; the Fragile City. Just a little more than a year ago we had major rains, flooding and mudslides in Friburgo. I have written about it a few times, and I’ve thought about it a great deal. You could fairly say that I have fixated on it. Maybe this is the first time I have been so closely tied to a disaster. The realization that my little corner of the world is not safe has been very difficult for me to get around. Maybe I have had too good a life, minor problems have happened close to me but without truly effecting me. For whatever the reason, this has shaken how I think about Nova Friburgo and its surrounding area.

Where I once saw the beauty of stone rising from the forest, I now see trees sitting precariously atop the soil. I see how fragile our hold is on the land. I now know that the relationship between man and nature is a very fragile one.

Where I once saw a road that connected us to the outside world, I now see what nature can do to reclaim its land, follow its plan over the millions of years to move the mountains to the sea.

Where I saw the structures of man as reassuring, strong. I now see that no matter how strong we build: how high, how wide the walls, nature can take away at will and we can be left hanging precariously to the edge of what we thought was a sold ground.

With its grand stones soaring high above the city, collecting the rain, funneling it down into the valley to the river, I can see that our truce with nature is a fragile one.

And we must feel humbled by how vulnerable our city is to the next summer rain.

Rio de Janeiro the “Cidade Maravilhosa”

2012-01-21T17:35:00.001-04:00

I have spent so many hours lately cleaning out old files and trying to make my computer work like it should. It died anyway and had to be replaced. I guess I could think, if I were an optimist, that all things happen for a reason. So maybe the reason here was for me to find this poem, written 4 or 5 years ago. Never finished. Now I played with it a bit. Ask and received advice from one of my blogger pals. Camillo was also ask to read it and give an opinion – his note, “ Publish it someplace” and “there used to be a samba with the same theme, some of the same wording”, I promise I never heard it. If anyone knows the name of the samba let me know, I’d love to hear it.

So here it goes, a rare occurrence, a poem published.

“Cidade Maravilhosa”

And the Lord laid his hands upon the earth saying,

“Let this land be blessed.”

The rock shall rise up from and of the sea in glorious splendor

and the sand; produced by the oceans, protecting the soil

as it descends shall touch this land

with soft gentle colors of brown and white.

The ocean waves shall be of many shades of blue,

indigo teal and sea foam green,

washing the sands in constant rhythm.

And so it was said. And so it was.

And the Lord created man in his image,

saying, “Go out upon this earth and multiply.”

So the people came,

lured by the glorious splendor,

arriving by sea from distant lands

from the jungles and the mountains.

And so they came in great numbers

creating by their own name:

the Cidade Maravilhosa.

As commanded, multiplying their numbers

crowding this abundant land with houses

precariously balanced atop the rock,

and tall buildings linked one by one

connected by roads twisted crisscrossed

and filled with noise,

drowning the sounds of the sea,

filling the land, the rivers and the oceans

with signs of their excesses.

And so it was said. And so it was.

And the Lord despaired.

The story behind the glass.

2012-01-19T21:45:00.001-04:00

Surprise! I’m back! I have so missed you guys. Even though it seems like I have been lost to the MY Town Friday Shoot-out, I’ve been here, lurking. Watching all your posts and making an occasional comment; keeping track of the topics, but not finding the ambition to actually post. This last week when glass showed as the next topic I felt a surge of interest, of energy, and the next few weeks are all topics I can see myself showing so I thought it a good time to come back and rejoin the (world) group.

Lets talk GLASS - Over the life of ‘Flowers’ I have posted two times about the apartment in Rio. Both times I mentioned the windows but didn’t really talk about the why and how. Now I’d like to go there with you.

Because we looked specifically for an apartment that needed to be refurbished, we found one that was in pretty sad shape. The apartment had nice large windows in each room but being limited by a ‘normal people’ budget, the view from those windows is a blank, rather unpleasant looking wall of the neighboring building. When making our plan for modernizing the apartment it was apparent that we would need to change out the old metal windows and one idea led to the next and we ended up visiting with a small company in Friburgo to find out how much it would cost to have special glass made for the new frames. The idea was to make the windows with scenes from around Rio, creating our own view. The dining area would have an Italian look, tiled steps with old pottery. The small living room would have four panels made of scenes from photos of of Rio, connected by oceans waves which surround the city. The Master bedrooms has what started out to be a woman lying on the beach (a line drawing of mine) but ended up looking like an abstract of the country side – I am sure it is much more appropriate for a bedroom.

Fernando took my photos and drawings, recreated them on heavy paper the size of the windows, cut out the negative space and after we approved the drawings attached the drawing to an extra thick glass and sandblasted the designs to our specs.
[CRISTAL arte decorativa em vidros, by Luiz Fernando Paiva: Alameda Barao de Nova Friburgo, # 129, Olaria: (22) 2522-9578]
I thought it would be interesting for you to see how this process happened. Camillo and I stopped by the Artisan's shop and ask if I could take photos… I was a bit disappointed, there were no projects in the works so I could show drawings taped to the glass – that sort of thing, but they did allow me to take a photo or two….There were a lot of finished orders, I wasn’t able to get good shots for you – they were leaning against other windows and had lite and reflections, but here is small sample of his work if you are in need a decorative window or two.

Out with the old and in with the new….

2011-12-31T11:22:00.001-04:00

Today is the last day of 2011. Can you believe it? Each year, no matter how the individual days drag, each year seems to go by faster and faster. Today we, Camillo and I, reflect; reflect on the good and the bad of this past year. I know many friends and family that look back on the old year after passing over into the new. To me you are taking a big chance by doing this, taking a chance of dragging negative Karma into the new year. I like to reflect on the old while in the old and enter the new ready for it to be better, grander, luckier, shinier, NEW.
For the past week I have been going back through ‘Flowers’ reading post I’ve written this year and last. I especially like to read the comments and to remember friends I have made through blogging. This process helps me to remember little and big things that have happened this year, to make note of changes, taking a moment to grieve and to celebrate and to put it all behind.
While I go through the emotional review, Camillo spends hours, days, I don’t know maybe even weeks, putting together a 6 or 7 page spreadsheet: linking categories, pages, columns, color coding, adding up all the ways that this year has exceeded or come in under budget. We came in under in the eating out category, and over in costs of maintaining the house in Friburgo AND the apartment in Rio. Of course, the ‘exceeds’ out number the ‘comes in under’ and on the bottom line we are only R$40K over income. In his over the top, optimistic view of the world, he doesn’t seem to be fazed by this number, and I am just happy that I didn’t hear about it tomorrow. I can put it behind me starting today.
Now, after all this reflecting and reviewing, I am ready to don a pretty blouse and dig around for some underused jewelry and to go out and have dinner at a friend’s house within the condominium, drink some toasts to “out with old” and “in with the new” come home safe, and sleep knowing next year will be brighter and NEWER.
Y’all have a great and safe New Year’s Eve. See you back here for a new year of thoughts and ideas. Hugs and kisses from Brasil.

Blogging ?

2011-12-11T10:32:00.000-04:00

I have been reading through past posts and finding lots of spelling / word usage / punctuation errors. I need an editor (a person not a program). Yesterday I received a comment on a post I made last week and went back to read what I'd said and found a couple glaring errors.... so I pulled the post back onto Window's live writer - made corrections and re-posted. I have done this before with no problem but this time a copy of the original post was put out of sequence and on yesterday's date.... another one of those 'flucks' that I don't understand. If you read the original one, just ignore this duplication.

Signs of the times....

2011-12-10T08:27:00.001-04:00

I have been at Patty’s for a week now. Coming from Adrian and my sister’s household to Patty’s holds the same level of culture shock as when in Brasil Camillo and I go from the quiet and serenity of Friburgo to Rio with its chaos and confusion. The schedule here is total craziness. Schedules for two adults (three jobs), schedules for before school study groups and after school training activities, volley ball practice, volley ball games, Saturday tryouts for club volley, a weeknight trip to the mall to shop for a homecoming dress, and amidst it all, meals – did I mention homework assignments? Everyone is in their beds by 9 and up by five to do it all over again.

Needless to say, I have had difficulty with the sleep schedule more than anything else because Camillo and I pretty much adhere to a bed at midnight - up at 8 type of schedule, with maybe 3 or 4 parties or dinners A YEAR mixed into the quiet pace of three sit-down meals at home, a choice of going to the gym and to the grocery store for supplies, a few hours of TV a day, and playing on the computer or reading to pass the rest of the daytime hours. If you ever wonder why you don’t hear from your kids regularly, you have to go and live in their homes for at least a few weeks....become immersed in their lives, then you will have a complete understanding that this silence isn’t about them not loving you.... but is a sign of the times.

It is possible that my days when the kids were young were of similar chaos, but I don’t remember them like this. When Pat and Marty were in high school, we lived about 3/4 of a mile from the school and they rode their bikes to school – no hauling back and forth or fitting my schedule to theirs. Okay, I might not have been the best parent, totally involved in their activities as parents seem to be today, but I got up and went to a job every day, bought groceries and cooked dinner each night, and like my daughter kept my own home and gardens cleaned. When they were on the swim team, I made their home competitions but not the away. I thought what parents did was to provide a bed and cloths, and a place to study, good foods and quiet times and the rest was up to the kids to figure out. The way of those times.

Yes, Marissa is a highly motivated teenager. Giving her as much support as possible is the right thing to do. I am just saying that life today is a grueling list of things to do and activities to get past. Just saying, thank God there is only one teenager in this household and for one or two months a year I can step in and be a part of the chaos (and then step out again).

Signs of the times - 2

2011-12-10T08:24:00.002-04:00

“Home is where the heart is” and other notes

I know that I am not of the norm. Living outside the United States, in a foreign country keeps me living outside the average lifestyle of Americans. There are people, though, that are born, live, and will die in the same town. Their family and friends are close. Their lives circle around the dynamics of one community. You could consider them the lucky ones but in these times they are also the exception not the rule.

During the 50s and 60s and maybe even into the 70s this live-in-one-place life was still the norm. It has slowly become the standard for families to split up, move apart, to live great distances from each other. I was going to use my family as an example of this slow change in family dynamics, but really it has not ever fit into the norm. For our family, starting in 1944 and 1946, my two oldest sister were born in two different states while my father was still in the Army. They may correct me at any time but I am sure at least that they were not born in our ‘hometown’ of Adrian. Judy and I were born in ‘48, ‘50 in Adrian, Michigan. Then the two brothers in (or around) Kingman, Arizona and the last, the baby, in Cottonwood, Arizona. My family lived in Cottonwood and area until I was a freshman in high school then we all seemed to gravitate back to Adrian.

When I married and had my children, my husband and I lived in Morenci, Michigan; moving all of 20 miles away and only living there for 3 years. Then we lived in 3 cities in 3 years: Phoenix, Virginia Beach, Dallas, and finally landed in Houston in the mid 70s. I left there in 2003 for Brasil. Twenty-eight years in one place, a miracle. In a few more months, I will have been in Brasil for 9 years.

