The Perfect Day to Share a Perfect Sand Castle

I knew I wanted to share this picture sometime, and today (when I don't have a picture of anything interesting that happened today--so far!) is the perfect day.
This is a sand castle like none other I've ever seen! Sculpted from sand on the Copacabana beach not far from the hotel where we stayed in Rio de Janeiro last month. On our last morning there, Evelyn and I walked for quite awhile down the beach and then back up, toward our hotel on the sidewalk across the street from the beach, where we could find some shade. Just before we left the beach, we came across this remarkable sculpture. The man who made it was sitting beside it, asking for donations from those who wanted to take a picture. He tried to explain in halting English how he had built it and how he coated it with something to help preserve it.
I thought about posting this with something "inspirational" about building your house upon the sand vs. building it on the rock or something like that. But, dear readers, you've heard all that before. So I'll just say I wanted to post this remarkable handiwork for you to enjoy too, just for what it is.
Spent today catching up on correspondence, cleaning up my e-mail account (deleted HUNDREDS of unread e-mails--oh, what a mess I am!), and helping Diane Jones stuff mailings with a sample issue of the new monthly Christian Standard. I need to plan my work for next week before leaving at 5:00 to meet Evelyn and John and Mary Jane Burgess to go see the Reds play tonight. (THOSE pictures can be in TOMORROW'S post.)

My Top Seven Brazil Memories

It wasn't a perfect trip. In fact, much about it was difficult. But here I want to record seven positive parts of our trip to Brazil that I'll always remember.

We ate lunch one day with David Bayless (center),
 his wife, Carolyn, and James Moreland--
all longtime missionaries in Brazil.

1. I've already written, twice, about the very best part: the people. So many of the Brazilians we met were outgoing, friendly, helpful, smiling--especially the Christians who hosted us at the church where the World Convention met. Likewise, the folks in our tour group couldn't have been better--not a whiner or complainer among them. And at the World Convention, we also met friends from the U.S. and around the world in happy times of fellowship reminiscent of those we always enjoy at the NACC.

The worship team encouraged singing at the
evening main sessions.

2. The worship. The services lasted three hours, too long for our taste, and it was sometimes difficult to listen to preaching via translation. But the singing was wonderful, and it was an inspiring experience to hear the hall full of Brazilians lifting their voices in Portugese with worship songs we sang at the same time in English.

3. The food. We didn't eat one bad meal! Occasionally we had some trouble choosing from a menu written exclusively in Portugese, but the food was universally tasty, and the servings were usually huge. Two meals stand out, our visit to the Brazilian steakhouse, Parcao, where uniformed waiters continuously circle the tables with every kind of roasted meat you can imagine: chicken, sausage, lamb, ostrich, ribs, filet mignon, top sirloin, roast beef, and more. The evening before we had eaten at a pizza buffet. The waiters are constantly on the move there, too, offering thin crust pizzas with every combination of toppings you can imagine, including dessert pizzas topped with ice cream and hot fudge sauce.

On the last day of our trip, we ate our farewell lunch at an Ipanema restaurant on the spot where "The Girl from Ipanema" was written. The restaurant displayed a copy of the song on a poster.
4. Brasilia. We saw the corridor where the nation's government is housed: majestic buildings illuminated beautifully, including the national cathedral.

The Brazilian National Cathedral 

5. Beautiful ocean and beaches. The ocean reminded me of the luminous greens and blues I remember from the Caribbean. The sky was beautiful, as was the weather throughout our stay: sunshine and warm, but not hot, afternoons followed by evenings refreshed by cool breezes.

6. The Christ statue. Actually, the train ride up to the statue was as enjoyable as being at the top, at the base of the statue, because when we got there, the statue was enveloped in foggy clouds that obscured our view of the city below. But the whole experience was still one to remember.

Tourists jostled to enter the train cars that would take them
up the mountain to see The Christ statue.

7. Sugarloaf Mountain. We rode two different cable cars to the top of Sugarloaf and enjoyed late afternoon, sunset, and evening all in the space of about 90 minutes. No clouds obscured our views here, and seeing the city below us was wonderful.

The People Are the Best Part, Part 2

I'm writing this as Evelyn and I relax in front of the Olympics, one week and one day into the games. We were in Brazil when the games opened in London last week. We recorded the opening ceremonies. I wonder when we'll have four hours to watch 'em!
We landed at CVG yesterday (Friday) morning about 11:30 on a 90-minute flight from Charlotte. We left there about 10:00 after landing before 7:00 a.m. on a flight that had left Rio after 10:30 Thursday night (9:30 Cincinnati time). We saw some beautiful and interesting sights in Brazil, especially in Rio. More about that in a later post. But I'm thinking this evening about the people who joined us on our tour. Many of them commented about the gracious, compatible, easygoing flexibility of all the folks in our tour group. We took lots of pictures of scenery, but I want to show the people. Even without their pictures, they are what I'll remember most about this trip. But I want to include their pictures here too.

