Saturday April 11, 2026 Birthday..?

 

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog:  https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/ 

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

 http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Saturday April 11, 2026

Thursday morning I awoke before my alarm and decided that 6am was a good time to run up to the Domo with the $1.54L gas prices.  $78 later, I headed to my mechanic and left the Regal there for a quick check because I could hear the power steering growl on some turns when it was colder.

Then I spent the day working on 2025 spring photos.  I guess I do it as my hobby, and to kill time, because my PayPal is still inoperative, so I am working for nothing...

I picked up the Regal after lunch and the mechanic didn't even charge me because he could find nothing wrong with my wonderful old car...  That made me smile .. a lot!!

I cancelled my free Prime membership again.  I think I am done ordering junk for a while...

Friday I went on my Gio to the Library, returned 3 books, and tried to find one unsuccessfully... drat!  I came home and put a hold on the next 4 of the "Private" series of James Patterson...  I have trouble enough retaining a storyline without reading a series out of order.. 

Then I worked on many more pics from May and June 2025.  It certainly helps pass the time.

Today, I was invited by cousin Jeanne for a late Birthday celebration for me.  On the way, I checked out a liquidation place on Fort Road and left very disappointed.  Prices were not great and most of the merchandise was broken and in bin after bin that they wanted $25 per item...  Fat chance...  80% wasn't worth $5....

We had a good visit with Jeanne and her dog, Suki.  Later we were joined by her good friend Meng and we discussed travel extensively and world politics.

Then I got to see the Canon R100 mirrorless camera with the 18-45mm lens that Meng had bought her for Christmas.  It took us a while to figure things out because it is so different,.. like a manual flash, and why it would not retract... But, with the help of Google explanations, we got comfortable with it and determined that it took very good photos and would be easy to use, just left on Automatic mode.

We had a wonderful roast chicken supper and a monstrous chocolate tuxedo cake to celebrate my Jan 1 Birthday, along with a bottle of Brut champagne that Meng had brought from Italy.  It was a lovely, and thoughtful evening, and the leftovers came home with me... 

Meng is going to a medical conference next month to Florence and I am so jealous!!  This is his sixth time going to Florence and he hasn't yet seen the sights.... What a silly man!!!

I had put Bob's scooter out front of our building for the last 3 days with the For Sale sign, but no bites yet...   

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

******

© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission.  

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE  that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

 

Sweet old Suki

Wish it were real!

Meng is a foot doctor

Happy Birthday to me

 

 

Wednesday April 8, 2026 Snow Go Away

 

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog:  https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/ 

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

 http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Wednesday April 8, 2026

On Monday, the sun was directly overhead at our home in Andalucia, meaning zero shadows at noon.  I was late reminding Cristina...

Don again came to share his supper of steaks, so we ate much too much again.

Tuesday, I got Tripp's email address, so was able to send him the larger and better photos he had taken, processed by yours truly.  The young man has a great eye for composition so he will become a good photographer, but I cautioned him about thinking of making a living at it,... that just doesn't happen any more.

Today, I spent all day producing more Cuenca Kids pics for later uploading.  I may go on a binge for more picture processing, then upload 2 or 3 per day for sale as I did years ago.  I have a pretty healthy backlog right now.

This evening, Don called, announcing that it was Wing Night and he was going out for either wings or maybe nachos...  I went along and we shared a plate of nachos (delicious!!) and one order of salt'n'pepper wings.  It is so hard to keep my girlish figure when this stuff happens.

Hopefully tonight is the last night for snow for some time...  We are aching for spring so we can get out on the scooter(s).  I still have not sold Bobby's Tron... 

 I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

******

© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission.  

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE  that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

 

Darn snow....

Tired of the white stuff already

 

Sunday April 5, 2026 Relax

 

PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

Older Blog:  https://cuencaupdates.blogspot.com/ 

Please see my best artworks for sale at my websites:

 http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

or https://pixels.com/profiles/al-bourassa

******

Sunday April 5, 2026

 Yesterday was my Dad's 124th Birthday.  Happy Birthday Papa, you are missed so much.

I took Dawn's grandson, Tripp, with her riding shotgun, on a run to Elk Island Park.  Tripp is interested in Photography so I gave him the use of my spare D5600 with the newer 50-200 lens.  It was his first time with a real camera in his hands....  We drove the entire park but the biggest herds of bison we were on either side of the highway, near the entrance, so we never got very close, but got some shots on our way out..

The day was supposed to be sunny somewhere, but it was pretty bleak at the Park, and the only other sightings were of a coyote, several ravens and one hawk.

Tripp is only 15 years old and one of the nicest, politest young gentlemen I have met in a long time, with a good head on those shoulders.  He was a pleasure to be around.

When I got home, I processed both of our series of shots and Tripp had some good ones.  I hope to share the results with him shortly.  I was surprised that he was so economical in his shooting, taking only 53 shots...  I had expected to see close to 200.

I will share mine below though, including 2 big panoramas of the 2 herds on either side of the highway... 

After watching Matt Dunsone only get Silver at the Men's World Championship Curling, followed by the Oilers royally blowing an important game to Vegas, I headed for bed for badly needed rest...

I slept for over 12 hours again and that felt amazingly good!

♥♥♥♥ HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!! ♥♥♥♥ 

We had a baggie of chocolates at each of our doors this morning, courtesy of our Social Club...

That was followed by news of the death of yet another resident, 2 floors above...   Never-ending funerals again this year it looks like...

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

******

© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission.  

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE  that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

 

Reminded me of the movie Dr Zhivago....