Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
– Dr. Seuss

Today is starting to look more like winter. The sky is grey and overcast and there is a distinctive chill in the air this morning. The last few days here have been clear, with temperatures hovering in the 70s. I suppose it was too good to last.

One of the co-workers who was to arrive this morning sent me an email last night indicating she had misconnected on her flight in Atlanta due to thunderstorms and that tonight’s flight was booked full. We had a full agenda scheduled, so I’m not sure how this is going to shake out, but it definitely throws a wrench into our plans here.

The other co-worker is arriving this morning as well — on his first trip to Brazil. He was to meet up with the first person and together, come in a pre-arranged car to the hotel. I hope he is able to figure out how to get from Guarulhos Airport to the other side of the city, where we are staying. I don’t envy his position right now. He served a mission in western Canada and I’m pretty sure that didn’t include language skills (“Eh?”).

I spent a quiet day yesterday, visiting both an antiques fair and the MASP (Art Museum of São Paulo), then moved to my long-stay hotel a couple of miles away.

After arriving in a quieter neighborhood and deciding to walk to the grocery store for some food, I chuckled as I followed a trail of blood drops for several blocks along the way. They were like clockwork at about every 6-8 inches, dime-sized and just drying. Eventually they stopped (or turned the corner).

Not sure if it was from dog or man, but it reminded me to be careful as I walked around this city of 20 million.

Not.

After many years and this second physical attempt, I found the grave of Betty Maud Clements in a Blumenau, Brazil cemetery yesterday morning. Her granddaughter — who died two years afterwards — is buried in the same grave.

I genuinely loved this quick trip to Blumenau and feel like really accomplished something good.

I spent the rest of the day site-seeing, reminiscing and generally enjoying the first city of my Brazilian mission in 1978-79.