Saturday May 25, 2013

Saturday May 25, 2013  update #462

I awoke this morning to a strange feeling.   It was extremely light and quieter this morning and I could only hope it was for the right reasons.  Yes, the rain had stopped, the sun was attempting to shine through the clouds and YES, we could actually see the Rockies this morning!  Oh what a feeling!

Lou and I were up early to go for breakfast before going to the famous Okotoks Collector Car Auction which has been happening for over 40 years.  I remember going in 1977 with John Gilbert in his ’58 Fairlane retractable hardtop which garnered a lot of Looky-Lou’s.

It was kinda nice to get in at the senior’s rate of $7.  Grey hair does have its advantages.  Lou is quite a car buff  while I am more of a car buffoon these days.  Once upon a time I could guess the year and make of a vehicle at night just by its oncoming headlights and marker lamps.  Not today though, they all seem to look alike, with monochrome paint jobs and no style whatever.   My favorite cars are easily from the 30’s mostly, with running boards, lake pipes, skirts, rumble seats, etc.   Give me a Packard or a Duesenberg and I’d be in heaven.

The show today had a lot of the usual suspects with most of the vehicle offerings being from the 60’s and 70’s, mostly rebuilt muscle cars.  It is always fun to see a beautiful stock vehicle with original paint and equipment.

Some of the vehicles were auctioned for way less than we thought and many for way more, like a 66 Parisienne for about $15,000.  We figured it would go for around $6,000….  Glad it wasn’t our money being spent.

I was disappointed not to see more people that I knew from town.   This event attracts people from everywhere, sellers, buyers and aficionados.

We have the wedding later today but I doubt I will get much processed until late tomorrow so we will just put that on hold and get out this Blog early today.

Note the photos of the cars are right from the camera in JPG mode in the interest of expediency.

My present software won’t handle RAW photos so I am going to try to download Picasa because I think that may be my only option here.   I will take the wedding photos in both formats.

That was the day's excitement.  Cheers, Al   Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Friday May 24, 2013

Friday May 24, 2013  update #461

Today was a day filled with great anticipation as I awaited the delivery of the new 15-85 lens.   I waited until almost 2pm before checking the mailbox as I had a suspicion they would just drop off a card and not do a delivery to the door.  Well I was correct so we had to drive to the Southridge Post Office and get it.   I would like to say it was worth the wait but I am kicking myself for not getting it sooner, it is magnificent and I can’t wait to put it through its paces, especially tomorrow at the wedding.

I fooled around with the two remote controls and will need more practice with that, especially when the instructions are in Japanese-style English.   Lou is jealous of the wide end of the lens, although that is one thing that surprised me.  It is 72mm and I had honestly thought that the width was 58mm like the other 2 lenses….   Now I have all the wrong close-up lenses and other filters….

Bella wrote to say that she discovered a tooth problem with Pancho now so he is going in for a cleaning and maybe some extractions.   I hope he doesn’t end up toothless like poor Peso.

Lou and Yvette are off to visit friends they worked with in the High River Campground tonight while I was off to visit with friends at the Regal Beagle in Kensington in Calgary.   Road construction on Crowchild held me up and even taking another route caused me to be 10 minutes late, but I was still the first one there.  Keith showed up shortly therafter while we waited for Shannon and James to join us.  They had had car trouble and had kept in contact with Keith.   They had set the place and time for our get-together about 20 blocks from their home and then ended up not showing up at all.  I had come 45 kms so I was not too impressed with them.  Anyway, Keith is always good company so we had a good time in spite of the poor food service at the Regal Beagle.  We retired to Keith’s place for a bit and had a good chat with Bill Lemieux from upstairs.   I have been invited back for a BBQ on the 16^th.

The forecast continues to be awful for the next 5 days so we will have to make the best  of  things for Bryna’s wedding tomorrow.   Rain, rain, GO AWAY!

Sorry, since our meet-up tonight was a bust there were no photos taken.   I had only taken practice photos during the day with the new lens and they certainly weren’t anything worth posting.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al  

Thursday May 23, 2013

Thursday May 23, 2013  update #460

Bella told me that Pancho has been moping around the house, whining and looking for me.  It is nice to be missed.

The rain was relentless today so we just got caught up on things and had some breakfast sausage for brekkie then delicious corn on the cob for lunch.   Lou was showing off his “hat with hair” which is really hilarious.

I had meant to pop in to the Post Office to see what procedures they will use for my parcel tomorrow but I turned the wrong way without thinking.

We drove into Calgary to see Mom for 3pm and had a nice visit before going to visit with my brother Germain, his wife Billy-Jo and her daughter Deanna.   We had quite a few laughs, mostly at the expense of poor Stinkerbell, Billy’s 13 year-old deaf Chihuahua.    Germain said he felt it was cruelty to animals for owners to dress up their dogs in silly costumes, etc, and yet I had to admit Stinkerbell looked great in a Sou’wester!

