Stranger in a Strange Land

[NYCat 3,258]

What wonderful responses I have had from you, my friends on the Forum. Thank you for the links, Wim. It's the kind of music that I find soothing. I feel very lucky to live a few blocks from the Church of the Ascension and to be able to hear all the Voices concerts in person. The church has wonderful acoustics and it fills with glorious sound. I"m not musical and it amazes me the way the members of the choir can sing their own part with so many other notes coming from around them. Every singer is wonderfully talented.

 

Paulette

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

Got my flu jab at the smaller nearby Boots pharmacy today. T'was free. I just went in and they did it right away. I love Boots and the NHS and most Scousers, but still can't understand them. 

[spacecadet 4,883]

5 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

still can't understand them. 

I can understand "free".

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

This is the free online music mix I use:  https://www.accuradio.com

 

[MizBrown 941]

On 06/10/2020 at 10:38, NYCat said:

 

No way, Allan. The smart move in NYC is to just walk away. We have somehow not found a way to take care of our crazy and/or addicted population and with the emergence of the idea that we should "defund the police" it is advisable to take great care in the great city of New York. Not my idea of how to go about our governance but it is what it is. Don't mean to get political. Just surviving as best I can.

 

Paulette

That's generally the advice anywhere in the world.   I had a drunk decide he needed to kiss me (a couple of years back) and I started screaming.  Neighbors came out and lead him out of the way and calmly explained to him why he should leave the gringa alone.  Very civilized actually.  He seemed to have a penchant for touching gringas as two other expat women had had to deal with him.  Haven't seen him in a while. 

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

Your neighbours make me wish I had been able to visit Nicaragua, MizB. The day I was to get on the PanAm flight from San Salvador in the '70s was the day of the big earthquake. I've been everywhere else down there except for Belize. 

[MizBrown 941]

7 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Your neighbours make me wish I had been able to visit Nicaragua, MizB. The day I was to get on the PanAm flight from San Salvador in the '70s was the day of the big earthquake. I've been everywhere else down there except for Belize. 

 

Jinotega is a fairly unique little city.  International Living's former rep for Nicaragua tried to get an expat in Jinotega to talk to her.  We all have an understanding that if anyone does, we'll beat him or her up.  I can live here without a car, and in better times, there's jazz in the park and I've walked by someone playing an Andean flute in his house.   And sometimes, there's street music.  

 

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

Sunday is as Sunday does (whatever that means?).

 

https://edostrange.blogspot.com/2020/10/selfie-abuse.html

 

[gvallee 4,447]

18 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Sunday is as Sunday does (whatever that means?).

 

https://edostrange.blogspot.com/2020/10/selfie-abuse.html

 

 

And I'm in tears. Again. Not a bad thing, don't get me wrong.

Edo you are an amazing person. And you probably have more selfies/photos of yourself than me. It's verboten.

[Michael Ventura 7,406]

Great Blog Edo! Sorry you will on hiatus while working on the other writing project.  I too have selfiephotophobia.  I don’t think I have ever intentionally taken.  My headshot was taken by my daughter but only after a magazine said they needed my portrait and bio for the contributors page. Boy did I fret over that.  So, no, does not seem odd to me. I always want the camera pointed in the other direction. Lovely photo of your ex!

[Mr Standfast 1,300]

Thank you Edo.

[NYCat 3,258]

Eloise obviously loved her photographer. Lovely woman, lovely photo.

 

Paulette

[John Mitchell 6,101]

That's a lovely portrait of your wife, Edo. I too shy away from having my picture taken, plus I don't do selfies. The current shot of me with an ancient Mayan flowerpot on my head -- which I really need to update -- was taken by someone else. I think that personal photos had much more value when there weren't so many of them. I have very few photos of my parents, and I cherish them all. I also have only a handful of snapshots of myself as a child. People growing up now will have countless images and videos of themselves and their family members. Everyone is a movie star these days. 😎

 

 

[MizBrown 941]

When I was a freshman in college, I had an Asahi Pentax and one 50mm lens, and maybe a flash, though I don't remember having that.  I took pictures of various other students in the dorm and sold them 3x5 prints made by a cheap mail order developing and printing company.   I think I asked fifty cents a shot.   An art student asked me to take photos of him and had them enlarged to 8x10 because he wanted to see what he looked like.   One I still remember, but maybe it's better in my mind's eye than it was in real life.

 

I wonder if any of those survived. 

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

Here in Tier-3 land, the pubs will be shut starting tomorrow. Those that serve "substantial meals" will be able to stay open and serve until 10PM. There are many good traditional pubs within walking distance here. At 5PM today, I decided to go into one for a last pint of Guinness. Last till they open again, if they do. And I don't think that all of them will survive. 

 

I usually go to the Railway, but they will be staying open since they are as much a restaurant as a pub. So instead I went to The Denbigh Castle. They do no food and they are newish, but I like the space and the customers are older and friendly. With the virus, too friendly could be a bad thing. 

