Near perfect

I’ve reached a point now where I can lift my head occasionally and see something truly beautiful, perhaps even laugh a little. Here I sit at the close of a truly wonderful weekend with new, very precious memories to start filling the next chapter of my life…

On Friday, I packed my carrot juice - in retrospect, a really bad move, as it leaked all over my bag, coat and gloves - we loaded up the car and headed out to Freshfield forest following the advice of a good friend. On my trip back to Hemel Hempstead, I had something of a revelation. I realised that the one thing I was missing was my time in the woods. I needed to recharge. I love this place where hills, forest and beach meet and are within easy reach!

I saw my first ever red squirrel!! Sadly, my camera didn’t meet expectations, so I just have a blur that blended with the background, but it was there and terribly cute! Apparently they’re shy critters, but you’d never have guessed from watching this one. I suspect he was too busy taunting the crow to be bothered by our presence.

‘Dogs on leads’ is, of course, optional… It was pure doggy paradise! Cure for melancholy prescribed by an old friend… Go take a walk in the woods!This camera isn’t the best, but for capturing the day, it suffices. I loved the gnarled, weather-beaten woods. Windy grasses. It was a glorious day! … with random asparagus. Apparently these lands used to be asparagus farms. Ideal soil for it.Beautiful wood carvings were to be seen at regular intervalsWhere forest meets beachThree guesses as to which way the wind blowsEven the snails were huddled together to keep warm. The sun may have been shining, but it was very chilly!We ended at a lovely pub for dinner. Thank you to Ste and Tat for making a day with very special memories for me :)

 

Yesterday, I took myself off for a treat and had a hour long reiki session, something I’ve promised myself for years. It was pleasant. If it did nothing else, it gave me an hour of much needed nothingness, a time out of the inside of my head.

Today was a day of relaxing and just doing whatever my whim leads me to, which included a box of coloured pencils, a very special and rather spectacular colouring in book, enjoying a feast cooked by the amazing Ste and cooking up a traditional Tomatie Bredie for the kids to enjoy tomorrow.

I have a lot of very important and life-altering decisions to make in the next couple of weeks. I’m grateful for the gift of this weekend.

Technorati Tags: freshfield,forest,woods,reiki,weekend

Life ‘n death

Image courtesy of Free Irish Photos

As spring makes its vibrant presence known, my mind, heart and soul is tuned into vibrant life. I celebrate life. All around me, the earth is awakening and shaking its feathers out. You can almost hear the tiny leaf buds bursting through the ground in search of the sun. I celebrate my own life too. My life is satisfying and each day that goes by, I’m grateful for new experiences and good health. I could go on, but I wanted to talk about death and no, this is not, in my opinion, a morbid subject.

A few people in my circle of friends and family have experienced death recently, either that of someone close to them or a beloved pet… perhaps even the death of a dream. It happens. It’s part of the cycle of life. The whole point of the ‘cycle’ is that it continues. We’re born, but we’re not born from nothing. As we live, life and death are part of our passage through time. When we die, however we choose to finally ‘go’, we return to the earth to once again nourish life.

We have a family joke that goes back for years where we vowed to donate HRM’s body to science (yes, it is possible - http://hta.gov.uk/index.cfm) when he goes. That should keep the scientists fascinated for a time, I’m sure. Death, to us, has never been a morbid or scary subject, though we do go through heartbreak when we lose someone close to us, but that is because we miss them dearly.

There are so many bewildering options for when a loved one dies - or oneself, if you’re doing some advanced preparation. We’ve been there, sadly saying goodbye to far too many who were close to us. Cremation, burial, a bewildering choice of coffins and procedures. Death, like much of life, has become terribly commercial. I can’t think of anything worse to put loved ones through if I were to go! There are good choices though…. Someone posted a link to an article, which got me looking into more articles, which got me reading (you know how it goes) about options and I have to tell you, I think I have found the perfect way to recycle and recreate myself… a tree! I’ve always said that when I die, I want to be planted without a coffin at the foot of a tree, but this is way better, or at the very least, just as good.

