Monday, March 2, 2020

Monday, March 2, 2020 Scenery


SUBSCRIBING ON THE RIGHT  IS working 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, 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.
Al
******
© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission. 
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.

Sugar cane fields overlooked by mountains

Strange wasp nests (no penis jokes)

BugaLaGrande cemetery

All mausoleums, no graves

The only real statue there

Table legs to be painted



Sunday, March 1, 2020

Sunday, March 1, 2020 Puppies


SUBSCRIBING ON THE RIGHT  IS working 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, March 1, 2020
Happy 81st Birthday, brother Fern!

I didn't get much sleep as the neighbours were again partying loudly until almost 6am.  
We were out at 8am to pick up a larger puppy at the Animal Park to take to Adiela's.  Then we picked up 2 more smaller puppies at Zoonosis and brought them along.  We followed Adiela by a round-about route to the Univalle University at the other end of town, close to ChijillasCas.  There the girls stayed for the day at an adoption event and to take donations of cash and food to help the homeless dogs (and cats too).
Then I went to David's where we watched the second race of the weekend for SuperBike.  I guess the first race was very exciting and this race sure had its moments too.  The races were at Philip Island, south Of Melbourne, where I have such fond memories of the moulting ritual of the Fairy Penguins.
Then we watched 3 episodes of a Netflix series "Drive to Survive" which is an in-depth recap of last year's Formula 1 season: the drivers, the managers, the teams, the changes, the rivalries, the mistakes, the competitiveness,and it does not hold much back.  It was last year's series that got me hooked on the sport.  Always fascinating to see behind the scenes.  
Then I made a solo shopping run to LA14 to get my staples such as coffee, milk, honey, my salad fixings, and a few snacks.  I can't live without the snacks unfortunately.
Cristina contacted me to come and get them at 4:50pm.  The storm clouds were really rolling in with scattered showers.  Remeber that I washed the car yesterday...  Naturally we didn't get out of there until 6:10pm after loading up a lot of dog food in the back of the car.  I was amazed at the amount of dog and cat food that came out of there at the end.  I guess an artist had started a raffle for one of his paintings.  The cost of tickets was some dog food.  And they had banners, paw stickers and activities.  I was impressed at the event organization that involved the students..
The good news is that the 2 smaller puppies got adopted out.  The bad news is that someone dropped off another 5 tiny abandoned puppies.  One of those got adopted, so we returned to Zoonosis with the larger puppy and the 4 small ones.
At Zoonosis they had 2 baby squirrels without parents.  The big hearts of all these people is awe-inspiring.
I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.
Al
******
© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission. 
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.

These two got lucky = Adopted

The smaller the better to get adopted

Superbike starters

Middle of the pack

and the also-rans

They ride so very close together

Exciting finish with teammate rivals

So close, but no cigar today

Lowes was the surprise winner

Victory for Kawasaki today 1-2

Podium at Philip Island - Race 2

Poster for Adoption/Donation event

I missed all the excitement

4 of the 5 new abandoned babies

We need to find them homes quickly

Harder to place the larger puppies like this one

Protection from the rain

New rescue(s) at Zoonosis

I was amazed it didn't scoot off

Cute little critters

I assume they will eventually be returned to the wild