Accumulated Memories

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 here 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.

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 newspapers.  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

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.

    

Easter in Brasil

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.