Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Sunday Nov 4, 2018 Things

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It appears that it is working again. THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

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

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Sunday Nov 4, 2018

Saturday morning I had to do another 3 hours of "driver training" and have to go back for 1 last hour Tuesday morning at 8am. Then I am not exactly sure yet if I do exams here or have to go into Tulua to the Transito office.

While I was doing these classes I had my car washed next door, inside and out again for $4. Now, there is one things that is an absolute certainty every time that I wash my car, it causes rain... I should hire myself out as a rainmaker.

Had a good sleep that night because we restricted ourselves to only one dog in the bedroom overnight and he was quiet. The other dogs were also really well behaved and I got up early at 4:30 to take 3 dogs for a walk then went back to bed until 9am.

Today I tried to work on a few photos and got papers prepared to send to CIBC in Canada tomorrow. That still rankles me that the manager can be such a lousy customer service person while her staff are so very helpful. I was doing OK until we got a surprise (to me anyway, because Cris did not tell me) visit from our niece Natalia. Later we went out to visit Naty's sister Lina who has moved to a different house in the same barrio.

Then we went to the cemetery for a bit before heading into Tulua and shopping at Dollar City. Most things are pretty cheap there, nothing over $3.50.

Then we went to meet Adiela at LA14 and I ordered a steak supper while they wandered about for coffee and snacks. I should have followed my first instincts and gone to the best steak place called La Sevillana but I saw a nice picture of a thick steak advertised at another place so I gave them a shot. That was a mistake because there was very little good meat on this fatty slab. I should know that it is always better to stay with the quality places.

Adiela introduced us to a lady who installs cameras in homes with live connection to our phone as well as recording to a DVR. The machine can handle 8 cameras and either 1MB or 2MB quality. Compared to Canada, this would be quite cheap but I doubt that I will go for it. We already have 8 alarms (dogs), 8 deterrents (dogs) and, even if we did catch a crook on video, there is almost zero chance that he/she would be caught or prosecuted. We aren't flashy about anything, we have good neighbours, but the perception is still that gringos have money, so I try to look as poor as possible, and that's not hard.

The heavens opened again while we were there so my nice clean car was.....

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.

I shot these blind, one-handed, over the roof of the car

Natalia, Lina, Lorena and Cristina

Caballos en la calle

Horses in the street

Don't know why they are loose

Steak supper, real lemonade $7

Friday, November 2, 2018

Friday Nov 2, 2018 Operation

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It appears that it is working again. THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

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

******

Friday Nov 2, 2018

The good news: We have a date for Cristina's hysterectomy/tumour removal finally!!!! We went to the private doctor today and she will go into the Buga Hospital on Saturday Nov 17th at 7am.

She needs to get rid of an infection first, then have a check-up on Wednesday Nov 14th.

We then battled the worst drivers in Colombia to drive across Tulua to visit a sister who wasn't home because nobody called to check. I was not a happy camper about that. The drivers were no better on the trip back.

I am still battling with NetTalk to be able to put $30 of Talk Credits on their silly website which cannot complete the simplest of tasks.

I finally heard from the mousy CIBC bank manager in Okotoks who is now asking that I mail or courier her a written authorization since I have no fax access....... The last time that I couriered 2 pages from Ecuador it cost me $52 USD, and I am having a tough time remaining civil in my communications with this "person" who is holding me me and my money hostage. God, please rid the world of useless, spineless bureaucrats and canonize the worker bees who know the meaning of Customer Service.

Not in the mood for pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

******

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Thursday Nov 1, 2018 Cemetery

TRY SUBSCRIBING ON THE RIGHT AGAIN > > > >

It appears that it is working again. THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

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

******

Thursday Nov 1, 2018

Tuesday night we were visiting briefly with Carlos' Mom and Carlos was outside trying to install the awning frame so I lent a hand. You would think that he would have learned something from doing ours. His lackadaisical methods of measuring always get him into trouble. One of the braces was a good 1/2' above the rest. Wednesday we did not notice any changes as we drove by. I made the suggestion that he just drill new holes in the brace rather than drill more into the wall, which will weaken its hold.

This morning was the usual, dogs, driving school (2 2-hour classes), my internet chores then I worked on a few more photos. At present I am mostly uploading photos taken 18 months ago.

We went into Tulua to get nice artificial blue flowers at a special place and we came out with 18 blue carnations. We did a little grocery shopping at the nearby ARA store, and stopped at Dollar City before getting a few more groceries at LA 14.

One of our purchases was a large watering can to use at the cemetery rather than always hunting for something. Cristina thinks it is just the cat's meow. I had also brought along my small pruning shears to cut down the nice flowering bushes so they will thicken and flower more.

Carlos Mom, sister and niece are helping us with food broth for the dogs and they have so far been supplying the container so we brought them a nicely covered container to use.

Carlos had installed the aluminum sheathing on the awning with his usual haphazard style and I noticed that he had not adjusted the third brace but was complaining that it was separating from the wall... He figures that if he uses fatter screws that that will solve the problem... H-e-l-l-o-o-o-o-o I didn't say anything because it is pretty much too late to do it right.

I have not heard back from CIBC in Canada, but finally got a response from NetTalk. They will send the new DUO to me for $30 and I have to buy talk credits to pay for it. So I go to their website to update my information, etc and it won't let me amend the credit card information... WTF.... So help me, I am not making any of this stuff up... Murphy's Law is alive and well in Colombia.

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.