My daughter and her children still live in Houston, my son is in Phoenix, my mother is now back in Adrian living with Candy, one of the ‘older’ sisters. Candy is one of the lucky ones, having lived in Adrian for the past 45 years. All her children live within a max 4 hour trip home. I also have a sister in Virginia, one in S. Carolina, a brother in Colorado, and a brother in Prescott and a sister in the Phoenix area. Where all of their children and grandchildren are is a list too long for me to type into one sentence. You can start to see my dilemma for where I would call ‘home’ or to define that place as ‘where the heart is’.

The longer I live in Brasil the more transparent the concept of HOME becomes. Slowly, I am moving away from who I was, and what my life was when living in Houston. Friends have died, left or lost their spouses, remarried or just moved away. The large group that I used to meet to dance has disappeared, the ones left have gotten old..... OLDER – sorry! Not me, of course. This visit to Houston I have felt almost disoriented trying to fit myself back into the feelings of being HOME. Shopping hasn’t seemed as much fun, I’m not driven to see and eat everything.... well that’s not completely true – but creative license allows me some wiggle room. Now I find myself visiting Patty’s home versus returning home and have to conclude that this is just another sign of the times.

The Jardineiro

2011-12-04T21:16:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the only way to get a thought out of your head is to put it down on paper. A few years ago this would have meant to take out a pad of paper, a journal or even just a scrap to be tucked in a book and a pen, and write down your thoughts. When I first left the states and came to live in Brasil, I wrote often in my journal. Now I open ‘flowers’ and post. Under the label ‘Culture Shock’ I’ve written about things in my new life that contrasted with the old. Things that had to be thought out and resolved, or not. And if I did it well enough you might find it interesting, thinking about what I’ve written and what I didn’t say, the blank space that you can fill in with your own experiences and you might spend some time thinking. These are my favorite posts. Here are more words that need to be written.

The day after I arrived back from the USA this November we received notice that Manuel, our gardener, had died. Manuel had worked for Camillo practically since the house in Nova Friburgo was first built, nearly 25 years. He kept our garden immaculate. He was paid a lump sum amount for the month and had the freedom to come when he needed to, to keep the gardens to his and Camillo’s standards. He arrived most weekdays at 6:30am and left around 9:30am. He often came through on Saturday and Sunday to make sure the flower pots were watered and the trash was taken down the hill. He brought me orchids and other flowers from the forest. He never looked directly at us. He never took anything away from the house that he hadn’t ask first. In twenty-five years, he never made assumptions of friendship, in his own mind he was the ‘jardineiro’ and Camillo was the patron. The garden that we enjoy so much was the fruit of his labors. He was a part of the fabric of our lives. He was an alcoholic.

When the floods and landslides came through here last January, his little house had just been completed. It took him nearly 10 years to finish the house. Rushing water did not destroy it, but moved it a bit off the foundation. Camillo and I help to pay to have a large retainer wall put beneath the house. He was going to fill in between the house and the wall and put in a garden area. He survived the floods. Ironically, on the Sunday he died, he began to drink as he sometime would. Drink until unable to walk or to talk. He made his way home along the dark dirt road and either lay down to sleep, or fell, or stumbled; no one really knows. It began to rain hard. The ditch filled with mud and water and he drowned as he lay. Not an accident, but a tragedy, a waste of life that could have been avoided. I almost said prevented, but it was really a tragedy waiting. In all of his loneliness, he would never have imagined how much space he filled in our lives. We will miss seeing him in our garden.

Back ‘home’

2011-11-19T08:43:00.001-04:00

It is time to write about my return to Brasil. I have been here for a week and am just starting to get over my usual identity – cultural – confusion, a minor crisis. After driving in the US for two months; wide open roads, huge parking lots and traffic rules (basically) followed, and shopping where more than one cart (or person) can pass down an isle at a time, and being where no one walks on the streets - even in downtown Houston, coming back to Brasil is always a shock to my system.

This last week was an extra challenge to drive and to walk in Nova Friburgo. Before I left the streets were already clogged with cars and people but now, after the sense of space you get in the US, I’ve felt claustrophobic. In Brasil, everyone receives a 13th salary, an extra months wages, in November / December. Just in time for Christmas shopping and paying year end taxes. It is normal for there to be a lot of people on the streets in December, but it seems that this year it is extremely bad. A byproduct of the good economy? Whether on foot or in the car, darting and dashing to avoid those who seem to stop for no reason, talk on their cells in the middle of the sidewalk, park wherever it is convenient for them.

The election of the last mayor (Prefeito) was based on his promise to improve the transit in Friburgo. The government changed some street directions, made a few more one-ways with parking only on one side. More parking lots with exorbitant hourly rates, actually with 30 minute rates when you can’t do anything in less than 1 hour, have popped out and, last but not least, they hired a consulting firm – a private transit company – to find the solutions that they have not been able to find and still be re-elected. But this last week it was abundantly clear that nothing is solving the problems. Cars were still double and triple parked, flashers flashing because everyone knows that if you put your flashers on it is okay to park anywhere you want and block all other transit. My 15 minutes from the house to my appointment took well over an hour – not to mentioned the drive home. Yes, I could take the bus, the one that was stuck in the traffic right in front of me..... The one that is so full of people coming in from the countryside that there was room only to hang from the rafters .... The bus / company that is owned by the mayor and his family?

Yes, I could. I am not sure though that this would help me feel better during this transition period between the US and Brasil. I am suffering culture shock – plain and simple.

Signs of the times – 3

2011-11-10T23:44:00.001-04:00

Home?Town

I am going to try and write what I started out to write when writing 'Home is Where the heart is'. The thoughts that I need to put down have been in my head for weeks now, but vague, without that spark of inspiration that I sometimes get when thinking about a topic. My intended topic was the changes I’d seen in Adrian and, as you can tell, I got majorly distracted when I started the post last week. I will try to do better staying on topic this time around.

Back to Adrian.

I spent two weeks in Adrian at the end of September and it felt like a visit not a return home; these are the feelings that trigged my last post. Even though born in Adrian, I only lived in the area for 9 years or so as a semi-adult. Returning to my city of birth during my freshman year of high school, and leaving when Patty was 3 (Sept. ‘64 until fall of ‘73). I don’t have many memories of these years. My high school years were spent in a hustle of work and school; no dates, no dances, one basket ball game, no making trouble – just the years passing without note. And immediately after high school my early married years spent in Morenci were about taking care of the babies not thinking about hometowns, belonging and other complex thoughts that I have today.

During this time, my perception was that Adrian was a good sized city. Only after I left and went to progressively larger cities, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Rio de Janeiro, did I start to see Adrian as a small town. And now I see it as a small town that is getting even smaller. Just to see if there were any facts to back up this change in perspective, I Googled for population history of the area (if you use Google as a verb is it capitalized?) and found that yes it is shrinking. The population loss is not great unless you look at how a town would normally grow as families grow and multiply. The numbers for Adrian when compared to the national averages have been pretty stagnant since the 60s.

	Adrian #	Adrian %	National %
1960	20,347	10.60%	18.50%
1970	20,382	0.20%	13.30%
1980	21,276	4.40%	11.50%
1990	22,097	3.90%	9.80%
2000	21,574	−2.4%	13.20%
2010	21,133	−2.0%	9.70%

This could be from the area going from farm to industrial to.... loss of industry? There are two universities and one junior college but after graduation the young people leave for jobs in larger cities. Now this is all my conjecture – but what is there to hold young people and their future families? For that matter what is there that would draw the young people back as they age and begin to retire? This is probably the better question.Adrian would be a wonderful size town to retire in if it had a few amenities; a place to go dancing, a golf course close in, coffee shops and tea rooms to meet for breakfast. These are a few of the things I see retired people do in other cities.

Adrian Michigan - Fall colors

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When last in Adrian I saw a small charming town surrounded by natural beauty, the downtown empty of businesses, without even one nice restaurant but with one downtown theater (which is wonderful) and a couple of bars and a few cafes. The outer streets are lined with fast food, with one very badly maintained shopping center on the outskirts. When looking for entertainment or good food my sister and family drive to Tecumseh (under 9,000) or to Toledo. Why does Tecumseh, a town half the size of Adrian, have nice restaurants and Adrian doesn’t?

One thing in Adrian that really impresses me is The old library, now a museum of local history. The displays are interesting, the interior of the building impressive. The only thing I can say that needs to be changed is that it needs to be bigger. Maybe there could even be more old buildings used to expand the displays. The manufacturing history of Adrian is interesting and I could see one of the now empty buildings housing a display telling the story of the Organs or the making of just one of the original cars. I can see families bringing their young children to Adrian for a weekend of local history.

Adrian Michigan - Historical Museum

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Of course that would mean more hotels, ..... a train from Ann Arbor to Toledo .... organized transit .... but then maybe Adrian would no longer be a small, sleepy little town and the families that have stayed just for those characteristics would have to find another hometown..... And in the end it goes against my nature (that wants to fix everything) that I have to admit that the loss of work, the exodus of families is just another sign of the times in America that has no easy fix.

Signs of the times - 2

2011-10-18T14:06:00.001-04:00

“Home is where the heart is” and other notes

During the 50s and 60s and maybe even into the 70s this live-in-one-place life was still the norm. It has slowly become the standard for families to split up, move apart, to live great distances from each other. I was going to use my family as an example of this slow change in family dynamics, but really it also has not ever fit into the normal either. For our family, starting in 1944 and 1946, my two oldest sister were born in two different states while my father was still in the Army. They may correct me at any time but I am sure at least that they were not born in our ‘hometown’ of Adrian. Then Judy and I were born in ‘48, ‘50 in Adrian, Michigan. Then the two brothers in (or around) Kingman, Arizona and the last, the baby in Cottonwood, Arizona. My family lived in Cottonwood and area until I was a freshman in high school then we all seemed to gravitate back to Adrian.

Signs of the times....

2011-10-15T19:26:00.001-04:00

I have been at Patty’s for a week now. Coming from Adrian and my sister’s household to Patty’s, holds the same level of culture shock as when in Brasil, Camillo and I go from the quiet and serenity of Friburgo, to Rio with its chaos and confusion. The schedule here is total craziness. Schedules for two adults (three jobs), schedules for before school study groups and after school training activities, volley ball practice, volley ball games, Saturday tryouts for club volley, a weeknight trip to the mall to shop for a homecoming dress, and amidst it all, meals – did I mention homework assignments? Everyone is in their beds by 9 and up by five to do it all over again.