Jan and Carolyn DeWitt posed with our Brazilian tour guide and host, Rafael Soares, and Evelyn in Brasilia. The DeWitts are from Johnson City, Tennessee, where Jan serves as an emergency room physician.

Evelyn posed later in the week with two others from Johnson City: Bob Wetzel (left) and Bruce Shields, both active in ministry and teaching after retiring from their work at Emmanuel Christian Seminary.

Jim and Ivy Price are from Irmo, South Carolina, retirees who have traveled all over the world. I didn't get a picture of them together, I'm sorry to say, but I snapped this picture of Ivy taking a picture.

Rick Reisinger is president of the Disciples of Christ Church Extension Fund. He and his wife, Denise, were welcome additions to our group.

Earl and Gretchen Watson had a challenging time during our tour, because Gretchen slipped and fell Saturday night, damaging her knee so that she couldn't stand. They were great troopers and missed very little of our tour as everyone in the group helped push and lift the various wheelchairs we secured during the week to keep them with us.

Julia Keith serves on the World Convention staff. She and her daughter, Johanna, joined us for the second week of our tour, and we were really glad to have their help lowering the median age of our group members!
Finally, one of my favorite pictures of Evelyn and me. She hates to fly, but I'm sure glad she decided to fly with me on this trip we'll never forget. (That's Sugarloaf Mountain in the background. Evelyn rode the cable cars to the top, too, in spite of how thin those cables look from a distance.)

All's Well That Ends Well

Everyone was on time to load the van this morning at 10:30, and the van was there, too. Just one problem. There was no way all the luggage for 15 people would fit in the small luggage space below the van. So we made phone calls, we waited, we made more phone calls, and finally had the promise that an extension for the van (a little trailer to hold luggage) would be there--in two hours. This was 11:00, and Rafa wasn't promising that they'd bring it as soon as they promised. "This is Brazil."
So, while we waited, we had a worship service with hymns, prayers, a meditation led by Bob Wetzel, and Communion--in the bar of the hotel!
The restaurant opened for lunch at 12:30, so I decided to buy lunch for our patient travelers while we waited. Rafa rushed in after we ordered to say the van with the trailer was there. But now he waited while we had a fine lunch at the hotel.
We were finally on our way after 2:00; maybe it was 2:30, and we were at our hotel after 5:00. We checked in and met in the lobby by 6:00 to take a tour of the city, guided by Rafa.

We took pictures outside the beautiful national cathedral while we waited for mass to be finished so we could walk around inside the remarkable building. Then we drove to make several stops outside the government buildings that are centered in the capitol city.

We all took lots of pictures, and I posed before this statue honoring the man who planned Brasilia and persevered until it was built.
Then we went to an experience unlike any we'd had before, the pizza buffet restaurant. But "buffet" doesn't describe the experience of responding to roving waiters offering every variety of pizza you can imagine--all you can eat--vegetable pizzas, garlic pizzas, meat pizzas, mozzarella pizzas, gorgonzola pizzas, guava and cheese pizzas, mushrooms, palmetto, fruit (coconut, bananas royale), ice cream pizzas (with hot fudge sauce), and the coup de grace, strawberries on dark chocolate. We ate and laughed and made fun at how much each  of us was eating. It was a great evening, and the day ended much, much better than it had begun.

The People Are the Best Part

Computer connections have been inconvenient or unavailable, and time to sit and write has been limited, so this is the first post to this blog since I wrote Tuesday afternoon from the Cincinnati airport. The trip itself to Brazil was relatively without stress—except for the fact that four of our 12 tour members, departing from Johnson City, TN did not make it on the plane Tuesday night. They had been scheduled with only a one-hour connection time in Charlotte, NC, departure point for our flight to Rio. Their flight was severely delayed and had not even taken off for Charlotte when our flight FROM Charlotte took off for Brazil.
US Air accommodated them nicely, putting them in first class for their delayed flight the next day! But because we had booked the Brazil leg of the trip separately, getting them on new flights one day later wasn't easy, or without expense.
But they had good flights one day later; we were able to meet them at the airport and get them to their rooms relatively easy, and the major stress for me was relieved.
The worship services at the convention are long and loud, and listening to Third World-style shotgun preaching with phrase-by-phrase (sometimes word-by-word) translations into English can actually be exhausting. But there have been high spots and moving moments.
High spots: Fellowship! We've spent time with folks we wouldn't have enjoyed if we weren't here together with them. Some from the U.S., some from points around the world.

We first met New Zealanders Lyndsay and Lorraine Jacobs when they were directing the World Convention ministry. They served as international ambassadors for the cause of Christ and Christian unity. And their exuberant greetings and warm hugs were typical of what we always experienced from them. What a joy to visit with them on our first morning here.
High spots: the people.