 

But I went and I realised that I will really miss the pub thing. Brits of course understand the importance of pubs in British society. Americans and others do not. It not because I'm a big drinker, I'm not. I have 10 to 14 drinks a week, sometimes closer to 20 since I started to have a brandy after lunch last winter. 21 drinks a week is where alcoholism begins. 🤭

 

 

 

[Betty LaRue 4,437]

4 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Here in Tier-3 land, the pubs will be shut starting tomorrow. Those that serve "substantial meals" will be able to stay open and serve until 10PM. There are many good traditional pubs within walking distance here. At 5PM today, I decided to go into one for a last pint of Guinness. Last till they open again, if they do. And I don't think that all of them will survive. 

 

I usually go to the Railway, but they will be staying open since they are as much a restaurant as a pub. So instead I went to The Denbigh Castle. They do no food and they are newish, but I like the space and the customers are older and friendly. With the virus, too friendly could be a bad thing. 

 

But I went and I realised that I will really miss the pub thing. Brits of course understand the importance of pubs in British society. Americans and others do not. It not because I'm a big drinker, I'm not. I have 10 to 14 drinks a week, sometimes closer to 20 since I started to have a brandy after lunch last winter. 21 drinks a week is where alcoholism begins. 🤭

 

 

 

I’m no teetotaler, but I seldom think about having a drink. When I ate Mexican at a restaurant called Ted’s Escondido in Oklahoma City, I always had a margarita. Yum. 3 or 4 times a year. I made some myself 6 months ago in my blender. I like them frozen or I’d chug them.

I have a 6 pack of bottles of Michelob Ultra Light beer, Prickly pear & lime infusion. It’s been in the refrigerator for a month, and I’ve had 3. It is light, crisp, and refreshing. The bottles are small and expensive.
I got my son hooked on them when he came to visit. 

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

8 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I’m no teetotaler, but I seldom think about having a drink. When I ate Mexican at a restaurant called Ted’s Escondido in Oklahoma City, I always had a margarita. Yum. 3 or 4 times a year. I made some myself 6 months ago in my blender. I like them frozen or I’d chug them.

I have a 6 pack of bottles of Michelob Ultra Light beer, Prickly pear & lime infusion. It’s been in the refrigerator for a month, and I’ve had 3. It is light, crisp, and refreshing. The bottles are small and expensive.
I got my son hooked on them when he came to visit. 

 

Those drinks sound like liquid desserts, Betty. Ultra light? Light wasn't light and tasteless enough? I drink only beer, wine, coffee, and water. The last time I had a soft drink was 1952 in the Mojave Desert. 

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Ed Rooney

[spacecadet 4,883]

15 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Here in Tier-3 land, the pubs will be shut starting tomorrow. Those that serve "substantial meals" will be able to stay open and serve until 10PM. There are many good traditional pubs within walking distance here. At 5PM today, I decided to go into one for a last pint of Guinness. Last till they open again, if they do. And I don't think that all of them will survive. 

 

I usually go to the Railway, but they will be staying open since they are as much a restaurant as a pub. So instead I went to The Denbigh Castle. They do no food and they are newish, but I like the space and the customers are older and friendly. With the virus, too friendly could be a bad thing. 

 

But I went and I realised that I will really miss the pub thing. Brits of course understand the importance of pubs in British society. Americans and others do not. It not because I'm a big drinker, I'm not. I have 10 to 14 drinks a week, sometimes closer to 20 since I started to have a brandy after lunch last winter. 21 drinks a week is where alcoholism begins. 🤭

 

 

 

You're OK with a pasty, Ed as long as you have chips and a salad with it. Our clueless housing minister said so so it must be true, him being so law-abiding and truthful😀

[Allan Bell 3,480]

5 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Those drinks sound like liquid desserts, Betty. Ultra light? Light wasn't light and tasteless enough? I drink only beer, wine, coffee, and water. The last time I had a soft drink was 1952 in the Mojave Desert. 

 

 

Hey are you saying water is a hard drink. If so I drink enough of it to be p****d all the time.

 

Mind you in my area the water is deemed to be HARD.🤯

 

Allan

 

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

I wasn't sure how to spell Coke the drink. I remember I was passing through Death Valley at Midnight and the temperature was 104 F.  I got the can out of a machine. I too drink local tap water.

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by Ed Rooney

[Bryan 15,761]

On 11/10/2020 at 19:51, John Mitchell said:

That's a lovely portrait of your wife, Edo. I too shy away from having my picture taken, plus I don't do selfies. 

 

 

 

Indeed.

 

Normally the only time I appear on photos is if a 3rd party comes forward and volunteers to take a shot of us both, it would be rude to say no ( but they might run off with the camera....)

 

Having said that my sons both took a photo of me on my 70th birthday, along with the respective grandbairns, which was nice.

 

 

[John Mitchell 6,101]

1 hour ago, Bryan said:

 

Indeed.

 

Normally the only time I appear on photos is if a 3rd party comes forward and volunteers to take a shot of us both, it would be rude to say no ( but they might run off with the camera....)

 

Having said that my sons both took a photo of me on my 70th birthday, along with the respective grandbairns, which was nice.

 

 

 

Happy three score and ten. I turned 71 this year. Perhaps it's not too late for us selfiephobics. 😱

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

Snapped this at wide-open on the 56mm, f1.4. So there's less need of IS. 

[John Mitchell 6,101]

9 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Snapped this at wide-open on the 56mm, f1.4. So there's less need of IS. 

 

That's true. Very nice.

[Ed Rooney 5,241]

Sorry, I posted that sample image in the wrong thread.