Then we went to Chianti’s for a delicious meal before making it home.

Plans are already set for most of us for tomorrow evening to go into Calgary to meet old friends.

I think we are playing cards in a few minutes so I have to rush….

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Wednesday May 22, 2013

Wednesday May 22, 2013  update #459

Well I didn’t get lost and after 26 hours of travel I finally made it home to my welcome bed in Okotoks.  Really there were no hiccups en route, just a slightly late plane from Dallas-Fort Worth which the pilots tried to make up on the way to Calgary.   We arrived only 15 minutes late and I rushed to meet my ride only 10 minutes late.

I slept really good that night and tonight, again exhaustion simply taking over.

The weather here is dreary and drizzly wet and I understand the river levels are dangerously high here.   We certainly don’t want a repeat of the 2005 flood when the heavens opened the day after we moved into this house.   It is disappointing so far to not see the Rockies nor my deer friends.   The rain is supposed to continue until Saturday so we hope it clears up in time for Bryna’s wedding.   We have seen Prairie Chickens, the same couple that return here every year, but no chicks yet.   I also spotted a squirrel which is something new for this neighbourhood.

I had many chores to attend to right away, mailing some important papers for Mark & Karen, picking up mail, getting royally screwed on money exchange at the bank, depositing money on the credit card, getting a US money order to pay New York taxes, etc.   The crooks at the Bank take the US cash I have convert it to Canadian, keeping about 6% royalty, then convert it back to a US money order, again keeping about a 6% royalty.   Buy Canadian Bank stocks, these turds make a fortune!

I also had to hit the Dollar Store to pick up a few items.   Boy I sure missed that convenience in Ecuador.

I picked up a few groceries so that we would have something to munch on here because the fridge is pretty bare.

My brother Fern had mentioned that he stops at a 7-11 when he goes to the US and gets a Go-Phone really cheap so he can have some form of mobile communication.   I dread the thought of traveling without a cel phone so I gave it a try.  I picked up a cheap but fancy phone for $59 and added $25 of airtime that is good for 365 days so it will be useful for when Bella arrives here in November too. 

I went to the Southridge Post Office and refused acceptance of the package of the wrong lens that was sent to me as instructed.  Today I have to go to the Downtown Post Office to see if I can arrange to get the proper lens tomorrow when it arrives.

I am making appointments already to meet several people during my stay here.   It is always a juggling act to try to mesh schedules with everyone.

Yvette & Lou had called when they reached Canmore that they would just meet us all at Foxy’s for our Okotoks group’s usual Wing night, which they did.  It was so nice to see Gord (Em is sick with a hacking cough), Margaret & Frank, and Paul & Jackie.  Jackie had just retired yesterday from McFarlane Agencies and her smile was wall to wall.   It is still so nice that this group has maintained this get-together all these years.

When we returned home it was nice to see Debbie, our house-sitter, who I haven’t talked to in person since we left for Ecuador.   We all had a good chat and a few laughs before we headed downstairs.

I took a few photos with the new 75-300 lens and crossed my fingers that my version of PhotoShop Elements 6 would handle the RAW files but no such luck.   It does not recognize Canon’s RAW CR2 extension and I could not find any way around it, yet.   I really hate to have to take photos in JPG mode, especially the wedding photos.  I think I will take those in RAW and just wait to process those when I get back to Ecuador…   this computer is so darn slow, and the fan starts to give an annoying whine that gives me a headache….

Something is wrong with our cable connection because the feed to the big TV is really poor.  It works just great with a DVD but not with the cable.   We moved cables, even bypassing the VHS, changed splitters with no change.   Also, the stereo we have hooked up will not shut off!   If we shut it off, it restarts itself in Demo mode within 10 seconds and has annoying lights flashing like crazy.   It was easier just to leave it on the setting Aux 2 for use with the DVD because then there was only 1 light on.  This crazy combination has me thinking that maybe a lightning strike has fried some electrical and that we will never solve the issues….

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Monday May 20, 2013

Monday May 20, 2013  update #458

Today is a catch-up day for Bella and a final packing day for me.   I am trying to kill some time in the long day so I started by uploading more photos for sale.  Sooner or later I will have to start into my 2014 shots to replenish my work for sale.

It was raining on and off all morning so I watched a shoot-em-up movie then, in the afternoon, decided to head downtown again to see if that DG Artes store on Calle Larga was open.   This was our third try in 4 days and still no luck.   So I took a leisurely stroll down the Escalinata to the south side to catch the #15 home.   I was impressed that a bus driver actually waited for me to cross the road to catch the bus and I thanked him profusely.   I got off by the Monay Mall and walked down the hill just for the exercise. 

