time for a picnic.

I'm loving this picnic inspiration board put together by Snippet&Ink.
Here are the links to the photo owners:
Top row from left: photo by Samuel Lippke, botanical sketches, photo by Jonathan Canlas, typewriter guest book via Brooklyn BrideRow 2: vintage photo via EmilyStyle, photo by Lisa Lefkowitz, peony bud photo by Ericka McConnell, boutonniere from AmorologyRow 3: save-the-date by Linda & Harriett, picnic basket photo by Kathryn Kleinman, Modern Day Design bouquet photo by Jose Villa

ANNA WOLF.

Wow. That's all that can be said about this insanely beautiful photography by Anna Wolf.
I really want to experiment more with film photography.

memories from brazil pt2.

This day, our third in Commandatuba, could be titled 'Our One Day of Perfect Weather, in a Perfect Tropical Escape". Everything about this day was perfect. The weather reached around 32 degrees celsius, and was accompanied by a cloudless sky. Around 9am, Alberto and I emerged from our room to a already prepared breakfast table. On the green cloth lay hot buttered french rolls, freshly squeezed cacau juice, plates of ham and cheese and other items I was not used to eating at breakfast (such as cookies, plain cake and chocolate biscuits).

We quickly ate our fill, put on our swimmers and shorts and drove down to the jetty, where a boat was waiting to take people across the lake to a beach on the other side. Alberto and I sat on the small wooden boat, and made friends with some Portuguese tourists as our legs soaked up the sun. After arriving on the other side of the lake, I was astounded, as it felt I was standing on the front of one of those 'Tropical Paradise' postcards. This is what I pictured Brazil to be.

This is what I was waiting for. Thousands of palm trees broke the suns rays into millions of dancing shadows on the sand under our feet. Beautifully coloured umbrellas belonging to the beach restaurant stood before us, just infront of a white sand beach with rolling light blue, almost transparent, waves crashing on the shore. The beach stretched for miles and miles, there was no way we could walk the entire length. No crowds, no noise, just the calming sounds of the waves crashing on the shore. Alberto ordered a plate of fried fish and two glasses of juice for our lunch, and hearing that it would take around 45 minutes to cook, we decided this was the perfect time to take a dip in the water. After hearing so much from Alberto how the water was incredibly warm in Brazil, I was actually surprised to find out that infact that was true. Coming from the cool - sometimes freezing - waves of Bondi Beach, I could have never imagined warm sea water possible.

We strolled along the endless white sand, diving into the water now and then to cool off, taking pictures of ourselves with my chunky underwater disposable camera while crabs danced side-ways across the beach, so many of them, and made their homes beneath the sand. We sat down to eat, a perfect view in front of us, and tasted beautifully cooked white fish, and an unusual yet lovely fresh juice. Wanting to linger a little longer on the beach, we realised that the boat was here to take us back to Luiz's place.

The sun scorched our necks as we walked through the small village that was Commandatuba, stopping in tourist shops to buy gifts for the family, and past the beautiful old church that stood alone and proud in the centre of the quadrangle. Throughout the afternoon, we slowly turned red and smothered ourselves with cooling aloe vera gel. With Rene and Carol we swam in Luiz's pool for hours, and afterwards were treated to a performance where they sung for us on the porch. We ate churrassco for lunch, and left over pizza for dinner, and spent the night watching Brazilian 'Novelas' (soap operas),
and strangely I found myself understanding more than I gave myself credit for.

memories from brazil (in no particular order).

ILHA DE COMMANDATUBA:
I remember we slept on really rectangular and hard pillows at Luiz's place. We despised them at first, but they later turned out good for our backs. Luiz's home was beautiful.As we entered Ilha de Commandatuba, I could see how pretty the house was going to be, as the entire surroundings conjured images and memoriesof lazy summer days, and looking from the window of the car we saw dark-skinned beauties with wide-tooth grins leaping from swinging tyres into glistening lakes. As werolled along the bumpy red-dirt road, past wooden shanty houses and simple grocery stores, past the blue and white church positioned in the centre of the town's quadrangle, we eventually stumbled upon Alberto's grandfathers home.

An italian-inspired house, it contrasted immensly from the homes and village we had seen moments before. The electronic gate opened before us, and yapping terriors came to greet us at our arrival. A commercialised pool beamed a deep blue at us, as we stepped out of the Fiat, and hammock perfectly positioned on the wide set balcony seemed to be calling my name. We met Ira, Luiz's partner, a beautiful young woman with richly tanned skin and a strong voice. She learnt of my sickness, and quickly ran inside to make me some herbal 'cha' (a hot tea that was quite possibly the most horrible tasting liquid that had passed my lips). Alberto's grandfather emerged from a mid-afternoon slumber to greet us in the living room.

Unable to interpret exactly what everyone was saying to each other, I used this moment of time to glance around the large room from where I was sitting. Unusual objects were positioned throughout, giant chessboards, large glass balls that changed colour every few seconds, decorative although quite ugly fish descending in size along the wall. After the catch-up we took a stroll through the rest of Luiz's home.

Luiz has once been a very successful banker in the region of Sao Paulo. Leading a highly stressful life, he accumulated all the wealth he could and used it in his retirement, building a home from scratch in a state known for its relaxation, Bahia. He used his large block of land to create a vegetable and fruit garden, where he grew a vast range of tropical foods, ranging from the typical sweet mangoes, pineapples and passionfruits to intricate and unusual fruits such as mangosteins, cacau and acai berries.

Beautiful mango trees stood on the green spikey grass, as we made our way through the garden until we reached his private pier, complete with two banana chairs at the end. It was a perfect picture of paradise. Overhead of the pier, hung a tangled web of green plants, shoots and branches. Luiz turned to Alberto and I and whispered: "Last week I found a Boa-constrictor around two metres long from these branches", and with that he turned and made his way back toward the house leaving us wide-eyed and slightly scared for our lives.

The mosquitoes were buzzing and the air was hot as day fell into dusk, and we drenched ourselves with insect repellent before we sat down to eat Luiz and Ira's homemade pizza, one of the best I've ever eaten, on his wrap-around porch. A brick pizza oven and homemade dough made the difference as we devoured strange yet wonderful combinations of kiwi-fruit and cheese pizza, banana and cinnamon and just simple cheese pizzas, with rocket leaves and olives. We laughed and talked throughout the night, with me trying to understand all the portuguese I could without going insane from confusion. I was a constant source of amusement, with me repeating words such as "'O que" (what?) or "eu nao entendi" (I don't understand) multiple times throughout the night.

Alberto and I retired to bed soon after, and as was mentioned earlier, discovered these strange rectangular pillows, and were not too excited about sleeping on them. We eventually fell asleep, our heads propped on a 45 degree angle, with sounds of Rene and Carol singing softly on CD in the background.