FIRST BLOG ANNIVERSARY!

UPDATE

Estou atualizando este post para poder participar da blogagem proposta pelo amigo Eduardo, do blog Post in Progress com o tema Por que blogo? Por uma feliz coincidência este assunto veio a calhar, pois estou comemorando três anos do Leaves of Grass e o tema não poderia ser mais oportuno. Aqui estão as minhas repostas. Se houver necessidade de tradução, favor clicar no final da página, no Babel Fish.

Today is my First Blog Anniversary. Yes it’s been a whole year since I started blogging!

I was tagged by my friend Susie, from Susie’s Space, about blogging and I planned to answer this meme on my First Blog Anniversary. So, the meme is below.
When did you start blogging?
I started blogging in September, 29, 2005. Before this I've been reading several blogs for about one year. When I started reading some blogs, I was definitely hooked! I leave comments on many blogs and I enjoyed so much those visiting. If I remember well, was my friend Jude, from Long-Toothed Hinterland Dweller who for the first time said to me: “Why don’t you try to create your own blog”? So I had the daring to begin a blog in English! Then my blog “Leaves of Grass” was born. You can see my first post here. In this first post I only showed one photo of my house, with the title: Home sweet home!
Then my “ship” was launched in this amazing “ocean” of blogs! I’ve been blogging now for one year! I wrote 58 post and till today I had 17,958 visitors (since October 8, 2005) from all around the world! It’s really amazing and awesome!


Why do I have a blog?
When I first began my own blog, I did it for many reasons. I wanted to express myself, to make friends from many parts of the world, to share my photos and my husband’s photos, to improve my English, to see if I could express my thoughts in a foreign language, to show my country and so on. And I love so much the feedback that I get from blogging. I readed on Antonella Pavese's blog that a blog is “something you create and take care of, like a garden, and other people from all over the world can visit and enjoy. A blog is a work in progress”. I truly agree with her beautiful words!
Certainly have a blog have been a delightful, educational and pleasant experience. Blogs may be the most complex pen-pal system ever created! When I was a teenager I have a pen-pal, from China. It was wonderful and I never forget this amazing experience!
It is pretty amazing to check my sitemeter and see the Map of the World with many people on it who visited my blog! It’s truly wonderful more than I can say!
Blogging is a great and amazing communication medium! As I am a journalist, I love and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others and learning from the knowledge of my friends! Blogging connects me with others interesting peoples all around the world! I have already met countless lovely people from blogging and I learn great and amazing things everyday.
What don't you talk about?
I prefer don’t talk about Politics and inner personal issues. I would like writing about a diversity of issues, but unfortunately my English don’t permit all this! But I do my best and I hope someday I could do this! As we say in Portuguese, “Um dia eu chego lá”.
Are you and your blogging persona the same person?
Yes, on my blog I am really just like I am in my real life.
How do you use blogging to build friendships?
I truly can say that I found many nice and lovely friends on blogosphere. I like so much the possibility of share thoughts, feeling, information, entertainment and principally friendships. And I am enchanted with this delightful community of blog’s friends!
How would you describe your writing style?
As I write in a foreign language, I have many difficulties with the idiom, so I choose don’t write so much. I prefer to show more photos and also make searching to help my writing.
Last but not least, I must to say that through blogging I've met a lot of nice, kind, talented, wise, witty, funny and intelligent people and it has been a great experience to me! I also improve my English and really I am having a great fun!
I would like to thank all my blog's friends who helped me in many troubles I had with my templates, layout and son on!
THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who have been reading, commenting and giving your lovely feedback on my ideas and photos.

This photo of my house was taken in the beggining of 2006.

The place where I spend my time blogging and having a great fun!

Photos by Sonia de Amorim Mascaro

Click on photos for an enlarged version

GOLDEN TRUMPET TREE... IPÊ AMARELO...

These sets of photos of Tabebuia chrysotricha, known as Ipê-Amarelo (Yellow Ipê), where taken by me near my house. Tabebuia is a genus of about 100 species of large shrubs and trees in the tribe Tecomeae of the family Bignoniaceae. The species range from northern Mexico and the Antilles south to northern Argentina and also Brazil.

Many species are dry-season deciduous and flower on leafless stems at the end of the dry season, making the floral display more conspicuous. The bark of several species is used medicinally. The wood is used for furniture, decking, and other outdoor uses. (Deciduous means temporary or tending to fall off).

