Nova Friburgo’s Newest Monument

I left the house early this morning to take Camillo to the bus station.  He is making another trip to Macae and I, well I selfishly didn’t want to go.  I just got back here and wanted to stay put.  After dropping him off, I drove on into Nova Friburgo and parked at the Praça do Suspiro.  This is on the opposite side of downtown from my gym class but I wanted to show you some of the progress that has been made since the January 2011 mudslides.  I had taken photos before and to tell the truth couldn’t find them in my archives.  I have been doing and awful job of keeping up with things.   

I found among the large signs touting the engineers, and planners, and the declarations of how much money was being spent trying to stabilize this area of town, a new monument to those  nearly 1000 victims, in Nova Friburgo alone, that lost their lives in the early morning hours of January 12, 2011.  There have been improvements, you can’t imagine how bad it was (See the Feb. 2, 2011 post) nor how complicated it must be to try and fix this area.  But this monument gave me a feeling of hope, a large lump formed in my chest and has not gone away.

A city remembering that night and its losses before all can be covered up and forgotten.

  

 

The Jardineiro

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 is the fruit of his labors. He was a part of the fabric of our lives.  He was an alcoholic.

 

Ironically, 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 to be 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.

 

A coffee break........

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.

Simplicity.

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

Texture – Nova Friburgo

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. 

      

In the days after

A before photo taken from the top of the cable car.

 

It is obvious from my last post that I really was not tuned into the scope of the disaster in Nova Friburgo.  Only after arriving in Rio, talking with all our friends and family that had been looking for us, after reading news posts, reviewing photos, and watching international news coverage last night did I finally understand how devastated Friburgo is.  Conversations I have had this morning ranged from how to help now, to how will the city rebuild; replacing homes and businesses without using those areas that now show themselves as unsafe?  In this minute there seems to  be no answers.

As you can see from the before photo above  the city is built on steep hills along a river that runs right through its center.     On the outskirts of Friburgo - on the 116 between the new bus station and the city center is an old factory.  It is for sell, and could be converted to many small apartments.  The asking price last year was $R5,000,000.00 - to rich for my pocketbook, but have always thought it would make a great 'loft' apartment complex – Could the government buy this building now.  Now maybe it could house many of the homeless, temporary but stable, and much better than living in a school cafeteria.  And later turned into homes that could be sold to the poorer but strong middle class of Friburgo. 

 

More before shots, so we can all remember how beautiful it is up here in the mountains.

  
If people aren’t allowed to build on the steep hills, where will they live?  Does the government just say ‘sorry, the good building areas are full you have to move to a slum in Rio’?  Where, by the way, most are built on unsafe sides of mountains.

MTFSO – Reflections and other shiny things

The last time we did Reflection for the FSO in July of ‘09,  I showed you a few of the reflections of the Lagoa in Rio.  I really don’t have many (0) clever photos of shiny things, maybe a rock or two or a piece of jewelry here or there but not anything to show off things or places specific to Brasil. 

Christmas balls reflecting Paris for example.

Or a stone (mineral) that you can buy in Rio.

This time around with reflections, I wanted to highlight Nova Friburgo.  Humm! 

A few weeks (maybe months) ago I took an easy walk around the city park in Friburgo, Parque Sao Clement.  The photos reflect the feeling of nature during the winter and of the forest area around Nova Friburgo while being right in the middle of the city.  The blacktopped trail is only a kilometer or so long, but there are two dirt trails that seem to climb up into the surrounding hills that you can try out if you want more of a challenge for your daily walk.

Just a short FYI,  I will be traveling to the USA this next week.  And as usual will visit with my mother – this time in my home town of Adrian Michigan – then returning to Houston spend Thanksgiving with my daughter and her family.  If I am able to get out and take photos I will try to post a couple times about being home – about my other hometowns.  Have a great week.

MTFSO-Urban Macro

As I often do when in a blank area – not knowing what to do with the week’s FSO topic, I Google it.  Somewhere within all the thousands pages that come from a Google search is usually a word or a phrase that sparks my interest and clarifies the topic for me.  First a definition of Macro photography – “…The classical definition is that the image projected is close to the same size as the subject….” and a search of ‘URBAN MACRO’ rewarded me with a complete group of photos on flickr.com.  The clincher for me was visiting Pauline’s site – now I had the idea and went hunting in my archives for photos that might work. 
All of these photos are from the Nova Friburgo area.


 
Ever seen the flower of a Banana Tree?  Not Urban but forest – but very much a part of the surrounding area where banana trees (well more of a bush) grown wild in the forest.

My Town FSO – Water / rivers / Lakes & Streams

The last time the FSO did water I was in Houston, so is nice for me to get an opportunity to show you water here in Nova Friburgo or in Rio.  Now which shall it be.  In Rio, we have the ocean, and canals, and the lagoa – and rain and clouds and humid air.  I feel like I have shown you all of this in many different ways and in many if not all of the moods.

      So today let’s look around Nova Friburgo, which also has rain and clouds, fog and humid air - and small mountain streams, and when it is rainy season the very rocks that surround us cry – it is like the rocks fill to the brim with water then the water makes its way out – making the stone glisten with moisture.

      And because we have high elevations and rain, we also have a water fall.   Out on the highway north of town, almost to the park of the sitting dog, we have a waterfall that spills down the hillside and into a small river below.  Just past the waterfall is a small utility hut.  I understand there is electricity generated there.  There is also a trail that you can walk that goes down to the base of the waterfall and then follows the river for quite a while.

       

   A few years back we went by specially to see the waterfall because we had had so much rain that there were landslides everywhere – There was no water – somehow the water was blocked to keep the little stream from becoming a major hazard to those that live along the waterway.