Renee Grau

Renee Grau = Toulouse-Lautrec + fashion
Artist featured in 100 Years of Fashion Illustration
On my library wish list...

I'm reading

Loving Hands by Frederick Leboyer
I have my mother-in-law's original 1970 version, inscribed to her by dear friends at the time of my husband's birth.
I'm only realizing now...
how much this must have meant to her.

Stinky Feet

keats

As I watch my daughter become bilingual at a year and a half, I realize that I learned Portuguese in much the same way--through a series of event specific vocabulary. And as the events pile up (from supermarket outings to home renovations to pregnancy) your vocabulary grows. And, boom, one day you are fluent--or almost. Because there is always something new--like nursery rhymes.

Those little kiddie tunes have turned my household inside out. I don't know the Brazilian ones. And even though my Brazilian husband may have learned some great street slang when he lived in NYC (won't repeat th0se gems) in his twenties, thirties and fatherhood present new challenges. Hot Cross Buns are not cute derrieres, darling. Naturally, we both know that as Georgia grows, she is going to expect her parents to be walking dictionaries. So we are learning.

And today I owe a big thanks to my student, Ana. Before class, she presented Georgia with a classic book of Brazilian nursery rhymes (Quem canta seus males espanta). And tonight after the bath, G and I practiced.

O sapo não lava o pé
Não lava porque não quer
Ele mora lá na lagoa
Não lava o pe
Porque não quer
Mas que chulé!

And the translation:

The Frog doesn't wash his feet
He doesn't wash them because he doesn't want to
He lives there in the lake
Doesn't wash his feet
Doesn't want to
And what.....Chulé (huh?)

As I said I am always learning. Chulé is a new vocabulary word. It is a charming slang for that very special stinky feet smell. You can imagine how much Georgia adores this song and the feet smelling and laughing that goes along with shouting chulé.

Thanks Ana!

Fashion and Photography

1. The Sartorialist 2. Testino 3. Valentino

I am working on packing my suitcases and it is a sorry state of affairs. Like all good Brazilians and foreigners living in Brazil, I have shopped up piles of goodies and haven't room for an extra set of tweezers (although those might get me caught in customs for possible weaponry these days).

But if the airlines allowed just a wee bit more weight allowance, I'd pack up a few more books from the ultra edited selection at Anthropologie. (Do those folks do anything less than perfect?)
I suppose a wardrobe for Georgia and a few items of clothing for mom and dad are more important in fashion terms than some lovely books on style?

You can't go around naked, after all.

Judging a book by its cover

With the sole intention of purchasing Paris: Made by Hand, I headed over to Livaria Cultura on my daily walk. (As I imagined, Bijkerk's book is fantastic.) But on the way out, my eyes were drawn to the gorgeous covers of the Companhia Das Letras editions of two novels by Lygia Fagundes Telles.

As the cliche goes, I know you shouldn't judge (and especially not buy) a book based on its cover. But who could resist the gorgeous cover art of Warrak Loureiro?

So i got to thinking and (naturally) justifying my impulse purchase. I know that Telles is an important figure in Brazilian literature. But I also know how difficult it is to read books other than "brain candy" novels in another language. My last attempt was with Chico Buarque's Budapeste which resulted in a drooled-on pillow and and a (still) unread book on my nightstand. And this was before my pregnancy and post-partum challenged brain! But it was also more than two years ago. So, whipping out the credit card, I decided to give it another try. After all, is there anything better than reading the author in his/her native tongue?

I'll let you know how it works out!

Reading List....

I am just dying to get my hands on this guide of "fait main" or french handcrafts in Parisian boutiques.  Just found out it is available in Brazil at Livaria Cultura...