The Bios Urn - You get cremated and the ashes are put into a biodegradable pot along with the seed of a tree. The pot then gets planted, so your loved ones can tend the tree and watch it grow. Isn’t that perfect? The tree will absorb the nutrients from the ash, so I’d be part of the tree. This isn’t a dream of extending my life force, but a dream of being able to help nourish a living thing in my own death. That tree would then go on to provide a home and resting place for all the birds I’ve loved to watch. The tree will glory in each season, giving shelter… and possibly food and homes to animals. Even if the tree gets cut down, it’s not that bad. It will warm someone’s hearth, provide furniture or a part of a home, or possibly become the paper onto which a young soul could journal (or do maths - now that’s karma!) as they go through their own life’s journey.

Technorati Tags: life,death,nature,trees,spiritual,thoughts

The Hermitage

Today, I truly feel like a farmer’s wife again. As I sit here, I have a pot of Hermit Soup (a name I’ve just given it… for fun) on the stove - to be served with buttery slices of crusty Killruddery cheese bread.

Jurgis is snoring in front of the fire, sinking ever lower into the couch. We have spent the dark afternoon time watching videos on permaculture planning and design, drawing up elaborate plans involving chickens, vegetables, fruit trees and forests. At this point, I’m relatively content.

It’s out second day at The Cottage in the Wicklow mountains. We woke up to what we thought was a thick frost layer this morning. It was, instead, thin, icy snow and it stayed. Needless to say, I slipped on an icy log. I consider the place now initiated into my stability. No harm was done, though my dignity suffered yet another blow.

I set up the compost bin today and frittered away 10 minutes picking up pine cones, which are now, hopefully, drying out nicely over the fire. If not, they look decorative(ish). Jurgis has started clearing the pine. That will be a major job. We’ll need to get some serious equipment in to clear the part we’ve demarcated for the veggies and fruit trees. Right now, cleaning and clearing is about as much as we can do… at least until we get to see the owner again. He was meant to arrive last night, then today… maybe tomorrow. Time will tell. I have an internet bone to pick with him *Needs Internet*. The cottage is warm. Barring a fairly serious plumbing issue that was meant to be sorted out today (I think the plumber got lost or something), we’re fairly comfortable. It’s a huge change from the ‘palace’, but has its own compensations.

So why hermitage? We’re about 4km away from the nearest village, Roundwood, which boasts a population of 800+ and 5 pubs. Yes, it’s like that. We’ve met one of the local population, a chap who came to drop the top halves of a few pines that were threatening to fall on the cottage. He was nice and is now a familiar face. We’re considering a walk into the village on the weekend to see what it’s like and perhaps meet a few locals.

Life, at this point, is pretty good. Now if I could just get online… I’m missing talking to my little girl.

Technorati Tags: hermitage,roundwood,cottage

Fiddle faddle

A blog of random nothingness...

On Sunday, we considered calling Ghostbusters. The neighbour was sounding a bit like a banshee. She was clearly unhappy with the men in her life (two adult sons and a husband).

A colleague in Germany wrote a brilliant blog on the work I (ok, we) do: What is TEFL?

It looks like I'm losing my little girl (student) because of a time clash. It breaks my heart. I'm fond of her, just not fond of her father. At all. On many levels.

I suggested yesterday that Jurgis writes and publishes a book called "The World's Worst Puns". It's sure to be a best-seller. Gems like: "You're a plant. You stalk people on Facebook, then you leaf." I almost cried, except that crying, wailing and gnashing of teeth in a Metro is undignified. I restricted myself to groaning and rolling my eyes.

They apparently cut our water on Sunday. We were blissfully unaware of it thanks to the roof-top cistern, except... We turned our taps on yesterday morning to brown sludge. Thanks Water Dept. It made for a day of fun drinking, showering, etc. Our water today is down to a weak tea colour. Our filters are totally blocked. Not a happy camper here. If you want to see what our water system here involves, I've written about it before here.

Oh! Before I forget! I wanted to tell you about a new site I found called Quietube. You put the button on your bookmarks toolbar and when you're viewing a Youtube or Vimeo video, you can click on Quietube and watch the video without some of the rather awful comments or so-called 'related' videos that often aren't related at all. If you want to send a link to a video to someone, but don't want the ghastly comments to show, Quietube solves that problem. Nice! Here is an example I was watching this morning.

