'Tis the Season

[Farmer's Markets and Cottages, oh so happy together.]

Time to Celebrate the Newest One!

A few months ago,

I found this little cutie gracing my inbox,

and just this past weekend 

we gathered to celebrate him and his parents.

 We watched a video in their honor,

 gave the mama some time to gather baby tips,

 gave the men some time

 to advise the papa on midnight diaper changings.

 And then we gathered all together,

to peek at all of the gifts waiting to welcome our newest home.

And then, in the spirit of familial celebration, 

we had some good family moments,

like dancing with Peepaw 

[on a floor clearly made for dancing 

in the eyes of our littlest-one-for-now],

like receiving gifts from Great-Grandma,

and other precious things.

We talked,

we laughed,

we played.

And we simply reminded ourselves how good it is to be together:

And overall, we just rejoiced, because we can't wait until this family picture includes the little one we were there to celebrate.

Thanks Dave & Kara, for giving us a reason to be together, 

and for bringing us a new one to love!

I, for one, can't wait to meet him.

When in Pennsylvania....

...pretend you're still in Brazil.

Tudo bem!

Put me any place in the world, 

and all will be well if you give me the things I love:

 Colorful birds, singing to me an unknown song,

[and maybe some I've heard before...];

trees, bearing flowers

 and fruits enormous and belo.

Then, of course, there's food:

like this meat and corn filled pastry discovered at the outdoor cafe across the street from my hotel,

and this bacon and mussarela crepe.

Each day we ate lunch in this outdoor court,

where we quickly realized

that suca naturale was the way to go [as in, fresh squeezed juice of every variety you could imagine...].

And then there was the frothy coffee, 

made with hot milk,

[rather questionably served in flimsy plastic cups...],

Brazilian chope [pronounced "chop-pee" and equaling beer]

and of course the caipirinhas

made with a Brazilian rum called cachaca and equaling sabarosa 

[translation YUMMY].

Our final evening found us being offered all kinds of alcohol

along with all kinds of meat

at a traditional Brazilian barbeque joint

at which we tried all we could,

begging for small amounts every time our meat-bearing friends came near [which equaled frequente].

The next morning I took advantage of one last moment 

with a delicious [and small] xicara of cafe,

and declared these aspects of 

my Brazilian visit to make me tudo bem for sure.

Brasilia, Brazil

Brasilia, Brazil; a most interesting city.

The capital.

A planned city, as in it was nothing and then it became something, just the way they wanted it to be.

Built in the late 50s, 'opened' in 1960.

And designed by some very important people, 

including the architect Oscar Niemeyer.

When I arrived here, the bus driver, misunderstanding my "hotel nacional brasilia" to mean I wanted to go to the "brasilia shopping", dropped me off at the edge of the Hotel Sector North, because--yes--this planned city includes a "hotel sector", 

divided north and south by a giant freeway.  

Realizing that I was in the wrong place, I hiked my way across said Hotel Sector North, found myself a policeman of excellent sign-language skills, had a rather enjoyable 10 minute conversation with him that involved very large arm movements that essentially meant "go across the freeway not once but twice", 

and found my way to Hotel Sector South, 

to the very first hotel built in this city stuck in time,

with a certain sense of old-world modern elegance.

And, though we were spending most of our days at the University, soaking up information and getting to know each other,

there was one afternoon blocked off for 

exploring all the city had to show.

We scoped out the TV tower, but since there was a BRICS summit occurring that day [in which the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa were having some important discussions right in town], we were unable to climb up and see the sights from its famous observation deck.  

Instead, we made our way to the Cathedral,

stopping first at the famous dried flower vendors

lining the sidewalk in front.

The spread of the cathedral includes the oval baptistry off to one side [said to represent a loaf of communion bread], and a bell tower off to the other [representing, of course, the chalice].

The four Evangelists [Matthew Mark Luke & John]

welcomed us in,

as we headed into the entrance underground.

Once inside,

we looked up into the dome

and forward to the altar,

the stunning stained glass

echoing over us

and all around.

We took in the artwork depicting the Way of the Cross,

noticed the whispering wall,

and exited,

the statues welcoming us back

[along with a few other visitors...]

Then, we climbed back on the bus and headed 

down the Avenue of the Ministries,

the street lined with identical buildings 

designed for the work of the government,

until we arrived at the most important one: 

The National Congress of Brazil, 

where in the dish to the right meets the Chamber of Deputies; 

in the dome to the left, the Senate.

After exploring the surrounding architecture,

laid out with much precision

and using a lot of open space,

we went inside that dish and then that dome, sat in their galleries, and listened to some Brazilian business being carried out.
We were welcomed in each one,
and then headed out to see the sunset

at the Parque Ecologico Dom Bosco,

Dom Bosco being the priest who--in the late 1800s--had a vision of an important future city being just where Brasilia was eventually built, between the 15th and 20th parallels of the globe.

We took in the views,

and then headed off for a smorgasbord dinner

 rustic

and Brazilian for delicioso.

We returned home to a newer hotel

across the street from a fancy mall,

having enjoyed our tour of this city both modern and old.