Friday May 17, 2013

Friday May 17, 2013  update #455

Again I was up early and working on things before crashing back to bed.

Bella was off to the weaving store with her newest baby booties made like cowboy boots.   She left them there so I did not get any photos unfortunately.

I uploaded possibly my final set of photos for sale before I head to Canada, although I may have time to upload another set on Monday.   I don’t bother on the weekends because they just don’t get the views then.

I dug out my fancy suitcase and tried to re-mould the corner where the baggage handling morons had broken a hole through the fiberglass.   Good old duct tape to the rescue once again.   Slowly but surely I will get packed before Monday night.

I caught up a little with my Clancy book to while away the afternoon before we headed downtown.   Our bus driver took us half-way, then got out of the bus, checked the back tire and got on his phone.    It was obvious we were not going anywhere soon so we just got off and hailed a taxi.   I could not see anything obviously wrong with the tire  but we couldn’t hang around forever, we were people on the move!

We headed first to the art store where we bought the figures on our living room wall.   Because of the configuration of the new furniture we really do need 2 more figures to balance things properly.   Unfortunately the store was not open since this fellow definitely determines his own hours.

Next on the agenda was to drop off the 9 movies I had borrowed from Carolina Bookstore.   We didn’t watch all of them and at least 3 were in Spanish.  We were also meeting the purchaser of my Projector, a fellow who was buying it as a gift for his wife at the bookstore.   Everything went as planned and we headed to the south side to the Chill Grill for burgers and to meet with Karen.and Mark. 

I got a few shots of activities in Parque De La Madre on the way by.   There were many gazebo tents set up, all empty, so there must be something happening there tomorrow.

Mark has agreed to take my place as the photographer for Joe’s while I am away, and I OK’d that with Joseph.   The instructions aren’t too difficult and Mark is a professional.   I tried the Chill Grill burger this time and it was much better than the Ranch burger I had last time.   Oddly all they had to drink was pop, ….no juice, beer, or even ice.   Very strange indeed.

I want to take this time to thank my faithful Blog followers.  There seems to be a core of 25 for this one, about 35 that follow the photos, and I also get an average of 55 hits a day on my Cuenca Residency blog.   THANK YOU ALL.

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

Thursday May 16, 2013

Thursday May 16, 2013  update #454

Happy 13^th Birthday Danai!!!

Bella hasn’t budged today, this is her day of rest.

I gave away the Canon Battery and Charger that my son Todd had found in Edmonton.  It didn’t fit my camera as we thought it might and I had tried selling it a few weeks back without success.  However everyone wants something for free.   The lady who took it lives on the other side of the river and knows our cat-sitter.

I am getting bites on my ad for the Projector so I hope it goes quickly and I can breathe easier about all the camera equipment I have bought.   I really hate to let it go but realize my uses for it will be extremely limited, and I do need the money now.

I slipped out to OperAzuay to see the latest their vans leave on Monday night.   The lady said 9pm, meaning I’ll be sitting in the airport for 7 hours, no thank you.   I stepped out and spotted the #7 bus at the corner so I caught that to the bus depot.   They have buses leaving right until 1am but I would need to catch the 11pm bus to arrive at 3am.  Because the flight leaves at 7am I need arrive prior to 4am, so that is the best I can do, and the bus is only $8.   This means a travel odyssey of over 25 hours probably, oh joy…..

Leaving the bus station and walking over to Huayna Capac I ran across a few interesting sights.   First was a hoop street performer, then a chopper-style moped (I want one of those), then a flower arrangement made to resemble a puppy, just too cute.   

Oh, and the menacing skies were a treat, one that we have learned to mostly ignore.   I was wrong yesterday, the river is down closer to 2 feet so we could hope those clouds break open in the Cajas and fill up the rivers again.

The back of San Blas may not be quite as interesting as the front but that yellow dome is still a sight to behold. 

Chili for supper, then a good movie is again on tap for tonight.

