Back home

And we almost didn't make it. Mary and I rushed across terminals at O'Hare after a red-eye, ten-hour flight from São Paulo to make it to the gate for our final leg to Albany. No worry, since it was delayed. So we sat down and got immersed in on-line puzzles and card games, before Mary saw the departure lounge empty. We were barely seated on the plane when they closed the cabin door. Live and learn is Mary's new motto.  

But, what a time in Brazil. Joe and Leonor were such great hosts, opening up a country we have never fully or even slightly appreciated. Until now. One thing is for sure. We couldn't have done five percent of what we did without them. We were both surprised at how little English is spoken there, and how little our rusty Spanish worked. Obrigado.

Rio is an unbelievably beautiful city, as stated last letter. Brasilia has a reputation for a boring city, but we found it easy, clean, safe and green. Joe and Leonor took us on two side trips to smaller towns with touristy appeal - Parati on the coast and Pereonopolis, a quaint, historic town with a water park/hotel for children .... and Mary. We met their friends and co-workers, two of whom had worked with me in Mexico City.  

We had a small world experience.  A woman at the water park introduced herself to Leonor as having met her before Covid, as they live on the same street.  She and Mary were chatting in the pool, and she mentioned her father had been in the Foreign Service in Nigeria when we were there too.  Turns out we didn't know him then, as he was in a different city, but I did work with him back in Washington.  What were the paths we took to meet up in a pool in Pereonopolis?

Still, the whole point was to reconnect with Joe and Leonor and two grandsons, who are thriving in their environs. We played our grandparent roles to the hilt - reading and giving presents and treats, telling pirate stories and shadowing around the yard, fooling around, walking to school, and then collapsing for naps.

We even had Thanksgiving, with what we thought was a chicken (it did say "frango" on the wrapper) but turned out to actually be a turkey. Those sneaky Brazilians.

We followed other Thanksgiving events virtually, only to find out Simon spent some time in the hospital with a case of croup. Jeff and Melodie joined Margaret and Andrew and Andrew's parents for dinner, while Simon continued to be under the weather. Out in Oakland Annie and Sankar had a Friendsgiving complete with turducken, if that's spelled right. 

How bout chez vous? We heard Daniel and Claire came home for a quiet Thanksgiving, that Billy and Jen celebrated at her parents before checking in at Roslyn Ave.  We saw on Facebook a meal delivered to Matthew and Tina's house, we think???  And chocolate cake for Black Friday.  But, we also saw the word "quarantine" pop up.  Hope all is okay.

Speaking of Black Friday, I was surprised to see my first billboard announcing Black Friday in Brazil.  Joe and Leonor said, yes, it's a thing, and lasts a whole month.  Another great American export.  Couldn't they have picked Thanksgiving?

While away, work proceeded on our master bathroom/closet project. Having such a major change take place when we weren't present made us nervous, but it is actually coming along quite well. Hope it will all be finished by Christmas. It better be, as we are getting dates of Annie and Sankar's travel and the DC contingent plans for that time period.

And, we arrived home to snow.  Our first plow of the year, too.  That meant a fire in the fireplace, and a return to our quiet evenings.  Too quiet. Sigh

Love from up here.