At the end of yesterday's morning service, the leader asked us to form in groups, Brazilians with international visitors, to pray together. We found ourselves in a circle with a sweet lady and her children (grandchildren?) and a young man about 30. As soon as we joined hands, both she and he began praying in Portugese. The intent expression on her face and the passion in their voices were so moving to us, especially accompanied by the hum of prayers being raised from a hundred circles across the auditorium. We could not communicate with them with our words, but her warm handshake and his hug both before and after we prayed confirmed that this was a simple, brief experience that we won't forget.

Yesterday we met a group of happy children who were moving from one American to another to practice their English.  They were like beautiful, well-adjusted kids anywhere, and their enthusiasm and smiles brightened the day for all of us. We met Nathan (whose picture I didn't get), a well-spoken young man who does youth and worship ministry at his church. These were "his kids," he said, and I'm not sure if that meant from his family or from his church, or both. In either case, it was good to know that these happy children are growing up with the influence of Christ in their lives.

On the Way to Rio

This will be a quick pot from the departure gate at CVG, first leg of our 24-hour trip to our final destination of Goiania, Brazil, site of the World Convention that begins tomorrow night. We depart for Charlotte, NC in about an hour and then have about 3 hours there before an overnight flight (10 hours!) to Rio de Janeiro. Then an all day wait till we board the final short flight through the country to Goiania. Boy, will I be glad to see the smiling face of Rafael Soares, our Brazilian guide, when we get to  Goiania! This week we'll spend there, taking in sessions of the World Convention, including its closing session Saturday night. Then the touring begins, first to Brasilia overnight, and then to Rio for the most beautiful part of the trip.
I took off work today, and I was glad! Of course the day started with maybe 2 hours of computer work, writing, etc., that I didn't get finished yesterday. Then tending to a raft of details, thinking through everything I wanted to pack (I've already thought of a couple things I intended to bring but didn't), meeting with the fellow who's watering our plants, making a phone call or two, and actually PACKING.

Evelyn and I got it all in two checked bags for the two of us and a carry-on plus my brief case and her big blue satchel full of I surely don't know what!
We've been experimenting with various potions to help guarantee that we actually sleep many of those 10 hours we'll be flying overnight.
Tomorrow . . . if possible I'll post about how that went!
We got here EARLY, so after a Starbucks and a shared muffin, Evelyn decided to walk the terminal (a revamped Terminal A at CVG) while I wrote this post. I snapped her after one circle, with one more to go. That smile PROVES how EXCITED she is about getting on three airplanes in the next 24 hours.

On the Day Before Nine Days out of the Office

Some time ago I mentioned that old cliche about getting a week's worth of work done on the day before  vacation. Well, I'm not sure if that quite fits today because

a) the trip I'm taking isn't all vacation,

b) I didn't get a week's worth of work done, and

c) I still have an hour or two of it to do in the morning.

But, no problem. We're not leaving home before 2:30 tomorrow, and, even though I haven't packed yet, I'll still have a little time to be productive at the computer in the morning. 

Tomorrow this time (after 10:00 p.m.), if all proceeds according to schedule, we'll be in a jet reaching for its altitude after taking off from the airport in Charlotte, bound for Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Evelyn and I are just hoping we can sleep overnight before getting off that plane about 10 hours later. If we have Wi-Fi in Brazil, I'll let you know!

I did get a fair amount done today: made two scheduled phone calls, wrote copy for two e-newsletters, checked through correspondence from writers meeting assignments for our October and November issues, submitted my expense report for July, touched base with Diane Jones-Dunham about items to be handled or checked or monitored while I'm gone, submitted the vacation form (for the second half of this trip), did the "out of office" messages for my voice mail and e-mail, and drove to Kenwood to pick up a travel wallet that hooks to my belt but can be hidden under my waistband. 

Tonight we had our "small group" at our house. Evelyn fixed a recipe she'd never cooked but that Jennifer had fixed for us: yummy lemony chicken skewers. And then we watched "The Closer" with Dan and Cindi Cooper.

Tomorrow we'll be up early, checking off items from a long to-do list.

Brazil This Summer, Italy and Greece Next Summer

Today I handled a few details related to the Brazil trip that begins next Tuesday. This evening I wrote a letter to go with a brochure I'm mailing to folks about a wonderful tour we're helping to host next summer.

This will be a really great experience, to Naples, Pompeii, Corinth, Athens, Ephesus, Crete, Venice, and that's just the beginning. It will be great to travel with Roy and Joy Lawson and Marshall and Judy Hayden. AND, I hope, some of the great people receiving this brochure.

(By the way, this is not a closed group. It's open to any reader of this blog . . . just ask for a brochure! I can only imagine who might be interested in this wonderful trip!)

