Friday July 19, 2013

Friday July 19, 2013  update #517

Happy 16^th Birthday to my grandson Dawson!!!   Every one else can get off the road now…

Bella was off to the Weaving Store to do her charity crochet and knitting while I did my chores.

Shortly after noon I headed over to help Mark & Karen move boxes from the old apartment to the new condo.  This necessitated many trips up and down the elevators with small cart that was just ½ inch too narrow to be of major use.   This was my first time seeing their new place and it is impressive in its size and breadth.  They have many plans regarding renovations they would like to do to make it more their own style.  The deck, kitchen, dining and living rooms are monstrous, but the bedrooms not so much.  It will be fun to watch as the changes are made.

I meant to take photos but I never dragged the camera over to the new place, too busy holding onto boxes.  Luckily we had no accidents.   It is a good thing they have hired helpers for the furniture.

We were wondering where all the street vendors had disappeared, only a few of them have retreated into private doorways.  Apparently the city is having a major crackdown on illegal street vendors who haven't bought a licence and were becoming sidewalk hazards.  Bully for them!

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   

Thursday July 18, 2013

Thursday July 18, 2013  update #516

Boy!  I hope this weather breaks soon and that we can see a little sunshine.   It is getting bad when I look forward to doing the dishes just to warm up my hands.

Really nothing on tap today and the weather is dull so I contented myself with doing the chores, uploading photos for sale, then working on a few more Pase Del Nino photos for you.  I can see that I am getting close to ½ way through those pictures so I have to keep at it or I won’t be done by the time this Christmas rolls around.

Bella is enjoying her Thursday day of rest before we both have appointments for tomorrow.

Oh, and a chopper cruised around overhead so I snapped  few shots and goofed around making a collage in Picasa

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

Wednesday July 17, 2013

Wednesday July 17, 2013  update #515

I awoke early again with my mind rolling over some rebuttal arguments to a new proposal from our Coopera investors group.  I don’t want to get into specifics on this blog but I certainly felt they were taking some very wrong approaches that would harm us even more in the long run.  My position is if the Government is giving back 100% of funds to 98% of the account-holders in the Credit Union, then we should be insisting on the same treatment.  Nothing more, nothing less.

There is no firm information whether the balance of the businesses are being liquidated or not, at least not yet apparently, but if they do liquidate, we could then have the option of buying back those businesses and keeping the workers and farmers, etc...  It is a noble idea, but we need to have our money to do such a thing.   It took me all morning to formulate my thoughts into a coherent proposal for sending.

Bella was off to Bridge Club and I received the initial proposal and menu offerings from Villa San Carlos.  I must have attended different meeting because the menu was quite a bit different than what we were proposing yesterday.  That took more time to go through the proposal carefully and confer with my colleague.

Then I received a synopsis of the Hearts Of Gold meeting yesterday and again I thought I had been to a different meeting.  At least the many changes were seemingly all positive in this case.

I then went down to read my Dan Brown book and soon got the sinking feeling that I had read it before.  I was nodding off because I was so mentally exhausted that I conked out with the Boys for a while.

I took the #16 to meet the gang after Bridge for Chinese food at the Chifa Hillman.  This bus driver was skipping stops, not letting people off, and making detours, so he was getting most people quite upset.

The Chinese food is actually very good except they made a serious mistake and put shrimp in one dish when instructed not to.  Having a dead patron over such an error wouldn’t do much for their reputation.  Bella decided it wasn’t worth the fuss, she just didn’t have any of that dish.  We certainly had enough food to go around.

The return bus ride on the #16 was better but they are still detouring before Solano.  It took quite  while before the bus stop announcing system got back on the right sequence.

It was a dreary dull day again today and I was too busy to dig the camera out, so please enjoy more Pase Del Nino photos.

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

Tuesday July 16, 2013

Tuesday July 16, 2013  update #514

I was up early, with many things on the go today.   I actually finished my chores about 9am and had another catnap before getting ready for my day’s odyssey.