It is possible that my days when the kids were young were of similar chaos, but I don’t remember them like this. When Pat and Marty were in high school, we lived about 3/4 of a mile from the school and they road their bikes to school – no hauling back and forth or fitting my schedule to theirs. Okay, I might not have been the best parent, totally involved in their activities as parents seem to be today, but I got up and went to a job every day, bought groceries and cooked dinner each night, and like my daughter kept my own home and gardens cleaned. When they were on the swim team, I made their home competitions but not the away. I thought what parents did was to provide a bed and cloths, and a place to study, good foods and quiet times and the rest was up to the kids to figure out. The way of those times.

Yes, Marissa is a highly motivated teenager. Giving her as much support as possible is the right thing to do. I am just saying that life today is a grueling list of things to do, and activities to get past. Just saying, thank God there is only one teenager in this household and for one or two months a year I can step in and be a part of the chaos (and then step out again).

Proud to be an American, Part 11

2011-10-06T11:25:00.001-04:00

The plan for the mini vacation that Camillo and I took here in the USA was a drive from Washington DC to Poughkeepsie NY, then a three day drive up the Hudson valley, then across to Lake Erie and along the Lake to Adrian. Pretty ambitious when you consider the miles involved. We ended up reaching Poughkeepsie, spending one day in that area and then heading straight across Pennsylvania and into Ohio and up a few miles north into Adrian – except for one small exertion into the farmland, all by expressway. The initial plan also included lots of fall color, a few waterfalls and the tasting of a few New York Wines. It ended up that fall color was just beginning - not a disappointment by the way, the variation of faded greens, gold and touches of reds was beautiful - the first planned waterfalls were closed for maintenance, the vineyards we located were closed for a special function and the other’s restaurant was only open for weekends this time of year, and I ended up with a really bad goldenrod allergy attack. Don’t get me wrong the goldenrod that lined the highways, edged the farm fields and rimmed the forest is really beautiful, but my head locked up, gripped me, blurred my eyes – shortened my temper. The shortened temper causing more problem then the rest, of course.

While in the Poughkeepsie area we ate in one really good bar, Camillo ate a prime rib sandwich and a wine, and I a hamburger and a coke (designated driver). The owners were friendly and helpful, giving us good food and instructions to a decent hotel. The next morning it was raining but we drove up to Hyde Park to visit the home of FDR and their neighbors the Vanderbilt's. The instead of finding a hotel for the night we backtracked and finding a freeway, headed west.

Family home of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt:

Vanderbilt Mansion:

Proud to be an American....

2011-09-30T11:44:00.001-04:00

Camillo and I travel back and forth to the USA, a lot, but have not really taken a trip cross-country since when we lived in Houston and then those trips were pretty much limited to Texas. Since living in Brasil, some 9 years now, we fly into Houston, visit family and friends, fly to visit my mother and then fly home. There has been no real sense of the US, its size, its people and the changes that are occurring. We have traveled in Brasil, in France and in Italy more often and for longer periods. This trip I wanted to show Camillo the real America.

Looking back over my photos from the drive from Washington DC to Adrian, Michigan – by way of the Hudson Valley, I could feel, again, the lump in my throat that rose up when we exited the subway station in Washington and saw the flags flying high along the roof tops, over the doors and window, and all along the sidewalks. The lump attacking again, and again as we viewed the monuments that line the National Mall; as we admired the circle of flags at the base of the Washington Monument and while standing beside the beautiful Vietnam Women’s Memorial, and as I turned to watch the long line of mourners passing beside the Vietnam memorial, stopping to touch the name of a loved one as they moved slowly along. Was it the cool, whet wind blowing that made my eyes overflow with tears or feeling, in that moment, so proud to be an American?

As we traveled Southwest to Northeast, passing through countryside filled with well maintained farms, small lakes, tall forests turning from muted greens to the bright colors of fall, and driving along grand highways, and even more, small curvy country roads, in my mind the pride I’d felt in my homeland persisted. And by the time we arrived in Adrian the emotions had changed once more. My thinking went from pride in the memorials we’d built to our heroes, to the wonder at the architecture that had stood the test of time and weather, to a renewal in my understanding that what makes The United States great is the heart of its people. Their politeness, their willingness to go beyond duty to help, to guide, and their ability to show kindness to strangers. This is what makes America strong

A Special thanks to the ‘volleyball goddess’ of Bethlehem, PA – who after finding us (completely) lost in an Allentown parking lot, our Google map having led us a merry chase, took one look at our exhausted faces said, “follow me” leading us to our destination instead of merely rattling off ‘go left, right, left...’ directions. (There is that dratted lump again.)

And More: The shuttle van driver in Rockville MD – the young man taking the long way around, off his route, to drop us at a drugstore, making sure we know how to get to the subway station from there, worrying that he needed to do more to make sure we were safe and on our way.

And the night clerk in the Bethlehem hotel offering to order Pizza in for us, looking through her maps to find our next days route, asking other’s staying there to find us change for the laundry, offering a big smile to end our day.

Many other bits and pieces of kindnesses that made our trip memorable.... thank you all.

A partial Story : For Mom

2011-09-20T21:20:00.001-04:00

We left Friburgo last Wednesday, Rio on Thursday, arrived In Houston on Friday morning and was there just long enough to run through passport control and to catch a very early flight to Washington DC. Washington’s Dulles airport is small but pretty disorganized. We got the impression that as it has grown, new wings and buildings have been added without really anticipating the flow of passengers. For example, we were offloaded out on the tarmac, then walked and walked, and walked and dare I say walked some more to get to baggage pickup and the kiosk said conveyor 5 – about 10 minutes later the speaker said, “Houston...... CO..... #^#@&^ two. You know how you can’t hear anything they say, but I started walking from one end to the other to see if the bags were coming in on two or five..... finally arrived about 20 minutes later on two..... Needless to say, the ground crew at Dulles needs some training.

The rental car and a drive of about 45 minutes, and one (the first) miss direction from Google Maps put us at our Hotel in Rockville by 2pm. A full 24 hours from the time we left the apartment in Rio. After a quick shower, we walked to Rockville’s city center had lunch, called the hotel shuttle for a ride, and crashed for an evening in front of the TV. Just like home.

First day: Washington DC, the National Mall.

We walked from the Metro Center – over 3 blocks and down one – popping out beside the treasury building.

Camillo’s first comment, “At least its not flying the Chinese flag...yet!”

Walked past the white house, Camillo sat a few times while I went to take photos of the old federal building, .... etc.. In the end we only made it from the Washington Monument, past the WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam memorials to the Lincoln memorial, and back but it was a good day and gave me a desire to go back for just Museums, maybe a capital tour.

For Mom, the Lincoln Memorial in more detail.

It rained, I got a sunburn on my chin, our feet hurt pretty badly, lunch was too heavy – the monuments spectacular - a 30 minute trip back to the hotel via the metro train and we were in the hotel in front of the TV for the night.

Time to Travel....

2011-09-15T14:30:00.001-04:00

This year Camillo and I are enjoying our 19th year together. How did that happen? Over the years there have been many things to argue about. Oh yah, between two strong willed and stubborn people, there can be arguments about nearly everything. But we found out right away that we can do two things in total accord: remodel homes and buy furniture, and travel together. I guess that is really 3 things, remodeling homes being different that buying furniture and the accord coming from him often, capitulating to my opinions on how a house should feel when finished.... feelings being such a woman’s thing don’t you know.

And travel; together we have made close to two trips a year for 19 years. Often there has been repeats of destination having family and friends spread all over Europe, the USA and in South America, plus trips we have made together to just see something new. Last year I started complaining that I knew Italy and France better than I know areas of the USA, and I wanted to start making some driving trips outside of the states where we have family..... so Camillo said pick a place..... You know that this is hard - there are so many places in the USA that are spectacular but I had to choose just one.

I chose to start in the Northeast, driving up the Hudson Valley. It has taken nearly two years of discussion, delays, readjustments to timing and a change in a city to land - to get around to this trip, but today we leave for a 10 day drive through Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York State – finally landing in Adrian, Michigan to visit with my Mother. All of this is new territory for both of us. A few years back I drove from Houston to Virginia to Michigan and back with Marissa, crossing some of this area on the toll roads in Pennsylvania, and I enjoyed it - but we will try driving this new area using only state roads and back country roads, no reservations, no predetermined itinerary.

We will be looking for scenery, hopefully, we are not too early for fall color because that was our first objective. We will land in Washington DC, take one day in the city to see at least the National Mall with its many memorials, then drive north-by-northeast until we run into the Hudson valley. Three to 4 days in the Hudson valley, visiting a winery and Hyde Park the only planned stops. We have an idea of the route but not specifics. The only specifics is that we need to be in Adrian by the 25th for a family barbeque. Follow the trip with us, you will enjoy it.

A coffee break........

2011-09-13T17:45:00.001-04:00

Its that time of year, the time when it is dry and hot, and the hills are spotted with fires that burn for days; the time when the Condominium Stucky runs low on water, and what we do have is rationed; and the time of year when the parrots come for their semi annual visit, living in our attic, in the very small space between root tiles and the wooden ceilings of the house.

All week the our house guests have been chewing and scraping, and screeching at one another, then finding their way back out of the house and raiding our bird feeders, running off the smaller birds, gobbling up the the sunflower seed and cleaning the papaya scraps of the final bits of sweet meat. Screeching and flapping, they fly to a nearby tree and looking back over their shoulders at us with looks of disdain, beginning grooming each other and discussing the coming days over their morning coffee.

NOTE: On the 15th Camillo and I leave for our fall vacation. This time in the USA – driving from DC to New York State, up the Hudson valley and then over to Michigan for a week with my mother. Then I will go on to Houston for a month with the kids and grandkids..... click those photos of the parrots, I swear the are looking back at me taking their photos.

Carol’s Brasil: part 111

2011-09-05T16:20:00.001-04:00

Finally the promised final segment.

I don’t have a clear memory of when I first began to talk to Carolina, but it must have been in early 2009. She stopped by ‘flowers’ and left a comment, adding her memories of Brasil as it tied into my post. Then I went by her blog (click link above) and began to enjoy her posts about experiencing Brasil as a peace corps volunteer in the late 60s. It didn’t take long and we had exchanged personal information and began to email about her hopes of returning here for a visit. She made plans, they were canceled. She made more plans and once again they were canceled. Until she contacted me back in May of this year with her final plan, I didn’t really believe she would ever come. And, unlike her first couple of plans, this time she would include a stop in Rio. I offered her a sofa to sleep on and she accepted – finally my first blog related friend was coming to visit.

Back and forth, back and forth the emails flew. She was listing all the things she wanted to do. I was trying to give her input without encouraging or discouraging activities on her list. I did think from the beginning that the list was way too long but it was her trip and her energy; her four days here would be packed. She mentioned right from the beginning that she wanted to hang-glide. And I considered joining her, but visions of actually running across a mountain top and jumping into clear blue skies put that notion right out of my mind. She wanted to do it, had wanted to for years, and I thought she should give it a try.

