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Wednesday April 9, 2014
Happy 65th Birthday to my late lovely wife Patsy. You are missed more than you can imagine.
Monday was colonoscopy day at the Medimagen Clinic near the free hospital. I was fortunate to get in very quickly, not like the huge waiting time I would have faced in Canada. The preparation was tolerable, not at all like the horror stories, but then I followed a lot of helpful hints from prior victims, er.. patients. I slept through the entire procedure but have photos and a video of the entire thing, oh joy, and can join the ranks of perfect assholes around the world. All kidding aside, it is a huge relief to know there are no bowel problems and that we can breathe easy again. I had no ill effects, other than sleepiness, so after a restful 3-hour nap I even went out shopping.
Tuesday I went shopping for items to make a black photography backdrop as I toy with the idea of doing some portrait photography on the side. I have this great program that can easily melt off years, and even pounds, so it may be a popular idea. We'll see if I get the courage to do this or not.
Today was another call to the Quinta Bolivar for a teleconference with some Assembly Committee members in Quito at 9am. I was afraid that I was late but turned out that I was the first person there, Ecuador time you know, and the event did not begin until after 10am.
In the meantime, there was an exciting art exhibition by Eduardo Rodas at the Quinta to enjoy. I took some photos on the main floor which were basically black and white so I was very surprised to find most of the same works on the second floor in colour. Possibly the BW versions are the basic sketches from which the colour oil paintings were based? Add to this some beautiful sculptures and it was certainly a pleasant experience. I always envy artists who are so multi-talented. I am going to post these colour first, then the sketches where possible.
As we entered the auditorium for the teleconference I noted a television showing two basically empty rooms and, silly me, it took a moment to realize that I was on display in one of them.. There were two strategically placed remote-control cameras in our room and I could not hide from them.
Several of our Coopera group had gone to Quito and got to say their piece along with the assembled Assembleistas. Then it was the turn for our congregation and that entailed about 6 more dissertations before it again reverted to the Quito bunch. It was thankfully over around noon. My translators had had to leave early and there was no great euphoria in the crowd, so I guess we were content that we got our message across to the people with the power to make some changes and halt the discrimination (that was a common word used in many of the speeches). Hopefully our efforts will bear fruit quickly.
Hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al
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| The Quinta Bolivar basking in the morning sun |
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| This large poster at the entrance caught our attention |
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| This painting was my favourite |
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| The original sketch? |
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| This was the write-up about it |
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| Colour version |
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| BW sketch |
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| In living colour |
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| Basic BW is very effective |
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| Colour representation |
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| Mono effect |
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| The poster came from this one |
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| Gosh I like the sketches better... |
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| Very colourful paintings |
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| but the sketches are more evocative |
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| Didn't get the colour version... |
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| Colourful and mystical |
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| Generating the idea? |
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| Gotta love this one |
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| Still like the mono version |
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| "The Universal Principal of Love" it was called |
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| Lots of colour |
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| And he can sculpt as well |
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| Self-explanatory |
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| Oh I loved this one |
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| Isn't this just great? |
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| The title "What is pear?" |
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| A tribute to "Ricardo" |
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| This was so cool |
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| This poster of the National Assembly was at the entrance |
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| and so was this artwork of the Quinta |
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| Walking into the empty auditorium |
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| Oops, this is where I realized that it was me on the left... |
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| Strangely I only knew 2 of these folks on the dais |
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| Applauding something the fellow in the middle said |
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| Everybody had their say. We hope today was effective. |
