Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Sunday April 5, 2026 Relax

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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

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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.

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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....

Friday, April 3, 2026

Friday April 3, 2026 Problems, problems

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

******

Friday April 3, 2026

Gee, a whole week without blogging or taking any photos... It seems that I am just jumping from one problem to the next and they are not resolving themselves easily.

Last Saturday, Bernie backed out on buying Bob's scooter so I now have it posted for sale, with only one low-ball bite so far.

Sunday I spent all day working on photos from our 2007 fall cruise up the New England coast, from New York to Quebec City... Luckily most of the shots were decent and I kept 68 for uploading for sale a long time from now... My backlog is almost 2 year-old pictures right now.

Don came late with a tempting hambuger and baked potato supper, plus a load of books for me to read. Both offerings are very handy for me, the food is usually delicious and the books help to occupy my nights...

Monday I spent all day working on my Cuenca Kids series with a lot of new pics ready for upload.

Tuesday I took the LRT to the Library even though my annual Transit ARC pass has expired. Wouldn't you know it, that this was the day that the Transit Police decided to flood their presence on the platforms.... Returning from Churchill Square presented a problem because they were checking everyone entering, so I had to walk 5 blocks to the quiet Bay station to get home. Somewhere on that walk I developed a wonky back near my left hip that has not resolved itself quite yet. I can't wait until we actually get some spring weather to use the scooter(s)...

Wednesday was spent watching all types of sports, hockey, curling, baseball, basketball, soccer.... and reading along first chapter of one of my new Library books to confirm that I had already read that one.. Sheesh...

Thursday, Facebook Marketplace pulled down my scooter ad because they now don't allow ads for medical relief or mobility... There are still many scooter ads on there, so I will have to re-word it and put it under another category...

Then Dawn was using Interac to return a loan and CIBC said there was a problem, so I went to the branch. They got on the phone with Online Banking and told me that it was because I had newly opted for Automatic Deposit the same day as the transfer, which was absolute BS, but they said to try it again and it should work... Well, it didn't, so we will just deal with a cash transfer after the Easter holidays. Interac has never been a problem in the past.

The Manoir had given us a notice that they were going to do snow clearing in the parking lot 4 to 5:30pm so I decided to try pricing out the low-mileage driver program at AMA. I had been rteferred to them by the Alberta Automobile Insurance rate Board. It is amazing how much information they can pull up on a person... We worked on an estimate of 7,000 kms a year and you can imagine my disbelief that their quote worked out to $1,000 more than I am paying..!!! A flat fee per month plus $0.46c a kilometer... Good grief!!

I got back to the apartment and they had not touched the parking lot which has little snow to worry about.... Grrrr

So I treated myself to the Meatlover's Plus from Grandma Pizza... and I donated my humidifier to Dawn. Even boiling the water first does not make distilled water which is needed to avoid the white dust everywhere..

I was hoping to get shots of the full moon but the sky was overcast all night...

Today I decided to take photos of the interesting whirlpool created when draining the bathtub. I am sure that I can do better...

I checked, and Air Canada still has not sent the promised refund for my damaged luggage... Am I surprised???

Curling semi-finals later this afternoon will be a must-watch...

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

******

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.