Starting early on Saturday morning Carol began making contact with different ‘hang-glide captains”. What do you call these guys that take you up and down anyway? She narrowed the list to 2 possible, asking questions like how much, when, how long, do they provide a video, and do they pick up and deliver? Then we decided on our weekend activities and that she would call them on Sunday night for a Monday fly time. On Sunday it was, ‘call tomorrow at 9:00’. On Monday at 9:00 it was, ‘the wind is blowing the wrong direction, call at 3’. At 3 it was ‘call at 9’ and Tuesday was a repeat of Monday. And then she was out of time.

Learned a couple of things; there is a wrong direction for the wind to be blowing, and that if the wind was right on Saturday or Sunday we should have made the hang-gliding a priority – course we only knew about number one after Saturday and Sunday were over...... So I guess we only learned on thing – that is to ask about wind direction.

I think, no I hope that Carol enjoyed her days in Rio – If going by my photos of the weekend are any gage, even leaving out the lost hang-gliding, and the museum workers’ strike, and that the Parque da Catacumba is closed on Mondays, we still managed Niteroi, a walk through the Hippy Square on Sunday, bought vegies at the fruit/vegetable street market on Monday, walked partially around the lagoa at sunset, she walked the beach once while I napped, she shopped in and out of the Ipanema gallerias while I napped (yes I nap routinely), we went to one nice restaurant for dinner, and last but not least, we had a great stroll through the botanical gardens. And with all of this said I just have to add, “I can’t wait until she returns so we can finish off her list.”

Carol’s Brasil: part 11

2011-09-02T09:51:00.001-04:00

I know that everyone of you has experienced some disruption of plans during a vacation. We travel often, and over the years have sat on the tarmac during an air traffic controllers’ strike, a massive snow storm in Paris kept us in Paris 13 hours with the requisite lost luggage, a thunderstorm in Dallas that got us rerouted to Oklahoma city and who wants to go to Oklahoma city, a church in Tuscany that was closed for maintenance and the exterior was shrouded in orange mesh, and these are just a few examples spread out of a twenty year history. But when on vacation what can you do? You adjust and enjoy.

I often wake, here in Rio, and immediately look out the window, glimpsing a very small patch of mountain right behind the Christ. How this mountain looks tells me what to expect of the weather that day; clear crisp line between mountain and blue sky says good weather all day, cloud sitting on the ridge between sky and mountain say, “oops rain today and soon.” My mind goes to the poor tourist that held back on the drive up to the Christ and today is their last day in Rio. Even if they go up, they wont see anything, neither the Christ nor the spectacular 360* view of the city. Unexpected things just happen.

Now our plan with Carol looked good on Friday when setting it in motion but by Sunday morning we knew we would have to ‘adjust and enjoy’. Just to remind you her plan was –

“Our short list: she wanted to jump off the mountain in Sao Conrado () – attached to a hang glider of course, see the Niemeyer Contemporary Art Museum in Niteroi, see Santa Teresa, and if possible visit the botanical gardens. We decided to start with Niteroi on Saturday and Santa Teresa on Sunday so Camillo could join us, these would include trips on the subway, a Barco. lunch in a fish place and any side-shows we might run across. She would hang glide on Monday and Tuesday we would stay closer to Ipanema so she wouldn’t be totally worn out to travel back to the USA. The plan was good.”

The plan for seeing Santa Teresa included going to Lapa and taking the tram (bondinho) to this charming little bit of Rio history, visiting the Museu da Chácara do Céu, which is one of our favorite places to take visitors and we would lunch in one of the many small family owned restaurants overlooking Centro Rio. On Sunday, we woke to bright, clear skies and the news of the tram accident on Saturday. The tram had turned over on its trip back down to Lapa – not yet knowing how bad the accident was we decided to adjust the plan bypassing Lapa and go to Santa Teresa by taxi. The ‘motorista’ was full of information – the main street into Santa Teresa was still closed for the investigation, six locals and tourist had died, 54 were injured. A sobering moment, how close we had come to being in the middle of this accident, the difference between choosing Niteroi or Santa Teresa on Saturday.

And also per the taxi driver.... all the Museum workers were on strike – museums were closed for the day all over the city but he was willing to try and get us up to the museum, the grounds should be open if not the museum itself. They weren’t. Now what? Camillo and the taxi driver decided on the Naval yards..... okay if you have young boys this is option is great – there is an old helicopter, a submarine, an old frigate and the boat of the king from the 1700s. for us, we were all hungry. Lets go back to Ipanema for lunch.

Later the final story.

Carolina’s Brasil, Past and Present

2011-09-01T12:47:00.001-04:00

This past weekend Camillo and I had the honor of hosting Carolina during the last leg of her ‘return to Brasil’ trip. Carol spent two years in the Peace Corp in a small village in Northeast Brasil forty some odd years ago, and after a long time in the planning, retuned this last month to visit that town, and to reacquaint herself with her fellow Peace Corp volunteers and her former students. I wont go into the details of her visit, that is her story to tell, but will say that she was delightful. She told us stories of the people of the town, both from 40 years ago and of their successes through today. There were stories of her experiences with the Peace Corp of the 60s, of Brasil during those years and of how Brasil seemed to her now. The changes are beyond belief – including the prices.

She arrived in Brasil / Rio with a list of thing she would like to see and do, and we narrowed it down to fit into the four days that she would be here. Our short list: she wanted to jump off the mountain in Sao Conrado () – attached to a hang glider of course, see the Niemeyer Contemporary Art Museum in Niteroi, see Santa Teresa, and if possible visit the botanical gardens. We decided to start with Niteroi on Saturday and Santa Teresa on Sunday so Camillo could join us, these would include trips on the subway, a Barco. lunch in a fish place and any side-shows we might run across. She would hang glide on Monday and Tuesday we would stay closer to Ipanema so she wouldn’t be totally worn out to travel back to the USA. The plan was good.

Niteroi: Saturday dawned cloudy with a light mist – we decided to stick with the plan. This was a good choice, by the time we arrived at the Museum the weather had cleared with a pleasantly warm wind blowing. Photos are best at this point.

this was my second visit to this museum and once again the beauty is about Niemeyer’s design, its blending with the surroundings – this is not about a wonderful exhibition inside..... that took about 5 minutes. On display was the work of an Italian artist, very interesting but seemed to be digital works..... yes interesting is the right word.

Lunch..... we walked down to the base of the hill where the museum sits, and caught a bus to Jurujuba for fresh seafood. We ended up eating shrimp stroganoff – good but pretty standard.

to be continued.......

A Moment in time - The modern social networks

2011-08-23T18:35:00.001-04:00

A thought from the veranda.

Have you ever stopped at a stoplight, looked over at the car next to you, wondering: who are they, do they live close, are they a neighbor, are they happy or are they in crisis, where are they going? What is their story? Then the driver of the other car turns their head, looks you in the eye; a moment of recognition passes between you, there is, just briefly, an electrical current that connects you. The light changes and both cars move through the light. It is not likely that you will ever meet that person; you will never know the answers to your questions, but you will know their face, remembering always that very brief moment of connection.

Through this blog I have met many people; they visit me and from time to time make nice comments. In exchange, I go to their blog. I gain access to their hopes and dreams, their personal problems, many thoughts and perspectives. It feels that you know them. There are sometimes many exchanges of thoughts and feelings. They become your friend. Often you don’t see a real face. There is never an electrical current but often a mental one seems to be felt. Then they stop coming by. They stop commenting. Their life and interests have taken them elsewhere, to other brief exchanges of thoughts and perspectives. Fleeting, friendships in transit; some fade quickly and some you remember several years later, feeling their loss; feeling ‘saudade’ as they say here in Brasil.

Now Facebook has emerged. I wanted to see what all the fervor was about so I signed up. The program immediately searches your private contacts, email addresses in outlook and contacts on Skype, and says, “Ask them to be your friend”. I did, and I have to admit that I like the ‘contact’ with all my family. Through Facebook, I now see brief glimpses into the lives of nephews and nieces. I see photos of their daily activities, of their children. I hear how they feel on any given day, and in a very remote way can feel connected. I joined a group called ‘growing up in Adrian’, a discussion group that asks, ‘Do you remember when / who / what?’ I don’t, but it was fun for a while to follow, and in a remote way feel connected. I found a few people known from the blog comments, and added them as ‘friends’ and now see them talk back and forth with their friends and family, people I don’t and will never know and find these connections to be too remote to have meaning.

I have sat here for about 20 minutes, typing then erasing sentences. They have sounded so…. well, depressing and that was not my intent, really this is only an observation on modern life, so let me try and finish ...

…. But now a year on Facebook has brought me to this place; this place of realization that reading about peoples’ daily thoughts and activities is not being connected. This is not a moment of electrical current, a moment of understanding in the touch of a hand, or a forged friendship that will last a lifetime. This is socialization once removed. This is city dwelling run amok; this is another short lived effort to find our place in the world, to be a part of, to belong. I think it will be found, in the end, to be artificial and therefore temporary. Do you remember the CB craze in the 70s – socialization once removed. Ten-four big Charley

Favorite words for a favorite place......

2011-08-18T17:52:00.006-04:00

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.
Robert Louis Stevenson

Hidden in a back corner of the Jardim Botanico, Rio de Janeiro is this Grand Old Tree. It is so tall and wide I could not get even a fourth of it in the lens. The only way to see it – is to go to the gardens, walk to the right of the main gate and keep walking around the outer edge until you find it nestled among it taller, thinner cousins.

For the sake of seeing...

2011-08-17T12:16:00.001-04:00

I don’t know how many times I have been to Rio’s botanical gardens, ‘Jardim Botanico’. Walking over from Ipanema several times a year, lugging my Nikon D40x in a small backpack and carrying the point and shoot in my handy pocket, my purpose focused on a brisk walk, on exercise, on calories and fat loss. Seeing interesting sights but not stopping, not giving up on my exercise. As in all change, slowly the purpose of the walk has become a stroll to see; to see the birds, to see the leaves, and to see the flowers that are prominent during my walk: stopping to watch a child play, to find the birds in song, so walk down the slope for a closer look at a flower.

I can’t say that yesterday I jumped eagerly out of bed, it was more of a slow roll and groan, but I did wake with a determination to walk to the gardens to see what was blooming. I managed to leave the apartment a little after ten, walked to the Lagoa, partially around it to the little street that cuts beside the Jockey club to Rua Jardim Botanico.

Along the walk were young boys playing soccer, a class of rowers, a tennis match, a small construction on the path, and the usual bikers and joggers. A small tree was in bloom showing me, for the first time, its abundant, bright red, waxy leafed flowers. Anyone know the name of this tree / flower?

A crane wading gracefully among the reeds.

and bright yellow birds hidden among the red leaves of the fig trees.

It took me a good 40 minutes to get to the gardens. I must have been looking up or sideways, detracted or something, because I missed the shortcut that runs along the water. I ended up walking along the street, surrounded by cars, busses and speeding motor bikes – not the best way to go if you want peace and beauty.

