Pôr-do-sol

- Quando o amor vos fizer sinal, segui-o;
ainda que os seus caminhos sejam duros e difíceis.
E quando as suas asas vos envolverem, entregai-vos;
ainda que a espada escondida na sua plumagem
vos possa ferir.
E quando vos falar, acreditai nele;
apesar de a sua voz
poder quebrar os vossos sonhos
como o vento norte ao sacudir os jardins.
Porque assim como o vosso amor
vos engrandece, também deve crucificar-vos
E assim como se eleva à vossa altura
e acaricia os ramos mais frágeis
que tremem ao sol,
também penetrará até às raízes
sacudindo o seu apego à terra.
Como braçadas de trigo vos leva.
Malha-vos até ficardes nus.
Passa-vos pelo crivo
para vos livrar do joio.
Mói-vos até à brancura.
Amassa-vos até ficardes maleáveis.
Então entrega-vos ao seu fogo,
para poderdes ser
o pão sagrado no festim de Deus.
Tudo isto vos fará o amor,
para poderdes conhecer os segredos
do vosso coração,
e por este conhecimento vos tornardes
o coração da Vida.
Mas, se no vosso medo,
buscais apenas a paz do amor,
o prazer do amor,
então mais vale cobrir a nudez
e sair do campo do amor,
a caminho do mundo sem estações,
onde podereis rir,
mas nunca todos os vossos risos,
e chorar,
mas nunca todas as vossas lágrimas.
O amor só dá de si mesmo,
e só recebe de si mesmo.
O amor não possui
nem quer ser possuido.
Porque o amor basta ao amor.
E não penseis
que podeis guiar o curso do amor;
porque o amor, se vos escolher,
marcará ele o vosso curso.
O amor não tem outro desejo
senão consumar-se.
Mas se amarem e tiverem desejos,
deverão se estes:
Fundir-se e ser um regato corrente
a cantar a sua melodia à noite.
Conhecer a dor da excessiva ternura.
Ser ferido pela própria inteligência do amor,
e sangrar de bom grado e alegremente.
Acordar de manhã com o coração cheio
e agradecer outro dia de amor.
Descansar ao meio dia
e meditar no êxtase do amor.
Voltar a casa ao crepúsculo
e adormecer tendo no coração
uma prece pelo bem amado,
e na boca, um canto de louvor.
Khalil

Remarkable acoustic talents

24 hours a day the cicadas make noise here in the garden. At sun raise and sunset they get particularly loud. I don’t really mind it, but there are enough people here who can’t really coop with it, isn’t it mum? ;)

Some interesting info about cicadas:

-Cicadas spend most of their lives as nymphs underground. This may be as long as 17 years! In the nymphal final developmental stage, they construct an exit tunnel to the surface and emerge. They then shed their skins on a nearby plant and emerge as adults. (they have favourite trees is our garden to shed their skin. On some trees there are many many of those discarded cicada skins stuck to the tree bark).




-Most adult cicadas live 2 to 3 weeks but some live only for a day or two, or less.

- Only the males possess a pair of sound-producing, or "singing", organs located on the sides of the first abdominal segment.

-The male cicada makes the loudest sound in the insect world; they have their own built-in sound system(some males are able to reach volumes as high as 100 decibels)




-The sound made by the male cicada can carry for up to a mile.

-The sound is made by vibrating the ribbed plates in a pair of amplifying cavities at the base of the abdomen.

-Each species has its own distinctive call and only attracts females of its own kind even though rather similar species may co-exist.

-A female cicada lays her eggs in the twigs of trees and shrubs. She places the eggs in small holes that she makes with a sawlike organ near the tip of her abdomen.

-The female cicada can lay four hundred to six hundred eggs.

-After the adults have mated both die.

Aniversário de 26!

Parabéns Jiddu! :-)

Weekend

A Ju veio nos visitar este final de semana. Buscamos ela na rodo no finalzinho da tarde de sexta. Foi otimo ter ela em casa! Ela, com toda aquela energia positiva que ela tem, assoprou uma baforada de ar fresco para dentro da nossa familia, deixando o clima bem mais alegre e leve :) Thanks sis!

