O grupo Cirandeiros, que está na final do Festival Viola de Todos os Cantos, organizado pela EPTV, é a principal atração do arraial da Clean no próximo dia 18 de Julho.

O grupo trabalha com a cultura popular, incluindo ritmos como a Ciranda, Côco, Maracatu, Bumba-Meu-Boi, Afoxé, Samba, Xote, Baião, Folia de Reis, músicas regionais e de composição própria.

Neste semestre os músicos pretende lançar um álbum chamado “Encantoria”. O nome do cd é em analogia a fusão dos grupos musicais Jabaculê, Cirandeiros e Cia Buerrô, espécie de projeto coletivo. Ouça o grupo clicando aqui.

I’m feeling a little extra sandwiched today. Here’s the update: Mom’s back in the hospital. Took her in Tuesday afternoon (just a week after she came home from the hospital) at the cardiologist’s recommendation after she had complained of chest pains the night before and had vomited at lunch (in the communal dining room. Mortifying!) that day. Since then, they’ve found that the bladder infection that put her in the hospital the week I was on vacation affected her kidneys. They slowed down, not filtering her blood as efficiently. That resulted in a high potassium level and an elevated level of one of the the cardiac enzymes (which caused the nausea). Also contributing is a little dehydration. Not helping is the fact that they took her off blood thinners when her bladder was bleeding; she was due to begin them again the day after I took her in again.

So the idea is that once her kidneys recover from the “insult” from the infection and all the medications kick in (the blood thinners, potassium meds, etc.), they’ll watch her labs to make sure that all her docs (heart, kidney and GP) are happy with the numbers before they release her.

Whew!

In the meantime, life at home must go on. I’ve arranged playdates for the girls the last three days so I could get to the hospital. Yesterday, I took dinner to a friend of mine who’s recovering from breast cancer surgery. Today, friends from the Washington, D.C. area are coming in to stay overnight. So I took today “off” (from the hospital anyway) to clean the house. It’s no small feat, since it hasn’t had much attention lately due to Chiquita’s 2 hospital visits, the last weeks of school and our vacation.

I’m wiped out.

It feels like my summer hasn’t even started yet…I haven’t had the chance to get the girls on the schedule I’d envisioned (summer bridge workbook, reading and chore enforcement daily, swimming as often as possible, library once a week, visits to museums and amusement parks).

On the bright side, I did lose 3.6 lbs this week at Weight Watchers. I’ve been running so much, I haven’t had time to stop to eat!

I’m trying to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve made a point to have healthier foods around, to ask for help when I need it, to take time to talk (vent) to friends (sometimes via text message and Twitter), and to exercise (taking the stairs at the hospital) and stretch (yoga stretches in the emergency room!).

In the attempt to clean my room, I started with my closet where the masses of formal philosophy, English papers, and personal collection items lay in highly disorganized fashion. I managed to fix the chaos in about an hour by throwing out about a third of those literary items in the trash. And, interestingly, I found a faded paper with something I’d written in the previous years. It was an in-class writing assignment which I wrote a while ago. I’m glad I came across it before writing the novel, but it does scare me every time I go over it. I can’t seem to remember what led me to write this and when exactly it was. Never the less, here is the story:

“Each time I wake up, I feel as though I have befriended something for which I cannot find a name. How do I describe to you this presence? It is around me like the wind between framed mirrors. It whispers in my ears in a language I do not yet understand. But it is kind. So soft spoken. It is worthy of being listened to. Lately, it is the object of my affection. I can’t help but obey its command. It inspires me to dream, to paint, to move… this bizarre painting off the wall. It looks hideous. The colors. I don’t understand why they’ve hung it there. It spoils the wall. It does. It doesn’t go with any of the dark edged yellow furniture in this room and I keep seeing it from which ever corner of the room I stand. It looks burnt and torn. Is it purple or brown? I can’t make out that androgynous color. And that ridiculous woman keeps standing in my way. For heaven’s sake, someone get her a new dress and fix her hair. I cannot stand her face! Oh, Dameon, what I would give to see your face. I miss the touch of it so. Why have you left me with this woman in rags? She’s obviously dancing to lunacy. I must step away from her. Carefully backwards one step at a time. *trips*
What the hell?
Dameon! Oh my! What are you doing on the floor like that? Wake up. What is that?
You and your silly sharp toys. Don’t you know someone can get hurt by that? I’m putting it on the table next to my other tip pens. Are you getting up soon? I think it’s the fireplace. You ought to know I’m a woman with very little patience. You’ve known me for seven years now, which is about the time I’ve cut my relations with my sister and moved here. I hate her for acting like the supreme authority. Who gave her that right anyway? Why does she act like my mother? Even she has no right to boss me around and tell me who not to be with. I despise her. I can’t stand her. And now look, here’s that woman again interrupting my thoughts. Must you always be in my view? And is that… is that my wedding dress? Dameon! Look! That crazy woman is wearing my dress! How dare she?
*gasp* And she is coming towards me. Dameon! Dameon! Get up! She is following my steps! I’m going to stand near that painting. Maybe those colors will hide me. They move each time.
*gasp* Dameon, look. She’s going away. We can run now. Wait. You stay still and I’ll open that door. Oh, but she is so close to it too. With every step I take towards any of those doors, she keeps coming near. She is frightening me now.
Dameon! Do something! Please! Dameon! You’ve never listened to me! You haven’t done anything for me. You’ve been lying there ever since we got married. Why won’t you move? Move! Dameon, I’m going to throw my pens at you until you do. Dameon! Dameon! Do I have to drag you around now? You’re supposed to help me! If I look up she will be insight again. I hate the thought of her wearing my dress. Dameon, you’re so heavy to turn. You’re hurt? Why didn’t you say anything? I would have come sooner. Dameon, look at me, look at… this color on the tiles. It is such a beautiful color. Wait here. I’ll bring the canvas. Where is that canvas? I could use that one, you know. You don’t mind if I use it on this one, do you?
I don’t care anymore if you do. You never pay attention to my work. You didn’t even look at me now. The color looks so beautiful here. Oh, that sound is getting to me again. I’m drowsy. I’m going to hang this back on the wall and maybe sleep on the couch for a while. That woman, she seems to be resting too. Come up, Dameon, if you have the energy. Just don’t ever leave me for my sister.”

My iTunes player just switched on Sarah Mclachlan’s Possession. :|