A Five Foot Fish

Ro went fishing with his work friends yesterday near Sao Sebastio's Ilha Bela Island and caught this freaky fish. It is called an espada, which translates to blade. The fish weighed about seven pounds and they grilled it up and ate it on the boat.

Man in Motion

Jackson has his mock IB art exam today so yesterday was a flurry of tweaking his models and drawings for the show. This piece came out very cool. In its final state, it will be hung in the school gallery but we set it up in the apartment last night to get it just right. It is hung from fish line and tied to a board that we suspended from the ceiling. Jackson made casts of his hands and legs to make the player. He filled my car with a dozen or so 3-D objects and portfolio cases which I took to school this morning. Hope his show goes well.

Jackson and I are going to visit Savannah College of Art and Design February 17-19. He is going to fly to Orlando (alone!) and meet me after I finish with the National Automobile Dealers Association convention there for work. We'll make the four-hour trek to Savannah, Georgia from there. Everybody tells me that Savannah is gorgeous. He knows Wayne State and CCS well already so it is critical that he sees SCAD to help him make his college decision.

Good Friends...Spicy Food!

Last night, Ro showed off his Thai cooking abilities for our friends Nandita, Prateek, Thana, Silva, Leslie and Richard. Ro has not been able to find good, spicy Thai food in Sao Paulo anywhere...and it has frustrated him. So this month, while I was away at the Auto Show, he took it upon himself to learn how to make Thai food. He watched YouTube videos, researched Internet recipes and then began combing the Asian markets in Liberdade to find the right ingredients and cooking utensils. Success!!

Ro put me in charge of the bar, appetizers and dessert. Everything else was his domain. He was sweating up a storm over the wok but he did an amazing job. He made matsaman, pad see ew and pad king. They were all great.

I really missed our big Detroit dining room and its 14-person table last night. Don't you love how the guys and girls just naturally separate when given the opportunity?? We are so lucky to have found such amazing friends here in Sao Paulo.

Cover Boy

Jackson's mug is on the Graded Web site again. This shot is from the school's mid-January Habitat for Humanity building effort. Jackson worked really, really hard for a week helping to build houses in a very poor area a few hours from Recife. It was a great experience for the 25 kids who took part in the effort. They raise money all year long to fund the build.

10K in Sao Paulo

I have done tons of runs in Detroit but one of the things I really want to do before I leave Sao Paulo is a race here. I signed up today for a 10K on March 21 in and around the Pacaembu area. We start at the stadium where the Corinthians soccer team plays. I always like a goal and this will help me focus my training. Besides the shirt is kinda cute! I like the runner on the back.

Even if my time is crummy, I feel pretty good that my Portuguese dictionary and I were able to pay the fee online!

With the three hour time difference between Detroit and SP, I've been doing the death march through the trails here pretty faithfully every morning with my pals Leslie, Nandita and Thana and then hitting the treadmill in the gym. All I'll need to do is step up my treadmill time and then do a good bit of distance in Burle Marx Park on the weekends.

I'd love company. Any one want to join me?

New Weaving Project

These 10 beautiful balls of silk/cashmere are going to be my next weaving project. I'm using a shadow weave pattern out of my Handwoven magazine for a 15" wide piece. In theory, the pattern is supposed to look like water lilies. We'll see. Ro reminded me today that we have to ship my loom back in five months and it would be good if I finished the piece before then. He knows me too well!

It is so nice to be home. Like always, Dan and the kids seem to do just fine without me but I sure feel best when I'm here. It was a traumatic trip back to Sao Paulo with canceled flights, comped hotel rooms and lost luggage. I left on Monday and finally got back here on Wednesday. But I'm past all that and just pleased to be home.

The kids finally go back to school from their summer break next Tuesday. (Monday is a Brazilian holiday.) This sure has been a long holiday for them but they are still scrambling to get their homework done. Whatcha' guys been doing all this time??

Crazy Days in the D

When I'm home in Detroit, I usually don't write on my blog. After all, it is called "Departing the D" not "Visiting the D." I've had a very pleasant, hardworking trip but I'm anxious to return to Sao Paulo on Monday/Tuesday.

In addition to making sure my key card still works at Crain, the main reason I'm home this time is to help out with our biggest event of the year, the Automotive News World Congress. I was so proud of the entire marketing/events team. They did an amazing job pulling this together. The event attracted 1,000 people over the three days. We had 18 sponsors, 20 major speakers from the auto companies and a million details. You know it is a big deal when you have protesters! Sergio Marchionne's speech was interrupted three times by some very irate individuals. Security is definitely going to be beefed up next year. (Note to self--the protesters all bought very expensive registrations. Maybe this is a new niche for us!)