It now cost $R6.00 to get into the gardens – a bargain for sure, but another change. I always promise myself that I will walk the trails to the right of the entrance but when I arrive – I go left (because I know where the bathrooms are!). Yesterday, I changed to my bigger camera and went to the right.

Good choice! Along the outer edge of the gardens are huge old trees. I will put those photos into an album for you to see.

There was not much in the way of flowers this time of year, but there were a few surprises to take pleasure in.

More Later !

Gardens of Rio de Janeiro

2011-08-04T20:46:00.001-04:00

This morning, when I opened Google, the topic for this Friday’s post just popped into my head. Without even running the mouse over the special Google header, I knew the topic before me. Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) Brasilian landscape architect and artist. Born in São Paulo on August 4, 1909 to German parents, the look that so marks Brasil as Brasilian; the wavy black and white sidewalks of Copacabana, the gardens that circle the Lagoa, the gardens that runs along the Aterro do Flamengo to Parque Brg. Eduardo Gomes can all be attributed to Burle Marx’s genius in designing beautiful spaces.

“.... Burle Marx's first landscaping inspirations came while studying painting in Germany, where he often visited the Dahlem Botanical Gardens and first learned about Brazil's native flora. Upon returning to Brazil in 1930, he began collecting plants in and around his home. He went to school at the National School of Fine Arts in Rio in 1930 where he focused on visual arts under Leo Putz and Candido Portinari. While in school he associated with several of Brazil’s future leaders in architecture and botanists who continued to be of significant influence in his personal and professional life. One of these men was his professor, Brazilian Modernism’s Lucio Costa, the architect and planner who lived down the street from Burle. This game, the Schwartz house was the beginning of a collaboration with Costa which was enriched later by Oscar Niemeyer who designed the Brazilian Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. Niemeyer also designed the Pampulha complex in 1942 which Marx designed gardens for.
In 1949 he acquired the 365,000m² estate Barra de Guaratiba (just outside of Rio de Janeiro). Burle Marx began taking expeditions into the Brazilian rain forest with botanists, landscape architects, architects and other researchers to gather plant specimens. He learned to practice studying plants in situ from the botanist Henrique Lahmeyer de Mello Barreto and established his garden, nursery and tropical plant collection at Guaratiba. This property was donated to the Brazilian government in 1985 and became a national monument. Now called Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, under the direction of IPHAN-Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional / Ministério da Cultura, it houses over 3,500 species of plants. The house was rebuilt in a valley on the site of a garden house belonging to the original plantation estate....” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Burle_Marx)

At the beginning of this year, Camillo and I spent about half a day visiting the Burle Marx sitio, and for me the best way to show his gardens is to show you a few of my photos from that day. ... I am so bad, trying to pick what to show and what not to.... so I created a slide show for you to walk with me through the gardens, a cultivated garden with a feel of the wild.

The plants of Sitio Burle Marx

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

being set free.....

2011-08-01T07:15:00.001-04:00

The last week was so beautiful up here in the mountains. It is still a little cool in the evenings, we are in winter after all, but the days have had bright sunlight and scattered clouds and almost balmy breezes. If we were living in Chicago it would be perfect summer temps. Because of the beautiful weather, we decided to take in one of the last of the winter festival’s planned activities.

Saturday, in the Praça do Suspiro, Centro Friburgo starting at 11:00 there would be music and balloons released. Sounded like an activity for families with children and possibly a chance for few nice photos. We parked in our favorite parking lot and walked along the canal to the praça – from several blocks away we started saying it is too quiet.... no music. The praça, now pretty much cleaned up from the floods in January, new sidewalks installed, more parking, the horses set off on the side and a new building to house the cable car built, had about 50 adults with half as many children sitting in a circle..... no music to speak of but clowns doing tricks – the children and adults enjoying themselves.

And lots of colorful balloons rolling gently in the breeze.... I wasn’t the only one enraptured with all the color. Apparently this same scene was being enacted in both Teresopolis and Petropolis. The balloons would be release at exactly noon in all three cities.

The biodegradable balloons containing seeds of the forest trees would float high into the sky, burst into small pieces and drop back to earth where the seeds would have a chance to grow into tall trees.... I am loosely translating the announcer here. We were assured that the balloons were biodegradable at least 3 times. I looked up biodegradable balloons on the internet and yes balloons made from latex – latex being organic will break down within 6 months of landing in the forest. The children were very excited..... (so was I) Each child was given their own balloon filled with seeds to set free with the rest. (I didn’t get a balloon, but enjoyed myself anyway)

This little girl – name unknown – under the watchful eye of her mother was determined to let all the balloons go before noon, until she was given her own balloon, then she patiently and very seriously waited, doing her part for the environment.)

really a nice experience even without the anticipated music.

Retractions / corrections and additions : Winter Festival 2011

2011-07-09T14:28:00.002-04:00

When you don’t speak a language well, there is always the chance that listening in on other’s conversations will get you bad information. Misunderstanding verbs is my worst problem with language, and second to that is adjectives or adverbs. So you can just imagine what comes out of my listening – not understand who (whom) is doing what and why. When I am feeling good about myself and my new found language skills, I don’t ask for clarifications, taking my listening / understanding / asking skills – with apparently misplaced confidence.

You may need to go back one post to see what I am talking about. First retraction/correction: the Municipal Theater of Nova Friburgo holds 480 people not around 250. While waiting for the doors to open for our second concert this week, we ask and received, directly, info versus counting seats and multiplying, (and not taking the balcony into account).

Second retractions (the listening skills): the concert series was organized by the Major’s office and was not separate from the Winter Festival 2011, but was a side event. The main winter festival’s events are organized and sponsored by SESC Rio. (www.sescrio.org.br) and in Nova Friburgo runs from July 8 – through the 31st. There are also events in Petrópolis and Teresópolis – check the SESC web site for those events.

Okay that is enough apology – that did sound like an apology didn’t it?-

On Wednesday, we went in to town after DARK. It wasn’t bad at all to drive our little curvy, country road at night. We should do it more often. We went in to see an Spanish / Argentine band Otros Aires, (piano, drum, a bandoneon, sometimes guitar) presenting “Milongas Electronicos”. There were two arrangements done with only the bandoneon and piano that were (in my opinion) beyond excellent. The use of old videos tied to the modern musical sounds was very interesting and well worth the drive. They were only 15 minutes late starting and the show lasted a good hour and a half.
I don’t know if I said but these concerts were gratis (free) a contribution of food the only requirement for admittance.

Finally, On Thursday, we went in late afternoon to listen to Miguel Proença performing “romantic” compositions. The program listed Gluck-Kempff arrangement, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, and Chopin, and if I understood correctly, he substituted Schubert with a Grieg piece and then did Schubert on request at the end. He was nearly 30 minutes late getting started but then played for 1 and a half hours. After the standing ovation he played a tango – everyone left happy – again in my opinion. Have you ever wondered how the classical pianist are able to play without music pages in front of them.... ?

Winter Festival 2011

2011-07-05T22:40:00.002-04:00

Every year this area of Brasil has a winter festival. It can happen any time between the middle of June and the first of August. I have no clue as to why particular weeks are planned one year, and not another. The last time I wrote about the festival was in August of 2008 – can you believe it – Three years ago.... I don’t know where the time goes. All I know for sure is that time flies by and I can’t begin to tell you why I have missed winter festival in Nova Friburgo the last two years.

Other years there has been a small newspaper that gives the times and places of all the activities, four or five pages of activities. This year not only are there very few activities but they seem to be more cultural: piano concerts and a ballet versus street dances and choirs singing religious music in the park. This year it also seems to be only one week, including only one weekend. I know that this is because the mayors office is short of cash, there are so many projects in place trying to get the city back to normal after the January slides. It is a shame though because the city needs its tourists, and the town’s people need to have some family relaxation – ‘kick up your heels time’. That all said I need to get to the point.

Yesterday Camillo and I went into town for one of the ‘Concertos ao Meio-Dia’ – ‘concerts at mid-day’ series. In the eight years we have lived here, we have been to maybe three other concerts. This is one of the activities that we enjoyed in Houston and I miss it. When living in the states we went about four times a year to the opera, the symphony, to a play or a musical, to say nothing about going dancing once a week, and here we just don’t seem to keep track or actively pursue these pastimes and we should.

I was totally impressed. The Municipal Theater of Nova Friburgo – Teatro Municipal de Nova Friburgo - seats about 250 (a rough count while waiting for the concert to start) and is comfortable and has excellent sound. We were entertained for over an hour and half by Aleyson Scopel and Ronaldo Rolim, both young Brasilian pianists, playing Prokofiev’s , and Rachmaninov’s concert for piano No 2, respectively. We will go out again on Thursday. I didn’t ask to see / hear what, just said YES!

Simplicity.

2011-06-30T21:39:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my One Hundredth (that is 100th!) My Town Friday Shoot-out. Starting in March of 2009 with PEOPLE, spanning well over 2 years, learning about my towns, about my camera and very much about myself. Along the way, I have met many wonderful ‘shoot-out gang’ members. Being invited in, at the very beginning by Patty H in Maryland and Gina when they were first conceiving ‘My Town’. Getting to know Gordon and Chef E while putting together the Friday Shoot-out blog, and working that blog for nearly a year before turning over the reins to Doreen, et al. Corresponding with Pauline, Jarielyn, Mark, and many others, off and on over the years; enjoying moments of total understanding and acceptance. So many great moments like ringing the bells for Barry and participating in the final honorary post after his passing.

You all know by now that I post based on where I am on any given Friday. I routinely enjoy giving you bits and pieces of Nova Friburgo and of Rio de Janeiro in Brasil, and from Houston, Texas my hometown, but I’ve also brought you topics from France, Italy and from other cities in South America and I hope you have enjoyed this trip through towns and cities around the world as much as I have. A big Thank You to all that have passed through my computer bringing me interesting topics, laughter and tears, from my town to yours and back.

And the one hundredth – Simplicity.

Another view, another mood from the veranda in the mountains north of Rio,

As the day begins in the Valley Stucky, Nova Friburgo, RJ, Brasil.

June 14, 2011

Nightlife in Rio

2011-06-03T20:37:00.001-04:00

By now, you all know that we live part-time in Nova Friburgo and the other part in Rio de Janeiro. When in Friburgo, we don’t really go out at night. In the 8 years living here in Brasil, I’ve been out maybe 10 times at night in Friburgo and two of those was to go downtown for carnival. The road from our house is a narrow two lane road, with many sharp hairpin turns – neither of us really likes driving it at night – so we don’t. I am sad to say we watch TV. We go to Rio if we start wanting to be out after dark. We either walk around Ipanema to go to the movies, or to dinner, or to just go for a beer and ‘Lula & French fries’ or we take a taxi to meet friends for an occasional change of pace in their neighborhood – for dinner or drinks... Yep not a very exciting night life for us.

