tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66348083053863031022024-03-10T00:18:34.365-08:00Fazenda AlfheimRance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-3163724592525927812012-02-27T07:42:00.001-08:002012-02-27T12:47:48.989-08:00Carnaval 2012
Written to BBC Sessions by Stephen Dale Petit
Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
- Henry David Thoreau
At the tail end of February approaches, I realize that my most recent blog posts have all synched with major holidays, specifically Thanksgiving 2011, Christmas and New Year 2011, and now Carnaval 2012, where I spent five plus days decompressing at Fazenda Alfheim.
Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-61969556071278681662011-12-31T13:11:00.000-08:002012-05-27T22:38:17.792-07:002012…Lone's Gap@50
Written to R.E.M. Live by R.E.M.
New Year's Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
- Mark Twain
Based on the gap between my last blog post, it may seem like the level of activity has slowed considerably at Fazenda Alfheim, or that we skip aimlessly from one holiday to another, but nothing could be Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-77607901923347878022011-11-27T06:19:00.001-08:002011-12-31T14:07:33.826-08:00Thanksgiving 2011…São Paulo style
Written to Philosopher's Stone by Van Morrison
Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.
- William Faulkner
We celebrated Thanksgiving, São Paulo style, together with Jeff and Suzanna, the driving organizational force behind the event, and 6 of their friends, and Urd, a Danish family friend who has been staying at Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-81079980958441058192011-11-02T04:00:00.000-07:002011-11-05T07:19:32.965-07:0060 liters of pure, caramel hony/hunig/honig/hunang/knēkós
Written to Castaways and Cutouts by The Decemberists
But O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes.
- William Shakespeare
Lone arrived from Denmark on Friday, October 28, after 18 days of relaxing with her family…and most of ours. An altogether positive experience.
Adding to the positiveness of Lone's arrival, we had scheduled a visit from Jeff and Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-22740641587785559852011-10-12T17:56:00.000-07:002011-11-02T02:56:43.328-07:002,000,000 bees...none in my bonnet
Written to This Desert Life by Counting Crows
There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance.
- Henry David Thoreau
Seven months to the day of publishing Bees in my Bonnet, my ode to suffering 100+ bee stings back in March, I made my inaugural debut as FazendaRance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-60817194367136389142011-09-04T20:04:00.000-07:002011-09-06T08:26:43.916-07:00Two reunions and two surgeries…followed by my 100th blog postWritten to Mumford & Sons - iTunes Festival: London 2009
An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship.
- Spanish Proverb
Well, since I last posted, I have attended/hosted two reunions, the first my 30th San Marcos High School Reunion in Santa Barbara, California, on July 30th, the second the much-written-about Hesketh family reunion, at which three generations and 14 Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-6236389413277959602011-07-15T14:35:00.000-07:002011-09-04T20:17:00.686-07:001, 2, 3…3 * 2:1
Written to Live Forever: The Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh PA September 23, 1980 by Bob Marley
Be careful to leave your sons well instructed rather than rich, for the hopes of the instructed are better than the wealth of the ignorant.
- Epictetus
Before diving into the latest goings on at Fazenda Alfheim, I wanted to take a minute to congratulate our youngest son, Pelle Martin Hesketh, for Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-11720287020597460782011-06-24T10:39:00.000-07:002011-06-26T17:38:03.235-07:00Live in New York CityWritten to Across A Wire: Live In New York City by Counting CrowsIt isn't like the rest of the country - it is like a nation itself - more tolerant than the rest in a curious way. Littleness gets swallowed up here. All the viciousness that makes other cities vicious is sucked up and absorbed in New York.- John SteinbeckLone and I just returned from a whirlwind, 4-day trip to New York, NY to Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-49568377379417854002011-05-08T16:23:00.000-07:002011-05-08T18:16:31.453-07:00Return Of The Grievous AngelWritten to Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin (Original recording remastered)At home I serve the kind of food I know the story behind.- Michael PollanIt has been almost two months since my last blog post…the longest break since I published my first blog post back on September 8th, 2008. There has not been any one particular reason for my caesura...maybe I just needed a thinking pause after 102 blog Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-2631538231417100062011-03-10T16:18:00.000-08:002011-03-13T07:56:54.734-07:00Bees in my BonnetWritten to Catch a Fire by Bob Marley & Wailers
There is no fire like passionNo crime like hatred,No sorrow like separation,No sickness like hunger,And no joy like the joy of freedom.- Buddha
Where to begin…a lot has transpired in the past couple of weeks. We have had a myriad of visits, by Jeff and Suzanna on a couple of occasions, once with their friends, Patty and her younger brother Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-73338128800806312722011-02-23T08:28:00.000-08:002011-02-24T01:12:17.632-08:00Order restoredWritten to Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus - Exsultate Jubilate - Coronation Mass by Camerata Academica SalzburgBill O'Reilly: Let me be very bold and fresh again, do you believe that you are smart enough, incisive enough, intellectual enough to handle the most powerful job in the world?Sarah Palin: I believe that I am because I have common sense and I have I believe the values that I think are Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-35117119392696182862011-02-12T14:07:00.000-08:002011-02-14T04:48:18.874-08:00Hog hazing gone wild!Written to Live at the Aquarius Theatre: The Second Performance by The Doors
"Pol Pot - he rounded up anybody he thought was intellectual and had them executed. And how he told someone was intellectual or not was whether they wore glasses. If they're that clever, take them off when they see him coming!"- Ricky Gervais
The first of our 2011 volunteers, Amanda Moropoulos, departed recently after Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-47774343621664712022011-01-23T06:24:00.000-08:002011-01-24T04:34:52.311-08:00When the levee breaks 2011Written to Joshua Tree (Remastered / Expanded) (Deluxe Edition) by U2
“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.” - Buddha
Because I had a business meeting on Saturday, January 15th, Lone and I took advantage of the opportunity and spent Friday night in São Paulo -after delivering Fazenda Alfheim's beyond organic piglets to our restaurant customers. We dined at Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-67296098687720148302011-01-14T08:30:00.000-08:002011-01-14T17:28:26.627-08:00Once was lost, but now am foundWritten to Keb' Mo' by Keb' Mo'"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true."- BuddhaIn addition to a collapsing bridge, 2011 started with a prison break of sorts. The 35 pigs we recently purchased from Mato Grosso do Sul disappeared…actually disappeared, vanished, absconded …for four days! Up until that Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-91040308313294903232011-01-06T20:49:00.000-08:002011-01-07T07:07:57.072-08:00Abundant was its honeyWritten to iTunes Live from SoHo by Counting Crows
"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship."
