it’s been a while

We are living in kind of a dream state here. Nothing changes very much, but it’s pleasant enough. Enjoyable, in fact. We have our routines and have started cautiously stepping out a bit. The weather is a little colder because we are in our “winter” here. HA! Call this winter? So we put on an extra layer but still have no need for heat in our apartment. It is a very rare day that we don’t see some sun and when it’s out it is very intense and streams in our big windows to warm every room. I believe being on the seventh floor helps too. Our floors are always warm. Bruce had a desk custom made for his office, which is one of the bedrooms, and he spends many happy hours there. Otherwise, you could find him riding one of his three bikes around town. Why three bikes?? The first one was supposed to be mine but it turned out to be too big for me. He bought the second one so we could ride together and then came upon a racing bike that stole his heart. So I am looking for a bike just the right size for me.

We finally received our cédulas, which is the final step in our residency process. The cédula is a card that would be similar to our social security card. To celebrate, we took our friend Regina to a French restaurant, La Petite Jardín, which is not too far from our apartment, but in more of a country setting.

Notice the table with hand sanitizer and instructions for distancingt

Regina and the chef, Giovanni Cambizaca……she had been there several times before

Very French country. Warm and cozy.

The restaurant is large enough for two fireplaces

My appetizer, potato leek soup. Bruce had frog legs

Regina’s sole

My rabbit…..yummy sauce!

Bruce chose beef roulade. He was happy with it……. beef can be disappointing down here.

créeme brûlée for the grand finale😊

You may remember that we are helping a Venezuelan family that sells limes on the street beneath our apartment. Times are really tough for the Venezuelan refugees that Ecuador agreed to take into their country two years ago.

This is Mathias. He just turned three last month.

With mom and dad, Carlos and Nazareth

Carlos with his limes and mandarines on Ordoñez Lasso. Nazareth’s papa Jorge also sells limes but wasn’t there when I took these photos.

I made this card for Mathias’s birthday. I forgot to take a picture of the cake…banana chocolate chip with chocolate frosting. And some toys too.

My daughter Anna has been very productive with her artwork. I included some of her paintings in the last post and here are a few more. I am just beginning to dabble a bit in acrylics, just collecting some supplies and practicing. Nothing to show yet, but it is so nice to have Anna to talk shop with!

Awesome!

love the colors and the en

Can you guess who this is?

Love this one

Love the slightly impressionistic quality

Okay, something happened and WordPress won’t let me add more photos to this one so I will start a new one and post it tomorrow!