I'm writing personal notes to folks, so I probably won't get the brochures in the mail till tomorrow. Meanwhile, I've been editing through all the material for our first monthly issue of Christian Standard, the September issue. It's a lot of material--64 printed pages worth! And some really good stuff, most of it around the theme of finances and money. I worked on it yesterday and today. Tomorrow morning I'll finish it, and Thursday we meet about art and design.

Took a break after supper and "piddled around" in the yard. In this temperature and humidity, you don't have to exert much energy before you come inside soaked with sweat!

A Day at Work Between Two Days Off

How's this for a movie choice in the week after our wedding?! Evelyn and I have our second evening alone in a row, and I decided I'm too tired to go find some fireworks--although I was tempted! :-)
So when I stopped through Kroger's on the way home, I picked up "The Vow" from Redbox. We're going to watch it as soon as I finish this blog post. I'll give my review tomorrow.
I was surprised at how tired I was at work today. But I guess I shouldn't have been. The past few days were virtually non-stop movement and thinking about what's next and how it, whatever "it" was, was going to get done.
I spent quite a bit of time this morning cleaning out e-mails. Dealt with details for our Brazil trip. Looked at the final proof for the fourth of four issues uploaded to the printer today. Chose web tags and the posting dates for two issues already in print.
On the way home returned unused plastic dessert plates to GFS (we had bought 500, at the caterer's recommendation, but we sure didn't need 'em all), deposited my pension check, and returned easels to the church (they held posters and props at the reception).
Just about everything from the wedding is cleaned up, put away, returned. Just about.
Tomorrow's the holiday! We're having Webers and Wuskes for hamburgers on the grill and left-over stuffed mini potatoes from the reception.

Brazil, the Beauty, and the Passport Picture

Because the US requires an expensive and difficult process for getting visas to enter this country, those countries require a similar process for US citizens to visit their country. To get a visa to enter Brazil, a US citizen must pay $160 and submit an application with a passport photo attached. So tonight we went to Walgreen's and for $9.99 apiece let the happy photo manager snap a digital picture, play with it on his screen, and print out the photos precisely sized to please the Brazilian consulate.

Actually, we went twice. The first time we showed up, the setting sun was shining through the plate glass window and making funky shadows on that white screen. So we had to come home and return after 9:00. The photo manager was changing the trash can plastic liners in the parking lot when we arrived, but he finished quickly to come serve our needs.

Evelyn looked over my shoulder as I was typing this and let out a guttural oath. I think she looks cute, but that's not the word she would choose. You know what they say about beauty and the beholder's eye.

Brazil, Here We Come!

Spent today handling details, following up, making assignments.

Spoke and wrote with Larry Travis and Rafa Soares about details for our Brazil trip. It's coming together. It's going to be good. We're going to have fun. And the payments from our tour members will almost pay all the expenses!  :-)

Followed up on some outstanding assignments for our October issue and made a few new ones to try to finish filling it.

Wendy was here most of the day; said she felt better than yesterday, took a nap this afternoon and then met her friend Becky from Plainfield to have a girls night out. Actually they're staying overnight and we'll see Wendy sometime tomorrow.

I chopped branches off our river birch and the pear tree in front of the house. Got branches out of our eyes walking to the front door or mowing the grass. And trimmed back the barberry bush by the garage, all in time for the garbage man to haul off the trimmings in the morning.

A Special Lunch, a Productive Dinner

Today we had a retirement lunch for Tom Riehle who has worked at Standard Publishing since he got out of high school, more than 40 years. He started as valet to the company president! I've worked with him through the years in his service as a job operator and a procurement specialist, and all of us wish him well for a retirement well earned.
Tonight I met with Rafa Soares and Larry Travis to nail down details about our trip to Brazil for the World Convention. Rafa will be our host in Brazil, as well as the man finding the hotels, renting the buses, planning the itinerary, and buying our in-country plane tickets. We're going to have a wonderful time there. I'm starting to get really excited after our conversation tonight at Olive Garden.

We're Booked!

After much discussion, communication, and promotion, we're booked for our trip to Brazil this summer! We'll be attending the World Convention in Goiania and then touring in Brasilia and Rio the week after.  Evelyn's going with me (she's real excited about the plane trip!), along with about 10 or 12 others. I'm hoping I can blog from there.


I had to rush home at lunchtime to get our passports so I could give the passport numbers to the travel agent. She found out she had to book the tickets today to get the quoted prices. That created the serendipitous opportunity to stop at Jimmy John's to pick up lunch. Number 6 Vegetarian on whole wheat--what a treat!

Tonight we're reconnecting with Bill and Verna Weber after his trip to New Zealand and our trip to St. Louis. We're looking forward to it! (Pictures tomorrow.)