Saturday December 8, 2012

Saturday December 8/12  update #308

Bella was out to buy some groceries, etc., then she is just going to have a relaxing day at home.

I started doing my chores and came across an item on Facebook about the Gemenid Meteor Shower to happen this coming Thursday night.  It should be spectacular because there will be no moon to obscure the shower streaks.   So naturally I am trying to put together another quick tour which may be difficult because of the late night transportation required.   This cannot be viewed from the city so it will be necessary to go to some dark, uninhabited area like the Cajas to the west from about 10 pm to 2am.   We’ll see how many folks are willing to do this.  I am only proposing this to the 36 or so photographers I have on my list.

I was going to go downtown this morning but time was again conspiring against me.

Sitting here, I could hear someone talking on a loudspeaker.  There was a religious procession occurring in front of our house, escorted by at least 3 police, who knows why?  I managed to get a couple of videos which I spliced together.   I have a new downloaded “Any Video Converter” that works quickly and easily, and it even does Flash movies, but I note it did not splice the movies together and the Flash quality was not great.  So it was back to using the Nero converter to get an HD WMV movie that works best on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/gNFQaaXYJEc

While waiting around I had my camera set up to new settings and managed to catch a few pretty good close-up shots of my friend Tom Thumb.   I sincerely hope you enjoy them.

Since Joe and Joseph had to go to Quito they had to cancel tonight’s supper.  I was very happy because that freed me up to go check out my pal Jorge’s volleyball group at 3pm.  They were still setting up as I got there and they let me play the first few games too.  They play very differently, and even though I was rusty and I think we maybe only won one game, they were a great group of guys and we had a lot of laughs, even when the rain came and terminated our game.

Somebody had a bottle, or four, of Zhumir, the locally made rum drink, and they kept passing around small shots to everyone.  We found many more things to toast and had many more laughs too.  They practiced their bad English and I practiced my bad Spanish and we had just a great time.

Jorge drove me home carefully after 7pm and I warmed up the lovely supper Bella had made.

All in all, this was a great day and we hope to have many more here.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Friday December 7, 2012

Friday December 7/12  update #307

Bella was off and running to the weaving store today then to Yoshi’s to play bridge.

I was up early and worked on the photos from yesterday until 2:30pm then I scooted off to the Hearts Of Gold office to bring them copies.

I then wandered downtown to see if the pan flute players were in evidence, but they weren’t so I continued down to a cheap eatery for a foot-long hotdog and a juice for $1.25.

I didn’t even unpack my camera today, just wasn’t in the mood at all and caught a bus home, recharged my bus pass and here I am…

I haven’t heard if they have found my old Edmonton physician, Dr. Bryan McPhail who suddenly went missing on Monday.  See http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/11/28/edmonton-missing-physician.html   This is truly a strange occurrence and we hope he is fine somewhere.

One of my couples has suddenly dropped out of the Saraguro excursion.   Ugh.  No rest for the wicked.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   

Thursday December 6, 2012

Thursday December 6/12  update #306

I was awake much too early this morning rolling more ideas around in my head about the excursion to Saraguro.  I finally got up about 6:15 to catch the gas man and refill two tanks so we won’t run out over Christmas.  Then I got busy and made some suggestions to a few people to see how we can salvage that trip.  It looks promising.

I had the camera set up for when Tom Thumb arrives and had the window open about 6 inches only.  Well Pancho decided that was an escape hatch and went over to the neighbour's third floor terrace and took his sweet time coming back.   The little devil tried it again later in the day too.

Today is a day we had been waiting for for some time, the Hearts Of Gold Gala fundraiser at Joe’s Secret Garden.  Almost everyone was dressed in Christmas finery and they were in a generous mood.   I was wearing my $2.52 Santa hat from Coral and was thrilled when Mark Anderson came through on my request to borrow one of his many Christmas ties which then garnered many nice comments.

We arrived a ½ hour early because H.O.G. wanted me to take photos of their decorations so they can remember to duplicate everything next year. 