Whenever I turn around

... there is one more thing to do, one more call to make, one more lesson to prepare. Work. Live. Repeat.


Wonder who was the recipient of this particular 'magic'.
'Macumba' is still fairly widely practiced here.
Yes, I have been busy, probably no busier than some of you, but somehow, I just haven't managed to get on top of it. It's good though. Busy keeps me from thinking too much. I have a dozen blogs started in my little notebook. Wonder if I'll ever get them written up. Of course, they're all out of date now, except for those with their feet firmly planted in the distant past.


March Madness and April Foolishness spread to the classroom with one little girl being determined to drive me crazy. I was very proud of her, though, when she showed her dad up with a simple word like 'silly'. She was proud to demonstrate what it meant. Um... not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but still.


Her sister now sits in on all classes. It's either that or a wailing to end all wailing is started. It wouldn't be so bad if she weren't hell-bent on getting to the keyboard. She's a special kid with hydroencephalitis and major health issues, but she's made huge strides this year. She knows the word 'laptop' (go figure) and sit and she tries to say my name. Kudos to her. Most adults can't get it right.

I now teach from 7am (that's not the time I leave home, but the time I start) to 8pm every day except Friday. Saturday, I finish at lunch time, thankfully. Then I play catch up here at home. Sunday is just a heap of papers and lesson plans. I'm prepared for most of the classes. When I feel busy, I just think of my one 'new' student. She's not really new. She's a returning student. She's changing jobs, getting married and finishing her MBA all in the next couple of weeks. Insane! Oh and that's besides putting in many hours on an intensive English course.

It's our anniversary on Tuesday. 25 years. That's a long time, let me tell you. I need another medal. We won't be doing anything. I won't be home for that. I may treat us to a pizza for supper. It'll be nice not to have to cook for a change.


The scene that greets me (sometimes) at the metro station
on my way to my final student in the evening.
It rained today... rained quite hard with the usual flooding in some areas and widespread hail. We weren't really affected. I'm tired. Roll on the Easter long weekend. I think I'll vow not to budge out of my chair or bed for the entire weekend. Now there's a plan. Nah. I'll find something to do, like play catch up.

Friday's this and that

My student was a no-show this morning. Turns out their server was down, so we'll have class tomorrow instead.

Annette posted this: Tigers have a tug o' war - adorable!

Monday, our modem died in the storm. We got internet back and discovered that the router was also hit, so now we have a modem and no router. At least we're online.... though it's made household dynamics somewhat awkward.

It's raining today - just for a change... kinda.

The one thing about having options is when one of the options is whipped out from under your feet, at least life is simpler. That's for people who hate having to make decisions.

I hate taking headache tablets. The resulting dopiness makes me useless for anything useful afterwards.

The neighbours have started their weekend voom... voom... voom. I assume it's music. We only hear the voom... voom... voom. No... we don't hear it as much as feel it. It's the kind of sound you feel in your gut. Voom... voom.... voom... The so-called rhythm doesn't even change. Earplugs don't work, neither does putting our own music on. It's still there, all pervasive. Perhaps I should wish for another power failure. Where are the power failures when you need them anyway?

I have a blog with no photo. I keep staring at it, wanting to just post and get it over with, but the 'no photo' is bugging me. Ugh!

Ah... photo gods appeased...


I've always wondered...
if nature was left to its own devices, how long would it take before it reclaims the earth?

Busy and quiet

Random old zoo photo... or is it a self-portrait?
It says something that I went to type 'hippi' instead of 'hippo' when naming the file.
I woke up to no power this morning. It finally came on just after noon. This is one time I'm grateful we cook on gas. Usually I don't like gas, but for reliability with our unstable power, it can't be beaten.

While the power was out, I made a little something to go with the project that is going to the previously mentioned scrawny little neck. We also cleared out some more stuff and put more into the donation box.

I have an interview on Wednesday. I'm not in the least nervous. I know it will go well. It's just details after all, right?

