My Pumpkin

I am pretty sure I've mentioned before that I let her dress herself.  But just in case there was any question, she put together this ensemble.

Repair Job

So here is the end result of the broken power pole on our corner. When the truck showed up with a concrete power pole, we were excited. As it turns out, that was for another location. 

The power workers broke up the concrete sidewalk (by sledge hammer) and set a new, shorter power pole in the ground next to the broken one. Then, our old broken pole was pushed upright and essentially zip-tied to the new one. Since then, I have noticed several poles around town with a similar repair job. Apparently it is not uncommon.

Brilliant.

 

turkeys

We've been busy with our turkey crafts.  Here's a little something I dreamed up with supplies on hand on a day that needed some major distraction.  And, it doubles as a play thing! 
Turkey puppet shows: now playing all week!

H is so proud of her creation.

Different Standards

 

In September, we had a pretty significant thunder storm with high winds.  Not prairie winds, mind you, but high winds for here. I noticed blasts of sparks flying over our house and at first thought firecrackers (not uncommon here at any time of day or night).  But they were so close.  As it turns out, a power pole on our corner had blown over (or more accurately, broken off at the base) and the live power lines were sparking as they lay in a tree in front of our house. 

Not familiar with the procedure, or vocabulary, for such a situation, we called a neighbor who called the power company.  I was impressed that for a culture who doesn't put an enormous significance on promptness, the power company arrived within 10 minutes and shut off the power.  Then left.  Lucky for us, the power for our house comes in off the cross street, but this pole was servicing power down 2 legs of this corner.  Dozens or more houses were without power.  For the whole night.  And the next day.  And the next night.  And the next day.....you get the idea.  They turned off the power, and never came back.  We called neighbors, offering our fridge space to store their perishables.  They all assured us they had called "a friend at the power company" who guaranteed it would be back on by midnight, or this afternoon, or by 3 o'clock, or whatever magic time was given.  This is how things get done in this country.  A series of personal favors.  Unfortunately, it fell through this time.  DaddyHealy told his colleagues that Americans would never stand for this.  The problem was just a broken pole and it took several days to get power restored.  His colleges just shrugged.  They have to live with different standards, they are used to it.

The power company finally came out on a holiday, (naturally) with 5 guys.  One to break up the concrete, one to talk on his cell phone, and three to have a snack and a break under our tree.



DaddyHealy would call this a critical failure.  He also explained that treated wood would have prevented the pole from rotting at ground level, thus breaking in the wind.  Details.

I love this picture because it shows the extreme angle the pole sat at for several days while our neighbors waited for power to be restored.  That's our house (and the tree which sparked) on the left of the picture.

Meet Tom

Meet Tom, our very naked turkey friend.  H and I made him this afternoon.

Since Thanksgiving is most definitley an American holiday, and being on a Thursday will just be another day of school and work for us here in Brazil , I decided something needed to be done to help us remember to be thankful.  Enter Tom.  My idea is that each day the kids will decide on something they are thankful for and we will write it on a feather and help fill up Tom's plume.

In case you are wondering about the first feather, H is thankful for Mommy, M, Dada, and D.

Halloween Harrah

Here is how we finished out our Halloween celebrations (all ideas borrowed from internet websites):

The dinner plate:

Jack-o-lantern quesadilla, ant (raisin) salad, vampire mouth apples

And M trying out a new look:

Saci

Well, D came home on Halloween eve from school with some interesting information about a pesky little folkloric figure named Saci.  As it turns out, his "official" day of celebration is October 31.  The "Dia do Saci" (Day of Saci) was just instituted by the Brazilian government in 2004...perhaps in an effort to hold on to Brazilian traditions rather than import foreign ones to celebrate???

D told us Saci is a troublemaker.  He steals those missing socks you can never match, lets the cows out and hides the things you never can find.  Further internet reading confirmed that parents use Saci to motivate their children, "If you don't clean up your room, Saci will take your toys."  Handy.

He also happens to only have one leg and smokes a pipe.  And although he causes a lot of trouble, people seem to find him endearing.