Waiting for the weather to change -

I went looking for a chart like the one above to see if my perception of our weather holds true under the statistics,  the facts.  The closest location to the house I could find were the numbers for Nova Friburgo.  Our house is about 10 Kilometers from Friburgo and about 150 meters higher.  Temperature wise we are a little cooler and I would think it is close to the average numbers above, but we are more humid – humid does not measure in the precipitation numbers…. just in the ‘it feels cold and damp’ feelings.   I think that this year it has been even dryer than normal in July and August.  Our garden is looking decidedly – well dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The small inset is from January when we were in the middle of rainy season.  Now the whole yard on the west side of the house has lost all its grass.   We will either have to re-plant and soon or take a chance that once the heavy rains of November and December start, the soil will wash away.  In the ten years I have lived up here full time, I’ve never seen the grass look this bad.  I would say that our rainy season wasn’t as whet as usual leaving the grass (and trees) in a weakened position before the dry and hot sun of August arrived.  When we left for Rio this morning, it wasn’t raining, but we were in a whet fog.  The rains may hold off for another month but this light moisture may help restore the grass. 

This last week we went from higher than normal September temperatures, with bright direct sun, low humidity; each day cooling a bit, clouds building each day, to the whet fog of this morning, giving us hope that rain, measurable amounts of rain will come soon.   

Sunrise promising another clear, hot day in late Winter. (September in Brasil = March in the northern hemisphere.)

and the next day’s sunrise brings more moisture, clear mid-day skies and

 

 

by late afternoon, rain threatening at the end of the valley but not making it up to our dry garden.  

One thing we can be sure of in Brasil the dry season comes to an end and the rains start….. guaranteed.

 

shallow depth of field…

Up here in Friburgo this morning it is just beautiful, a great day to walk the garden with my camera, but I’ve left my Nikon in Rio hoping I won’t get more mildew in it before our trip to Italy at the end of this month.  Plus this is a holiday weekend, Brazil’s independence day, so I am staying at the house and out of traffic – giving me no where to go and no camera to go with, leaving me a shallow depth of field in which to work.  ()

Wanting to represent Brazil this morning, I did a search through my ‘flowers’ archive folder looking for just one photo that shows a shallow depth of field.    The first was taken with my first digital, and before I even know what ‘shallow depth of field’ was, got lucky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours in Zurich –

Over lunch today, Camillo and I were talking about which cities we had had fun with stopovers; Paris for sure, Amsterdam for sure, and Zurich, which Camillo didn’t remember.  Sometimes, when you have lower fare airline tickets, you end up with many hours in airports waiting for a connection - make the most of it, plan to see a bit of local.

Sometimes, you end up stuck in an airport because of missed flights, or strikes or snowstorms, but I‘m not talking about those times. I am talking about stopovers that you can make plans and you can take advantage of, to see just a little bit of a city.  In Europe, there are great trains that run from the airport into the city’s center or passes by a famous church, or even a museum housing one painting you’ve always wanted to see.  If you put your carry-on luggage into a locker (with the increases in security, I hope there are still lockers you can use for a few hours) and then jump on the train you can have a walk-about and maybe have a great meal before making your way back to the airport.   Remember to take your camera.

In 2004, when on our way to Sicily, we had 5 free hours in the Zurich, Switzerland airport.  This probably means that there was seven or even 8 hours, accounting for time to re-check in, and we used five for our walk-about.  We had come from Rio / Sao Paulo on Swiss Air, and probably were switching to Air Italia for a flight to Rome, and then the next morning flying into Palermo, Sicily.  (see my post from last week about Cefalù.)  To tell the truth I probably would have never done this on my own but Camillo, Camillo is never intimidated by language or signs or by asking for help at the information center at the airports (or the train stations).  So when he see an opportunity he puts us out there - on an adventure.

I don’t remember if it was just luck, we do tend to be lucky, or if Camillo ask instructions in Zurich but we took a train into the main train station; walked out the front door, down the main street right in front of us, kept walking, looking, clicking photos, absorbing the look of Zurich.  We walked up (or down?) the Bahnhofstrasse, which when Googled will show to be the street (Strasse) with the most expensive commercial  /  retail real estate in Europe and 3rd in the world.  I didn’t check to see where one and two are. 