I had a long chat with Hamish yesterday. It was fun. We laughed a lot. I'm happy for him. Very happy. Even if he sees shapes in flowers ; )

I may cave and do that 10 things thing.

Someone make me work!!! Please?

Grateful

We're in daylight savings now, so I get to see the sun rise at a stop. Usually I'm in transit. Still fairly dark when I leave home though. It was only after I saved the photo to my pc that I noticed the rainbow... faint, but it's there. I have no idea if it was really there or if it was caused somehow by my camera. I like it though.

So much to be grateful for today. Tat had a much better paper-chase experience today - more thanks go out to strangers reaching out. On that note, if you ever want to show random kindness towards a stranger, just know that it is never wasted. It can make all the difference!

My bus disappeared into the early morning semi-dark, so I settled into a stroll thinking I had at least 20 minutes to wait for the next one. Just then, the next bus came. Either the previous one was very late or this one was very early. I flagged the bus from a good distance away. The driver saw me, pulled up at the opposite corner and waited!! What and angel. And... the bus had scads of seating!

Cute... just passed a bridal dressmaking shop - a tortoiseshell and white cat is in the window watching the passing traffic.

There was a girl reading a book (translated) on the metro - Christiane F. - a book about a 14 year old girl who was caught up in a life of drugs and prostitution (true story). It came as recommended reading and viewing - there's a movie too - when I was a teen. I can't think of a more depressing book to start a day with.

The Christiane book girl has nodded off and is falling over onto the woman next to her. On the other side sits a girl trying very hard to look like she isn't crying. I hope her day gets better.

~                          ~                           ~

At the bank building, outside, there is a beautiful old tree with branches that go on forever. Under it was a group of youngsters, their backpacks up against the wall. They were having a really good time. A cloud of smoke hovered over them as they puffed away on the bong. One played guitar off to the side. A few were passing around bottles of booze. The security looked uncomfortable, but did nothing about it. My student and I discussed conspiracy theories and voting (not too much difference between the two).

Afterwards, I went to the shopping centre near my next student. It's already done up for Christmas!! And the Christmas shops are open! I wandered around there for about half an hour only to be called... my student cancelled... again. She thought changing her times back to her old times would help with cancellations. Uh huh. It helped, all right. So I mooched off home. My evening student has changed his time for Saturday morning. There go the weekends.

C'est la vie... and another week ends...

Wednesday picture overload

The title should warn you ; )

Once it was light, a bus-ride away, I found myself staring at a dull grey sky, a penetrating drizzle just missing the overhang where we were waiting for the metro to pull up.



The metro was crowded, as it always is at that hour of the morning. I was pressed up against the door, my favourite spot - aside from the actual seats, the door is the best place for purposes of being able to breathe. This photo was taken with my camera hoisted over everyone's heads. It is the reflection in the glass of the door.



I got off the metro at a stop I don't usually use. Now tell me, if you were a foreigner and only knew that 'saida' means 'exit', would you be able to find the exit using this sign? It amused me.



I took the bus to the British Cultural institute, a place that is rather familiar to Tat and I. It is the only English library in the city (pity it's so far) and the location of our favourite pub *grins* I wasn't there for social purposes though, but to do a test.



There were a bunch of us. I didn't count, but I would guess around 10. My little chair/desk thing squeaked every time I wrote something and sounded exactly like Specs' squeak. The test was meant to take 2 hours. It took me one hour. It was, for me, easy and for once, it involved some interesting vocabulary. For the written part, I had to develop a lesson plan, then write an essay justifying my choices. When I left, there were three types of expressions on the faces of those remaining: those who were still at the start and struggling, those who thought I had nothing to write and therefore surely failed and those who guessed I was a foreigner and found the paper easy - they were less than happy. I hope the moderators got my paper after all that. We had to leave the paper on the desk and go home and the moderator was nowhere to be seen.

The fancy Institute premises is a tiny hop away from some less 'chic' roadside...



Luckily, it wasn't too far from the brand spanking new Faria Lima metro station, which, in itself, isn't all that fancy, but the metro itself... ??



