My little brother who was born in São João

As I learned to read early and finished the first four years of elementary school when I was ten years old, I couldn't enroll in the next four years cycle until I was eleven. Miss Flora, who had been my 4^th grade teacher, suggested that I take a preparatory course for the entrance exams. In those days it was like this: you took the first 4-year course, called primary, than you had to take entrance exams to proceed to the next 4-year course, called gymnasium; after that you had to take entrance exams to go to high school.

After passing the entrance exams I ended up studying for one year at the Colégio Piracicabano,

a beautiful school where my grandmother Elizabeth had taught before getting married. There I had good teachers and made many friends. Two friends went to that school at the same time. But how I missed my home! Whenever I received visitors from home, I would cry all day after they left. I asked to go home and study at the state school and my parents agreed to this.

It was bliss to be with my parents and siblings again, especially because my cousin Glaucia stayed with us for the whole year, as she needed braces on her teeth and Dr. Rene was one of the best dentists in the field. It was very good to spend some time with her and the other cousin, Marilena, who would sometimes come to see her sister and us.

In that year something made us very excited: one more baby would be born! As I was already 12 years old, I eagerly awaited his arrival. And in July he was born! Our mother did not want to go to the hospital and was helped by Mrs. Noemia Quaresma, an experienced midwife. He was such a beautiful baby. How I enjoyed this little brother! I think to me he was like a doll, I loved to be around and take care of him.

He was a big success! We had a very dear person who helped around the house, called Benedita (Dita). In the kitchen there was a playpen with a wooden horse, a ball and other toys. Sergio did not mind being there for a while, watching as Dita made lunch. When he got tired of being in the playpen, he would climb on the little horse, extend his arms and say: _ Dita, hold baby!

Our next-door neighbors were a very dear family too. The oldest son was a doctor, and when Sergio felt sick he would look out the window and call: _ Doctor, baby is sick! And the doctor complied. Soon he would come into the house to examine his little patient.

His mother, D. Rosa, always sent us a piece of cake, a bowl with rice pudding or any other goodies she used to make. Very good and friendly people. They always treated all of us, and especially Sergio, very affectionately, as if he were the grandson they never had.

Joaquim, Dita's husband, would take Sergio fishing, on a horse-drawn buggy ride, wherever his tasks would take him... Dita was a very good cook and always made, in addition to everyday dishes, special treats like pasteis (fried turnovers), pamonha (a kind of corn pudding), pumpkin, milk an coconut candy, apple and lemon pies, our favorites.

I remember so well and miss so much the house where we lived on D. Gertrudes Avenue, with a large backyard that extended almost to the next street. There was an orchard with many different kinds of fruit: oranges, lemons, small tart apples, loquats (Japanese plums), white grapes, pomegranates, avocados... We all liked to play in the backyard, to climb up the trees and eat their sweet fruit.

Even though we have moved from there so many years ago, first to São Paulo, then to Campinas, I will never forget the City of the Wonderful Sunsets.

My cousins Gláucia. Marilena and I in Itapira, around 1953.

This is a sampler from my embroidery class - 

I was about 9 years old when I learned how to embroider.