Going With the Flow

Tonight I learned about something new for me - how to work with a bluetooth adapter. I know bluetooth tech isn’t new. I just didn’t know how to hook up an adapter to my computer and use it to transfer files from a cell phone. Actually not too hard at all, but as my husband said, it makes you feel old when you have to work so hard to figure out something that seems to come naturally to those who are young. Just as proof that I did manage it, I am posting a photo João took of me (with the cell phone) as I was painting, while on vacation. I love the photo, by the way, but I didn’t even realize when he took it. I look like a real artist, eh?

It’s getting harder and harder to keep up with technology, as there is so much. Bluetooth, Twitter, Podcasts, have been added to my list of conquests. It was always so much fun for me to figure out something new. Still is fun when it’s figured out, but it’s getting hard to figure them out. Do you ever feel the merry-go-round really is turning just a little fast to keep up with?

Yesterday,Sunday, we had a special celebration of the 35th anniversary of of our women’s choir. As part of their celebration they invited two other women’s choirs, so it made for quite an interesting service with the different voices and styles. I wasn’t sure ahead of time how much I would really enjoy it, as I am not always a huge fan of women’s choirs. When the men join together, it seems so big and booming and nice, but for some reason women’s groups are often strident and trembly. This was not the case and it was a great service. As you know, we have trouble with attendance Sunday night. Our church falls to less than half of the morning service. To see the church reasonably full is always fun. We are struggling to know what to do with this problem. There were a number of decisions to follow Christ at the end the service, so our hearts were really full by the end of the day.

Wanna Make Me Cry?

Today, as I was preparing my space and material to draw (I don’t have a permanent space for my art work *sigh*), I decided to put my computer near me and put on some music. Now that is unusual, because I am not one to “need” noise. I need silence. But today I wanted music, maybe to help to drown out other sounds, since I wasn’t alone. Strangely enough I struggle to concentrate when I know there is anyone else around. I began to dig through my CD’s and found

my Carpenter’s double album. I haven’t listened to it for years, but from the first notes, I felt like I was in a time machine. I literally felt transported back to my college days. I could see where I lived, smell the smells, see the scenery and feel the feelings. I felt absolutely transported. As I drew I sang lustily, remembering the lyrics and probably driving the family crazy. Their song “Yesterday Once More” described perfectly my feelings.

When I was young
I'd listened to the radio
Waitin' for my favorite songs
Waiting they played I'd sing along
It made me smile
Those were such happy times
And not so long ago How I wondered where they'd gone
But they're back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well

They made me cry and laugh and be happy too. Mostly I just felt so nostalgic. When I listened to “I’ll Say Goodbye to Love”, I remembered how true I thought it was. I was so certain I would never ever find love and now I’m looking at my wonderful husband of 16 1/2 years, realizing how blessed I am and how things never turn out like we expect.

I did get more done than be sentimental, however. I made progress on Eduardo, our minister of music. I work from left to right on my drawings so as not to smudge them, as the graphite is very soft, so he came last because of pl

acement, not priorities. His tie is polka-dotted, but I am thinking it might just stay solid. I was going to paint on the white dots, but I am so afraid of messing up and ruining the whole thing. Does the solid tie work? I think his teeth came out looking fine, considering I had to make them up since his braces hid them. At any rate I am now far enough along I can take the art to my class and get my teacher to help me with corrections and the background. I’ll be glad when I get it framed and I can stop dreaming about it. Or maybe I should say, stop having night mares about not finishing it in time. Surely am glad I don’t make my living doing this.

Hope you are having a good weekend. Put on your favorite “album” and relive your past. It’s nice and cathartic.

PS: I "stitched" two scans together so you get an idea of the whole picture.

The Family that Sweats Together

Today Sissy and João and I went to a nearby gym (here in Brazil they are on every other corner) and signed up for the “family plan”. Finally after 7 months João and I are getting back to exercise. I have decided to try out weight lifting and a treadmill instead of the pool, so as to avoid sinus problems. I may even do some stretching classes. We start on Monday, although the gal tried her best to get us to start today. We thought it was enough of a leap for one day to go out and sign up. Hope we’ll all like it.

On Tuesday we celebrated Sissy’s 23rd birthday. Can you believe how time flies? We had a nice luncheon at Outback to celebrate.