The new metro is almost beautiful. The seats are padded (ok, the padding is pure imagination, but still) and the whole lot is sparkly new. The yellow was a site for sore eyes too. I could get used to this. Oh and no separate carriages!



The metro line lies between the series of glass doors, which slide open to allow one onto the carriage. A nice security man asked me if I was lost when I was taking this photo *laugh* I appeared appropriately flustered and moved on ; )



Two metros later, I got off at another new station. This one is about 2km away (about a 20 minute walk depending on pace) from home. I promptly got lost. This station is way above ground, as you can see. There were familiar landmarks on both sides. The info guy sent me in the wrong direction. 10 minutes later, I had my bearings in place and went walking...



The area is heavily industrial, but offered some intriguing sites : )



I got home in time to snag some lunch and head out to young Maria Fernanda. My other classes had all been cancelled for the day in honour of the 'big test'. Maria Fernanda decided she was going to be teacher for the day and wanted to teach her red monkey to speak English. Too cute.

Reminders of pleasure

A book Tat bought me, Eating mangoes naked by Sark, asks "What brings you pleasure?" There are bubbles to write in. I filled them in yesterday, after this lilac sunset. The sky was truly lilac and blended with the trees which were a mass of lilac jacaranda blossoms. Sadly, the photo doesn't show that very well.

So... What brings me pleasure?

birdsong in the morning while the world is still
sunsets through the trees
the first splashes of rain after a hot day
a fresh wind on a hot back
surprise gardens
the crunch of autumn leaves underfoot
friends who 'stop by' just to say Hi

unexpected smiles
the cat voluntarily jumping onto my lap
or kneading my belly prior to sleep
watching her stretch in the sun
the dog burying his nose under my arm
or jumping and dog-laughing
watching him gather his blankie under him
the bird having the trust to come up and nibble my hair
seeing her hop with eagerness over fresh greens

Did I say 'smiles'?

seeing those I love find happiness in a moment
waking up and finding my skin and hair co-operating for once
inside jokes when I'm on the inside
getting surges of creativity and being able to act on them
having a lesson where the student is engaged
and actually learning something he/she can use
someone actually 'getting' a joke I tell

sinking into a soft bed at the end of a day's work
immersing myself in delightful smells
lavender, lemon balm, rosemary, chamomile
fresh green apple, peaches, oranges
cut grass, baking bread
butterflies flitting, dragonflies glinting
fun music, soothing music, music to move to

Did I say 'friends'?

free lessons and people willing to teach
(even if they don't think they're teachers)
people who share their worlds
so I can travel vicariously
good food
finding great ingredients at perfect prices and quality
experimenting with new dishes and having them actually taste good
laughing over old... uh... mishaps

Oh there are so many things!

What brings you pleasure?


~*~

In die somer as die son soos 'n kaartman
agter die berg afgesak het en die lug laat
agterbly soos 'n vuurkool wat afkoel, lê die
skemeraand soos 'n sagte lou skaduwee...
~Alba Bouwer~

Wet World

I'm early. The world around me is wrapped in scarves and jackets, except for the guy in the denim shorts, no shirt, flip flops and a cap walking down below.

It's raining. As I'm early, I chose to stay on the undercover Metro bridge, watching the raindrops run along the concrete beam and eventually peel themselves off. The flickering fluorescent light turns the world around me into a kind of unearthly early-morning disco.

Somehow, the glistening wet of the side-walk makes the litter stand out starkly. Litter blocks the drains, so the water dams up in the road, turning the paving into a bug-sized, filthy surf.

Pigeons are amazing things. Where do they come from? One lone white pigeon bobs around, finds a soggy crumb and in a split second, twenty others arrive to help decimate the 'feast'.

My hands are cold, but then, my hands are pretty much always cold. They're saying that, a little way south of us, the sentient temperature this morning is -22ºC. I find that hard to believe. Not complaining here though. At least we're finally having a smattering of winter.

