Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Monday, March 2, 2020 Scenery

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Monday, March 2, 2020

Happy Monday everyone. The hummingbird feeders got their refills and Tom was very appreciative.

We went to the BugaLaGrande EPS pharmacy to try to get refills of the Omega-3 tablets for the remaining 2 months while I will be in Canada. No soap. Rules are rules. I would need to return in a month to get the last month' tablets. So silly.

It was a lovely sunny day so we took a leisurely drive to the toll booth to the north and slowly drove back home. The scenery is very green again, thanks to the recent rains and the sugar cane fields are growing like crazy and the big trucks are everywhere.

Coming back through BugaLaGrande we decided to stop at what looked like a nice cemetery. As we stepped from the car, Cristina spotted a sight we had seen Friday near the Dentist's office. Trees have openings dominated by long (paper?) cones which are apparently home to very small wasps. I never wanted to get too close to that..!

The cemetery was very odd in that everything was mausoleums, no in-ground burials and almost no statuary.. We didn't get to see it all because the caretaker was closing up from noon until 2:30. It wasn't very interesting anyway.

There is something I've always wanted to mention here. Often, we would be pulling up to a red light, behind motorcycles especially, who stop 1/2 block from the intersection. I asked Cristina what was going on and she pointed out that they stop where there is shade from anything, a tall building, tree, even a post. When the sun is as relentless as it is here, it is not rocket science even for animals to find available cover. Peiople park in the strangest, dangerous places just to capture a bit of shade.

We made a quick stop at D-1 for more staples, especially laundry soap. Hopefully most of the shopping is finished until I leave. My plane is at 8:48am so I would have to leave Tulua about 4:30am.. There are not many taxis about at that time here. Cristina says there is a car that leaves from the bus terminal direct to the airport which sounds good to me. We would have to make arrangements the day before. Taking the bus to Cali, then to the airport, is just onerous with all the wasted time.

We finished off the roasted chicken for lunch. So we essentially had 5 big meals for $5. Ask me again why I live here.

Then I chopped up my cabbages for my last salads in Colombia for a while. I really should lose weight before my trip because I will certainly indulge myself with comfort foods from home.. Fish'n'Chips, TeenBurger, DQ Brazier, Little Caesar's, ham suasages, Alberta beef, pepperoni sticks, dry ribs, and salt'n'pepper wings. Mmmmmmmmmm. Salivating already.

We started to prep the two puppy-chewed chair legs for painting. Aram thought that he had had some paint but he found his supply empty. He went to 2 different hardwares but couldn't get the paint required. I have a home remedy that I might try which is almost like my salad ingredients but I don't know if it will work if I don't use the required Canola oil... Might be worth a try though.

Then it was nap time, severely interrupted by monstrous thunderclaps, like shotguns next to the ears... I had several dogs with me, calming them and something was nagging at me. Later I realized that I had forgotten Killer's big aversion to loud noises. He had rid himself of his diaper and clothes and dragged himself over to the base of the outside stairs. I wonder if he was seriously trying to make it back into the house, poor guy.. The thunder continued for a long time but I don't think we got much rain out of it.

I have been uploading my best photo work for years to RedBubble (where I sell a few) and Fine Art America (where I sell very few). RedBubble has always been a pain-in-the-ass because it is very complicated and they just can't leave things alone. I have stayed just because of the meagre sales I do get there. They make the most insane changes and have negated thousands of hours of my hard work by needless changes. They are about to make many more drastic changes which will basically eliminate the camaraderie we have enjoyed over the years with other artists. Comments and favouring of our work by our peers has always been a cornerstone of that community. The artists, especially photographers, are leaving there in droves and have even set up a crying page on FaceBook called The Burst Bubble. I joined for about 2 hours but soon tired of the many posts clogging my feed and all the moaning and groaning. If my sales drop off, I will join the exodus, but i already have the advantage of having been on FAA for many years.

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

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