Real winter in Nova Friburgo

In order to tell what month of the year it is for real, I count six months on my fingers - so September in the southern hemisphere is Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, March in the northern. Even after five years here my system needs this reality check to know what the weather should be doing.

For nearly a month we had hot dry weather, summertime temperatures, then three days ago it turned cold and whet again. Last night there was another thunderstorm and the temperature was a very cold 12c. I wore two sweaters trying to be warm.

Around 3 this afternoon the sun came out chasing away the low clouds, fog and drizzle and hopefully these past 3 days will be the last of this year's winter in the mountains of tropical Brasil.

Winter in Nova Friburgo

(note: remember to double click on the image to enlarge and that our house is on the Mury - Lumiar road just west of that little blue line going almost straight north)

In past years I have spent July, August and September freezing .... well a tropical styled freeze with the temperatures in the teens - (11 to 17c or about 52 to 62f) - but it can feel pretty cold in our unheated house. This year and for the past month it has been 22 to 27c (71 - 82) a real and prolonged heatwave. This is are usual December -

March temperatures. This being dry season, we have had day after day of hot, dry weather and it is very much out of season. It makes me a believer in Planet Warming. Taking advantage of this hot dry weather, and continuing our project of eating in unknown, out-of-the-way places, on Sunday Camillo and I took the MP for a ride out past Lumiar and had lunch. Basically out in the middle of nowhere there is a restaurant named the Prooosit. (Estalagem Conde Redondo)

Estalegem? is this another word for Pousada?

The grounds and the little Chalets were very nice - upscale - well maintained and if I didn't have my own house in the mountains I would stay a few nights at the Conde Redondo.

This restaurant was about 10 KM past Lumiar - so about 35 km from our house. The service was a little slow, maybe you might say really slow. They tried hard, never leaving us to feel that they had just forgotten about us, but we still waited an hour past appetisers for the food. To be fair they

had a very big crowd, we didn't call ahead, they gave us free salads as an apology and they had really good drinks so we didn't suffer. The food was good enough to warrant the drive, I liked very much the ambiance, we will try again soon to see if the service problems were unusual. Try it.

Winter Forest

Contra to what my body and mind are used to, as it often is in this country, it is now winter. In Rio, I don't notice it so much because the temperatures are pretty moderate, never dropping into the freezing range as it will from time to time in Houston, but in Friburgo it can feel pretty cold. In Houston we wouldn't think it cold, in the mid 50s or so but there, there is heat in the house and our house in Friburgo is not heated - in other words it can FEEL very cold. What is astonishing to me is the colors in the forest this time of year. The QUARESMEIRA (purple trees) is just finishing its show and the 'flor-de-Maio' is just beginning (yellow single bloom). Last year, they were both in bloom at the same time - fantastic - this year they will be separated by several weeks. Right now there are bird of paradise, poinsettias, jasmines and Christmas cactus flowering, the leaves of the caqui are red and all combined, as if compensating for the days of fog and clouds, the color show in the forest is the best this time of year.

Fog, Fog, and more Fog

Even though it is still summer in Rio, in the mountains it is starting to feel like winter. For two days now it has been foggy with rain. Yesterday in the evening we put a fire in the fireplace and enjoyed the bright flames, Camillo with his pipe and me with my book and rocking chair.

Of course, because it is raining we were without Internet service this morning and with no cable TV this whole weekend. I can't say that it is harmful to us to sit in front a fire with a book instead of watching re-runs all evening on TV. I was also inspired to clean out my desk, cook fried chicken for lunch, load CDs onto the Ipod, and to make caqui (Kaki) jam. This is my first try at using the caqui from our yard. Usually I am so wrapped up in sitting in front of the computer I give them away as they ripen. While cleaning out my desk I found a journal I wrote in my first year in Brazil.

here is an entry made in June 2003

Winter Mornings Damp with dew - leftover night clouds, roosters crowing, saws buzzing - cleaning - preparing for spring. Sun's rays breaking through - valley's clouds rising, holding the morning sounds close to the ground. Sweet silence close to the house - sounds of others drift, coming on the breeze through my window.

thoughts from the veranda

I have been spending a week in Friburgo and four days now I have been totally alone. It can be a period of vast 'aloneness' and at moments, that feeling is almost debilitating. (Don't tell Camillo, but yesterday I spent the day in my PJs and only ate popcorn and watermelon)

Today as you can tell I am much better. The hardest part of living in a foreign country is that your family is not here. Their days are abstract for you, not real, not involved. My mother is 86 years old and beginning to fail. I should be there, talking, laughing, enjoying her. My grandson will graduate from high school this coming June. I may not be there. He competes in motocross and I have seen only one competition (I have to be honest I won't go to another - I can't stand it) My Granddaughter, in this photo with my mother when she was five, is now going to be 12. I don't have a photo of her from the past year. What is their life, Their thoughts, Who are they now? No matter how beautiful the view, no matter how many churrascos you enjoy with friends, this is what you miss when you are alone in a foreign land.
gingerv

Waiting!

Waiting.

Spring is here, I know it is because there are 'spring sale' signs in the windows of the shops in Rio. Just like everywhere else in the world (Well, in the northern hemisphere the signs say 'fall sale' but the concept is the same), when all else fails to give us a sign, the new clothing lines are a sure indicator for a change of seasons. Now that spring is here, I am waiting for the spring showers to bring the May flowers. Only here it is spring showers bring November flowers. Now that spring is here I am waiting for the smell of warm air mingled with freshly mowed grass. Of course, I wait in vain, there is no smell of freshly mowed grass here. But I can dream can't I?

In one of our pines, just off the patio, there is a "soon to be mama" bird, waiting. And the "soon to be daddy" bird, waiting. And I am waiting for it to feel like spring.

Friday Ocober 12, 2007 in Friburgo

the forest, dry season and fires

Camillo and I returned to Friburgo this weekend after 7 weeks of social commitments in Rio, special assignments for the class at PUC, and travel to Spain. We found it so dry here. The aggressive greens of the forest have turned to droopy browns. The underbrush is deep brown and very crispy looking. Last February we had so much rain that the resulting mud slides left the surrounding hill sides scared and bare. It was common to have boulders just break loose from the wet soil and roll down onto the roads. Now it seems that the dryness is causing the same type of slides.

We keep a 3 meter firebreak cleared around our property's perimeter but we have had in other, less dry years, fire right up to the edge and this year is much more dangerous. Lucia (the maid and source of local gossip) says we haven't had rain (measurable amounts) in six months. As you can see in the photos, the hillsides are now scared with burned sections of forest. This bit of fire burned all day yesterday, not moving quickly but definitely out of control (unsupervised as no one lives there). You could tell that the smoke had crept over the top - a result of smoke and flame the day before on the other side.

Incredibly yesterday afternoon someone was burning (from long habit and lack of smarts) trash on the road just below us. Any amount of wind would have swept it right out of control. To top this all off perfectly, Lucia also said the the locals who tap into the surface water, don't drill wells or have city services, do not have water at all in their homes - bottom line - there is no fire prevention or fire fighting capability in place. Pray for rain. GingerV