Augh. Poor guy. This old man is always there on the curb-side. His lopsided stool stands abandoned off to one side, as he hops around, trying to keep warm. He has a blue shopping trolley holding a polystyrene cooler of orange junk-juice and bottled water. I doubt he'll make too many sales today, if any. Even the coffee-and-cake guy is lacking his usual cluster of clients in the cold and rain.

Ah... time's up. I need to go down and wait for the bright yellow VW.

 

Technorati Tags: rain,people,cold,thoughts,carandiru,metro

Music and Life - Alan Watts

Sweet, simple, inspirational... a very "... I knew that, but... " video.

Sing, dance!

Music & Life: An Alan Watts Animation

brought to you by the publisher behind:
http://alanwatts.com/

Early morning coffee

After two near-accidents with the bus - what possesses people to try to cut across two lanes in front of a bus at an intersection when the bus is going straight and they want to turn?? - I'm early for this morning's class.

I stop off at the friendly corner cafe for a cuppa. (The photo here is of a similar cafe and taken long ago, not the one I was at.) It's clean, in a very white-tile-plastic-and-formica way. Coffee here is drunk out of a glass, ready sweetened.... and, boy, is it sweetened?! I've found a way to get mind in a cup and chuckle over the Zero-Cal™ sweetener I use there. The back has an unusual warning, "Zero-cal™, 'marcade fantasia, contem calorias." You don't need Portuguese proficiency to get the gist of that. Talk about misleading labelling!

All eyes are on the TV screen at the one end of the cafe, right above the kitchen hutch. They're interviewing a Brazilian in SA who's trying to sell his tickets to the upcoming matches, so he can go home. I hope the Brazilians still there are at least taking the opportunity to explore the country.

Time to go. As I scratch for coinage for the coffee, I see a woman putting her breakfast on her card. The standard breakfast being coffee and pão na chapa. I don't put small amounts on my card because of the charges to the shop owner, but a cash-free society suddenly seems very appealing. Do I mind that much that my ever move will be traceable?


On a side note, does anyone here know anything about a Schengen visa?

 

Technorati Tags: schengen,cafe,money

A sequence of events

Photo taken by Jurgis. The butterfly landed on the soap bubbles as he was doing the dishes. He fished her out and she hung around a while. He then took photos before releasing her into the great outdoors.
I woke up completely and quickly. That, in itself, was unusual. I'm notoriously slow to surface. My first thought was... surely it's 4:30 already? I checked my cell phone, which doubles as an alarm clock - 4:37! I hadn't set the alarm! Strike one. Without an alarm, I'm usually incapable of surfacing on time.

I put the kettle on and turned on the pc. Ack! My internet wouldn't connect. An overwhelmingly sickly smell drew me to the kitchen. The gas had run out (the gas stinks just as the bin empties for some reason) - coffee would be delayed. I shook Jurgis awake. Luckily, he'd asked me to wake him early. He tackled the gas (we keep a spare bin) and internet while I got ready. With coffee and toast going down well, the morning was saved.

The first bus that came along was an inter-municipal (the elusive Santana bus, Tat! *poke*) The smiling lady sharing my stop got on, so I asked the driver if it went my way. Yep, it did. What a ride! Everyone was smiling!  I wish I could take this bus every day. It takes a grand tour of the city. The route was different and thus interesting. I wished I had a camera with me.

Because I took a bus instead of the usual metro, I ended up on the other end of Parque do Juventude, a large, concrete and wannabe-grass walking area. It has some funky buildings. I walked past the building and wadya know.... a library! An honest-to-goodness fancy-schmancy library here in São Paulo!! Sadly, it was only opening later, so I couldn't go in. Not sure when I'll get the chance to see it, as it's far from home and my hours are a little crazy.

I walked over to where my student usually meets me. I had nearly reached my spot when a scruffy man walked past. I think he was homeless, but who knows. What was special about him? The big red nose he was sporting! When he caught someone staring, he'd grin. He was  having a ball. He left many laughs and smiles in his wake.

I spent the rest of my time there being entertained by an impish (he looked like a little imp) hopelessly drunk man who was dancing and clowning around with a huge grin on his face. He was having a ball!

What was that they say about "Smile and the world smiles with you"? Today, the world seemed to be smiling. It was good : )  I felt as though a load had been taken off my shoulders.

