Day at the beach

December 26, 2012

A day at the beach! Swam laps in and around the swimming area, performed my physical therapy exercises and played with various multicolored plastic sand toys with a Gulliver from Gilligan’s Island hat Ethan in the cool, crisp calm water of Ribeirao da Isla.

Not quite as beastly hot today as yesterday so we won’t be constantly sweating and swatting blood sucking devils in the night. Joao had a bee sting scare this morning. Appeared at the back door wide-eyed and gesturing wildly, mouthing albelha (bee) and the chaos ensued since he is allergic and throat airway closing rapidly. De ran desperately to find the specified remedy and injection and everyone scrambled for alcohol, cotton balls and several buckets of fresh water to douse over his sweaty head. Joe plunged his finger down Joao’s throat to open the airway to accept the medication. Shaky and thirsty, Joao recovered and less than an hour later we were at the sunny and empty beach.

Arrived home to find the full freezer door cracked so it was a scramble to empty and wipe everything down. Dono admitted to searching for her frozen sweet chocolate cookie layered cake and inadvertently left the door ajar. OOPS!

Taking advantage of the defrosted meat, the bbq pit was loaded with stomach churning blocks of dripping red meat, chicken hearts on skewers (kids favorite) and herbed cheese sticks popped for a late dinner. I made a light lettuce and onion salad and roasted squash for my plate. No one wanted to sample the sliced squash…oh good, more for me!

Anderson is here, a close friend of Theo’s. He is the old housecleaner’s son who grew up with Theo. Conceita, Anderson’s mother has three kids and left Denise’s service after four years when she accepted employment at a local restaurant as a chef’s helper. A new uncompassionate chef was hired a few years ago and wanted her to read off the recipe cards he had organized for his special dishes. Despite her consistent attendance and excellent preparation skills she lost her well paying job since she is illiterate. Conceita replaced that position with another, lower salary and no benefits.

Tomorrow Joao Enrique arrives to spend time with his dad, brother and Denise along with the rest of the crew. We have run out of water in the house several times. Tonight close family members had to shower together to conserve what little was left in the tank. Just can’t take for granted when you turn the handle water will eject from the faucet.