I renewed my membership in the downtown YMCA while I was home. I've been going over there every morning before work. So pleasant! It amazes me how many people are working out really hard at 6 a.m. I think the Y is going to be a big help to me when I'm back here for good beginning in mid-June.

I am blessed with some amazing friends. It has been great to catch up with them while I'm here. I'm really going to need them next year. GM has approved our "split family" status. Dan and Hannah are going to stay in Sao Paulo for two more years. Hannah's school in Brazil, Graded, is wonderful in so many ways and she is very fortunate to be able to graduate from there.

Jackson, Java (our dog) and I are returning to the US and will move back into our house in Indian Village. Jackson will be going to college somewhere (either Savannah, Wayne State or CCS) so that means I am going to be alone a lot of the time. It will be really, really hard but they give us a few more trips back and forth so we can stay connected...and somewhat sane. Hannah will be coming back to Detroit for her two six-week breaks in the summer and winter. Somehow we'll make it...and be stronger from the experience.

Another Acceptance!

Jackson found out yesterday that he got accepted to Wayne State University. He would follow their industrial design curriculum. The only one left to hear from now is College for Creative Studies. (He got accepted to SCAD--Savannah College of Art & Design--a few weeks back.) The advantage of Wayne is that he could get a lot of his early credits done much more efficiently...cough, cough...and way cheaper...than at an art school. It is exciting (and a little sad) watching him grow into the whole thought of independence and college. I'm not sure where he'll end up but the decision-making is an interesting process. This is one of the drawings Jackson recently completed.

I leave tomorrow night for Detroit. It is Auto Show/World Congress season so I'll be mighty busy this trip to the D.

Feliz Ano Novo

Happy 2010. For the past 30 years, we have celebrated New Year's Eve with a great bunch of friends from high school. There is a core group of about 12 people that are always there and the party moves from house to house each New Year's. No matter what, the celebration involves a lot of eating, shots and college football games and leftovers the next day. The guys always play this dumb drinking card game after midnight called "Horse Thief." Somebody usually throws up.

We started first at a parent's house, then had wild trashcan parties at our college apartments, moved to restaurants and discovered they were too expensive, journeyed through the "new Mommy years" where someone was always pregnant and staying awake was no problem because a baby was always up. During recent celebrations, the kids played poker and neighbors joined in the fun and the parties had gotten pretty wild again.

Our friend Karl is a wine salesman. He has a life size Dick Clark New Year's poster from one of his suppliers and every year we take photos in front of it. Those photos are a great way to chronicle how much we've all changed.

Since we are 5,000 miles away, we missed the party last night and were feeling a little blue. We felt like we were really missing something. I think the only other time we missed it was when we were in Japan. While the fireworks were going off in Sao Paulo and it was still three hours before New Years in Michigan, we called Rick and Lori's house to wish them all a Happy New Year. There were only six people there. All the babies are now in high school or college and wanted to do their own thing. A few of our friends had to stay back to make sure the kids got home safe. Heavy sigh.

We'll be be back for next year's party. I guess it will be time to transition to another kind of celebration again. Hannah suggested that now the kids will have the wild parties and we can go out for a quiet dinner and stop by the wild party for the midnight celebration. NO WAY!! We're not giving up the ship that easy.

Poor Hugo

This is a photo I took through Skype of my Dad's new blue cast. While we were at the Falls, the rails were all wet and he slammed his hand the wrong way against one of them. It swelled up and turned funny colors while we were traveling but he didn't have it x-rayed until he got back to Michigan. The hand specialist gave him the U of M colored cast this week. Looks like he got out of snow shoveling for this season!

It just amazes me that I can take a picture of my Dad's hand 5,000 miles away. Skype has been my salvation for this journey to Brazil. I can talk and see everybody and it is totally free. Al Gore sure invented a way cool Internet.

Here Fishy, Fishy

The day after Christmas we got up ridiculously early, jumped in a taxi and flew to Rio. Ro and Jackson had booked two days of charter fishing and Hannah and I just came along. I have no clue what kind of fish the guys caught.

We had been to Rio with the Santoscoys in August and stayed at a great beach house and did the tourist thing then so this was our chance to just hang and soak up the city. We stayed at an OK hotel in Copacabana a few blocks off the water. Copacabana was a great area for early morning runs among the beautiful people (and a whole lot of ugly ones too!) They were setting up for the big New Year's celebration. Brazilians all go to the beach dressed in white and watch huge fireworks that are shot from barges in the water. At midnight, the party moves into the ocean. Copacabana Beach is the largest celebration in all of Brazil. The stages were mammoth.