In Ipanema, by around 7 all the stores (lojas) are closed up for the night. The people that are on the street are local residents and tourist that are staying at the hotels. Like us they are looking for food or a movie. I think that there are clubs on either end of this barrio that keep the young people entertained, but we aren’t really aware of them and most definitely don’t go anywhere near them.

During the day the streets are so crowded that you can’t loose focus long enough to look in the shop windows but at night our 6 block area of Ipanema is quiet and it is nice to window shop or to walk along the beach. ..... (for us that is between 8 and 10, then to home!)

Down by the beach there is still a little traffic and some action. Most of the action is soccer or volley ball games on the beach and people enjoying a beer and conversation at one of the kiosks along the way. The day is winding down.

Spin – Fall - Rest

2011-05-27T14:54:00.001-04:00

well its not Rio and its not Friburgo but it is in Brasil.

the Iguaçu Fall, Brasilian side.

“spin, drop, rest”

just in case you don’t believe the rest part....

well it looks like it is somewhat at rest before it tumbles again and its way down stream

Flowers in Brasil

2011-05-19T23:18:00.001-04:00

When you live in a country that blooms, blooming in all seasons, with different trees blooming bright orange or soft delicate pinks or vibrant yellow flowers and you love to take photos of flowers, it is difficult to choose favorites. But, when I think of flowers in Brasil there are two that come to mind more often than any other. Whether I am at home in Nova Friburgo where they grow naturally in the forest, or in Rio where the trees lining the streets are home to many and the small gardens in front of most buildings usually have one or more species, and best of all when I take my semi-annual walk to the Botanical Gardens, I can take photos to my heart’s content, never finding the exact same combination on display – this is when I know that flowers in Brasil mean orchids and bromeliads.

For this post I want to show you some of the smallest Orchids and the most unusual bromeliads I have found in bloom both here in Rio and up in the forest that surrounds our home. Enjoy.

these first little babies are about the size of my thumb nail and the rest are no bigger than my thumb......

And the bromeliads....

catching up

2011-05-15T20:08:00.001-04:00

Watching the newest world disaster, the annual flooding of the Mississippi Valley, made me think again of the flooding and landslides in Nova Friburgo early this year. I want to tell briefly what is happening here, even as the story unfolds in the USA.

The view of slides just from our veranda – about 20 degrees of the total 360 in our community.

Back in February, I wrote about Lucia and her daughter, and the loss of their homes in the area landslides in the early morning hours of the 13th of January. I don’t have the final numbers of loss of life or of number of homes lost, but I know that loss of life across this mountain region was over 1000 and homes lost over 12 thousand. For me though, the loss of life here in our small community was the most personal. Six people were lost here in this little community of 1500 or so. (Who knows – who has counted) and the homes both damaged and destroyed – now I am guessing – 25 or so. I guess this number because of the brothers, or cousins, or aunts of people we know personally, and have been told directly of these losses. This is not information to be found on the ‘prefeitura's’ (mayor’s) website, and definitely not to be found in the international or national news that were so hot on the stories up to the earthquake in New Zealand in the next month and went completely off the radar after the big quake in Japan last month. After that first month of shocking news, there hasn’t been much interest in how the little guy, the little stories are still unfolding.

Lucia and her daughter’s stories I do know. Lucia’s little house sat on a piece of land owned by her husband’s family. This house is where they lived during the raising of their 4 children. They started small, like most do around here, and added on as the family grew. The house, though solidly built, was never registered with the government. So is considered ‘illegal’. To register a house here costs between 3 and 5 thousand Reais, for someone like Lucia about a year’s salary. Her daughter’s home sat adjacent to her home.... I imagine the land was given to the daughter by Lucia and her husband, more than likely there was no paperwork done .... who need paperwork between family. Lucia’s husband died about 4 years ago at Christmas and the paperwork to put the house in her name has never been completed. She lost all her documents along with the house.

The civil police have declared her house completely destroyed, and the land, ‘unusable’, or in an area of high risk for homes. It can be used for a garden, for a business, but not a home. The government will not buy the lot. She can not sell it to another ‘forest’ family. To build again, she will need to try and find another piece of land.

Land starts at around R$15,000.00 for about 500 sq. meters. - 5 year’s salary - plus to build another very simple home – 100 sq. meters or so (around 900 sq. ft.) another 20 thousand. Because her home was ‘illegal’ and without documents there will not likely be help from the government. With help from some of our family and friends, both here and in the USA, we started a fund for her and were able to help her replace the basics of her household – beds and bedding, cooking and serving dishes, clothing and shoes, and to help pay some of the travel back and forth to Rio while here daughter was in the hospital, going through multiple surgeries and being treated for major infections. The daughter is finally home (a rented house) with her family.

For now Lucia is renting. The government will pay a rental allowance for the next year. The rented house is more than an hour away by bus from her work. There was nothing affordable available in this area. She still arrives here every Monday at 7am to clean our home.

We are still committed to helping her where we can, but tread softly as to not make her feel dependent or obligated. If she decides to buy and rebuild someplace, we will contribute as we can, to give her some support but there are so many, there is so much need – we can only help the ones we know the best – and the worlds interest has moved on, the governments seems to have forgotten now that the photo ops are no longer here. The most help will come from neighbor helping neighbor and from their own considerable personal strength.

Accumulated Memories

2011-05-11T10:55:00.001-04:00

I woke to blinding sunlight this morning.

I forgot to close the shutters last night, and as soon as the sun clears the mountain tops to the east, it glares off the top of the clouds in the valley and bounces, sending bright, white light right into our bedroom. Now at almost noon, the clouds have risen out of the valley and are sitting on the mountain ridges, causing the house to feel damp and cold. It is probably 70 or so degrees, but feels 50. With the blinding light, I woke to thoughts of our last trip to Italy in September of 2010. The past 18 months have been so fast and furious and I have missed telling you about so many happenings that have now come and gone. This morning after 7 full hours of sleep all of those accumulated memories are swirling around in my head, ready to be talked about. But where to start.

I sent about 3 hours this morning going back through the blog, skimming through titles and looking at the photos that I shared. I noted several things. I’ve not been consistent with labels and my dialog has been very short, stunted even. Not much fun for you the reader, and I am positive not much fun for me to write. The labels are not terribly important – used mostly by the search engines and by me when I want to find a topics I’ve done in the past. I can just imagine that most visitor to ‘Flowers’ are not even aware of the label list, let alone saying, “lets see what Ginger had to say about ‘travel in Brazil’ this morning” and then spending 3 or 4 hours driving the roads of Brasil through my photos. Hum, just imagine.

But the other problem, the dialog being short and stunted, now that’s a real problem. That could mean several things: I am bored with the topics, I am bored with blogging in general, I don’t have anything to say – now we know that it isn’t number 3. I can talk, and talk; talk for hours if only someone would listen. If I wanted to sit hear another hour I could come up with more reason why the writing has gone to the...... dumps. But If I want to get to the bottom of it – my thoughts have been dark and whiny, and I’ve just not wanted to put on paper. (SCREEN?) I’ve gone through these spells before, and they always go away and it seems that with the blinding, white light this morning they have receded back to where they come.

I know it is May 2011 but today I make my New Years resolutions. 1) to write more about what I find interesting. 2) To put my photos on the computer in order – eek!, I have been downloading onto my laptop for nearly a year without moving them to appropriate folders on the external.... what a mess. 3) to make and send my mother a card with a photo on it a minimum of once a week. So she receives real mail once a week (letter enclosed, of course).

this week’s flower for my Mom, wild morning glories.

Mother.

2011-05-06T11:48:00.001-04:00

My mother, mother of seven, grandmother of.... Nineteen, Great-grandmother of..... around 30 and I do believe there is now a Great/great grandchild or two.

Mom will be 89 July 7. She has days where she understands international politics, and days she forgets to shower and to clean her teeth..... She still takes them out of the cup every morning..... that is a good thing.

Such a large family and I don’t know all the names of my great nephew and nieces, I have a partial list someplace. On her good days, Mom remembers most of them. She is better at remembering when each of us, the original 7, had their chickenpox and their immunizations.

She always made our cloths. She made quilts and afghans. She read constantly, books and daily news papers. She worked the daily New York crossword, usually doing it in her head to give my father a chance to enter a few words. Three years ago she could work half way through, now she doesn’t do them.

She has a friend from when she was 3 – they used to correspond when young adults, and later to talk every few months on the phone but now can remember the childhood days but don’t remember to call. Norma is in a nursing home in Adrian and on a good day my sister takes Mom to visit – after about five minutes the conversation begins to repeat, and they no longer laugh at each other.

My Mother.

and me....

with Marissa...... great grand children

Aunt Carol (younger sister) and Mom

Momma and Me. (she hates to have her picture taken.......says she looks “OLD” )

In our minds we are always young.

Texture – Nova Friburgo

2011-04-28T21:43:00.000-04:00

MTFSO - July 10, 2009

Texture by (one) definition is “the characteristic physical structure given to a material, an object, etc., by the size, shape, arrangement, and proportions of its parts:” By this definition, our lives have texture, our gardens, our cities, even our photos have a physical structure influenced by shape, arrangement and proportion of its parts.

Sunlight and artificial light not only influence how we see the surface textures but also become a part of the texture as a whole, in what we see. Bright white light, deep dark shadows, reflected light, all change the colors, adding depth. giving us pleasure in what we see.

In Friburgo, The days can be gray, the sky full of glare and washed of color. Or on a bright, sunny day the contrasts of bright, blue sky, the deep, aggressive greens of the forest and the rich colors of the flowering trees point to the importance of light in how we see our world. I think in how we FEEL the texture of our worlds.

I took a few photos this week as we walked on a secondary street in Friburgo central. What gives this town its own feel, its texture, is the use of local stone, plasters both smooth and course, red clay roofs, and the small gardens that line the street.

Earth day–MTFSO

2011-04-21T20:05:00.000-04:00

I guess that I am being lazy. I have company for the Easter holiday weekend and so you are going to get leftovers, no that isn’t right – regurgitated? .... rehashed?..... hum? (per B&B) please forgive my RECYCLED post.

In April of 2010, we also did a ‘trees’ shoot out. How can I ever top that shoot out? Please follow the trees link for the story, and then, for your enjoyment, are some recent photos of leaves and flowers from a local forest reserve.

These were in a cultivated garden (forest) but all are Brasilian Flora.