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

Wednesday May 15, 2013

Wednesday May 15, 2013  update #453

I was up at 5am and back to bed for a couple of hours at 8:30.   My mind got rolling on a few things I need for the trip home so I took care of those things, like car insurance, so I could rest.

Bella was up early and off to arrange for her new Cedula.   Most of her worries about having to get new documents were for naught as it is going to be treated just like a renewal.   The she was off again to her Bridge Club.   She needs some dedicated bridge players to come every Wednesday and Sunday or this Club will be folding soon.   It is so sad because she has worked so hard to help a lot of people, but unfortunately most of these older folks don’t retain things well, and that frustrates her.

I slipped up to Coral to get a new mouse for my computer because the last one got too loose and started doing stuff on its own.    I picked up what I though was a nice one but found it had the old round green connection.   My computer accepts this connection too but the mouse wouldn’t work because it is not compatible with XP, so I exchanged it on my way downtown.

On my walks across the river I have noticed how low the river is.   We have an extremely blustery day today but almost no moisture resulted from it.

As I was waiting for the bus I left a message for the people at Fundacion Avancar that I was on my way to pick up the Gift Certificate I had won for dessert and coffee for two somewhere.  Just as I sat down on the bus she called back to say they are only open from 9-1, and it was now 3:30.  Oh well, so I got off at San Francisco and went window shopping for a while.  Around 5pm the sky was spitting so I began my trek to La Vina to meet Bella for supper.   Bella actually arrived early and we ordered our pizzas, the best in town.  This little girl, a relative of the owners that we had met before kept circling us and waiting for me to take out my camera so she could pose.  She is ½ Colombian and is so very cute and sweet.

As we finished up another couple, Tony and his wife Marty, from Ohio sat near us so we chatted a long time.  They are very serious about moving soon and their ears really perked up when they heard the interest rates a person can obtain here, and our real estate prices.   I think we got some new converts because they are world travelers and they can understand other cultures so they would do well here.

I was disappointed to discover that 3 of the 5 artworks of mine that were bought last month were returned so I did not get paid as much as expected.  It is funny that Fine Art America did not say anything to me at all, so I assume the problem stemmed from their processing.

This means that the money I need to pay for the new lens is going to come up short.  Recently I had bought a micro projector that I was intending to use for Hearts Of Gold but I noticed they had a really good projector they had borrowed for yesterday’s meeting.   So…. as much as I love this little projector, it really would have gotten so little use that it is going on the block to allow me to complete my camera equipment purchases.   I just hope everything is there waiting for me when I arrive back in Okotoks.

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

Tuesday May 14, 2013

Tuesday May 14, 2013  update #452

Bella was off to the Book Exchange and to do chores.   I also gave her the phone number to pick up the dessert and coffee for 2 that I had won at the Fundacion Avancar Mural evening, if she has time.

I was intent on bidding for a new EF 15-85 USM lens that I have been craving for months.  The difference between buying a used one vs a new one is only $30-$40  so she rightfully suggested that a new one is a much better option.   I tried bidding at the last moment but got beat out by $10.   I found another new one that I could buy right away at a comparable price but decided to wait a moment to see if something would shake out of the woodwork.   I made a comment when I refused a counter-offer from another site that had refused my offer.    This one was used, but came with a few optional items so it was tempting, but I told them their discount wasn’t enough since a new one was available for just a few dollars more.

Then, lo and behold, I was given a second chance to bid and accept the prior new item because the other bidder wasn’t able to complete the transaction.  I hate having to pay the darn GST on top of it but I am really glad that hopefully this lens will be waiting for me when I return to Canada in a week.

Then it was off to Hearts Of Gold for another productive meeting.   We have new strategies and sources for the present School Drive and hopefully enough bodies in the area to keep it running.   It seems all the major players are gone at different times during the next 3 months.

Tarek gave us a nice dissertation on how to help HoG get its message out on social media.  It helps to have technically efficient people on the payroll.

Our couches look very nice in the living room at HoG and they are greatly appreciated by the staff.

