Home Sweet Home!! Chez Ilona...

building a rock retaining wall

2010-10-27T12:45:00.001-02:00

Making the decision to retire here in Brazil came out of a feeling of urgency we felt in 2001. As members of the LDS church we attended the Oct 2001. Pres. Hinckley, the president of our church, also a prophet, told us in his closing remarks during conference that we needed to avoid debt and prepare with food storage and put our affairs in order. He then mentioned the story of Joseph of Egypt, when he interpreted the Pharao's dream of the seven fat cows and seven starving cows. We were to prepare because world affairs indicated that not so good times would come. This was really impressed in my mind and the idea of moving to Brazil started to take shape. As my husband, we were recently married, had depleted his retirement fund in his previous marriage we wouldn't be able to achieve this independence just then. So after much thinking and brainstorming we decided to move back here because cost of living here being lower than in the US would make it easier for us to achieve that independence. It would take some time , but we needed to take the 1st steps, the first one being to find a property we could afford within the minimum we wanted to have in it... in a natural setting, but yet closer to a center with all the basic needs commerce.
As we found the place withing our range, I asked a friend in Brazil to go visit the place and tell me what she thought of it, we were in the US still... After my friend gave us the go ahead we bought the 2000square meters property without seeing it, all we had were descriptions and we needed to trust that it would all be ok.
We were to pay off the property 1st before we could even think of building, but we were so blessed that the property was all that hoped for, near our towncenter, and yet away from all the unstopping life in SP. It us years before we could think of doing anything in it.
After all payed up, 2 years later, I was to go down and follow up on all the the building process, my husband Paul, stayed since he was still working.

The following pictures were taken when the house begins to take form, from clearing the ground and preparing to have the house built.

Publish Post

home

2010-10-26T12:17:00.001-02:00

Well, after twinkling a lot in this blog design I decided to designate this blog to the things I am doing at my house... building my house is a work in progress, and there's lot that has been done, things happening and lots to happen still. Since we my husband and I decided to move to Brazil after his retirement in the US, and our desire was to retire to a simple life, with low maintenance and low cost, we have been working on this project with little money and not willing to stay in debt or finance huge amounts of money and be tied down by a mortgage. I work from home and so the house had to be planned so to make it easy for that purpose, which has been a challenge on a low budget. In the next posts I will be showing the things we did and how we did to accomplish what we have so far. This blog will also be a journal of our progress with all the pictures of before and after. The biggest challenge has been to juggle with time to do all I would like to do, besides the obvious economic restrains.
I hope my ideas, and all I have done may inspire others to make life simpler and bring pleasure as things are planned and executed. One thing I've learned though, is that nothing we do in this life is free of challenges and some stressful situations. The fun comes as we are able to overcome these challenges and the creative process involved in the project. I am learning more and more to be able to create and imagine possible innovative solutions.
Also worth to note is that I am not one to enjoy the luxurious settings with lots of shinning things. I love, love the feelings I enjoy by being close to nature and natural elements. So most of what we've done is taking from the natural elements and ideas; I guess I am in a unconscious way drawn to the Green concept and recycling.

front of property and the unpaved street-begins at the neighbors brick wall

other end of property front

dividing line with neighbor's property

end of property at diving line with two neighbors

native Mata Atlântica forest on the other side of property's dividing line

native forest in the property

more forest

dividing line cleared for building the dividing wall (in Brazil it's a usual thing to have dividing walls-although I would much rather not have to have it)

this kind of bamboo is very invasive; it was taking over the native forest and killing it

worker clearing the area for a water well digging

another view of the back of the property

water well almost at level of finding water

water well almost finhished

this is the well being dug` ... at the lower part of the property

this is another kind of bamboo, much more resistant, large and decorative and I decided to keep it; the well is in front of it, in the clearing

all the little native trees were looking for the sun because the green bamboo was suffocating it; also the topography of the property can be seen... the landscape was hilly which had to be cut off!

Most of what we have used as of lately are materials and things we bought at demolition yards and such. I find it brings into my life the idea of not being overly concerned with cleaning and tidying up a place which being the only woman in the family would drive me crazy. Boys, small or big, are not into the cleaning thing; much less into taking actively the initiative of being tidy. So things only stay tidy only for the moment soon after the task is finished... moments later we see things getting out of hand again. Be it as it may, I decided not to be caught into this trap and become a nagger. That would be a nightmare, and I am sure I am not much different than most people.

CHANGES

2010-06-12T09:24:00.000-03:00

I have been trying and trying to make this blog work the way I wanted to...but the more I twinkled with it the less I liked it and so I worked on making all over on a new blog... so follow me on This'n That...Chez Ilona!!... Hope to see you there!

winter days!!