- Buddha
As with every year-end, the unfolding of 2011 was memorable for many reasons, but among all of the highlights, our New Year's Eve visit to Picinguaba and Lone's first full-scale honey harvest stood out, infectious in their effervescence.Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-73977981250089513492010-12-20T12:30:00.000-08:002010-12-20T12:59:01.259-08:00Um maravilhoso Natal e um próspero Ano Novo!Written to Smokes Like Lightning by Lightnin Hopkins
"Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length."
- Robert Frost
This will be one of my shortest-ever blog posts, a brief text wishing all of our family and friends um maravilhoso Natal e um próspero Ano Novo!
As regards our own family, Pelle and his girlfriend, Jemma, arrived yesterday at Ninho da Arara, the pousada of a good Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-71289007414387324252010-12-03T08:05:00.000-08:002010-12-03T09:33:02.504-08:00Son of CorcovadoWritten to Lifeline by Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border."-Sarah Palin, explaining why Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, interview with CBS's Katie Couric, Sept. 24, 2008 (You can read 9 more gems of Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-74161725796804283772010-11-16T12:12:00.000-08:002010-11-16T17:02:41.892-08:00500Written to Abbey Road by The Beatles“When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see.”- Chinua AchebeIf you ever lay awake at night wondering what 500 day-old chicks look like, you can hereafter sleep easy.After spending the better part of Sunday in Parque da Independência in São Paulo listening to a free Norah Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-79556596435297581302010-11-11T23:18:00.000-08:002010-11-12T01:17:59.678-08:00Artemis of AlfheimWritten to Live my Life, Nu Mixx Klazzics and Greatest Hits by 2PacAround 800 AD during Tang dynasty, the Chinese were undoubtedly the most productive in the world with the national GDP accounting for half of the world. Would it be more reasonable to assume China reaches its peak when its GDP per capita is at least about the average of the developed world?- China: Has the Last Opportunity Passed Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-72723653189097967392010-10-14T13:59:00.000-07:002010-10-14T15:52:00.702-07:00On the map…quite literally
Written to Come Away With Me by Norah Jones
"Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings."- Hodding Carter
I just received word that Lone arrived safely in Denmark, with my Amazon Kindle in tow, after more than 24 hours of travel. She will be visiting her faderland until October 28, when she returns to São Paulo, just in time for cowboy Magano's birthday celebration atRance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-67945940855653846782010-10-05T09:09:00.000-07:002010-10-06T08:29:29.505-07:00Road trippin 3.0Written to R.E.M. Live by R.E.M.“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”- Lin YutangNo quote could better sum up the past weekend, which began on Friday, when Lone and Esben picked me up in São Paulo and we headed out of town toward Porto Feliz (Happy Haven in English) to visit Carson and Ellen Geld. We arrived at Fazenda Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-60642922067561279172010-09-20T15:26:00.000-07:002010-09-22T14:46:39.081-07:00Road trippin 2.0Written to FELA In Concert Starring Fela Anikulapo Kuti“Like life, basketball is messy and unpredictable. It has its way with you, no matter how hard you try to control it. The trick is to experience each moment with a clear mind and open heart. When you do that, the game -- and life -- will take care of itself.”- Phil JacksonA week after breaking my collar bone and a rib, my abuser, aka Esben, Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-4022471195845817902010-09-11T14:57:00.000-07:002010-09-12T15:58:06.916-07:00Porcupines, pain and promising plantsWritten to Macire by Boubacar Traore“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”- J.R.R. TolkienIt is not a stretch to say that it has been tough being a dog at Fazenda Alfheim of late: first there was Negão's eye piercing at the hands of a wayward twig, and shortly Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-77113487742523893692010-08-25T10:44:00.000-07:002010-09-12T15:58:52.909-07:00Planting season arrivesWritten to Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"-- Dr. SeussAs mentioned in last week's blog post, we have been waiting for:our heirloom seeds to arrive (√)for the cold to lift (√)for us to Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6634808305386303102.post-90481692435281686832010-08-13T06:51:00.000-07:002010-08-16T07:04:45.565-07:00Waiting for Godot…and discoveringWritten to Live in Darwin, Australia by by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
"If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good."- Dr. Seuss
We have been in a bit of a holding pattern recently, waiting for our heirloom milho (200 kg) and feijão (50 kg) to arrive. Frustratingly, our criolo seeds seem to have entered transport limbo; they left the União das Associações Comunitárias do Rance Heskethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10227794101574431376noreply@blogger.com0