Grandma's Day Out

December 29, 2012

Had to return home to warm up from the afternoon at the beach with hot coffee and some sort of egg tart for a late snack. Dono snored in the car a bit after requesting and chowing down half the pan of her ole favorite dish of ground beef layered with bananas and crusty breading on top, lost her sunglasses and misplaced her cane a few times. She doesn’t get out much!

I had forgotten how unfortunate yet relatively common terrible table service is at many of the restaurants and bars. Consequently the adults drink more beer and cachasa, children gain additional orders of hot and crispy French fries before the REAL meal of breaded fish bits, shrimp balls and cheese, beef and shrimp pastels finally arrive with crunchy and firm manioc fries. Since they only serve watermelon juice, kids drank sodas.

Sea water is too cold and eventually it rained and turned windy. Consequently we moved the double tables back under the covered frigid cement slab that housed additional tables of families drinking and eating together. Theo declared he wanted to go home immediately so we piled into the car stopping at a small and crowded grocery store on the way home to get the preverbal paozinho (fresh French rolls) and straws for Dono since she has difficulty drinking directly from a cup. Passed by one of my old houses that appeared nothing like it had ten years ago. The two bedroom house had been leveled and a much larger and fancier (from what I could gather over the high wall) than ours had replaced the quaint and humble home.

Watched Gangs of Rio on YouTube. Considering the World Cup and the Olympics will be held in Rio in the next few years, I am wondering what the city and state officials are planning to organize to protect the multitudes of wealthy tourists from the drug gangs in the close outskirts of town. Vamos ver!

Ten people from 2.5 to 72 years old using two bathrooms and four bedrooms as well as the living room floor is …well, crowded to say the least. Nearly everyone pitches in, save Grandma and the kids, won’t mention the ONE who has yet to wash a cup or spoon… sweep the floor, throw laundry in the washer, hang clothes to dry, fold or put them away (trying to guess who’s panties are whose, which t-shirt belongs to which child is a challenge in and of itself,) pick up the house or yard, feed the dog or unload groceries, cook a meal or even heat up a side dish. Discouraging when she is far from a teen or aged person! And to think we have to wait another entire year for her to get coal in her stocking for Christmas. Drat.