Tabebuia chrysotricha (Golden Trumpet Tree)

Photo by Sonia de Amorim Mascaro

Click on photos to view larger version

DUCKS

These photo of wild ducks gathering are my submission to Today's Photo Friday theme BRIGHT.

Photos by Carlos A. Mascaro

Click on photos to enlarge

I would like to thanks so much to my friends that help me on templates troubles:

Mary, from "A Breath of Air"

Herhimnbryn from "Secret Hill"

Robin Andrea from "Dharma Bums"

and Peter, from "Blogger Tips and Tricks".

SÃO PAULO: A GLIMPSE TO THE CITY

Rubem Berta Avenue

South side of São Paulo

West side of São Paulo

These photos were taken by my husband, when he was arriving in São Paulo. You can see others photos of São Paulo here and here.

TOUCANS IN MY GARDEN

Update: this toucan appears ( September, 5) on the branch of another tree, near to the palm tree.

Guess what have been visiting my garden! Beautiful toucans. In Portuguese, "Tucanos". Every morning, I have been wake up with their characteristic sound. They came to eat little fruits from a palm tree near the window of my bedroom. Here you can hear their sound. (Recorded by Aidan Maccormick. ) In this first photo you see only the palm tree near my house, without the toucans.

In this picture you can see the Toco Toucan

(Ramphastos toco)

Order: Piciformes, Family: Ramphastidae

"The Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) is the best known and largest member of the toucan family. They live in South American rainforests and Cerrado savannah. Toucans get their name from ‘tucano’ given to them by the Tupi Indians of Brazil. The largest species, the Toco Toucan, is about 25 inches (64 cm) long. The Toco Toucan is the largest of all the toucans, weighing in at 700 grams and is not only the largest toucan, but it is the most widespread in the wild, having a range that incorporates most of Brasil, and parts of northern Argentina, eastern Peru, and southern Guyana and Surinam."

"Toco Toucans have striking plumage with a black body, white throat and a blue eye ring. The most noticeable feature, however, is its huge yellow beak with a black tip, which looks heavy but is incredibly light because the inside is hollow. The birds are an average of 25 inches long, with their beaks that measure up to 8 inches. They have the largest bill of any toucan."

"The toucan's large bill enables it to perch inside the crown of a tree, where branches are thicker, and reach far outwards to pluck berries or seed from twigs too thin to bear their weight. Seized in the tip of the bill, food is thrown back into the throat by an upward toss of the head. Their diet consists mainly of fruit but includes insects, an occasional lizard, eggs and nestlings of smaller birds." You can see in this video a bird on a branch, rubbing its bill. (In Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçú, Brazil. Captive bird, recorded by J. del Hoyo / Lynx)

"Toucans are moderately gregarious and fly in straggling flocks, one after another, rather than in compact bands, like parrots. They prefer to remain high in trees, where they hop from branch to branch. They bathe in pools of rain water in hollows high in trunks and limbs. They offer food to their companions and, perching well apart, preen them with the tips of long bills."

Click on photo to enlarge to see three toucans on eucalyptus tree

"When breeding Toco Toucans search for fallen trees or holes for nesting sites. Their reproduction cycle is annual. After mating, the female usually lays 2 eggs a few days after mating."

Click on photo to enlarge and see four toucans ready to fly away

This set of photos was taken by Carlos A. Mascaro

Click on photos for an enlarged version

OLD CARS

This week's challenge for Photo Friday theme is Silver so here's some photos of the "Antique Car Exposition" at Luz Station in São Paulo, taken by my husband.

Luz Station, Estação da Luz, was the first railway station built in 1901 in São Paulo. The beautiful architectural structure of the Estação da Luz railway station is a picturesque example of São Paulo’s historical center. Designed by English architect Charles Henry Driver, the building pioneered the use of iron which provided a touch of glamour to the whole structure. The station and the railway between Santos and Jundiaí were an important milestone in the development of São Paulo. The railway was used to transport coffee to the city.

De Soto, 1948

Duesenberg, 30's (probably)

GM Coach, 60's

Harley Davidson, 50's

Photos by Carlos Alckmin Mascaro

Click on fotos to enlarger

Update: You can see beautiful photos of classic cars at Jan Bussey's "Cascade Exposure":

http://jlbussey.exposuremanager.com/g/show_n_shine_2006