That’s all Green Folks….

I don’t know why the title…  Just popped into my head,  “Thatsss alll Folks!”…. remember Porky Pig?  Doesn’t really apply here because of all the colors we might not have in Brasil – green isn’t one of them so I can’t say “that’s all” until I post my dozens of photos.  NO Don’t leave, just kidding.  I will limit myself in photos and in words.  I spent about a minute looking in my ‘Friburgo garden’ folder, which holds nearly 2000 photos, and listed only 8 photos to show you.  Lets see how this works out.

In Brasil, we have green birds, green orchids, huge green leaves, little green leaves; and to list some of shades of green: silver green, deep forest green, spring green, fall green and all the greens in between.  During rainy season the world around me turns green, deep with shadows and shiny with moisture.  During the dry winter months the greens fade, turning almost brown but never quite giving up their green status. 

As you can imagine this forces me to look past the green and look for small dots of other color.  I have received many comments over the years about my ‘eye popping color’, which just shows how I look for bright orange, vibrant reds, many yellows, violet, pink …. any color to see something other than green in my camera’s lens.

     

 

There is something truly extraordinary about a sole color nestled in a bed of green. 

  

All these photos were taken at one time or the other throughout the year, in my garden, from the veranda, or on the street in front of the house.

I have one more, (only one more!), taken at the Botanical Gardens in Rio just this past week – just to prove my point that green is the color of Brasil.  Green on green, shadow and light -

Carol’s Brasil: part 111

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 once the priority plans were made 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’ on Tuesday, and on Tuesday it 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 one 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.”

 

 

Flowers in Brasil

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....

      

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. 

      

Earth day–MTFSO

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.

    

just in time for St. Pat’s day

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' VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

In Rio – twisted, In Friburgo–contorted

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.