I finally got to sneak over to the Book Exchange at the Windhorse café and swapped my Clancy book for a hardcover Dan Brown that I haven’t read yet.

The weather was quite iffy all day today, spitting most of the time and yet I refused to put on a jacket.   Many Ecuadorians were in quilted jackets and I saw one young boy sporting ski pants.

I hopped the #19 out to San Joaquin to go “register” our money documents at Coopera.   I timed it pretty good so I had a chance to talk to our old bank manager Juan.  He admitted to being caught by surprise just like we were, because even his parents are large investors in Coopera and are in the same boat as us.   There is still talk that us larger investors are going to take the hit for Coopera’s losses.   However, if they have paid out 98% of the investors in total, how can they deny us 2% of the same benefit??  It makes no sense.

Some investors think they can buy the Coopera assets for about 20% of our total owed, run the businesses and get the other 80% over an unspecified period of time.  Bella seems to think this is workable but I don’t see it.

I caught the #19 back downtown and had the almuerzo lunch at the LongStreet Café.  The lady has increased her price to $2.  I was hoping to catch the jets flying overhead around that time but the wind was coming from the west so the planes were approaching from the other end.

There was quite an impressive picture that I shared on Facebook showing the 5 mile high ash plume from Tungurahua.   So far this has not affected air travel too much.

Next was a meeting at Hearts Of Gold to help formulate criteria for persons or organizations requesting donations.  I sat in on this meeting and provided some input from things I had found online.  This data was then used as the benchmark for updating to HoG’s needs.   Onward and upward.

Then Gayle and I headed over to Villa San Carlos to discuss using their venue for the HoG Christmas Gala.  The event was held at Joe’s Secret Garden last year but that venue is just too small to accommodate us this year.  VSC can handle up to 250 people, with side rooms available, and room for a band and to dance.   We discussed the menu and bar selections and think we have a pretty nice package to present to the group for approval.  Tentatively mark your calendars for Friday December 6^th for a rocking good time.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   

My only shot today, looking south from the LongStreet Cafe.

Monday July 15, 2013

Monday July 15, 2013  update #513

I awoke very early with my mind rolling about with many questions about the Coopera fiasco.  I then spent about 4 hours composing an email containing few thoughts for the lawyer of our coalition.  News is spreading that the larger investors are the ones that will get screwed, all the smaller investors will have received 100% of their money.   Chances are the smaller investors are 95% Ecuadorian and 50% of the larger investors are expats.  This thing has stunk from the beginning.
I also notified Hearts Of Gold about a very valuable contact I made on Saturday at Joe's Secret Garden.  They are very excited to receive an offer of help from someone so experienced with non-profit organizations.

Bella was off for groceries and reports that the Coopera shelves are thinning, and they had no fish, but lots of meat and chicken.  Nothing can run a business into the ground like government intervention.

I watched the movie “Michael” again for a little levity to brighten my mood this afternoon then I came up and put my camera to work.   I had watched and saw that Tom Thumb was liking the new nectar on the windowsill and he was visiting every 15 minutes or so.

I set up the new camera and lens on the tripod and manually focused for where I expected to catch my quarry, hovering above my feeder.  Then I tried out my new remotes but actually had trouble with both so I read the instructions for the wired one.  It said I could remove the batteries and it would work just like a shutter release… Bonus!!   That is all I wanted it to do anyway…

I took about 35 pictures and have weeded those down to today’s offerings.

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

Sunday July 14, 2013

Sunday July 14, 2013  update #512
Happy Birthday to my lovely sister Yvette!!

Bella was off to the Bridge Club this morning while I began the 8-hour processing of my photos from yesterday.  I took a lot of time on these because I thought they were worth it.  I sure love that new lens!

My only interruption was when Walter stopped by to collect the few extra items I brought back from Canada that belong to the Sony HX1 he bought from me.  Walter’s school is closed so he would like to take me along some morning to his wife’s farm near another entrance to the Cajas.  He would like to go early enough to catch a sunrise some day.  I am game for that for sure.

Once I get this Blog off, a movie will definitely be in order.

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