Easter in Brasil

2011-04-21T07:45:00.001-04:00

I think that Brasilians like Easter almost as much as Carnival. First they have another – that’s ANOTHER – 4 day weekend. Everyone I know is going somewhere and I can only hope that they will all be safe. Yesterday downtown Friburgo was CRAZY with people shopping. I can understand this kind of shopping at Christmas. they all, after all, receive an extra paycheck in December. Yesterday the lines in the grocery stores where 20 long, everyone with full baskets OR TWO. Camillo and I turned around and left, there isn’t anything I need so badly that I will wait in line for an hour. Everything we needed could be bought at one of the little markets and with less hassle. It is the weirdest thing to me, the stores hang chocolate eggs from the ceiling. I am a little taller than the average Brasilian and this stuff hanging from the ceiling gives me a feeling of claustrophobia. Look closely at the photo..... the prices of the hollow chocolate (waxy) eggs are out of this world. I was told yesterday that R%75.00 wasn’t bad, “because there were actually 3 eggs inside” I was not rude and laugh in her face – but I have to work 4 hours for R$75.00 and some people have to work the whole week.....and R$75.00 was totally unrealistic.

Today Kurt and Kybran bring the girls and another couple with a young girl up for the weekend. I will bake Salmon on Friday and on Saturday we will make a churrasco. On Saturday we will have an Easter egg hunt (if it isn’t raining) out in the garden. They have to leave early on Sunday, so the Easter candy hunt will happen on Saturday.

Easter color in the store windows.

The garden centers are full of orchids. I LET Camillo buy me a geranium that had an unusual flower. Beautiful. And the Christmas cactus in in bloom. Have a great and a SAFE Easter weekend.

Churches of Brasil

2011-04-14T22:53:00.001-04:00

On November 12, 2009 the MTFSO was also Churches, formal and informal. And after revisiting that post, I wondered how I could top it. What new churches I could show you? In February of this year, I featured one of my favorite churches to photograph in Friburgo Centro, the one severely damaged by the January 12th floods, so I’ve decided I have to take you farther away. If nothing else comes of this MTFSO at least I got to spend several hours looking through older posts, reading what I’ve written about Brasil and thoroughly enjoying myself.

I looked through many photos in the archives looking for just the right church to feature this week. The churches, that I’ve seen, in Brasil are nothing like the great cathedrals of Europe but the are in their own way just as beautiful. Often they have two steeples and are painted white with blue trim. These are ‘Portuguese’ churches. If you drive north and a little east of Nova Friburgo you can find the small town of Santa Maria Madalena. Traveling through country dotted with rolling hills and small farms, you finally wind your way into this clean, neat little community. The church is literally the center/ the highlight, the purpose for this town. (If you have a moment check back through my links to read more about these towns and their churches.) This church as a distinctively Scandinavian or German flavor.

As we walked around the town, which was around the church I could see the steeple from nearly every angle. Front to back, top to bottom a beautiful town and church.

Just for fun...

2011-04-11T10:05:00.001-04:00

I need to back track a couple of weeks to show you something. While in Houston it wasn’t all work and no play. By now you all know Camillo and I better than that. We ate, and danced, and I drove a NEW CAR.

Camillo’s son (the oldest, lives in Houston) put on order and has received his new car: The Volt by Chevy . What a sweet car. Still to expensive for the average car buyer, coming in at over 40k, this car steps away from the ‘hybrids’ in style and concept.

Not arguing energy use, or workability, or usability – just look at the difference in body style from the Air-powered car conceived in India. and the Volt

I am excited about the headway made in designing and completion of these cars, moving them into the market is a break through worthy of note. Chevy needs to bring the price down on the Volt, but this is real progress in giving consumers a choice beyond the gas guzzlers / carbon belching cars in our past – one that looks good too. Camillo wouldn’t buy one for me and bring it to Brasil.. , I begged to no avail, plus by the time we paid import tax and shipping we would be nearing 90K in costs – Sorry we just can’t do it. I look for info that this car will begin to be made in Brasil but nothing. So I will have to wait. but did get to test drive and get a first hand demo of its features..... The car has a heavy, solid feel, maneuvers well,...... I want one.....

Anyone want to buy my 8 year old Audi? only 60K KM with auto transmission.....

ManMade Circles – Triangles – Squares In Rio

2011-04-08T08:12:00.001-04:00

Circles in cloth Triangles at play Squares in abundance

Can you find them all?

Can’t go home again?

2011-04-07T20:51:00.001-04:00

My first husband, two young children and I moved to Houston in August of 1975. Is that right? Does anyone remember for sure. We lived for 4 years in an apartment south of the I-10 and west of Wilcrest. In 1979, we moved into our first home, north of 4 lane I-10 freeway and east of the two country lane road called highway 8. I took my 8 & 9 year old for ice skating lessons at an ice-house that was surrounded by a large parking lot and empty fields just south of this intersection. Barely more than thirty years has passed but this area has gone through massive changes.

During the years living in this area, the I-10 was widened, lengthened, and widened again. Highway eight became a divided 4 lane road, then the toll road was completed up the center and opened in 88 or 89. And then it was widened again, and taken all the way around Houston. The ice rink was torn down and a mall built, Town & Country Mall. It had a Lord & Taylor, a JC Penny’s, and I think, a Macy’s and Dillard's - despite these big name stores the mall never took hold. In the mid 90s, south of the mall a new ‘outside’ shopping was put in. It thrived. About 5 years ago (or more?) there was talk about making the mall a medical office park,, then that idea stalled.

This trip home Camillo and I were invited several times to the ‘city center’.

The old empty mall has been torn down. They left all the parking garages, and built a few more. City Center is now where the mall stood. There are apartments, and high end townhomes, a conference center Hotel, and restaurants, many with outside seating, and clothing stores of the artsy kind. In less then 40 years what was my section of hometown Houston no longer exists. I can’t say that this is not all improvements. The city center is where people can live, and like in a small town, walk out of their apartment to have a glass of wine, or a beer while listening to music. They can eat in fine restaurants or sit with a coffee and a sweet, or go to a movie, then walk back home again. Practically in the center of the metropolis of Houston is now a small hometown. I think the idea / concept is a great one. What we love about Ipanema is that we can walk out our door to see a movie or to eat a great meal. The government in Houston hasn’t built a dependable mass transit to get to work, but they have begun to make it possible to live and play in the same place. This is no longer my Hometown, but is a hometown none the less.

Back Rio one more time

2011-04-06T11:09:00.001-04:00

Camillo’s grandson Alex and Marissa at the Sunday brunch, merging our two families for a short time. Alex plays basketball and Marissa Volleyball, and they both are competitive and play with the heart.

Our ten days in Houston were fast and furious. I saw Patty and Marissa only 4 times and I am sorry about that. It just isn’t the same to go and stay in a hotel, not in Patty’s home. When in her home, the contact is daily, I quickly become part of the household, and by the end of the month or so I stay there, we are all glad to see me go home. This time there was some..... sadness at my leaving. I don’t know if sadness is the right word. Here in Brasil they use SAUDADE. This doesn’t really translate to one word in English – it means missing you, sadness, homesickness all rolled into one word – a word with great meaning.

While in Houston I planned on walking each day while Camillo was in his meetings. I ended up not walking at all. Between rain when I had time, and a long list of extras to do I didn’t make it to the parks for exercise and photos. I did find a new point and shoot and took some photos to try it our, and got the Samsung I bought at the end of last April, sent off to see if the one year warrantee will get it fixed. If they fix it, I will keep for a backup camera..... More about that need later.

This visit we were up in the I-10 and Hwy 6 area. This is our old stomping ground, and even though I have been through it in recent years, I’ve not been around and around like this visit. The improved Katy Freeway (local name for I-10) it is now 16 or 18 lanes across, with a toll road in the center, and/or a HOV lane. No mass transit like a train or tram with it though..... so in 10 years it will be once again obsolete. I have to admire though the overpasses and the effort to beautify the monstrosity. The pilasters under the overpasses are arched and at the interchange between I-10 / The beltway 8 is a marvel. Camillo said, ‘it is beautiful, but where is the graffiti? Americans have no sense of ART.” Of course, he was referring to the graffiti in Brasil, on every wall, overpass, and high ledge. In contrast Houston looks almost too sterile in its cleanliness. Just went through my photos..... no pictures of the beltway overpass ($*%*&)(), the one below was taken at Hwy6, from the car window, on a cloudy day, no color, but along the access road in each area of town, there are different colors and emblems. the 3rd photo was taken in Rio, below a major highway. (**Brasil doesn’t have beautiful highways nor high budget deficits**)

We managed to see on basketball game and one volleyball game, eat in a lot of restaurants most of them good, if not great – how tight my pants are tells me I managed to eat plenty if if not really good. I ate at ‘sweet tomatoes’ twice – a wonderful soup and salad bar, had two hamburgers, and one hotdog. for now I am happy. More later.

Travel and other things....

2011-03-21T17:21:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow Camillo and I go to Houston for 10 days – together. I can’t remember the last time we were there at the same time. There are only a few hundred things on Camillo’s list to get done. And he, not me, has a shopping list long enough to fill a couple suitcases. I have two things I want to do, have lunch with the girls I used to work with downtown, and spend some hours with Marissa and Patty.

I need to find a new point & shoot. I bought the one I have now less than a year ago, and its touch screen has stopped working. I won’t make that mistake again. The whole purpose of having a point-n-shoot is that I can carry it in a pocket or in my purse and pull it out when-Ever!. What is the point if I have to carry it inside a padded, zippered case – by the time I have it out and ready – what-Ever has already come and gone.

I wonder about everyone with a cell phone/iPad/blackberry, etc. with a touch screen, especially teenagers – is everyone having to send in for repair or replace their gadgets every 6 – 8 months. They (no matter the brand) should come with a thin, handy little slide door to protect the touch pad . Think anyone is listening?

So, okay, add to my list shopping for a new point & shoot. - so three things I need to do. That is how the list grows. Okay add another – I am going to look for fabric to have formal table cloths made for Camillo’s birthday dinner in June. Better quit now or my list will have 5 items on it....

It is spring in Houston so I am going to try and catch some walks in parks and neighborhoods – should be really close to azalea time. Maybe I will get some nifty photos for the blog.

Hugs from Brasil.

just in time for St. Pat’s day

2011-03-18T10:37:00.001-04:00

All of December and most of January we had unusually warm temperatures and heavy rains. Then the end of January through all of February we had little to no rain and almost hot weather up here in the mountains. Just in time for carnival it started to rain again. This means that I have been cooped up in the house, going only out the kitchen door and to the garage. This week, on Monday, I went out in my small garden and found .... in a large pot right outside my patio doors this beautiful Orchid. Even if I’d not been paying attention Manuel has, this beauty was in a small pot in my green house, struggling to survive, and he put it into this large round pot and it now has 4 sprouts. It should continue to bloom and to give me moment of pure joy for the next month. My own Irish pot of gold. Thank you Manuel.

Boca do Leon - Orchid 'mouth of the lion'

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After Carnival -

2011-03-10T22:45:00.001-04:00

We arrived back in Friburgo yesterday at noon, cool / whet / foggy but nearly silent. Of course, after spending 5 days in Rio during Carnival week, anyplace would seem silent.