But we left before the madness (and astronomical hotel rates!) started. Instead we beached, went to an art fair, shopped at a local mall and toured the botanical gardens. Much fun! The guys joined us the last day for a tour of the Neimeyer Contemporary Art Museum in Niteroi. Such a funky building.

Quiet Sao Paulo Christmas

It is 10 a.m. on Christmas morning and the kids are still sleeping. I remember one year when Hannah and Jackson woke us up at 4 a.m. because they were so excited. My, how times change! We purposely went very low key on presents this year since we are leaving tomorrow for a long weekend in Rio. Ro and Jackson are going sea fishing and Hannah and I are just going to hang around the city. That was the gift we gave to one another this year.

It doesn't make today any less weird though. Our family and friends are a long 5,000 miles away. Hope they have a wonderful day! I'm sure we'll give them a call before the day is up.

I bought a small ham and I'm going to attempt a holiday dinner. Hannah and I made cookies the other day so we have the essentials ready to go. It will be strange to have Christmas dinner in shorts and flip flops though. Merry Christmas everybody!

Abracos and Beijos (hugs and kisses) from the Southern Robars.

FYI: This photo is the Ponte Estaiada Octávio Frias de Oliveira suspension bridge that we pass almost everyday. They light it special for the holidays.

HF and DJ do SP

My Mom and Dad are such troopers. Over the past 10 days, they ate mountains of beef, went to several amazing parties, visited the ocean, toured the city, critiqued an art fair, walked through parks, dashed through waterfalls, marveled at birds, danced the samba and just enjoyed some great family time. My Dad is now a Caipirinha (Brazilian cocktail made with cachaca rum) fan. (I am spelling it out here since my Dad must have asked me a 100 times, "what is this drink called again?") Ro and I are so blessed to have two sets of healthy and fun parents. This trip also proved to me that Jackson is developing many HF tendencies.

Igacu Falls (some people spell it Iguassu) was an amazing place to visit. We flew out on Thursday and walked through trails on both the Brazilian and Argentine sides of the falls. So much bigger and more natural than Niagara Falls. On the last day, we even took a hydroplane boat ride through the Falls themselves. We had a fabulous and patient guide, Gunter, who helped us with every detail of the trip.

Such a nice Christmas present to have them here with us!

Accepted!

Today, all the Graded High School seniors carried out their ritualistic scalping of my son. There is a weird tradition at the school whenever a senior gets accepted into college, the other kids shave their head (badly). Jackson found out last night that he got accepted (and even got a bit of an academic scholarship) to SCAD, Savannah College of Art & Design. Jackson is pretty geeked about this choice because they have industrial design, a baseball team and a ROTC program. Once he submits his portfolio to SCAD at the end of this year, he will be eligible for art scholarships too. He has applied to two other universities: College for Creative Studies and Wayne State University in Detroit. Still waiting to hear from them. Sure hope Jackson doesn't get scalped again. He's in the bathroom now trying to fix it. Good luck dude.

My Mom and Dad arrive tomorrow morning for 10 days. I'm so looking forward to their visit. We are going to take a few days next week and go to Iguassu Falls on the Brazil/Argentina border. It is supposed to be beautiful.


HAIR UPDATE: It's gone! Jackson came out of the bathroom with a dull razor and smelling like shaving cream.

Our Little Tree

In Detroit, we have a 12-14 foot live tree in our foyer filled with treasured ornaments we've collected for decades. I didn't bring any of them. Our Brazil "Feliz Natal" is a little different. We bought a Christmas tree just as we were leaving the US and put it on the shipment so we decided we had to use it. We got some cheap ornaments from the nearby Extra store and decorated it last night. It didn't take too long. We each got to pick our favorite Christmas tune and by the time the four songs were done, so was the tree. As Hannah said, "Mom, it looks better in the dark with the lights on."

In case you were wondering which tunes we chose:

Ro--Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer
Jackson--Eminem Christmas song
Hannah--All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
Me--Bruce Springsteen Santa Claus is Coming to Town

An Ecological Holiday

When the temperature is 80+ everyday, it is really interesting to see what Brazilians do to get in the holiday spirit. This is one of the greatest examples I've seen so far. At first glance, this is a traditional tree. When you get closer, you see the whole thing is made out of recycled green plastic pop bottles. Very cool. Brazil is really into the environment. The country is energy-independent, relying on sugar cane alcohol to fuel cars. Recycling trash containers are everywhere. But a recycled tree??

