The Owl is not a fan of rain. Never has been, never will be. Except for one thing: the Sessão da Tarde, which translates more or less to the afternoon matinee, made for the rainy day. Or in its simplest definition: lying on a couch watching a goofy movie and ignoring everything else–the wrapping, the Christmas cards, the outstanding action items from the day job, and even the dishes. There is nothing like a rainy day to make sitting around completely guilt-free.

Sessão da Tarde is an actual thing in Brazil, much like Masterpiece Theatre used to take up Sunday evenings, or 20/20 or whatever. Every weekday afternoon on TV Globo, there would be a movie–usually, a lightweight fluff piece rated PG–an adventure, a comedy, a romance. Romancing the Stone perhaps, or Dirty Dancing or Home Alone. In the years I lived in São Paulo with the toddler twins, the afternoon glimpses of home via television screen were welcome. Almost always, the sit-down was accompanied by a huge bowl of popcorn. And of course, with the sleep deprivation of a mom of young kids, I would often nap through most of it, and so would the toddlers. Our two resident labradors would polish off the popcorn. It was our thing.

So yesterday, with a relentless rain from early morning to mid-afternoon, Mr. Owl and I flipped through Netflix looking for an appropriate candidate for the Sessão da Tarde. In some ways, I prefer the old style where minimal channels made the movie choice easy–there was only one afternoon movie. We settled on an Alan Rickman (the voice!!) – Emma Thompson movie which was anything but fluff, and the Owlets quickly departed for their own electronics. So Mr. Owl and I each got a couch, a blanket handmade by Mr. Owl’s grandmother, either a snuggly dog or an aloof cat, and settled in.

My Sunday Gratitude: slowing the afternoon down, Brazilian style. Sessão da Tarde.