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To Flighty White flowers from Brazil with lady-drid's best regards
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Family Elstner and Family Schreiber _ Immigration
Fascination is the right word to name my feeling about my country’s history of immigration. Fascination and also sorrow for the poor immigrants. What deprivation they had to face! What helpless they were!
My brother-in-law Alberto descends from Austrian immigrants. He is very interested in researching his forefathers’ history. Being one of the eldest grandchildren of an immigrant, he grew up listening about a distant country and its beauties. In his youth Alberto stared at his grandpa in amazement, while he tried to remember the little Franz’s rough crossing. By the way Alberto’s grandfather’s name was Franz Schreiber. Actually, the grandpa was such a little boy, when he moved to Brazil, that there were only scattering scraps of memory tangled in his head. He remembered that little Franz (he) suddenly became very sick in the ship; the doctor couldn’t save him, and he was at risk of death. The thought of losing her son and having his little corpse thrown into the sea terrified his mom. She was so bent on to save her little Franz that she was able to lower his fever. After saving her son, the dedicated mother was asked to teach other women how to take care of their ill kids.
The little Franz and her little sister Margarida boarded a ship with their parents, Anton Schreiber and Emilie Elstner, who were going to get a new life in America. Yeah, America!!! They were told that Brazil was quite near the USA, so they came to South America, intending to go to North America as soon as it was possible. It never happened!
Emilie’s brother Rudolf and his bride-to-be Maria also immigrated to Brazil. I wonder how their close relatives must have suffered for missing their kids that they couldn’t meet any more. Anna and Joseph Elstner must have missed a lot their son Rudolf, their daughter Emilie and her kids. What a pity! It happened one hundred years ago but, even so, the events make me feel sympathy for this family aparted by distance. Some days ago I saw a copy of a letter from Joseph to his daughter but I couldn’t understand what he wrote, neither none of his Brazilian descendants could. It might have been written in German; the date on the letter is 28-08-1923.
According to Alberto’s little knowledge, his great grandmother Emilie complained a lot about her new life here. She missed her family and also her social life in Vienna, Austria, where she used to go to operas, concerts etc. And I wonder again: Why such a refined European woman ended up in Brazil countryside at that time? I can’t take the answer I had for granted: Her husband Anton Schreiber might have been an anarchist in Vienna at the beginning of the twentieth century, and he might have decided to move from there so that their lives would take a different tack.
Emilie Elstner's parents: 
The little immigrants Margarida and Franz Schreiber 
Rudolf Elstner, who immigrated to Brazil with his bride-to-be in 1908. 
In Brazil : Anton Schreiber, Emilie Elstner and their family. * I've just made a mistake: Alfredo e Emília, e (Portuguese) means and.
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Teacher's Day
On 15th October, we celebrated the “Teacher’s Day” in Brazil. Since some time ago I’ve been studying English again. Although I’m a granny in my sixties, I’m also a student, so I have a teacher.
Telling about my English teacher is to tell about admiration, pride, delight and blessing.
I feel a blessed person for having as my present English teacher the one who made me love English. All in all she showed me how beautiful this language was in our youth. Can you imagine how wonderful it was for a girl who exchanged a grim teacher (nicknamed goat) for a sweet nanny goat? I mean a sweet girl who was already a talented English teacher. It’s paradise! At that time I improved my English a lot, and to be taught by her was a great delight. I admired her English skills and also her good manners, her way of being. Great times! The good teachers were a kind of idols and my young teacher was loved. and admired, and respected by everybody. I thought that she looked like Audrey Hepburn. She had the same good looks, the same natural style, and the same serenity as the famous Belgian actress.
The times went by. Nowadays we are both in our sixties and I’m very proud of having her as my teacher again.
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About pets, about Love...
 Once I heard a talk among my kids, they were talking about their will of having a dog. My girl Adriana spoke her mind and said they could have one when they were married. But a crazy woman like me was very scared of any kind of pets which, probably, would bring all types of bugs, diseases and dirtiness for her lovely and healthy kids. When “my babies” grew a little, I finally gave in to their so strong desire and we got a dog, a female. Luana was their first and only dog. However children always have a lot of things to do and the poor animal was left in my care. Please, don’t worry, I learnt to love it. Well, it was about twenty-four years ago.
Nowadays my husband and I are at home by ourselves and we have a little creature which is our adorable companion. We have our daily routine and Pequetita, our pet, plays an important role in our lives. Every morning, the moment I get up, I start my day feeding my pet firstly. It’s a pleasure watching Pequetita yawn and stretch after leaving her doghouse. Immediately it starts to frisk and we go to the kitchen where its food bowl is.
Pequetita is a small dog and I usually say it is a Pincher, but it really isn’t. Although Pequetita is the most beautiful and sweetest pet I have ever seen, it is a mongrel( mutt?), a mixed breed dog. But… let’s follow “our” routine, after feeding it , I make my usual question “Where is “dear”? And as if it understands what I say, my pet runs towards my bedroom to find my hubbie sleeping. Its paws make a distinctive noise on the wood floor and a drowsy daddy says “We have to take you to the manicurist, don’t we?” hahaha My hubbie gets up and Pequetita frisks around him happily.