Our tree is going up this week. This will be the first time we've ever had a fake tree. We'll have to see if we can find something recycled to hang on it.

Giving Trees

I am in a wrapping frenzy today. Our living and dining room are a mess with paper, gifts, tags and ribbon. (Java can't resist getting in the picture.) We adopted two senior citizens through church and two nine-year-olds through GM and of course, all the presents are due today and tomorrow. I finally have everything bought. Their needs are so simple: shoes, pants, shirts, socks, towels and a hygiene kit with toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc. The kids also got a couple toys and the seniors got a panettone (cake) and some bedding. Wrapping is a big thing. They want everything individually wrapped.

We are going pretty low key on our own Christmas this year. My Mom and Dad are arriving on December 11 (yea!) and we're going to visit Iguassu Falls on the Brazil/Argentina border. That's our Christmas splurge this year. That's enough. We really don't need anything. And when you think about people that are going to be excited about getting our small gift basket with simple necessities like shampoo, that kind of puts it in perspective.

Hannah and I are solo today. Ro left the apartment at 1 a.m. to meet some GM guys. They are going fishing on the ocean today. Jackson is due home sometime today. He's been at the beach for the past three days on his "unofficial" senior trip. Both guys are going to be excited, full of stories and exhausted when they get back.

Surprised I Remembered My Password

Sorry I haven't posted in ages. No excuses. Jackson's basketball team won the Big 8 Championship last weekend in Nosso Recanto. This video was created by the tall blonde guy cheerleader, Matt. Jackson and Hannah are going crazy in a couple of the frames. Check out the ninja fans. Hannah, Ro and I went up to watch and stayed in a great town nearby with a couple other families. (Hannah wasn't allowed to play with her team because she went to Portugal with the Model United Nations Club and Graded has a rule you can't miss that much school.) Big fun!!

A few snaps from the action are below. Jackson took an elbow to the eye from another player and got three stitches. For fun, I also included a picture of the Portugal gang too. A little different vibe than the basketball tournament, but still very cool.

Ready to Run

This is one of my favorite weekends of the year. Tonight, I am going to go over to Cobo and pick up my credentials, shop a bit and go to the Traffic Jam for dinner with the "Moms on the Run" relay team. I have run the relay with them the past five or so years. Since I signed up for the half-marathon this year, their time will definitely be a lot faster. I am doing the 13.1 miles this year for two reasons: 1) I've always wanted to try it and 2) I didn't want to mess the team up if my travel schedule changed. Their team name this year is "Mothas on the Run" because they recruited Scott Lowell to the team. Scott is a great runner. He and his fabulous wife, Carolyn, own Traffic Jam and Cliff Bell's. I am so grateful that I still get to go to the pre-race dinner.

My strategy for Sunday is simple. I just want to keep running...no stopping or walking. I am sure I will have a slow time but I just want to finish. The path takes us from downtown over the Ambassador Bridge, down Riverside Drive in Windsor, through the tunnel and back to Detroit. We go into Mexicantown and then back to Woodward. Should be a blast.

After the race, Pat is having the usual Marathon Brunch on Burns since the race goes down our block. I don't even like eggs but she makes the world's best quiche. I am looking forward to seeing everybody once I finish with the race. What a relief it will be!

Brazil is changing time zones tonight so the kids and Dan will be two hours ahead now. It sure will be nice to get back there. It is cold here!!

My friend Libby sent me this photo. These are words to live by.

RIP Uncle Joe

My Uncle Joe died on Friday. He was my Dad's only brother and even though he lived far away in Harrison, Arkansas, he was always one of my favorite people to talk with when I had the opportunity. He had a great mind and loved to talk in depth about any topic, the messier the better--some of his favorites were Detroit government and the Catholic church. He was also my godfather. My heart goes out to my Aunt Pat and cousins Michael and Kathy and my Mom and Dad. It isn't easy to say goodbye.

I am back in the USA but I can't go to the funeral. My Mom and Dad left yesterday. Crain brought me back to run an executive meeting on Monday and Tuesday. Of course, the funeral is Monday. No way could I go. My heart will definitely be in Arkansas on Monday.

I really like this photo of my uncle and my brother, Danny. I lifted it off the online video. I'm not sure when it was taken, probably at my wedding. I bet the two of them are having a great conversation in heaven today.