Today I spent my time reworking the graphite portraits I am doing of the three ministers. In a fit of anger and frustration and I simply ditched the first attempt. After hours and hours, it just wasn’t quite right. I kept erasing, but couldn’t get it right, so felt it was better to start again. You know the old saying about the fact that it’s better to sew a new dress than to try to alter an old one. I was SOOOOOO frustrated, and not sure I would do any better on the second try, but I think maybe I have. To my eyes, it looks a lot more like Joào and Hélio. I still haven’t worked too much on Eduardo and since the whole drawing is too large to fit on the scanner, I’m showing you only the two of them. I have decided to do their suits in charcoal, when I have finished their faces. The charcoal will be dark and rough enough to represent the clothes better. I hope I can finish in time for the art exposition the first Sunday of August. In addition, I have to leave time to have it framed. The problem is, of course, that I get tired after about 4 hours of work. These two faces have easily taken 10 hours and there’s still a lot to go. Wish me luck!

Long Time No See

What a ride it has been the last two weeks! Hectic is kind of an understatement. If I wrote about everything, I think many of the things would be boring to you, so I’ll just hit a couple of events. One of our high points this past week was receiving our friends from Canada, Tereza and Patricia. Patricia was very much a little girl when we left Canada three years ago, but now she is a beautiful young woman. They were so much fun to have here in our home. It was like having family here. They left yesterday to travel to Maranhão, to visit Tereza’s family, and we already miss them here. Some people can just walk right back into your life and it’s like you’ve never been separated. That, to me, is the real test of friendship!

In addition to their presence with us, this week is the state Baptist Convention here in the city of Rio. Unfortunately the convention site is REALLY far away. In good traffic conditions, about an hour. In bad, about three hours. So João has been rushing back and forth to those meetings. On Wednesday, he was the preacher and the men’s choir from our church sang (you can see some on them in the background of the photo of João). João did me very proud with his message. I think what he had to say was very significant and I hope they take to heart his concerns about ethics and integrity. They voted to publish his message and several references were made to the message during the business session the next day.

On a very light note, last week I had a beauty consultation with a Mary Kay rep. (Who just “happens” to be our youth minister’s wife.) Do you remember when Mary Kay makeup was all the rage? I loved it back in the 80’s, but when I came to Brazil, I stopped using it, since it wasn’t available here. Now it is, albeit everything is very different. I was impressed with quality of the material and its affordability. Although I had invited several friends from church, only one was able to make it. She thought she looked a little too made up, but I thought she looked polished. At any rate we laughed and giggled and had a lot of fun doing our make-overs. I remembered how much I need “girl” fun. Since Marilene moved two years ago, I just haven’t invested in that. I suffer from a chronic fear of rejection, so I tend not to call people or invite them to things, as much as I enjoy them. I always wait for people to call me, but because I put up such a good front, folks assume I wouldn’t be interested in being with them. Since I don’t call, they don’t call and I end up in my own lonely little vicious cycle. We’ll save the analysis for another day.

I have to leave here in a bit and pick up all my test results at the lab. Doing the exams was another part of my week. Now I just have to schedule a doctor’s appt to talk over the results, which from the indications at the time of the exams, are all okay. As Momma always says: “It’s a great life if you don’t weaken”.

Old Dog, New Tricks

Last night I did something new. I went to a choir rehearsal. No lightning bolts, please. I know I said I was done with singing, but this choir is a temporary thing, formed to sing the cantata for the anniversary of our church in August. It’s not that many rehearsals, so it’s not a big commitment. Plus they are actually singing with sheet music so I can learn the music pretty quickly. (Most choirs learn by rote which means endless repetition that bores me to tears) In addition, the directors of rehearsals are professional musicians and actually working on breathing, tone and learning to sing correctly. I LOVED rehearsal. I learned more about singing, I learned a new song, made friends, got some exercise (singing counts as exercise, doesn’t it?) and had FUN. You are never too old to do something new, right? Speaking of which I am seriously considering buying a digital piano (no way an acustic piano would fit in our elevator) and studying piano. Wouldn’t that be a kick?

I am on the anniversary committee of the church. Our 125th anniversary will be on August 24th. Our theme is “TOGETHER”. One of the events is an art exposition and I was “volunteered” to participate. My very original idea was to produce a portrait of our three ministers, showing them united, or “together” in ministry. I just started yesterday, but made progress, although there is something wrong with the youth minister’s eyes. Everyone always says he looks like Barak Obama and now I see the resemblance. João and Eduardo look like themselves, but I have to do something with Elio’s eyes to get him right. But look at their ties. It’s the first time I’ve drawn clothes and I think I made good progress. I think I have discovered that for portraits I prefer pencil. I tried ink and that was horrible. The nice thing about pencils is that I can carry them anywhere and work on the drawing, although this is a fairly large drawing and is hard to carry around.

Things are quiet around the house. Sissy is on vacation and Mia has entered into depression as she misses Sissy so much. Don’t those eyes just say: “Come home Sissy”? That’s the most pathetic thing I’ve seen in a while. That is Sissy’s bed, by the way. Mia stays there all the time now. Soon things will be more agitated around here, as Theresa and Patricia will be arriving from Canada. They were members of our church in Ottawa, but are Brazilians. Can’t wait to see them. I suppose I had should clean and grocery shop and get ready for the visit. Oops… there goes the quiet.

Saturday the 4th of July

Today is NOT a holiday in Brazil, but I decided to celebrate anyway by inviting my English speaking Sunday School class to my house for a 4th of July “mini” celebration. We had a brunch and we all tried to dress in red, white and blue. I couldn’t find blueberries to go with the strawberries, but at least we had lots of red for our breakfast. I have never tried doing anything like this before, so it was the first time in 20+ years I’ve had any celebration of the fourth of July. I am not sure if it was a busy day for everyone, or people didn’t like the idea of the brunch or an American holiday, but I only had 3 people come. I was thrilled they made it, but wondered what happened to my other 10 classmates. Since I prepared for 15+ people, needless to say I had TONS of leftovers. We all had a great time talking and eating. I really enjoyed myself AND I won’t have to cook for a while. I don’t think they were too sure about the “deviled” eggs, but since those are one of my very favorite foods, I ate them all for supper! Since everyone asked why they are called “deviled”, I had to do a little research. Do you know??? According to the ever famous Wikipedia: “The term "deviled", in reference to food, was in use in the 18th century, first known print reference appearing in 1786. In the 19th century, it came to be used most often with spicy or zesty food”. You learn something new everyday! And now I am off to eat watermelon to finish off my 4th of July. Hope you had fun too.

Acrylic paints

I know, I know, I haven't written. Everything is fine. Maybe too fine, as there is nothing new or exciting to report on. I frankly have thought and thought and don't seem to have anything new to say. We've been trying to get back into a routine since vacation, and that isn't always easy. I can't seem to get back into exercise at all. Same for drawing and writing. I guess this is part of the process of reorganizing things.

Hopefully things are getting a little better, although doctor and dentist's appt and lab work aren't facilitating that much. I even had my hair colored and cut (and that is a 3-4 hour process). As I frequently complain, these kind of things are so time-consuming here. I set up a doctor's appt six weeks in advance just so I could be the first appointment of the day and not have a long wait. Nice try. Not only does this doctor set up TWO (not one) appointments for each time slot every 15 minutes (guess she figures she is magic and can do two people at once),but she also arrives 30 minutes late AND chooses to see drug reps before the patients. Well I ony waited 90 minutes. Better than 3 or 4 hours I guess. I struggled to be "happy" and patient. Fortunately I had my Bible with me and the Psalms got me through and I didn't even have a major "grumpy" attack. Does anyone have any strategies that really work for learning to live with always having to wait? I have tried arriving late, but that doesn't work, as they put you at the end of the line for the consult. I wish it didn't bend me out of shape. I know I have to change and I am working on it, but having to do any "medical" kind of thing is already something I hate. I usually spend the rest of the day "recuperating".

Yesterday I had a small breakthrough, I think, in my art lessons. My teacher gave me some one on one time with using acrylic paints, instead of just letting me free form fail. I have been pretty discouraged on painting lately, and had almost decided to give up. I watched as she showed me and then I tried the technique. And you know what? It worked! So I did a monochrome jug, practicing the technique. It actually looks better than the scan, as it has a lot of

depth. I was so pleased that it turned out decently, that I came home and started painting a series of bottles I had started drawing while on vacation. I am supposed to be studying transparency, and nothing is better than glass bottles for that. Here you see my sketch and the first two bottles, with no background yet, so you can see my progress. My teacher says I need to start buying canvass because paper just doesn't cut it. Just when I thought I had all the supplies I

needed! I find that she is always right on these things, but I surely hate to spend the money. The other gal that studies acrylic with me is over the top frustrated and ready to give up as well, so I know that acrylic is hard, and I want to stick with it a while until I can decide whether I like it or not. At this point I feel my favorite medium is definitely watercolor, but that could change. We'll see. I am still dreaming of arriving at the point where I can "create" instead of just copying.
And there you have it. Nothing exciting, but at least I am alive and kicking. (Well I should be kicking, but I am not. Maybe later this week I'll get back in my exercise routine).

PS: This painting stuff gets addictive. Tonight I did a bit more and here is the result. Remember, there is still alot to go, but will probably wait for class next week to get some hints as to how to proceed.

Yummy

There are days when it pays to be a preacher’s wife! Today was one. The doorbell rang and there was this super giganticous (is that a word?) fruit basket. Usually these baskets are loaded with sweets and things I can’t have, but in this case there were some cookies (my favorites – arrowroot) and the rest were these oh so gorgeous fruits. All must have been hand chosen for they are scrumptious. I have eaten grapes and kiwi and tangerines. I made strawberry, kiwi and pear juice that was to DIE for this evening. I will make some grape, apple and well, let’s see, what do you suggest I add, for my breakfast? I even have an beautiful avocado. Sissy said I should draw them. Not me. I plan on eating them.

This lovely gift was thanks to the Women of the church (WMU) to João in recognition of Pastor’s Day (which was last Sunday). Also it was kind of like a welcome back gift. It really was for him, but he is generous in sharing. I’d like to see him eat all that fruit by himself. I owe the ladies a huge THANK YOU. I can’t wait to give the president a big ‘ole hug on Sunday. In fact I can’t wait to get back to church on Sunday. I think I’ll go munch on… purple grapes!

PS - Didn't wait for your input. I made juice with a kiwi, apple, tangerine and threw in some kale leaves. Yum, yum. What's next for my afternoon snack? Passion fruit with....?

Proud as Punch

We arrived home safely from our wonderful vacation. We travelled slowly, visiting along the way. We left on Sunday and arrived home on Tuesday night. The only serious adventure on our return trip was on the very last leg, which was only to be about 4 or 5 hours. As we passed by a rest stop we debated on stopping and eating lunch and using the restroom, but we thought there was another one about 30 minutes away that was better. Why, or why do we make these decisions? Just a few more miles down the road there was an overhead sign announcing an accident ahead. That concerned me, as we were close to a mountain pass where the highways divide (Serra das Araras) and there is a very steep downgrade. If a truck overturns there (as VERY frequently happens), you are just plain stuck, as even emergency vehicles have a really hard time getting through. Well, that was what happened, as a chemical truck overturned, the highway was closed and there we were in the middle of nowhere. I had food and my computer, so I was fine for a while. But after an hour, I began searching for somewhere to go to the bathroom. There was a steep embankment and so I had to decide if I wanted to be miserable for a while or risk my neck. I chose the former. Finally they opened up one lane down the mountain (they actually had to close our side and let us drive in the other lane that came up the mountain) and lo and behold just a few yards from where we were was a restaurant. I could have walked there easily. But who knew? Fortunately all’s well that ends well. We got in a lot later than planned, of course, since we also hit traffic in Rio because of the delay.

I know the photo to the left gave you a chuckle, right? Last year João let his beard grow during vacation. This year he shaved it off when we got home and I got a shot of him in mid progress. Isn’t it hysterical? My own little Hitler.

Last night was a great cause for celebration as Elly and her fiancé, Bernardo, graduated from the university with degrees in engineering (remote control and automation). Most of the family was there, although I had a hard time getting decent photos. But I loved the photo of Elly with Sissy and her Mom and Dad. I think it’s a nice shot. The ceremony was not too long and all the speakers were interesting, so it was a good evening. It was a long 5 1/2 years of study and work and they were both radiant with joy. There were tears, as you can see, since they will miss their friends and professors. Since they are now graduates, as of next week they will have the paperwork that makes them official engineers (and not just students) and hopefully that will bring them a better salary at their jobs. After graduation, the whole clan went out to eat at a very nice Italian restaurant. I know I made it an old joke, but we were such a modern family. Elly had her mom, grandparents and aunt and uncle and cousin there, as well as her dad and step mom. Bernardo’s parents are separated as well, so he had his two families and everyone had a great time visiting and talking. It’s nice when everyone can get along and celebrate together. I commented one time, though, that Christmas will certainly be complicated for them. Where will they spend it? We agreed that they didn’t have to worry about us, we would have our Thanksgiving celebration guaranteed, since no one else celebrated that here in Brazil.

And so ends our vacation. We are unpacked. The laundry is done. I have grocery shopped (I think Sissy was down to one package of Ramen noodles and cat food) and have lunch in the oven. Tomorrow is our last day of vacation, but for sure João will work on his sermon for Sunday. We are anxious to get back to work, to see our friends and to worship at our own Church. The two best parts of vacation are its beginning and its end!

And now the end is near…

Very soon we will be leaving our idyllic vacation home and beginning the trip back home. Right now we are working on packing and cleaning, so that we can head out tomorrow and begin our trek home. We will stop along the way, so who knows what day we will arrive, but we wanted to get through the city of São Paulo on a weekend not a weekday. The traffic jams in São Paulo often extend into 100’s of miles, if you can believe that.

This past week we have devoted most of our time to visiting people and not places. Sunday we visited a couple of churches, ran into old friends and ended up eating out with them (photo on right). We spent one day with João’s pastor friend. The next day we spent the evening with a seminary colleague (musician), the next we went out for sweetheart’s day banquet with  João’s cousin’s church (photo on left). We had a great time, although we didn’t get home until 1:30AM! The next night we actually stayed home. We spent the day (a holiday here) just enjoying our little piece of paradise – feeding the fish and chickens and just walking around and enjoying nature. It was cloudy, but since it was in the 50’s, we were not freezing for a change.  I wish you could have seen the fish (tilapia) jumping in the water to grab the food. Even the rooster seem to lose his fear of us as he and the chickens drew closer and closer and I finally got a great photo of him.

Friday night we spent the whole day out doing a little shopping and then meeting another old friend of João’s for supper. Turns out her neighbour (who was also there) was an acquaintance of mine. Of course the Baptist world does tend to be a small one. Today, Saturday we are going to a cookout with our neighbors and then… well tomorrow we are leaving.  It’s been grand. And we still have 6 days left to travel, visit with Marilene, get home and reorganize our lives and enjoy Elly’s university graduation.

Vila Velha

I know you recognize the words Vila Velha as the name of the town where João’s parents live, but it is also the name of state park here in Paraná that we visited today. I don’t know if I can explain it, but it is a region that was once attached to Africa (before the Continents separated), covered in ice since it was almost at the South Pole. Once the ice melted, it was exposed to the wind and elements that began forming very interesting shapes in the very red rocks. They sit on top a hill and you can follow a trail to look at the rocks. They look like they have been sculpted into shapes, but that is not the case  , as it as been done by nature. I have never ever seen anything like this. Can you see the camel (on the right) and the boot on the left (below)?

The symbol of the park is the “Wine Glass” sculpture that is everyone’s favorite. As you can tell, it was a gloriously beautiful day. The sky was blue and temperatures just perfect. I keep taking off layers of clothes and stuffing them into my purse. We couldn’t stop taking photos on the 40 minute walk.

We hadn’t planned to make this trip today, and so we slept very late. As we were talking, around 11 o’clock, João said, why don’t we go to Vila Velha today. I thought it was a terrific idea, since it was such a perfect day. We jumped in our clothes and took off. It was about a 90 minute drive. We realized we hadn’t eaten, so we did stop along the way and eat something so we didn’t faint from hunger along the way. But isn’t it great to just be spontaneous? 

There were very few visitors at the park, so other than two other couples, we had the whole place to ourselves to thoroughly enjoy the day.Of course my husband made friends immediately with one couple. The gentleman is of Korean descent so I also had a great time talking with him and remembering my tourism in Korea 35 years ago.

After our visit to the rocks, we also visited some other parts of the park, including some very very deep craters (over 100 meters) and a “golden pond”.  By the time the trip was over, we were ready to head back to our cottage in the woods and finally get something to eat. We got in slightly after dark and now that we have filled our tummies, are seriously thinking about sleeping. I will confess it’s been a long time since I have had such a very enjoyable day. 

Survival

So you thought we froze to death, did you? We didn’t, but we did get “frosty” as you can see by this photo. We made national headlines in Brazil with the cold weather. When it hits below freezing (we could scrape the ice off the clay tiles on the roof here) in a tropical country like Brazil, it is big news. Fortunately, as you can see, the sun has been bright and warm so the house warms up a bit during the day. Hasn’t kept us inside much, that’s for sure. Let’s also hear it for ceramic space heaters!

Yesterday João said he finally understood women in a shoe store. We are in the land of chimarrão (his green tea) and when we went to a specialty stop of chimarrão, I thought we would never get out of there. He couldn’t decide what “cuia” (gourd), “bomba” (straw) or “erva” (tea) to chose. He had chimarrão to his heart’s content. He was one happy camper.

Today was my turn as we visited the botanical gardens. I can hardly decide what pictures to post, as everything was just exquisite. The crystal greenhouse was my very special delight. We had perfect weather, as it was sunny and about 68 degrees. Our tummies were very full as well. We are also in the land of “churrascarias”, those famous Brazilian restaurants where they serve meat on a spit, as much as you can stand to eat. We saw one offering lunch for only R$8.90, which is about $4.50. To top it off there was also a great buffet with every kind of vegetable and salad imaginable. We definitely needed to do lots of walking at the gardens! I tell you the chances of me losing weight grow fatter and fatter. The afternoon at the botanical gardens was grand and our hearts were full of the beauty and peace we felt in the place. At the end we just sat on a bench and listened to the birds, looked at nature, and watched the young couples in love.

Although it was nearly 4:00, when we left there we decided to take a risk and trust the GPS (we have reason to say it is a risk, because more than once “she” has told us to turn off the highway, in the middle of a mountain where there were no roads) to guide us to the “Wire Opera House”. Fortunately there were good road signs and we found it. It is a theater out of glass and wire and we enjoyed another leisurely walk and a great cup of coffee. 

It is an interesting place and I would certainly enjoy seeing a show there. Tomorrow we are looking forward to dinner with João’s cousin who he has never met! That promises to be as enjoyable as today. Right now João is building up a good fire on the stove and I will be putting on some pine nuts to cook for our supper. Oh, how I will miss those when when we leave here!

Br-r-r-r!

We are in a cold wave here in Brazil and of course this would be the year when we came to a very cold part of Brazil. Of course, that was on purpose, but I don’t think we expected it to be quite this cold! So you can see why I was bundled up for my morning walk. It was a mere 3 degrees (Celsius) this morning (roughly 38 F), and tonight they are predicted that it will fall below freezing. There is even snow in some parts of Brazil. So much for global warming, as my brother-in-law would say. It was a challenge to get out of bed this morning. I had hung blankets at the windows and doors to cut down on drafts, because with no heating, things get quite chilly inside the house. It was so dark, we didn’t realize how late it was, but after all it is vacation and if we want to sleep until 11:00, why not? There were beautiful blue skies today and I enjoyed being outside, but not my husband. I found this beautiful Calla Lilly buried in the woods. I clipped and brought it inside, since the frost would get it anyway. We decided to stay at home and leave the cookstove on all day to keep us warm. It  was nice all day, but this evening I will confess that I am uncomfortable, since we finally let the fire die down.

Yesterday we met friends at a downtown shopping center and I was happy to eat tacos. Mexican food – what a rare treat!  I teased João that even on holidays, he can’t get away from shepherding a flock, as I snapped this photo of him in front of the sheep. I think he must be missing preaching as I photographed him preaching to the chickens from the front porch this morning!

I have been doing reading, but for the past couple of days, just haven’t been in the mood to paint. My drawing is not progressing well either. Must be the cold that puts me off. I did watch a wonderful old movie, “The Nuremburg Trial” last night and loved it. I am still thinking about it and thinking there is not way Hollywood would make such a morally upright movie these days.

Well I think I will be trucking off to bed, just to find someplace warm. Tonight may be a two space heater night, if the electrical lines can handle that! I’ll let you know if I survive my first frost in Brazil.