Then I helped Emilie to greet the guests at the front door and to quarterback the selling of raffle tickets.   Emilie claimed to be bad at marketing and selling, but she did an amazing job.

I interspersed my duties of taking photographs with the selling of the raffle tickets and was genuinely touched by the generosity of some of the fine folks in attendance.

Linda Atkisson from Amigos made some incredibly beautiful cloth Christmas tree centerpieces that they were selling for $20.  Bella was the first person to grab one of those.

Before supper Richard Verkley, the founder of Hearts Of Gold, said a few words and singled out a few volunteers and I was shocked and humbled to be included in that group.

Supper did not arrive until 8pm but nobody seemed to mind because everyone was in a convivial mood and were happy to visit with everyone else.   The Beef Wellington was superb and the dessert delicious!

We had a lively crowd at our table with lots of interesting conversation from world travelers.  It was also interesting that we had three men placed in our room who had all undergone recent hernia operations!

I ended up selling a lot of raffle tickets so the HOG people were quite happy.    I also managed to take almost 100 photographs during the evening.

Joseph mentioned that they probably have to go to Guayaquil on Saturday so the Sea Bass dinner will likely be cancelled.   I am actually hoping they do cancel because I could use a weekend off.

Sorry that it has taken so long to process this blog.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Wednesday December 5, 2012

Wednesday December 5/12  update #305

I had all great intentions again today but ended up staying by the camera and the computer.   I did get a pretty decent shot of Tom Thumb, hope you like it.  I spent a lot of time on different variations but kept only this one.

I am just sick!!   I finally had to cancel my proposed photography tour to Saraguro for Dec 21.   I only had 9 others committed but, as soon as I cancelled it, 4 more held up their hand….   These 13 are really keen to go and one couple wants to go with just the 4 of us.   So I am still trying to get something worked out if we can find a 15 passenger van……

I got really upset yesterday and today with GringoTree now gouging expats for 5c a letter to post an ad!   And they think this is fair!!  Gringos sticking it to Gringos is just too common here and I refuse to put up with it.    We have already quit frequenting many Gringo businesses that have priced themselves out of the market.   

I was also very upset with the Saraguro Tourist office who must see dollar signs when they see Gringos.  They quoted us over double the price for a guide and two measly lunches that we would pay here.   

Then family problems over my Mom's care expenses.   I am definitely not a happy camper over that either.

It has not been a good day.    I better go to bed before anything else hits the fan.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  

Tuesday December 4, 2012

Tuesday December 4/12  update #304

I was up at 6am and worked until about 11am when the Internet went down in the middle of my photo uploads.  So Bella had just gone off to buy the turkey for Christmas dinner when I decided to go to Coral myself and get myself a new optical mouse.  My computer says my fancy laser mouse is broken and it won’t recognize it so a change was necessary.   I ended up with an optical wired mouse for $4.73.  I got in the Express line-up with only one man in front of me but after 10 minutes of ridiculousness, I went into another line-up and still beat them.

Bella found a turkey with some fancy inscription so she asked Jorge what it meant and he told her this turkey had double the breast meat…  Does this mean it is genetically engineered??? 

Bella was about to leave for her bridge game after lunch when I got a call from Emilie at Hearts Of Gold asking for a favor.  They wanted some urgent photos of a rather large painting hanging at Joe’s Secret Garden, made by some children they sponsor, which may be raffled off at the Gala on Thursday.  I said I would join Bella on her trip over there momentarily and get that looked after, which I did immediately upon entering.

Today was the third installment of Bella’s bridge instruction and (I was shocked) she asked me to stay and turn cards for the bridge players since I am there anyway, so I said OK.   Bear in mind that Bella has never wanted me within sniffing range of a bridge table…. It is the kiss of death for spouses to play bridge in the same vicinity, something about justifiable homicide rules applying….   Anyway, I ended up doing more than just turning cards, I was actually playing hands somewhat nervously, and making the bids, but I definitely needed help with the initial bidding and Bella was just great about it all.   I was very impressed with her manner of instruction, very informative and with solid reason to back every instruction.   It is a game I would probably enjoy but I don’t want to run afoul of the Boss.