We walked, looking I am sure for a place to have brunch, and walked, and walked and ended up at the Ganymed Statue – a small plaza on the river.  As you all know I am bad at taking notes, but if memory serves me correctly this must have been a Sunday morning, the streets were clean, quiet, sunny and mostly devoid of people.  Perfect!

Along the way we did not get far off the main drag, just glanced in a window here and there; cut across a plaza, poked around up a side street and on the way back stopped in a sidewalk café for a lite meal.  Leaving enough time to jump back on the train, get to the airport, check-in and to be on our way to Rome. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours in Zurich VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

back to basics – in Black and White.

You all know that I prefer color.  I see better when colors are defining the photo so I haven’t ever taken photos in black and white.  I thought that I would play along this week, using my photo editor (I know its not the same thing) to convert some photos of Nova Friburgo into Black and White.  I looked through my archives, looking specifically for bright light that would define the shadows in the photos, trying for first class (edited) photos. 

**** on my computer this photo looked like B&W but wasn’t so I edited it – following is the result.

    

                                             My world class view.  

(still only see it in B&W – per B&B I need a better monitor.)

Nova Friburgo sits, sprawled along a small mountain river. Its streets curve and wind up the hills from the main highway that runs on either side of the concrete-sided river.  The natural beauty of the area is masked by the mess humans have made of managing the city.  It is not a dirty town, just frayed and clustered and now stymied by the transit that is the benefit of a good economy.  After saying all of this how do I really enjoy making photos show the basics of this city in stark B & W. 

The city of Nova Friburgo is trying – trying to keep its family oriented environment, trying to add culture and entertainment,  even with the mess of traffic the city continues to have festivals, and it own carnival celebrations giving the citizens a chance a good life with their families. 

   

 

Early Vacations - 2004 to Sicily

Last week’s FSO post about vacations took me down memory lane, forcing me to look at old photos and to straighten out numerous folders and photo albums with 35mm shots.  I found a post about Buenos Aires Argentine where I tell you all that I will write a second post about the new docks - Puerto Madero Waterfront – and then don’t.  I can’t imagine how many times that has happened.  How many times have I dropped a thought and said, “that a different story, will tell you later.” and then don’t.  Can you think of something I didn’t tell you and should have?

In the spirit of showing you things I have missed, I want to do a few posts about vacations that we took between 2002, when I got my first digital camera for Christmas, and early 2007 when I started to write and show photos on ‘Flowers and More’.  I might also go back to my 35mm photo albums and scan to show you anything else of real interest but for now I will hold that thought () until later. 

Because I showed you scanned photos of Taormina, Sicily on Friday, a trip we took in 2002, no specific dates found but if memory serves me correctly it was in late spring.  I thought that I would start this trip in nostalgia  with our second trip to Sicily in May of 2004.  This trip was from Rio; I think that Camillo got really good ticket prices because we went Rio, Sao Paulo, Zurich, Rome, Palermo - changing planes and with stopovers on each step of the flight.  In Zurich, we had a major stop, like 5 or 6 hours, so we took the local train to have lunch in old town Zurich.  After 2 days in Palermo, we took a train to Cefalù, then a boat tour out to Lapari and Vulcano, both islands north of Cefalù with live (not necessarily active) volcanoes.  Then after another day or so in Cefalù, another night train all the way back to Rome where we met Patty (my daughter) and Vivi (Camillo’s).  We spent several weeks showing them all around Rome and onward.  Yes, was a very nice trip indeed.   **I don’t know if it has improved but train schedules in Italy are hard to track down.  Travel agent do (did) not have the schedules you have to go to the train stations.  Like in this case they are not right in the city.  Our night train along the coast at sunset was great, then at the port at Messina the whole train was loaded into the bowels  of a ferry.  All of the doors snapped shut – locking us in – twenty minutes later the whole train came off the ferry and early the next morning we were in Rome.

      

For us, though, Cefalù was the highlight of the trip.  All of Sicily and the surrounding islands have a long and varied history.  Starting back several thousand years before Christ, the foundation of this city being Greek, and running until joining the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.  At one time or another the Island of Sicily was Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Norman, and Arab. The Cefalù Cathedral reflects this history. 

Started in 1131, the façade being finished in 1240 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1267.  Its architecture is varied, reflecting the conquering groups through the years it was built and expanded. 

   

Take away the great food, the natural scenery, the ancient architectural flavor – strip this city down and it is still worth visiting just to see the Cathedral.  For more photos see the slideshow below.

Cefalù, Sicily, Italy VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL