Carnaval I

This past weeked was Carnaval.
A de facto holiday, if not official, so you never know what will be open or not.
The government NOT, of course!... or banks...
Some supermarkets didn't open on Monday, much to my surprise.

Youngest Son went off with friends to a beach last Thursday.
Middle Son went to a friend's country place, a sítio, alternating time spent at the factory with Hubby.
Even though we worked "normally", we did manage to get away a bit to the countryside, away from Very Noisy Neighbors that are leading me into madnesssss, and to get some good revivifying energy from Nature.

Sunday Hubby and I went to have a late lunch at a town about an hour's drive away. The restaurant is situated a few miles before the town is reached. Very simple but well prepared food, interesting conversation with the owner, and lovely views.
* Click on images to see large format!

Over the top of the Moeda Mountains, the view of the valley

 

The restaurant is way down there....

 

A waterfall, on way down the mountain

 The restaurant, Pé da Serra

 View from the varanda: mountains, roses, mandioca (the pointy-leaved plant);

in the background, waterfalls near the buildings

Drive back: horses in pasture & Serra da Moeda

Drive back, over the mountains again, view to other side

On the way back, we stopped at a friend's restaurant, visited with them and had dessert.
Hubby, strudel with chantilly and me, chocolate mousse.
(No dieting this weekend... it's Carnaval!!!)

Valentine's Day

Here in Brazil we don't celebrate Valentine's Day, but have a Sweetheart's Day, Dia dos Namorados, that is celebrated on June 12th.
For my family and friends who are in countries that do celebrate it, the following, with my love.
(... and, what the hey, also for those who don't! Love is always good)

from: The Cloud Appreciation Society  © Angelo Storari

Crochet Jewelry

My good-bestest friend from college days, Mariangela Sorbilli, is making gorgeous crochet jewelry-plus.
(the mystery of why she missing from msn answered!!!)

Here are some photos:

I don't know if/how she is selling them, but more can be seen here.
Enjoy!

A Goodbye

Yesterday, some rather sad news. A great violeiro, one who plays the ten-steel-string guitar typical of Brazilian folk music, the viola, passed away.
Thank you, Pena Branca, for all the good music you shared with us!

O Cio da Terra

Pena Branca e Xavantinho

Composição: Milton Nascimento e Chico Buarque

Debulhar o trigo

Recolher cada bago do trigo

Forjar no trigo o milagre do pão

E se fartar de pão

Decepar a cana

Recolher a garapa da cana

Roubar da cana a doçura do mel

Se lambuzar de mel

Afagar a terra

Conhecer os desejos da terra

Cio da terra, a propícia estação

E fecundar o chão

 Heat of the Earth

(my translation)

husk the wheat

gather each grain of wheat

forge from the wheat the miracle of bread

and satiate oneself with bread

cut the sugarcane

gather the juice of the sugarcane

steal from the cane the sweetness of molasses

smear oneself with molasses

caress the earth

know the earth's desires

heat of the earth, the propitiuos season

and fertilise the ground

Tea & Ladybugs

Today I haven't been able to do any whatevering for the "20 minutes"...
so far, at least.

BUT, in the spirit of doing something enjoyable that I haven't done in a looong time, I made myself some tea.
I believe I haven't made any since moving...
I mean some nice black tea, that I have been avoiding as it tends to keep me awake at nights. I do drink tea all the time, but herbal, and in a practical way... in a plain glass.
To make it a special treat, I used the rose mug my sister gave for my birthday last year.
I did have to make the tea in my old hideous teapot, and being hideous of course Does Not Break!
I used as a cosy, and to hide it, a dishtowel I got a few years ago in the town of Araxá, where there is a lot of sewing handicrafts. I just couldn't resist the ladybugs. So fat and roly-poly.
 

I do wish I hasd a scrumptious cupcake to go with it, and not the cloth kind either!

She did it!

By george, she did it!

That is, I did it!
I sewed/darned my shorts!!!
(Sort-A-Sew™ and Sort-A-Darn™ are my trademarks!)

I have to explain: I'm not a sewing person.
I learned some stiches as a child (a ve-e-ery grubby sampler which followed me in my moves for years), which I have already long forgotten how to do.
When about fourteen or so, I taught myself some embroidery, and embroidered a drawing I had made as a gift for my friend's mother (I framed it... the back was an unbelievable mess).
Ah, yes! There was Home Ec when thirteen: a green jumpsuit, and a dress with miles of very-slipery-cloth self belting, that the teacher had to finish as it was Too Much for me. Those were the days of the minis and micros: micro-short jumpsuit and a minidress, with those godawfulll trillion miles of "ribbon" ties.
I actually wore them quite a bit!

So, since the last millenium, my sewing basically consist of sewing back on fallen buttons (a bloodbath, as always pricking my fingers), sewing the inner seams of  my trousers, pants for us in US, and sort-a-darning/sewing of little holes that decide to appear in well loved garments. Sewing , therefore is a major psychological undertaking, if not in practice.

When I finished yesterday, I felt happy, and so saintly!
There are no pictures, as with the very hot,  HOT  h o t  weather, I've been using them direct. From the fixin' they went directly in the washin'.

So, Fiona, thank you for the 20 minutes... if nothing else, I got my shorts back!

But I'm already thinking of what I'll do today!


PS And thank you, Fiona and Gerry, for the comments... they are also inspiring!

Not punk, nor punk....

Neither of the punks!
Came down with a full-blown case of the flu!
Summer flu... which should be a contradiction of terms.

Yesterday, finally awoke feeling a human being again. To be sure, a weary, noseblowing, coughing being.
Better if a coffee bean.   haha... humor also severely affected.

In the meanwhile, all the stuff taken from study, piled neatly, and not so neatly, is  s t i l l  in the living room, as well as the half-opened shelving packages.
Shall I put in another *sigh* here? I do sigh a lot.   *sigh* for this, too.
Tomorrow I hope to be up to finishing the org-orgy, started last week. Today, I see I'm still a bit low. (NOT another *sigh*!)

Yesterday, I finaly made it to the comp, and visited some lovely blogs, that make one feel even less-abled-bodied, as all very crafty, and making-of-things.
I found Attic24, where Lucy is going through those not-unmixed-joys of the first month of a new baby. (Babies made also in these crafty blogs!)

I especially enjoyed looking through Laundry Etc, with her many recipes for jams.

Today, I found SilverPebble. And discovered through her the existence of metal clay! Something exciting to think about, and perhaps the means to get those pendants out of imagination and into reality.

The last blog of yesterday, and the first of today, Marmalade Rose, gave me a boost, and is really inspiring — to do 20 minutes a day of your craft/art/whatever.
Plus, she has the most delicous non-fattening pastry!

images © MarmaladeRose

20 minutes a day is something reasonable, possible, even in a end-of-flu nothing-in-its-place state.
Not quite my art, or craft, but right after lunch, I AM going to sew my beloved shorts, coming undone at the seams!

Off to a late lunch now.

Feeling Punk

Feeling punk today.
Not this punk

www.layoutsparks.com

but this one:

Yesterday, I came down with Mr. dP's cold!

In the morning yesterday I awoke feeling a little off, but not anything to worry.
I promptly started The Great Org of the deposit/study/studio, as Hubby bought the new steel shelves. It was supposed to be one, but as he brought two, I decided to put the studier one, already in the room, into the Chaos Corner #1. Thus, I had to take the two small white steel shelves OUT, that I had just put in there. They weren't doing the job, as too small to hold the dinnerware, etc, that have to be in here till more cupboard-room materializes.

So, that meant talking everything OUT, and into the living room:
1) everything from the white shelves, AND the white shelf-units, + whatever else had already accumulated, hiding in the chaos corner #1
2) everything, and clean dust-of-ages, from sturdy grey shelf-unit in Chaos Corner #3, to living room
3) remove everything along Chaos Wall — from corner 3 to 4 — to be able to get unit OUT, and put units IN
4) clean wall, floor, spiders from CC Wall 3-4
5) Clean Sturdy Grey shelf unit. Move heavy (as good) unit into CC#1, body-shoving the chest of drawers a bit, to get past
6) Bring back stuff and organize on shelves in CC#1
7) reorganize stuff in living room so possible to have lunch, move around, not be buried by avalanche

... and LUNCH!

What, you may ask, is in Chaos Corners # 2 and 4?
#Two: the door, which had stuff hiding behind, but was cleared, cleaned, and only the excersise mats were returned (yea!)
#Four: Aahhh! Well, yours truly, braving galactic-disorder at the shelf-cum-computer-and-artwork-desk. Chaos.

By lunchtime, already feeling crappy & punk.
Hubby and Potts, Honorable Son², came for lunch, and the boys' surprise for their father's birthday arrived!
A HUGE BOX ... with a 42" LCD TV!!!!!

I knew they had said the present would arrive on Tuesday (which I had forgotten) but had no idea of what it would be. Totally unexpected.
Papi Hubby thrilled!

After lunch, with the new member of the family resting in its... its... MANSION, I cleared a space in the "hallway" of living/dining to assemble the new shelves.
Then I saw that the holes are all misalighned... Talk about and El Cheapo! And they weren't cheap!
Today, feeling awful, I still don't know if return them or not. Hubby not too keen. Will ask help of the boys.

Last evening, Good'Ole'TV (with fantastic sound) was removed from its place, and Newbie-LCD installed.
Now, only have to reorganize that wall also!
And pack up oldie, as still goldie, and send to "attic".
I have planned some new units also to be made by the carpenter. But will have to reorganize before they come as the situation not too stable right now — shelves behind the tv: not good!

A Rare Before Photo*

tv, TV, mess, BOX

*Before what? Actually a Now, but before what I'm planning to do to this room!!!
There won't be too many "before" pictures, especially of my cave, er, studio/study, as my self-esteem would be totally mortified!   ... cringe....

"Mothering"

The title above is from Jane's post at her blog, Posy, and below is a bit that I found beautiful. She had been musing on her life and that of her dear Grandma who had passed away very recently.

"My wish is that when it is my funeral and if I have been privileged enough to have the same roles as Grandma; that my children and my children's children will know quite simply, whatever my failings, how deeply they had been loved."

A beautiful post, and a good reminder when the "children", whatever their ages may be, are making us pull our hair out! And, most important, I believe that it is what mothers wish to say, but often don't, or can't.
So, thank you, Jane, for putting this into words and sharing with us.

tweaking

The grey background was rather depressing, albeit elegant.
Rather than modify the image background, I tweaked,
and tweaked,
a-a-and twe-eee-eaked
the template to change the color...
then I had to change the width...  then the padding... *sigh* ... till something relatively decent was appearing... AND worked!!!

BUT, but, a good way to learn!

I now looks like this (for future reference):

Tweaking Vincent

I chose the green from one in the abckground, then lightened it some.

Funnies

,I enjoy things that tickle my funny bone.

“The noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog;
it feeds the hand that bites it.” 

Laurence J. Peter (1919 – 90) Canadian educator and writer

Sometimes a little dark humor also.
"Light" dark...    ; ))))

I also have a collection of the ones below...
May they be called "women's exasperation", for those tether's end days?
Or when we tire of unbridled domesticity...
(and although pictured with women, due to the last 6000 years or so of training, they also apply to all who suffer the constraints of sterotyped straightjackets, which end up becoming the apparel of use whether of cloth or chemicals)(that means men, too, dearies!)

Trying to do it all

(with your happy-face ON!)

And Baby makes three

 

Men!

(for when you're particularly exasperated!!!)

(there are more from this section, but will leave to another post)

Can't leave these ones out!

And, to say goodbye...

 

Note: The images above were culled from myspace and photobucket. The images belong to their rightful owners.

New Background

While I'm working on.... trying to get something to work! ... on making my own template, I just couldn't resist the loveliness of this background, with Blogger Minima template.

It's from Itkupilli, a Finnish designer, from her site, from a painting of Vincent van Gogh
I love the colors, and the work of van Gogh, who I was drawn to as a youngster and greatly inspired me on in the formation my personal art work theory.

Sunrise & Flowers

Hello here, again!

Ages since last blogging!

But then, doing quite a bit of New Year organizing&cleaning.
So much so that I was hors de combat for two weeks due to left arm&shoulder aching @##$%!! After 3 sessions of healing (chiropractic, deep shiatsu, and massage&energy), today I finally got back to shoving shelving and boxes around.

This week I was able to do compwork, reviewing my cad projects of the closets (wardrobes/brit) that I do hope we'll be able to have made this year. Last year due to the financial/economic crisis, these plans had to be set aside.

Also, hassling and getting hasled by Firefox, as IE6 has a death warrant on it, and doesn't work with Youtube anymore! So, working with both. (Shall getting a later version of IE... this week, I hope)

Finally took down my "blog-tree" or rather, my Christmas background, here at blog-corner. My "real" tree and decorations I amazingly got down on the right day! This, by tradition, is Jan 6th, the "Reis Magos" Day, Dia de Reis - will find translation and add later.*

Sometime soon, I have to review and upload the "posts" I did offline: Christmas ones plus. I just discovered a cool function: I can "back-date" the post, so they should appear on the day I wrote each! We-e-e-elll, I think that's how it works!

* Hmmnnnn, weelll, that would be the day the "We three Kings of Orient are..", of the Christmas carol, and Bible, arrived to visit baby Jesus, and bestow on him some frankincense, myrrh and gold. Also called the Three Kings, the Three Wise Men and Kings, or Kings from the East.
Ok, ok... the last I got from Wiki:

In Christian tradition, the Magi (pronounced /ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men, (Three) Kings, or Kings from the East, are a group of distinguished foreigners who are said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity and in celebrations of Christmas.

Here in Brasil on this day, in the areas where folk traditions are still observed, you have groups that visit the households, the Folia de Reis, with their typical and traditional songs and instrumental accompaniment.

**Aaahhhhhh! Here it is: "Epiphany"!!!