Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: February 2017

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Tuesday February 28, 2017 Changes

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Tuesday February 28, 2017

Goodbye February. Two weeks ago I bought my wife a small bouquet from a seller in a tent for Valentine's. If anything, the bouquet is better today than then because the rose is starting to open more. Flowers are so cheap here and they last forever.

This morning our empty fridge and larder told us to get going to the grocery store. We get to Coral only to find it closed, just like almost everything else in town. We thought that they only closed on New Year's day??!! Today is Fat Tuesday (Mardis Gras) and the place is a ghost town, the last day of Carnaval. Most of the locals hide in the country or go to the beach. Even the buses were not running today..

So we found a corner grocery (tienda) and bought some dog food for our starving puppies.

I wanted to treat my wife to lunch so we circled the neighbourhood and found ONE place open for lunch. I ordered the Chaulafan (fried rice and shrimp), while Cristina ordered a soup and a Beef dish, plus a Sprite. Chaulafan is usually higher priced here but I was flabbergasted when the bill was over $14...!! They charged $5 for the bowl of soup for gosh sakes. I couldn't believe it... We could get Cristina's soup, meal, drink with popcorn and dessert usually for $2.75..... I won't be darkening their door ever again...

Then Cristina decided today was the day to reorganize the two second-floor bedrooms. The big bird is gone, and the 2 baby birds are compact, although one is now taking flight in the room. So I tackled the dismantling and re-building of the one single bed in the other room, with the timely help of the 3 dogs. Then we put the double bed back together in the left bedroom. I guess I will have to break down and buy a headboard for it as I am using the old headboard for the king bed upstairs. Things are getting cramped in the house as we (I) keep collecting stuff and don't throw anything away.

We had a real heavy rain a wile ago and I remembered to watch the new drain pipe do its thing, and it is handling the job just fine, and the eavestrough below is large enough to handle the flow too. Not to worry.

Yesterday's photos, and today's were with my new Lumix. I am really quite pleased with those outdoors from yesterday and not very pleased with the indoor results today. But then, I just realized that I forgot to put the flash back on, so Operator Error is to blame for that.

I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement. Cheers, Al

If you want to borrow a picture for sharing with family and friends, PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

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

Our little bouquet is flourishing.

I had to bring 1/2 of the Chaulafan home....

The double bed looks bare without a headboard

Princesa is always eager to help

Mariposa gets out of the way OK

The two singles are set up

My new drain pipe is handling the flow easily

Monday, February 27, 2017

Monday February 27, 2017 Quinta Bolivar

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my websites: http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

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Comments are graciously accepted at souvenirphotostudio@gmail.com.

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Monday February 27, 2017

Fist I am going to impress upon my friends who can vote in Ecuador to please vote for a change from the present Government. Our choices may not be great, truthfully, but I simply need to throw out the crooks that stole my money and that of many other investors, and then illegally suborned the courts to hide their misdeeds. They have broken so many Constitutional laws, they do not deserve our support. The opponents, especially Paez, has promised to put the wrongdoers in jail, and you have no idea what pleasure it would give me to see Correa and all his corrupt cronies go to jail...

When I picked up my new phone Friday they made a mistake and gave me the office copy of the bill, so called to ask me to bring the green copy back on Monday. So I make a special trip to El Centro to do this favour and, guess what, .... all their offices are closed, like most of downtown for the Carnaval holiday. And, of course, nobody thinks to let me know to wait until Wednesday. So I took a picture and emailed it to them....

I then had a 1/2 hour to kill so I wandered around outside the grounds of the closed Quinta Bolivar, enjoying the beautiful variety of flowers.

Then I went to Spanish class with the very patient Teo. It is difficult when so little actually sticks to the brain until you have been caught several times making the same mistake. Teo is also expanding and is looking to hire a few teachers to teach English to Ecuadorians.

I was about to leave and it was raining so I had to wait 2 hours before the rain abated enough to ride home. The rivers are running high again as the February rainy season gives us a last kick. Where the heck did February go????

I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement. Cheers, Al

If you want to borrow a picture for sharing with family and friends, PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

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

The office copy for the phone purchase

Rio Yanuncay running high #1

Rio Yanuncay running high #2

Rio Yanuncay running high #3

I wish the Quinta Bolivar museum had been open

Some incredible flowers on the grounds

Many colours of hibiscus

Gotta love this colour

or this one

or this one....

Older leaves of this cactus seem to turn to stone...

I forget the name, but I love this flower

Buzzer under a small canopy trying to avoid the rain

The rain would really pound down at times

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Saturday February 25, 2017 Joes' Secret Garden

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my NEW websites: http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

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Comments are graciously accepted at souvenirphotostudio@gmail.com.

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Saturday February 25, 2017

Friday early morning was spent killing the stolen phone via computer and changing all my important passwords. Since the cel with the Movistar chip was stolen around 9:15 and my account was transferred to Claro around 11:00, the thieves were not going to get much mileage out of it. The rest of the morning was spent getting a new cel phone, a small cheapie, and then all afternoon I was re-programming it.

Saturday was threatening rain but I rode Buzzer to Joes' Secret Garden anyway. A really good crowd came out tonight for a Carnaval BBQ meal, without the worry of getting soaked with foam or water. Many old friends that I had not seen for a long time were in attendance so that made for a very nice evening.

At the end of the meal it was still raining so I parked Buzzer inside the yard and took a cab home. It was barely sprinkling during the ride home, but I am glad that I left it behind, it is no fun riding on wet roads. I will pick it up in the morning.

I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement. Cheers, Al