We headed to El Centro, meeting Manon at the bus stop so we all rode together.  Around San Francisco market I picked up a couple more Xmas presents destined for Canada in January.

We had made plans to meet Jay and have supper at La Vina but we sadly found the premises locked up tight.  Bella had heard that the Café Austria a block away had good food so we took a chance on it.  We ran into our friend Rommie, freshly arrived after 40 hours of travel from Australia, so we had a short reunion.  Once we got seated we all tried the day’s special of Hungarian Goulash, with salad, soup, and dessert.   It wasn’t bad, but not much different than a usual almuerzo around here.

We caught the #3 home but were asleep at the switch when it got to our stop and we didn’t disembark.  Oh well, we had a sightseeing trip to the end of the line to the east and back.   The driver just gave us a curious look but didn’t say anything or make us pay again.

The new mouse works very well….

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Monday December 3, 2012

Hmmmmmm, has anybody seen yesterday's Blog???   Somehow it disappeared........   I know it wasn't much and there were no photos but it is upsetting nonetheless.

Monday December 3/12  update #303

It is getting so frustrating to go to bed and be awake an hour or two later but yet I refuse to get hooked on pills again.  I am forcing myself to stay in bed and doze away, so I didn’t get up until 10am and actually felt quite refreshed.

Bella was off for groceries this morning then had to head out again for her bridge instruction classes again.  She has 4 tables of 4 people each, but is certain that a few will drop out as they do not have the memory to retain the information necessary.   Bella is very patient but the fact is that most people can’t absorb everything necessary to even begin to comprehend the correct way to play the game.  This isn’t rummy or hearts, and Bella is a Life Master is trying to retrain a lot of bad habits.

It is such a glorious day today, an eternal reminder as to why we moved here.  We don’t miss working or shoveling snow one bit.   We will admit that we miss the beauty of a fresh snowfall, hoar frost, the Rockies, and the deer in our back yard.  For a photographer, there are few places we could live so well and have so much to do every day.

While the sun is to the south of us I will continue to try to get the magic formula to get a definitive shot of Tom Thumb bathed in sunlight to show off his colours.  I got a few decent shots today, but not the perfect shot that I strive for.

I started to play Mr Fix-It today too, screwing down the seats of our dining room chairs.  They had been badly held by small staples and I got fed up with them always coming loose.   Then Bella had two school photos of Kim’s kids framed so I had to mount those on the wall.   Now I have to get photos of all my grandkids too.

Bella made nachos for supper, a perennial favorite to our palates, but without sour cream it just wasn’t the same.  She said Coral doesn’t carry sour cream, can you believe it?

I am trying to organize this trip to Saraguro but was shocked at the price quoted by their local Tourist Bureau for a guide, a snack and a local lunch.  Nothing is ever getting easier for me any more it seems.   I am going to have to sleep on what response to make.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Saturday December 1, 2012

Saturday December 1/12  update #302

I spent most of the day trying unsuccessfully to find some plug-ins to augment my PhotoShop arsenal while Bella  went to teach her first class on bridge lessons.

In the afternoon I also headed west and stopped in at Manon’s to sell a couple of raffle tickets before settling in to do my job at Joe’s Secret Garden.   Joseph mentioned that one couple was upset at having their photo put on Joe’s Facebook page and asked that the photo be removed and to be removed from Joe’s email list.  It is no doubt one of 3 couples that refuse to have their photos taken, don’t know what they have to hide….   Anyway I was pleased to see that this did not faze Joseph.  Joseph wants mostly crowd shots, which is pretty much all I did last week, knowing I was risking the ire of any of the 3 couples, but heck, that is my job.   Everyone else enjoys having their pictures taken in a good-natured way and it is a real pain to try to shoot around those other folks.   Tonight I did a combination of group and couples shots, that seems to be what most of the people want.

The supper tonight was the famous Southern Fried Chicken and we all stuffed our faces pretty good.   We also had interesting company at our table, all world travelers, so the conversations were lively.

Today was just a glorious day weather-wise but the evening cooled off nicely.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.    Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/