Saturday September 8, 2012

Saturday September 8/12 update

Had a bad sleep last night plus I left the door open so the boys joined me about 3am.

I was away by 7:30 to walk to Paul Wolf’s place north of the Hospital Del Rio to arrive by 8 pm.  He was ready so we backtracked to follow a creek down to the Tomebamba.  The sun was very bright for the most part which can make photography a lot trickier than a nice overcast day with few shadows.   We followed the Tomebamba until it merged with another of the 4 rivers at the east end of the city.  Along the way we happened across a pair of bovines and 3 very sick horses.   

Paul is a meticulous and knowledgeable photographer and I learn a lot from him.   We each have our interpretation of what we enjoy in a shot which is very good for diversity.   He mentioned that he met another photographer by the name of Mike Hamilton last week and he was most impressed with his work and would love to work with him.

We walked and walked until noon and we were both pretty pooped.  He decided to walk back along the Tomebamba pathways while I opted to slip north to Gonzalez Suarez and catch the #3 home to Monay.   My legs were like rubber already.

As I was coming out of that park a blond lady I had never met was entering and we said Hello.   Then she said “Oh, you are out taking pictures.   You aren’t Bella’s husband by any chance are you??”   The look on my face must have been priceless!  I finally managed to stammer that yes, I was in fact married to Bella.   This clairvoyant lady turns out to be Lulie, whom Bella had mentioned many times, probably from weaving?  Anyway, once my shock subsided we had a brief chat before I staggered up the hill to catch the bus.

I caught the bus to Monay and then ambled down the hill, stopping next door for lunch and juice again.  I was wrong on the price.  They are only charging me $1.25 without the soup!   Such a deal.

Then it was a wonderful nap time before I re-showered prior to heading to Joe’s Secret Garden.

I arrived at Joe’s before 5pm, ahead of all the guests and proceeded to take some ambience shots.  The menu was Chinese food and 28 folks signed up but 2 cancelled at the last moment.  I got shots of about half the guests before I had to leave.

While waiting for my taxi I saw Barry & Maxine Wilder (from Calgary) passing by so we had a chat.  They wave Hi to everyone (see photo).

I had to attend a gathering at Miriam and Fernando’s place downtown for a lovely potluck supper and some decadent desserts.  There were about 7 couples, many of whom I knew.  I was introduced to this new couple, guess who??? …Mike & Cody Hamilton, so we had a good chat about photography, and myself and Paul will hopefully join Mike on an outing soon.  They are a super nice couple, as was everyone at this get-together.  I had been requested by Fernando and Miriam to be a dance partner for a single lady friend of theirs so I had arrived with Bella’s blessing.   The single lady turned out to be Linda, a former bridge partner of Bella’s.  After the buffet they put on the music for a Motown theme which suited this evening just fine as it was 90% rock & roll.   I sure missed Bella for an evening such as this.   Hopefully these next 2 months will fly by quickly like the first month has gone.

That capped off a very long and busy day so that I had trouble climbing the stairs to my lair.  I managed to get the morning photos processed before hitting the sack and I was out like a light for 6 hours.

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