As I was crossing the river I saw a fisherman at work with a seine so I caught a few sequences of his throw.   He never caught anything while I was watching.   I am sure the trout were shy.

I had meant to stop at Coral to pick up some munchies for the bus ride but of course I forgot so I had to stop at one of my local tienda grocery stores to pick up some cookies and chocolate.   At one store, the teen was so engrossed in a video game he wasn’t even watching the counter, even though I stopped there twice.   You snooze, you lose.

So later I will shower ans be ready to catch a cab sometime after 10 to the bus station.   I probably will be lucky to arrive home in Okotoks tomorrow night by midnight.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Sunday May 19, 2013

Sunday May 19, 2013  update #457

Bella is off to Bridge again today and keeps getting disappointed by the people who say they are coming but who don’t show up.   

I was up early enough to get cracking at my laundry, etc. so I’ll be ready for the trip tomorrow night.

Turning on the computer was not a good experience this morning because the first message was from the folks I bought my new lens from, Merkle Camera in Toronto.   They are asking me if maybe they sent me an 18-200 by mistake!!  Then they wanted to send me a label so I can send it on to the rightful purchaser…   I replied that they better have sent me the right lens because I need to photograph a wedding on May 25!   I checked the tracking and the lens has reached Calgary by Canada Post.  This has sure ruined my good mood in a hurry.    I mean this email has no apology for not sending me the right lens,… nothing!    Now, in a subsequent email he says he wants me to refuse the first package and he will send me the right 15-85 lens by Friday, IF HE CAN FIND ONE!!!    Doesn’t that just give us the warm fuzzies……

Since the gorgeous morning was clouding over quickly I decided to upload more works for sale even though weekends are very slow for views.  It was a good decision because it rained heavily for about 10 minutes just as I was finishing.

The rain did not stop some sort of holiday celebrations going on in the neighbourhood.   Someone had been chattering on a bullhorn for hours already.   I had hoped to check it out but they must have stopped for church, or because of the recurring rain.

I am almost packed now which is really simple because I am not really taking much with me.  I am actually putting my sling bag plus my carry-on inside my big suitcase otherwise it would just get crushed in transit.  I am not looking forward to being stuck in tight seating for 25 hours starting tomorrow night.

Sorry no photos today as I concentrated on the upcoming trip.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   

Saturday May 18, 2013

Saturday May 18, 2013  update #456

Bella is having a stay-at-home day, getting caught up on her hobbies.   She is sitting under her mist fan, which I had not seen in operation until today and it really delivers as advertised!   Bella made another of the crocheted cowboy booties for babies so you will get to see it today.  

I was only planning to slip downtown to see if that art place was open then continue on to Joe’s.  However I got a call from my little language buddy, Juan, and the plans changed.   I showered and shaved while he drove over to get me and then we went to the art place only to find it closed again.    We decided to do a little walking around El Centro.

As we passed the church a couple of blocks north of the Coffee Tree I mentioned that I thought it was supposed to be a museum but I had never found it open.   Juan said the religious museum was on the far back side so we went to check it out.   It turns out it is “museum day” so entry to all the museums was free today so we wandered through.  Some of the old photographs from the nunnery were spectacular.   In many rooms they had photos of the nuns working with very old implements, and these old implements were actually on display in front of the photograph.   I though it was an ingenious way to display these.

We then wandered downtown to find the Old Cathedral closed and then surprisingly, also the big Cathedral too!   I had never ever seen Immaculate Conception closed, especially not at 4pm.   Very unusual.

After wandering back through the San Francisco market we made our way back to Calle Larga and checked out the Remigio Crespo Toral museum.  There was one statue that was so lifelike I wanted to talk to it.   I had seen most of the exhibit before, especially the old tile map of early Cuenca on the floor.   One of the tiles showed the hanging tree and I am sure I never noticed that part of it before.

Then we went over to Joe’s where Juan renewed acquaintances with my old friends Jim Mola and Chris and Bettye Petersen who he had met before in his travels with me.  Juan is a likeable little guy and just laughed when I introduced him as my boyfriend.  He and I sat with Alex from Romania and Irma from New Orleans (but Cuenca-born).  Juan was pleased to have someone to converse with in Spanish.   The meal was tasty and everyone ate more than their fill.  Alex figures he ate two whole chickens and I figured Juan ate three!   I kept looking under his chair to see where he was putting all that food!  I am sure he ate his own weight in pollo tonight.  Alex had bought a bottle of wine and served everyone, and Juan had 3 glasses of wine to boot.    I laughed on the way home when Juan said he was heading home to sleep.   Small wonder!

I will be posting 2 photo blogs tonight, one for the museums, etc, and one separately for Joe’s.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/