Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: November 2020

Monday, November 30, 2020

Monday November 30, 2020 Nativa

SUBSCRIBING ON THE RIGHT is schizophrenic again… ?? >>>>>>>>>>

To be safe, PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

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

******

Monday November 30, 2020

Last night we went way out past Campo Alegre to the wake for Aunt Nativa's Aunt Nativa who passed away at age 93. We had been out to this location once or twice before, but never at night. Cristina said we would only be there 1/2 hour or so, but then she got talking to the skinny cousin who works at our Town office and it was 2 hours before I could pry her out of there. I did get some really detailed shots of the full moon though. This is called a "Beaver moon"??

Today, of course, is the 4th anniversary of the crash where I broke my neck but survived. My mind is about the only thing that has arguably continued to work normally ever since. I can do almost everything I used to do, just a lot slower.

This morning when walking the dogs I brought the Nikon along. Taking shots in the virtual dark is where a person needs a tripod... Now, I am taking about 2-second exposures on manual focus, one-handed, while holding onto 4 dogs! Give me some credit that the objects are even recognizable.... I got a photo of Charlie for you and one other horse. There were 2 other horses in one pasture but too far away and the photos were awful. There were lots of cats about but the one shot I am showing you shows the danger of the long-exposure shot.

Now I was looking for the moon in the western sky, where it usually is at that time of the morning but it wasn't there at all. I found that curious until I saw Facebook posts about an eclipse at that particular time... So I guess I saw an eclipse and I wasn't in the dark after all..... lol.

Leonel was called in to work at hisBugaLaGrande job so he didn't come to cut our long grass as expected.

I got a few really good shots of the fascinating Golden Silk Spider. It really is quite a complex creature.

We zipped into Tulua after our early brunch and I paid a day early for my health insurance. Then we went to LA14 to get a birthday gift of assorted clothing for Cristina's Mom, Ana Julia. We managed to deliver the gifts personally because Miguel was home with Ana Julia and Adiela was not at home. The sisters are not on speaking terms for a while, both are incredibly stubborn and hold long grudges, so this could go on for a while and, you know what??? I don't mind at all.... Cristina needs a break from her bossy sister.

We picked up Aunt Nativa again to got to the cemetery chapel for the funeral of her Aunt Nativa (actually Natividad) Palacios. I recognized a few family faces, especially from the night before. We sat though 50 minutes of mass where I struggled to sleep. Then they had 20 minutes of music from the male soloist who had a great voice. Next they carried the casket to the grave which is next to the water faucet that everyone uses to water the plants on the graves. Everybody stands around to watch them actually shovel all the dirt over the casket after the few graveside prayers. Nativa seemed particularly upset at the loss of her namesake.

I'm pooped. I think it will be an early night tonight.

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.

Wake for Natividad Palacios in the country

Detailed full "Beaver" moon

Very bright, so hand-held shot, fast shutter speed

Charlie ignoring me this morning

Another horse on the loose

Several milking cows

One of the many cats loose at 5am

Hair cut really short since I am almost bald now


Such is life. What can I do?

I am told this stuff works

Worth a try. Not hopeful.

Another dray wagon loaded with sugar cane

Gorgeous rosebud opening

Beautiful rose after rain

Golden Silk Spider

GSS

Saffron Finch

Natividad funeral and mass is over

Gathering for the lowering of the casket with ropes

Cute relatives

An impressive place to be laid to rest

Arrows point at the 2 Nativas

A kiskadee watches proceedings

Fin

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Sunday November 29, 2020 Formula 1

SUBSCRIBING ON THE RIGHT is schizophrenic again… ?? >>>>>>>>>>

To be safe, PLEASE bookmark this page and check daily.

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

******

Sunday November 29, 2020

It sure looked like a very full moon this morning, bright orange and all,... so that explains all the strangeness of the last few days??!!

So I was off at 8:30am to pick up dessert to watch the Formula 1 race from Bahrain and was lucky to be able to get some cash from the nearby bank machine. We had exhausted all our money yesterday buying food for our guests and for dog food.

At 9am we were ready with Wolf to catch the race with David. The first lap drew the most excitement of the race when Romain Grosjean stupidly crossed the track quickly from right to left and collided with another car sending him straight into a huge steel guardrail. Half of the car broke through the guardrail and exploded in flames, apparently only 2-3 liters igniting but enough to completely engulf the driver in the cockpit. Years ago that would have been instant sayonara, but great advances in safety technology to protect the driver were never more evident than today. Grosjean somehow got out as the extinguishers were spraying the car and he managed to leap the broken guardrail with help. He was taken to hospital with bruised ribs and burns to his hands and feet. See for yourself in this wild replay video:

https://youtu.be/DBZyG79OwUg

I fully expect the video to be removed for copyright infringement, so I hope you get a chance to see it. I don't see any other video posts yet to share.

The race was red-flagged during lap 2 and the delay was very long as they removed debris, removed and replaced the guardrail with concrete barriers. They were amazingly efficient to do all of this in a relatively short period of time. The sympathy vote for Driver Of The Day went to Grosjean, stupidly, which was like voting on the Darwin Awards for the idiot who tried his best to kill himself.

Late in the race, Canadian Lance Stroll, driving for Canadian team Racing Point tried the same silly move and got completely flipped over. He managed to crawl out unscathed.

His partner driver, Sergio Perez, had the third podium spot locked up with about 3 laps to go when his engine caught fire and ruined his day too.

So the good/bad news is that this year's Champion, Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes again led the race from start to finish.

I hope you enjoy the pictures (BACKWARDS AGAIN, sorry, thank you Google..) And we have continuing internet outages from bloody Movistar so everything takes twice as long. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 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.