Turning over the leaf

On the way to my hometown there is this pulp and paper mill that has been there for years and it has changed names twice. You can tell you are close to the mill because of the rotten egg smell. Since paper is an essential product, I believe our role is to make good use of it, and think of all the toxic pollution to air, water and land the paper mills cause. We can help saving trees from being cut down by avoiding excess waste and reducing the amount of paper we use, using recycled paper, printing double sided etc. I am sure we can all come up with ideas that make a difference!

Duality

These pictures were taken on different weekends, different roads, different states. You can tell which state has a higher income by the condition of the road or should I say the different types of three-wheelers? I hope my husband does not feel offended, he is originally from the second state which, on the other hand, has beautiful mountains for dirt biking, his favorite sport, and great country food!

Tulips make me happy

The nursery at the mall supplies flowers all year long, making our shopping sprees more relaxing and enjoyable. The tulips make their appearance for a week and beautifully decorate the flower beds near the escalators and some vases spread all over the mall. Some people even touch them, wondering if they are real.

I have been tagged by Diyadear to tell five things that most people probably don't know about me...
Here are some highlights:
1) I am the fifth child, out of seven, and was a little spoiled as a child.
2) I was an exchange student in the US, graduated with honors, went to the prom!
3) I have been to more states in the US than to states in my own country, and I feel embarrassed to say that, but many trips were on business.
4) I love yard sales and antiques and blogs are a great place to meet people who like them.
5) I shot a TV commercial once, this is odd huh?

So, here's the challenge, I will not tag anyone, but if you would like to take part, just sign up!

A cheerful heart

Frog legs stilts remind me that I do not have any motor skills... This is the physical education teacher at our kids' preschool and she always amazes me with so much balance and joy!

"A joyful heart makes a cheerful face"
(Proverbs 15:13)

Got Milk?

What a view... It looks like they are throughly enjoying the moment and the glory of nature. I am not a celebrity and I do not drink milk very often, but that's the only title I could think of for this picture, the "Got milk" awareness campaign. Most likely to be one of the biggest ad campaigns, with ads that show beautiful people wearing a milk moustache that helped increase the consumption of milk and cookies perhaps?

Pretty in pink

Special edition? Shockingly beautiful? This Beetle is currently on display at the mall. The pink theme is also inside with pink accents. I wanted to take a picture and I did not want to get anyone's attention with my camera, so I tried to be quick.

Blessings for you on this Mother's day!
Special thanks to my mom, for seeing the gifts God put in me!

Caring Blogger's Rose Day

"I want to send out a bouquet of roses to all caring bloggers and blog viewers."
Our dear friend Britt-Arnhild is sponsoring the Caring Blogger's Rose Day on May 10th. So, if you have pictures of roses, please share with us and link to her blog.

Capuchin monkeys

Please meet the capuchin monkeys, they live near the waterfall. Their name resembles the cowls worn by the Capuchin order of the Catholic friars with their "caps" of hair. They are commonly found in Central and South America and are considered the most intelligent New World monkeys. When we fed them, they looked around to check if no one was watching, grabbed the food and ran to the branches of the tree.

Waterfall

After so many nice comments to the coffee post I had a blogger's block! :-) I want to thank you all for your heartfelt comments. This waterfal is located near my hometown, and it is 230 feet high. Just to think that we discovered this place a couple of years ago, all my life living there and I had no idea such a beautiful place existed. We spent some time listening to the stream and observing the animals around, and they will be the subject of another post.

How would you like your coffee?

Sugar, black, cream, cream and sugar, decaf, instant? I enjoyed so much reading your comments on my last post. Would you mind telling me your coffee preferences? Or if you dislike coffee, what is your favorite drink and why. Please take a seat and let's talk about the world's most popular beverage! In order to get your favorite brewed coffee so many things have to take place. First, coffee berries need to be picked, then they are defruited, dried, sorted, and also aged. My father worked all his life with coffee and so did my grandfather. During harvesting, I remember he would take me to see the manual picking. I loved the way people would pull the berries out of the trees. I asked my father a few questions, grabbed the camera with my husband and went out to get the pictures. Sorry there were too many and I couldn't figure out which ones to post here.

A few facts:
- Coffee beans are actually the seeds, and each coffee berry has two beans.
- A coffee plant can start producing as early as 2 years old and some of them last over 50 years
- You can hardly leave a house in Brazil without having a small cup of coffee (cafezinho) accompanied by cake, cookies or both.
- Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer.
- US is the largest coffee drinker, we're second.
- Over 50 countries grow coffee, and most of them are situated below the Equator
- The coffee you drink (latte, expresso, cafe au lait, or plain cup of coffee) might come from South America.
- Café au lait (coffee and milk) is part of the traditional Brazilian breakfast that also includes: baguettes, brioches, butter, tropical fruits and juices.

- Picture 1: taken at my parents' house it shows mom's favorite cup.
- Picture 2: roasted coffee beans
- Picture 3: a two-year old coffee tree already producing
- Picture 4: a 10 feet coffee tree
- Picture 5: coffee plantation
- Picture 6: ripe berries