Time Passes Much Too Quickly

Perhaps it is because we're older, perhaps it is because we're retired, but time passes extremely quickly these days. It has been a while since the last blog, so, it's time to attempt to catch up.

We've done a few excursions lately, a recent Saturday was spent in Azogues with John and Leeann. In the park, there's an interesting tree with the fence growing into it.

In the park.

Iglesia San Francisco is being renovated.

Inside the church
The courtyard

Leeann and John

The "smiley face" has been on Borrerro across from the Coffee Tree for a while.

These are new additions.

Someone had a birthday. There was a surprise party for me at weaving.

Nancy, Cecy, and Paquita

Faye, Nancy, and Elaine

The celebration ended at Santa Lucia.

Dibacco's has a Resource Fair every month. Patricia exhibited with a large display. A group of us had dinner afterwards. The restaurant was quite good.

The orchid that I bought last year at Ecuagenera is blooming.

This is my birthday orchid.

The weather had been so cold and rainy that the Mickster needed to get away. We went to Guayaquil for the weekend. We had great Chinese food and McDonald's. There was lot's of sunshine and warm weather. On Saturday, we drove to Playas for lunch.

There's some new faces at weaving. This is Xu Juan, pronounced Joo-ar. I've knitted most of my life and have known many knitters. Juan is the best I've ever met! If you buy the yarn, she will make a sweater for $50. She had mine done in 5 days and it is exquisite. All she needs is a picture of the sweater you want and your measurements. She's sporting her first weaving project.

Nancy

FayeSherry

In addition to the side trips, weaving and the Coffee Tree continue to take a large part of our time. We've been to Uzhupud, Mick went on a fishing excursion, Corpus Cristi took place, and there have been several cookouts. I'll have more pictures soon. Time passes much too quickly.

Until next time,

Mick and Kathy

Just Another Week at the Wessons

Every week is good, but it seems that some are better than others. Tuesday we went to our favorite market, Mercado 12 de Abril, which is located near Calle Eloy Alfaro. It is not a huge market, but it is adequate in the selection.


We always feel that we are treated fairly, which is not always the case with some of the markets.

Mercado 12 de Abril is cleaner and smells better than some, especially, Feria Libre.

Mick at the market.

Below is another shopper.

The strawberries were huge.

Across the street from the market is Cadelaes, the spice store. This one is larger than the one on Remigo Crespo.

There's a new burger place in town that is great!! Carbon y Lena is located on Julio Matovelle 5-45 y Antonio Tamariz. The burgers are charbroiled and the papas are THE best! They're open 7 nights a week, 4PM - midnight. It's worth a try.

Friday, we were carless. The Logan had to go in for its 20,000 KM service at the dealer. They checked and replaced things, such as plugs and multiple filters. The cost was $273, which Mick said was considerably less than the US. Additionally, Toyota Concord always "found" things that needed repairing or replacing. They were notorious for finding leaks; however, those leaks mysteriously disappeared while parked in the garage. Mick feels that he always gets a good deal there. This is the service area. The guys that work there all wear lab coats.

Paulo, Louis, and Mick

Friday morning, we received an email from our new friend, Anne, who said that she had seen the video. If you remember several weeks ago, we were followed around by Cristina Munoz from Reuters TV. A portion of the video was used by Brian Andrews. Since I am so "non-computer savvy", here's the link for it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OConjy3ZfBE The title is "Ecuador Becomes a Hotspot for U.S. Retirees."

Some of the evenings have been unbelievably clear; Friday was one of those evenings. The sky was exceptionally clear. Here are the Cajas from the terrace. Sometimes there is so much cloud cover that they are not visible. When the evenings are so clear, the temperature drops more so during the night because a heavy cloud cover acts as a blanket, keeping the heat closer to land. Without the cloud cover, the heat escapes more rapidly. The tempurature on Saturday morning was 50 F.

For the last couple of days, the moon has been on the portion of its elliptical orbit that is closer to the earth. Last night it was not visible because of clouds; however, it was beautiful Friday.

The cymbidium is on the verge of bursting into bloom.

We tried a new restaurant, Miso.

The decor of the restaurant, which is located on Av. Federico Malo y Honorato Loyola (esquina), next to the CEDEI School, has recently been renovated and is splendid. The owners, Max and Santiago, are formerly of Florida and speak English.

They have a sushi chef.

The cuisine is Andino-Asian fusion. The flavors of the foods that we had was delicious; however, the quantity, for the cost, was insufficient. Mick ordered shrimp tempura, which consisted of 3 shrimp on a bed of red cabbage. He and Bob both requested rice. The server came back with one serving, saying that that was all they had. How can an Ecuadorian or Asian restaurant not have rice?

The flowers are doing well and enticing the hummers. To the left of what I call the parrot plant is one of the little guys.

We also have a pair that is mating. You can see them sitting in the lemon tree together.

Humming birds, flowers, and enough good weather to suffice, how much better does it get? It's been just a typical week at the Wesson house.

Until next time,

Mick and Kathy