Acordamos sabado bem cedinho e fomos com o Lucas, de bike, para a Schin. Esse passeio de bikeé muito lindo, como adoro! Some parts of the way on the bike, some under... But at the end we got there and it was well worth it!

Ju and Lucas, having a break after the cycle.


Schin is nice for many reasons, one of them is the fact that one can jump from the very top of it into the little pool down below. Here am I, also having a rest and meditating on the possibility of jumping or not. I remember not needing to think about it so much in the past, before I knew it I was enjoying, and making good use of gravity force. However, things seem to be changing a little, I must be getting old;)


Ju

The water was a bit cold at first, but nice after staying in it for a while. Spring!

Lucas e Ju

When we got home it was already lunch time. Dad had made a delicious Mullet with tropical fruits, mmm...

After lunch I found this spider on our doorstep. It was already dead, maybe because it fell from its web. Does anyone know what kind of spider this is?


In the evening we went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor, a comedy by William Shakespeare, performed by class 8 from Aitiara. Aitiara is the local school where I studied from kindergarten to 9. The school is surrounded by nature/forest. Aitiara - "nest of light" in Tupi-Guarani - is a school that offers Waldorf education with art, joy and beauty. Waldorf education is a pedagogy based upon the educational philisophy of the Philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy.
Aitiara was founded in 1984 by the pioneers and farmers of the Demétria farm, so that their kids could have a good education. The school quickly attracted many other people from Botucatu and nearby cities, giving rise to the Neighbourhood Demétria. The school was one of the reasons why my family and myself ended up moving to Brazil, but that's another story...

I know some of the kids from class 8 since they were very little, and for me it was nice to see how grown up they got and how good they are at what they do.

It rained saturday night all night long, which made the nights sleep a lot more comfortable, making it bearable to sleep under a sheet. Sunday morning this huge strange looking mushroom was in our garden (I think it grew overnight). The golden/brown stuff on it is a substance similar to resin, a bit hard and sticky. I had never seen something like that!

Sunday, brunch day!

On Sunday the four of us enjoyed a delicious brunch in Sítio Bahia. The food was very yummy, all local and organic/biodynamically grown. It was nice weather and to make it all even better there were two musicians, playing very nice Brazilian music. It was nicely busy, not too many people, and many many kinds, extremely pleasant. There were horses for the kids to ride on and lots of space to play. Those kids are some the cutest kids I know. It was nice to see them again, after 1,5 years and to meet the smallest ones for the first time.
Nayara e Mia, cresceram muito!


Thales, the youngest of 8. I used to look after his brothers and sisters a long time ago, and met him now, for the first time:) It took me less than 2 seconds to completely fall in love with him. Look how he squeezes his little baby fat on his leg... exceptionally cute!


Silas, I saw him they day he was born, shortly before the end of our holiday in Brazil. And look at him now, big and beautiful!


Thales again;)


Sandpit after the brunch was finished


Cheeky kids helping themselves at brunch time


Clara


Armadeira - Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer)

When I got home from the brunch it was already dark. I took my shoes off and wondered into the dark sitting room when I suddenly felt something under my toes. I lifted my foot very swiftly, I knew it was a spider. When I turned the lights on I saw it was a Brazilian wandering spider. Ohh... I was so glad I had kept my socks on, lucky day! Without the socks they day could have had a different ending, probably a painful one.
The Brazilian wandering spider is aggressive and highly venomous. They have a distinctive defensive display in which the body is lifted up into an erect position, the first two pairs of legs are lifted high (revealing the conspicuous black-striped pattern on their underside), while the entire animal sways from side to side. There is where the name Armadeira originates from.
The venom contains a potent neurotixin which acts as a calcium channel blocker that inhibits glutamate release, calcium uptake and also glutamate uptake in neuronal synapses. At deadly concentrations, this neurotoxin causes loss of muscle control and breathing problems, resulting in paralysis and eventual alphyxiation.

It is a very dangerous spider, especially for kids, and one does need to be careful with all kind of spiders. However, I doubt this particular one would have had enough venom to cause me any more than a very painful bite.
It was a little adventure with a happy/painless ending(for me);) The spider was less lucky, it was "accidently" killed by a broom which happened to be hammering around.