No other photos today so I will just post this one here.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   

Monday May 13, 2013

Monday May 13, 2013  update #451

I had Hearts Of Gold deliver me the bid sheets from the April 13^th Silent Auction so we could determine what products or services did better than others, etc.   I spent most of the day doing the spreadsheet with breakdowns and percentages but there were few surprises.  The items that sold over retail prices were mainly food items and spices that did not bring in a great deal of money.   Many items did well with the Buy-It-Now feature although we probably expected more so that will be an item for discussion next year for sure.   The bottom line is that we probably averaged around 42% of retail overall which is understandable when we are dealing with retired folks on limited incomes.  Not too many big ticket items brought in more than 30% so that dragged the percentages down quite a bit.

I then had to follow that up with a plan of attack as Event Coordinator for our current Back To School drive.  It is an online drive to raise $6,150 to give 123 kids 2 pairs of shoes and their initial school supplies.  It is an ambitious number to raise but we are off to a good start.    Our main problem is a short timeline to be completed by July 5 and then we have to deal with most of our volunteers being gone during this period, including me.  

The tree directly in front our house is almost free of leaves as we are in the middle of our fall season.   Last year it only seemed to take about a week before the new leaves were sprouting again.   It is kinda different having a spring, a fall, and 2 summers, but we will live with it, lol.

I have been so busy with all this paperwork that I haven’t even stuck my head out the door, so sorry, no pictures today.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   

Sunday May 12, 2013

Sunday May 12, 2013  update #450

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all you Mothers out there.   You know who you are, lol…

Bella had won a “breakfast” at the Bingo on Tuesday at the Oro Verde Hotel that they told us only opens at noon so we went there for a Mother’s Day brunch before she had to scoot off to her Bridge game.

Buses were slow coming and they were usually a 40 minute ride so we grabbed a cab.  Road closures for Mother’s day around the main cemetery caused delays and the ride ended up being 30 minutes.  We arrived at 10 to 12 and they started giving us funny looks saying the buffet closed at noon.   Typical Ecuador, always giving a person the wrong story…   Anyway they rushed us in and we hurriedly chose from the buffet, where all the burners had long since been turned off so our entire meal was cold but we had a good feed anyway.

I walked Bella down to the Rio Tomebamba where she crosses to go to Bridge, over the bridge, and I continued east, getting a few snaps of the river laundry folks, and a few shots of Mark and Karen’s new apartment from the outside.   I slipped into Joe’s Secret Garden to give Joseph the photos from last night and also all the photos from last week’s Derby Day.   He claimed DropBox only contained about 10 shots however my end showed they had all uploaded.   While waiting I got shots of their great devil masks in the living room and their awesome goldfish mural while I had great natural afternoon light.

I then passed through Feria Libre, quite surprised at the abundance of fruit sellers on the west side.  I toyed with the idea of getting a small stereo to play music but ended up spending $15 for an 8Gb Memory stick that is all metal, flexible, and will stay on my key ring.  It is very handy when traveling to have your information so close at hand.

Because there is a Deportive Cuenca soccer/futbol game today our bus got re-routed and it always amazes us that they do not have a set alternate route to use.  They get all sidetracked in narrow sidestreets, going many blocks out of the way, and this bozo had to back up an entire block to get back on “his” route.    In the process he missed at least 4 stops entirely.

I wanted to be home by early afternoon to try to get in a late bid on the camera lens that I want.   There is a fellow in Ontario selling it, starting at $450 on eBay, with a Buy-It-Now price of $675.   They go for $600 new so I don’t know why he put such silly pricing on it.   I had offered him $525 for it earlier but he refused me so I hope to get it for a lot less now.   I waited until the last minute to get my bids in but one fellow beat me by $10 and I didn’t have time to re-bid.  It went for $535.

I found another used one that allows offers so I offered $490 plus the $31 shipping.   I noted this same store had 2 the same posted so I am hoping they will grab my offer.

I think tonight calls for popcorn and a good movie.

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