A change of plans

I intended to write about our trip to Northern Ecuador and the land of the volcanoes…..but we postponed our trip because the vaccination process finally got rolling here and we didn’t want to miss our place in line. Last week I got my final shot and Bruce got his first, both Sinovac. The new plan is to keep our reservations for Cartagena in July and go north a couple months later. We are under orders to stay in our homes on the weekends for a month which isn’t much of a hardship because we have a terrace and a garden also.

This posting will be short with just a few recent photos. We are in the rainy season here but we still get plenty of sun and the temps are fifties at night and seventies during the day. I spend my time cooking, cleaning and painting. Bruce has various projects and explores the city and countryside on his bike. We are pretty much set up with doctors of all kinds and dentists, so those appointments take some time as well as trips to SuperMaxi and an occasional restaurant. It is very enjoyable, but we are feeling READY to travel!!

Meet Shaggy. He is a real mellow guy who loves Bruce because Bruce feeds him doggy treats and 🥓 and other tasty morsels.

Dinner tonight! I am sure Shaggy will get a taste.

It’s not a Webber but Bruce likes it just fine.

Our sky last evening……we are entranced with the ever changing and dramatic cloud formations here in Cuenca.

A couple of shots of our neighborhood….
Our neighbors across the street

This is the same street called Del Chirote looking toward the city.

One street over, Las Garzas borders the University of Azuay. These street signs are not on every street, unfortunately, so it is not always easy to find an address here!

Love this tree! This is right off our terrace because we are three floors up.

Also right off our terrace. Lots of hummingbird varieties here and we are looking for a hummingbird feeder.
I know we can find one….but where??

This little guy and his friends come everyday and we enjoy them while eating breakfast and lunch in the nook off the kitchen. Evening meals are a candlelight affair in the dining room😊

We see a few of these. I just measured him at four inches across. He is on our fireplace mantle still, after a couple of months.

See? I just snapped the photo.

Bruce had this grate made not far from here. There is a street nearby with several ironworks shops so he just chose one, showed him a photo of what he wanted and we are very pleased.

So pleased that he asked him to make this as well. The wood is mostly eucalyptus and cherry. There are lots of eucalyptus trees along the river. Bruce picks of arm loads of bark that has fallen on the ground. It makes great kindling.

These beauties are also found along the river.

This is our new river, the Yanuncay We used to live near the Tomebamba.

This is a park just East of us.

Same park

Ditto. We have a new botanical garden the just opened in our neighborhood. I will take photos and post them next time.

Our equestrian police on patrol along the river

I had this tray custom made for my pastels

I am slowly building up my supply😊 They all must be shipped from the states.

I also had him make a removable lid so I could switch between pastels and acrylics.
So much fun happens in this room, which I grandly call my studio😊😊😊

These are dried flowers from a tree a block from us. They call it a vanilla tree. We can’t resist collecting them. They are like little wooden sculptures.

Tuna! We can buy the most delicious seafood in a small gourmet market nearby.

Second shot day!!! Didn’t even hurt!

A pretty scene in a park downtown

Our neighbors having their windows washed!

And we will leave you with a few scenes of the sky.

Bruce and I wish all our family and friends health and happiness in 2021. We have collectively gone through a LOT in the last year but we know that the future will be brighter.
Love to you all and keep the faith….as we used to say in the sixties.

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