Ipanema is usually pretty quiet at night. We get an occasional party going on, sometimes a group yelling and cheering their favorite soccer team until the wee hours, and for the past year we’ve had a new born baby downstairs – crying most days and nights, but generally Ipanema shuts down for the night around 10. The busses quiet down, the cars thin out, and people from the neighborhood walk sedately to dinner and back.

This year for carnival there were three (seemed like more) ‘blocos’ just in our neighborhood. A bloco is the closest to ‘old ‘ carnival as you will get. They consist of a band – well really I’ve not seen a band as we think of them – but more of a drum core, and people from the neighborhood and anyone else who wants to act crazy – create some chaos – confusion – be loud – dress in costumes – and slop beer all over the street, can join the group. They take place during the day and are a lot of fun.

Just to show you a little contrast – the first photo is on a regular night - and the next three are from this past Monday evening -

The blocos happen during the morning and the afternoon, I don’t know where these young people were from..... this corner is around on the other side of the block from us, and we could hear them until 2 or 3 in the morning.

a few more photos – on the side streets, on the beach, vendors, drummers, and spectators.

Shooting from the Hip in Rio

2011-02-25T12:02:00.001-04:00

This week’s Friday (My Town) Shoot-out topic is Shooting from the hip. I found this fun, (really) trying something different with the camera, but I didn’t really have success with it. I didn’t get even one photo that I would call interesting or beautiful. I will still share a few with you because if nothing else I am a good sport.

I found that I couldn’t shoot while walking – therefore shooting from the hip, being spontaneous, or secretive or on the sly. I would have to stop and move my body around so I didn’t take a picture of my leg or of the ground and stand still making sure the camera was quiet so the photo wasn’t blurred. Also except for the fact that all of them are at an angle they are of the same topics I would shoot normally – looking through the eye piece. Is this the way it is supposed to be? I finally turned the camera upside down so I could keep my finger on the ‘click’ button and still keep the camera steady. Not really shooting from the hip -

Last Sunday, Camillo and I walked to the hippy square and I clicked the camera all along the way. The title of this post could be ‘to the market and home’ a walk along the Rua. Shooting at this angle does give you a better sense of the context of the photo. Some sky, some sidewalk, a little broader photo than just the straight up shot. hop you enjoying walking to the market on a hot Sunday morning.

shooting from the hip

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In Rio – twisted, In Friburgo–contorted

2011-02-17T20:03:00.001-04:00

This week I am in Rio and my usual Friday My Town Shoot-Out photos focus on the town were I am on Fridays. But my first couple of photos, taken in Nova Friburgo last week, works perfectly for the Contorted topic. And then there are a few I took this week in Rio are quite twisted.
This first photo shows the layer of mud still covering the yard of a house down the street from a major slide. The house was undamaged, at the least the front where I was standing it looked unscathed but the front yard shows only one small area of hope, of green.   I should go back and see how much green is poking up through the mud.
The second photo is of only one of the many cars littering this slide area. Its contorted frame attest to the ride it took down the hill, through homes and apartments, riding a fast current and being battered by large boulders also along for the ride.
definitely contorted.

I try to focus on the beauty around me. Last week I received several comments on framing about the beautiful that surrounds me where I live. Yes there is beauty around the lagoa, in Ipanema, in the Botanical gardens, but I would hate to have you come here to visit and during the drive from the airport to Ipanema think, ‘she lied, I want to go home mow’. Rio is a typical super-city with miles and miles of substandard housing, apartment building and businesses that haven’t been cleaned nor maintained for years, blights.     Over the years I’ve learned or should say, I’ve taught my eye to see only the beauty. So here we are back on the beautiful side with twisted beauty in Rio.

I spent some time trying to find the name of these trees but had no success. They are small trees with smooth multicolored bark. Camillo thinks they were imported from Asia. If anyone has a guess let me know. I have talked before of the Ficus (fig) trees that line the streets of Ipanema, they also are along the lagoa. Big trees, roots running from high branches down into the ground, not because I find it beautiful but interesting, here is one last twisty photo of those roots as they run unhampered along the ground.

Rio framed by the sea and the mountains

2011-02-11T20:59:00.001-04:00

It is hard to believe that Friday has come around again so soon. Today, we traveled from Friburgo to Rio, then lunch out, grocery shopping and, of course, our nap in the heat of the afternoon, so this day went by way to quickly and I find myself writing this post almost at midnight – but still on Friday.
I have always taken photos with distant points framed by trees, or flowers, or contrasting colors - enhancing, adding perspective, diverting my eye from the too wide horizon. Framing creates a space and context. Here are a few framed photos of the Lagoa in Rio.

And just so you don’t forget – the view from the veranda in Nova Friburgo. Taken this week at sunrise – the clouds in the valley obscuring the slides on the hills across the valley.

Collections -

2011-02-03T19:21:00.001-04:00

Except photos and more photos, I really don’t collect or have a collection from Brasil. But during our years in the USA, one of the things that Camillo and I enjoyed doing on Sundays was ‘antiquing’. We would go to one of our favorite antique markets, stroll up and down the isles, and just find things. Things that reminded us of earlier years; when our respective children were young, when I was young (er!).   We found things we thought beautiful and we filled our home with bits and pieces of family history that we had not accumulated together over a lifetime.   We made our house into a home.
When we finally packed up and left Houston for Brasil. Camillo said, ‘sell it all’. He, after all, had a home already set up and complete here. Then he left for Brasil, and left the sorting and clearing and garage selling to me. There were a few things I could not let go of, about two large crates worth. I guess you could call these things my collection ‘of home.’
Once our goods arrived and Camillo saw what I’d not left behind, he had a room added to the house and a cabinet made for me to keep my collection in. So here are the things I brought from home that keeps my room downstairs feeling like home. Over the past two years the space has changed, been moved around and pieces of furniture made here have been added. My cabinet is now full.

Not often can you find affordable tea pots that are complete sets so I found over time similar patterns, and for my sandwich plates colored depression glass. I always intended to have a high tea, serving finger sandwiches and scones, and cakes but that was one of my ‘someday’ projects.

   English circa 1895?

Do you remember these? Flower vases from the 50s – she doesn’t have a chip of paint and has both her earrings.....
and scattered around the room ....



Home.

Someday I will.

2011-02-02T16:47:00.001-04:00

Someday I’ll vacation on an island and swim the reefs. Someday I will write a book. One day I will learn to play drums. Someday I will have a show of my photos. Someday I’ll learn the clarinet. Someday I will climb a Volcano. Someday I will learn another language – sometime, on another day, some day. When using someday we think we mean, “at some future day or time”, but we really mean is “... ones not specified or known, OR a certain indefinite or unspecified ..... Some Day I Will.
Yesterday was my first time into the city of Nova Friburgo since the mudslides on January 12. After lunch at our favorite by-the-kilo restaurant, I walked over to the Praça Suspiro intending to see for myself the Igreja de Santo Antônio shown in so many international newscasts last week. Over the years I have taken only a few photos of the exterior of this graceful little church but never really getting a good photo because of the cars and horses, and carts, vendors selling everything from religious icons to potato chips, and the PEOPLE always in the area blocking the ‘perfect’ photo. I promised myself the ‘someday’ I would go early in the morning or late in the day, I would take photos from all angles, I would explore, I would.... someday.... go inside.
Two weeks ago this Praça was clogged with mud and debris – yesterday the air was thick with sinus clogging dust but workers had swept the stones nearly clean and were preparing to wash the remaining dust away.
If one photo is worth a thousand words – is 25 photos worth a whole book? The first 5 rows below are before and after – taken as close to the same angle as possible..... then yesterday’s photos – don’t put off until yesterday what you wanted to do someday.

	from a distance the church appears unhurt.
	this tells the story better than any words. A thin layer of soil sets atop the granite basement.

FSO – F in Rio – Farofa, Ficus & Fairs; Feiras na Ruas

2011-01-27T17:00:00.001-04:00

it is impossible to really talk about Rio de Janeiro without talking about the food, the flora, and the fun atmosphere on the streets. We don’t have all day, with a need to keep it short, I’ll give you one example of each that I think SAYS Brazil.
You cannot order Brazilian food in a restaurant without having farofa (toasted manioc meal or coarse flour - farinha de mandioca torrada) coming as a side. Brazilians eat it with all kinds of carne, (churrasco), with beans and rice (Feijoada) and with the soups and stews from the north like Bobó de Camarão. At first taste, it taste like what you would expect sawdust to taste, but over time, mixed with the juice of the meat or mixed into rice, it soon become something you enjoy with your meal. Sometimes it is served plain but more often (and my favorite / how I make it) is mixed with herbs, butter, sautéed onion and scrambled egg. this is how it is served at our favorite picanha place in Rio.

The streets in Ipanema are lined with tall, old, twisted, hairy looking trees. The majority of these are a common species of ficus. Don’t you love that sentence? I don’t know which species they are, and all my tree reference books are in Friburgo. I am so not scientific in my thinking so they are FICUS.   According to Wikipedia, ... “Ficus (pronounced /ˈfɪkʊs/)^[2] is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs” ... I read in a museum here, long, long time ago – that there are 167 species of Ficus in Rio. I do know that these trees lend a unique look to our area of town and shade the streets from the hot summer sun. One species turns interesting shades of red and drops leaves during the winter months.


And last but in now way least are the Feiras na Ruas – street fairs. In Ipanema, there are both craft fairs and huge vegetable and fruit markets, with trucks selling sea food and spices and other, much needed good things. One veggie market is about two blocks from our apartment on Monday mornings and is the best market. On Tuesday, it is on the other end of the barrio at Praça General Osório, and on Fridays it in the Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz – (our lady of peace – don’t you love it!)

The Arts & Crafts market also in the Praça General Osório on Sunday mornings – is a must see if you visit Rio. (sorry no photos)

Friday My town Shoot-out / black and white

2011-01-21T05:06:00.001-04:00

This has been a black week in Nova Friburgo. A week a dealing with death and destruction, a week of mourning the loss of life and property, homes and businesses. The atmosphere has reminded me of the sense of shock in the weeks after 9/11. No longer in Friburgo but in Rio, in the comfort of the apartment in Ipanema, I have read many news articles, scrolled through hundred of photos and have wondered why? You can imagine the list of whys that have gone through my mind, no answers are there and are likely to never come clear. In the randomness of death and destruction by Nature, there are no answers to why.
This week has also been a white week. The purity, the kindness of neighbor helping neighbor, the relief on hearing of loved ones safe and uninjured, shines white in all our minds.
The relief of this week almost as painful as the fear of last.
The battle of good and bad, happiness and sadness, life and death, White and Black.
A few photos I have taken this week with my little point and shoot. A few examples of use of black and white, the colors, in Rio de Janeiro.

our famous sidewalks made with black and white stones. a dressing room made of black and white and shadows, A glass wall made with black etched glass, a dining room set for lunch, a statue of Joseph made of white plaster, old building and new construction, and the Harleys for the new motorcycle cops of Rio.