Thursday - A Glimmer of Hope

March 12  Thursday

I carefully pulled open the blinds to peak out at the sky early this morning.  Looks like the sun is on the horizon - a few troubling clouds in view, but much better than the solid blanket of grey we have been experiencing lately.

I got up and did dishes from the night before - we didn't get home from SF de Paula until late.  I fixed a simple breakfast of retoasted waffles, fresh grapefruit segments, and a risotto with diced vegetables.  Not too bad - cleaning out the refrigerator.

Merl and I walked to the grocery store to get laundry soap - Merl was wearing his last pair of clean socks; we are going to take a chance and do some laundry and hope the weather holds.  On the way, we stopped at a video store and purchased two videos in Portuguese (and English) Brave and Narnia, The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe.  We have been told that the more we listen to the language the easier it will be to pronounce the words.  Movies were suggested when we don't have people around us to listen to.  We will give it a try. . . I made sure that these had English subtitles.

Copas came by to check electric their electric heating pad.  They weren't sure if the pad was any good or not since their little transformer wasn't working with it.  The pad was just fine when plugged into David's big transformer.   Ann sent all the supplies for the plaques with Sis. Copa.  March 21 is the Relief Society birthday party, and each branch will be in charge of a project.  Hortencia/Canela is doing wooden plaques with vinyl lettering.

I fixed lunch - baked tomatoes on crispy buns, mashed cauliflower with chicken gravy, and juice. 
Interesting meal (and too bad that the most exciting thing to talk about today is food).  I spent too much of my time the last few days trying to put all the camp photos into a usable format for the branch presidents.  The files are too big, and I am getting a bit frustrated. 

So. . . Merl and I took a walk in search of some disposable plates/bowls sturdy enough to hold spaghetti without collapsing.  Plastic is so flimsy here.  We did find an option but didn't purchase them yet - we need 75 to 100 plates/bowls. 

Looks like a laantern

The highlight for Merl is to find interesting plants to check out.  An empty lot just up the street (empty of buildings, full of plants) appears to be being cleared out.  His favorite pine tree stands in the middle - really long, soft needles - putting on little green balls. 

chuchu

We were surprised to see chuchu hanging from another tree - the vine looks like it is taking over and killing the tree.  We have bought chuchu in the grocery stores - an interesting fruit that we use more like a vegetable. 
http://translate.google.com.br/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuchu&prev=search





The leaves are red - the flower is
the little yellow/white center

Sunflower family

We stopped at Mãos de Mundo looking for souvenir ideas - a beautiful, high-end store - Daupers to get some little chocolate chip cookies and granola.  Everywhere we went we noticed new flowers. 



A new building is under construction; everything seems to be done with manual labor.  The men on the ground were throwing up materials to the men on the top.

We chose a quiet evening at home tonight while Ann and David went to the church for piano lessons and Integration.

And the socks were dry!


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