2010-06-09T14:13:00.000-03:00

Well it seems that winter arrived for us, after an unusual warm fall!! Days have been cold, nights even colder and all we want is stay under warm blankets and all the goods things we do on these days, watch movies, linger with family and talk, the obvious hot chocolate and food!!! Days have been beautifully sunny, so not so bad!
I'm still working on my blog, haven't yet arrived to what I want!! and learning how to do this html stuff!!

But you are invited to go and visit my follows!!! these ladies are wonderful and they have beautiful things... I'm also preparing an album with the pics of the gorgeous flowers in my garden and etc...

Thank you for dropping by!!

Manacá

2010-06-03T18:24:00.000-03:00

The picture you see, the 1st blooming of a tree we planted!
This is a native tree of the Brazilian Mata Atlântica, this forest used to follow the eastern shore in the coast. Today the forest survived in some areas where it has been preserved by environmental laws. The Manacá tree is abundant where I live, and this specific tree was planted in our property! Isn't it gorgeous? The forest is speckled with it's flowers at this time of year, it's fall for us, and in contrast to beautiful blue skies it paints a beautiful painting to wake up to!

almost over

2010-06-03T18:05:00.000-03:00

...well it ssems I am almost getting there finally!! formatting has so many variables, if you mess with one you have to mess with another, and on and on...but I wan't to make it pleasant to the eye ... can't believe how the screen has bothered my eyes as of late!! my glasses don't help at all.... and I don't even need reading glasses... anyway...will soon be onto more pleasant things!
Today was a holiday, Corpus Christi,.... a catholic country with catholic holidays of course!... long weekend... São Paulo almost becomes a ghost town... not quite... impossible with 12 mil people if not more by now! so it was a lazy day for lots of people, and I have spent the last few days setting up my blog... never worked with html.... completely new language... but am getting the hang of it!
As I was setting up my blogging list I marvelled at the creativity and meticulous work of some of you that I have followed! So many beautiful places on your vacations and working nooks; so many gorgeous needle work! But sorry you all... I have to say that my Hungarian friends, if you will let call you that, have "fairy hands" as we say it in Portuguese! I learned my first tricks watching anuyka, mom, do her work. When she 1st arrived in Brazil after WWII coming from a displaced persons camp in Klagenfurt, AU, she didnt speak Portuguese and needed to make a living, and needlework was her start! And for those of you who don't know that, European women have a long tradition in needle work, and the Hungarians prized in the intricate emboidery of men and women's apparel. I love to see the long capes the shepheards used to cover from the bitter cold in the plains!
There is a blog in my list that shows the beautiful Mágyars. Thank you all for sharing your gorgeous handwork! ou certainly are an inspiration to me!

still working

2010-06-02T21:37:00.000-03:00

I am still working on building my blog and formatting it to what I want is giving me some workaround... so please bear with me... hope to get there soon!!

Good reading

2010-06-02T10:11:00.001-03:00

As I was searching for some good links for this blog I came across some free downloads from www.deseretbook.com -- they are free for a period of time only, don't know for how long though, so if you are interested in good uplifting and wholesome reading just link in and download free 9 excellent reading materials, download is in pdf.. so read on!

A little bit at a time!

2010-06-01T00:52:00.001-03:00

Well, this has been an adventure! so much going on ... I have finally worked a little bit on this blog set up, not quite finished yet, but closer to what I want!

We are just about getting into winter, the flowers you see are the flowers chosen to represent our city. This time of year they bloom all over, with different hues of pink, lavender and purple... from lighter to darker as they bloom... the native Mata Atlântica gets sprinkled with these colors everywhere. But because I love the change of colors during fall I have planted some maple trees in the property... They are almost naked now... will post some of the blooming at this time. Brazil has this wonderful quality of having flowers during fall and winter!!! in fact, it seems we have more flowers now then during springtime, and I love flowers, so I've arranged to have flowers blooming all year round and humming birds and others, cute little singing creatures, come to visit and honor with their pretty and joyful singing! Tucans and wood peckers are around along with different kinds of little parrots and their many different cousins! And I feel so blessed to have this display of sounds and images all around and all the time... to wake to them is a pleasure! On this one occasion I was able to count at least 25 or so tucans flying from tree to tree, or little parrots doing just the same!! Tucans a little devils though... they want to eat the other birds eggs... but their colors are magnificent!
Well it's late ... will post more this week!

work in progress

2010-01-13T00:11:00.001-02:00

as I am still learning how to set up my blog, this is a work in progress... I hope I will soon be able to start posting on more interesting things!

2010-01-10T22:21:00.000-02:00