Later I go to my computer room. A flight of steps leads up to the top floor and my bouncy dog is the first one to get there. Like all dogs it hears very well and it notices everytime I go to the top floor and its favourite place, below the computer is there waiting for it. When I turn off the PC, it knows it’s time to leave its cozy spot. What a smart doggie!
I’m very very talkative and Pequetita is my most patient listener, it notices I’m just talking to it, because I change my voice and treat my pet like a baby. I call it “Quelida”, I mean querida, a Portuguese word for darling and my hubbie is “Quelido” = querido that means dear. I’m Pequetita’s mamãe, its mom.
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About Cats...
 The family of my youngest daughter’s fiancé, Maurício, loves cats. His parents have six cats at home, Star, Roni, Mateo, Peteco, Clone… My God. I can’t remember the name of the last one! The cats live under the wing of the whole family. Each one has its own food bowl and its own warm bed, and each one likes a special food, being pleased by Mrs Marli promptly. For example, one of them loves tunnies(tunas), other only eat special cat food, another one doesn’t live without meat. The cats chose their favourite person so Roni loves Maurício and Maurício loves Roni. Peteco is the cat of Dr. Marília, Maurício’s eldest sister. When Marília is in, Peteco is almost always close to her. It brushes her legs everytime she walks by.
The cats have lived there since they were kittens and they are loved and pampered all the time. It’s nice to watch them licking their paws… stretching… I took many photos of them. I took a photo of Mr. Maurício(Senior) playing with Roni. It stretched on the rug, rolled on to its back; it seemed to me that Roni was showing off.
How adorable the cats are when they purr! But if a cat ruffled its fur, I left it alone immediately, I’m very scared of unknown animals even the domestic ones.
Have you any idea what its breed is? Well, the cats aren’t pure-bred; however they are the kings in the family Cavalieri D’Oro.
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Animal Traffic: And we are said to be developed race….
 * In my childhood it was quite usual keeping wild birds at home as pets. We had a parrot that learnt to sing the first words of Elvis Presley’s Tutti Frutti, the single I used to listen to continuously. It was very interesting… but poor animal! In my family, nobody’s interest had been roused by the environmental problems yet. It was about half century ago and I guess neither in the whole world there was anybody involved in environmental issues. Nowadays it is quite different, thank God.
I love birds, but I love seeing them free. I hate cages and any kind of devices made to deprive the innocent creatures of their freedom. I love admiring the flight of flock of noisy maritacas, showing their green colour against the blue of the sky. It’s priceless! And there are also toucans, parakeets,macaws, jandaias, maracanãs and parrots. My God! All of them are at the mercy of the animal traffic. The men who climb the trees to pick up unfeathered bird babies from its cozy nests are ignorant people, simpletons, whom the greedy people (the traffickers) are taking advantages of. The traffickers are the ones who really make money selling the poor chicks.
Last week the Brazilian police seized a great amount of birds babies that would be sold. Watching those hundreds of unfeathered chicks, with its open small beaks as if they were calling their moms broke my heart. They were so fragile and most of them didn’t survive. People who buy exotic birds should see how the babies suffer, they are packed in cardboard boxes by unscrupulous people seeking to make money easily.
But… I wonder who keeps wild birds at home? Who buys tickets to watch trained wild animals? Who really supports the animal traffic?
We, the human beings, are destroying our world. We are killing the only true precious gift we have: our natural environment. And we are said to be developed race…. * Photos from: httpwww.interjornal.com.brfotos5820496m.jpg http://www2.fozdoiguacu.pr.gov.br/Portal/Noticias/VisualizaAnexos.aspx?ID=8764 http://www.passeiweb.com/saiba_mais/atualidades/1203352945 http://www.atarde.com.br/arquivos/2008/02/25312.jpg http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Rio/foto/0,,11308637-EX,00.jpg
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About Shopping And Men
Shopping is a pastime for me. Unlike most people I really have a good time when I’m shopping. I love buying everything no matter who will be gifted. Once my granddaughter said that her granny was always longing to buy something for her, even a petty little one. What a smart girl! At that time she was only three years old.
Strolling along the aisles in the supermarket, pushing the cart of goods is very relaxing. Besides that, it is the place where I usually run into many acquaintances. So we can exchange smiles, laugh, chat and even gossip. And about my hubbie? Would you like to know what his rule is on it? Well, he has a hard job – choosing the vegetables and fruits (I hate doing it) and he takes his task to heart.
Last Sunday, after having lunch at the self-service restaurant of our favourite supermarket, we got to shop and soon we filled our carts; I was in a hurry because my computer was “waiting for me” at home. Poor me! First the goods had to be stored. Thank God, my husband helped me readily as always. He showed me the beautiful caquis he had bought. Really wonderful! They were the big ones, red! How delicious they may be”, I said. “Yeah! They are already ripe”, he commented.
The following Monday morning, in my bedroom, I heard José calling me from the kitchen:
_”Honeyyyy, I’m just like Silvio (a friend of us) hehehe. I made a funny mistake. I took tomatoes for caquis. So we have big red tomatoes for lunch… On second thought it isn’t the caqui harvest season. I should be more careful, more attentive.”
Men are all the same, they just have different addresses.
 
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