Small Things

João and I are not, by nature, terribly adventuresome. You won’t see photos of mountain climbing or even lots of sight seeing. We enjoy and nice meal with friends, a good book and doing the things we enjoy. Consequently the cold and the rain make little difference to our enjoyment. And chilly and rainy it has been. There are places we would like to go and things to see in our area, but as long as it’s overcast and rainy, we will just stay put. Last night, for instance,  I was able to finish another water color and I just loved working on the Green Goddess Lilly. I think (but am unsure) that I watercolor is my medium. I just seem to feel at ease and am able to dominate the use of the paint and produce pictures I really like.

Today we awoke to blue skies and a warm sun. Before heading to church, we visited historic Curitiba and the art fair. We bought several things and I really enjoyed looking at everything at th e fair, but I especially enjoyed seeing the colorful old buildings. I just cannot get into drawing buildings, but these made me want to be able to do so.  The church, by the way, is Presbyterian. It’ beauty made me want to worship there. I have decided I am becoming a stick in the mud. I like “old” things. I like liturgy. I like hymns. I like worship with a certain order and formality.

Speaking of worship, I had an interesting experience, as I attended the English speaking church, which meets at First Baptist of Curitiba. I enjoyed singing hymns and reading the Bible in English. I was even treated to hearing an orchestra play. After church, we went to Madalosso, at one time the largest restaurant in the world. What a place, with room for 2500 people. As you can see, by this time it was rainy and had become quite chilly. Inside, however, it was lovely and cozy, as they served us family style. I won’t go into rapture of the fried chicken, pastas (served family style as much as you wanted to eat), risoto, fried polenta, etc., etc. You can just drool imagining it.

We with any good Baptists, Sunday afternoon was devoted to … naps! Our caretaker left us a big bag of pinhão (pine nuts) and I cooked them and we cracked them of our afternoon snack. Like I said, a very FAT chance of me losing weight these days. What a very lovely day, however. I will confess, I missed my own church, but that is good for me, for gradually I will become anxious to return home. Just not yet…