And back to the ordinary world...

Romany was caught grinning in his sleep.


The flash woke him up. He stuck his tongue out.... kinda mid-lick, but too lazy to pull it off properly.


The sun was obviously too good and he dozed right off again.

A sequence of events

Photo taken by Jurgis. The butterfly landed on the soap bubbles as he was doing the dishes. He fished her out and she hung around a while. He then took photos before releasing her into the great outdoors.
I woke up completely and quickly. That, in itself, was unusual. I'm notoriously slow to surface. My first thought was... surely it's 4:30 already? I checked my cell phone, which doubles as an alarm clock - 4:37! I hadn't set the alarm! Strike one. Without an alarm, I'm usually incapable of surfacing on time.

I put the kettle on and turned on the pc. Ack! My internet wouldn't connect. An overwhelmingly sickly smell drew me to the kitchen. The gas had run out (the gas stinks just as the bin empties for some reason) - coffee would be delayed. I shook Jurgis awake. Luckily, he'd asked me to wake him early. He tackled the gas (we keep a spare bin) and internet while I got ready. With coffee and toast going down well, the morning was saved.

The first bus that came along was an inter-municipal (the elusive Santana bus, Tat! *poke*) The smiling lady sharing my stop got on, so I asked the driver if it went my way. Yep, it did. What a ride! Everyone was smiling!  I wish I could take this bus every day. It takes a grand tour of the city. The route was different and thus interesting. I wished I had a camera with me.

Because I took a bus instead of the usual metro, I ended up on the other end of Parque do Juventude, a large, concrete and wannabe-grass walking area. It has some funky buildings. I walked past the building and wadya know.... a library! An honest-to-goodness fancy-schmancy library here in São Paulo!! Sadly, it was only opening later, so I couldn't go in. Not sure when I'll get the chance to see it, as it's far from home and my ours are a little crazy.

I walked over to where my student usually meets me. I had nearly reached my spot when a scruffy man walked past. I think he was homeless, but who knows. What was special about him? The big red nose he was sporting! When he caught someone staring, he'd grin. He was  having a ball. He left many laughs and smiles in his wake.

I spent the rest of my time there being entertained by an impish (he looked like a little imp) hopelessly drunk man who was dancing and clowning around with a huge grin on his face. He was having a ball!

What was that they say about "Smile and the world smiles with you"? Today, the world seemed to be smiling. It was good : )  I felt as though a load had been taken off my shoulders.

And back to the ordinary world...

Romany was caught grinning in his sleep.


The flash woke him up. He stuck his tongue out.... kinda mid-lick, but too lazy to pull it off properly.


The sun was obviously too good and he dozed right off again.

Technorati Tags: people,feel-good,bus,romany,library,life

Starting over

I found this article recently and it got me thinking. Actually, it doesn't do much to get me thinking of our dream. A while back, Kippy and Jaime wanted me to talk about my perfect home. Then just recently, someone mentioned being envious of a life of ease. I often say "I'm jealous" and you'll usually find it's relating to a certain way of life... a life we'd love to live again, a truly simple life.



Second Act

"We embark on a career path or a job before we really know ourselves at a very early age, but I think we're still a work in progress and over the course of your life you can stitch together a quilt of what you want to be and who you want to be." Lisa Schwartz

Now, if I were envious of a lifestyle, it's the one this lady has built for herself. That is a dream!

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A couple more videos of people starting over and fulfilling a dream... truly inspirational! I've linked to the videos, so I don't overload this page for those with slow connections:

http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-mandy-aftel-20592908
http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-donald-arthur-20045514


Gypsy (back), Vilkas (left) and Noble (front right), our 3 Muskateers. Gypsy was the older, sensible one, who kept the brats in check. To the left was the raspberry patch - wild and thorny, but a thrill to harvest. Through the gateway behind them was the stand of mulberry trees, kids' paradise, and beyond that, the stream. The dogs were lying under the pretty, but infernal Tibouchina tree - the leaves, when dry, make excellent dye *sigh* It never comes out!

