WATERBABY'S CIRCUS

Just practice. Still trying to get that darn cat!

A Baiana is a woman from Bahia in Brazil. This Baiana is one of many who dresses in traditional clothes and sells tasty treats known as acaraje', basically a fastfood made of blackeyed pea dough and cooked in heated palm oil. It comes out hot and crunchy and is then cut open and stuffed with your choice of cooked shrimp, a dab of hot sauce, and various accompaniments. Wash it down with an icy beer. Mmmmmmm!

I went to see a show last week with Margareth Menezes. It was at the Catussaba Resort Hotel. It was a great show and included an enormous and tasty feijoada buffet. My camera at this point was out of batteries and I couldn't really do much before it completely died. So click here for a much better picture. If you or maybe someone you know wants to visit Salvador for the first time, doesn't speak Portuguese, and has the bucks (it ain't cheap), the Catussaba is the place to go. And for more about Margareth Menezes and Carnaval 2009, go to her site .

Too lazy to even go look for something to draw. If I lie in the hammock on the veranda, this is what I see.

My apologies to cats everywhere, and especially to Nene'. Someday I'll learn how to draw a cat.

I painted this watercolor a few years ago. If I remember right, the original size is 18"x24". The painting was copied professionally, even so, the camera does not pick up the iridescent paints I used on her crown and mirror and tail. Iemanja' the goddess (or orixa') of salt water, was brought to the so-called New World via the slave trade, and is often addressed in the Yoruba language of west Africa. The next time you go to the beach and put your feet in the water, you can greet her with her customary greeting if you like: Odoia'!

Last week, I took a bus to what used to be a small fishing village north of here named Praia do Forte. There are still fishermen and their boats here, but now it is probably better known as a sanctuary and ecological project where sea turtles are protected. In addition to the project, known as TAMAR, tourism is expanding. Tourists come from all over the world as well as from within Brazil. Several species of turtles were endangered, due to being hunted for food, as well as being caught in nets and otherwise threatened. Find out more about Praia do Forte by clicking here . The above watercolor and ink sketch is of a typical small house there on one of the sidestreets. Many have been replaced by the eco-tourism industry with hotels, restaurants and shops. Not that that's an entirely bad thing, because awareness as well as money is raised to further this work.

Featuring my Brazilian furry baby, Nene'. She was tossed over the wall into my yard by a mean person when she was tiny and very scared. Or maybe someone who couldn't keep her and knew she'd find a happy home here. She has turned into a beautiful young lady cat. She is an excellent huntress, and doesn't permit creepy critters into the house, an added bonus.

The Second of February has come and gone, and images similar to this are, sadly, a common site along the beaches of Bahia. Gifts of flowers to Iemanja, the Queen of the Seas, were sent into the water, along with pretty trinkets, combs, mirrors, in hopes these offerings and petitions, as well as occasional thanks, would be accepted. Sadly for some, not all were. I really wanted to go to the Paciencia beach, the most popular and largest site where the religious and secular celebrations take place. Alas, not to be, I was stuck at home waiting all day for an important phone call, which didn't even come. Oh well, maybe next year.