For those new to my list or those who missed the original post, this blog speaks about the life we came from, which is poles apart from the life we're in now. We'll have that again : )

http://tintalasia.multiply.com/journal/item/282/I_remember_Whensday

Last night, Tat and I were chatting. A possible hermitage came up, but she's not the hermit type, being gregarious and all that. We settled on farming with goats, who are pretty cool critters, with Jurgis taken along as slave labour, something he seems to thrive on. Ah... now there's a life, hm?

 

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Future

I stood where I couldn't see the future, but it came anyway
and it was the future I wanted
and needed

See... it's like this...

Near home is the bus stop. Two buses come by there, taking vastly different routes. When I got to the bus stop, there was a chill wind blowing along the river and a mom with what seemed like a hoard of unruly, noisy kids. Where I was standing I could see a few kilometres down the road to see the oncoming traffic and, naturally, oncoming buses.

I looked and couldn't see any buses at all. The kid picked up some litter, then threw it down again. The other kids were yelling among themselves as unruly kids are wont to do. On a whim, I decided to go to the next bus stop around the corner. It would be peaceful there, albeit less pretty.

Courtesy of Murphy's Law, the bus I was to take pulled up behind me just as I approached the corner. I knocked on the door, hoping for a kind driver. Many will let you on at a corner. This driver ignored me completely. He didn't wait at the bus stop either, as most other drivers would do, so muttering curses under my breath, I stood waiting for the next bus. A man stopped to ask for directions. The sun was warm. There was a breeze causing the towering eucalyptus trees to sway in the distance. Not so bad.

A few minutes later, the bus arrived. There was actually seating. As I got on and headed for my seat, it occurred to me that the previous bus would have contained the noisy hoard I was trying to get away from and the next bus didn't take too long to follow anyway. Seems he was doing me a favour.

Those who know me, know I spend probably far too much time stewing over the future... but today, I realised that the future is going to come anyway, probably in spite of me and what's more, it will probably be just the future I want and need... sooner than I expect. A load was taken off my mind today and the 'future' ball is once again rolling. Worth a celebration, don't you think?

 

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Up 'n down week

My week started with Kippy's wedding and a computer format. I hate formatting because they never go as quickly and smoothly as I'd like. This time, my scanner went belly-up. We eventually got the scanner working by sneaking up on it... and disabling my webcam, as the pc wanted to use the webcam as a scanner source. I was finally functional by Wednesday afternoon, but without a printer. Let's say that lessons and admin became very interesting this week. I rely heavily on technology.

Along with this came an all-pervasive tiredness. No idea where that comes from. I picked up towards the end of the week. Then yesterday, Thursday, we took both dogs up to the village. At the church, we parted company. I had Romany with me. Jurgis had Dingo. She was going to the vet who confirmed that she's diabetic. She was already totally blind in the one eye and had minimal vision in her remaining eye. This past month, she lost a lot of weight. Generally, the dogs start piling on weight as the cooler weather sets in... she just got skinnier and skinnier. She was already a skinny dog to start off with. Her appearance was conflicting... glossy coat, perky ears, still all tail-wag, but otherwise clearly going downhill. She'd lie in the corner under my desk, not following Romany out. We made the decision to let her go. All I'll say is that her tail was still wagging.



While we were out walking, it rained. No ordinary rain, but a typical São Paulo garoa, rendering umbrellas useless. We were soaked through. By nightfall, I was feeling ghastly... sore throat, achy, sheer bliss, of course. This morning, after chasing of the mule train that ran me over, I dragged myself out to teach. What a weird class. She's a new student who wanted me to go over her application for a job. We met at a Starbucks that had Wifi, but she didn't have a service provider, so she couldn't access it. Most of the lesson was spent trying to find an internet connection. This afternoon, I dragged my sorry self back home and went to bed, waking up in time for supper. I think I'll just veg with housework this weekend.... and a few blogs. I'm way behind in everyone's blogs.

PS. The top photo is simply there because I thought it was pretty. I was looking for photos of Dingo and found that one. Not sure what Heidi and Specs were looking at... probably a hyperactive dog.

 

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