text:
Return to the frozen north
January 18, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
My flight didn't actually leave Havana until after 4 p.m., so I was able to spend the morning getting ready and doing a last walk around Centro Habana.
After convincing the hotel to let me stay an hour after checkout, I got a taxi to the airport. This time I checked in two bags so I would have no problems with my "carrion" being too heavy. I converted my remaining convertible pesos back to Canadian dollars, paid the departure tax, and went to wait for the plane at the gate. It was all very smooth.
The flight left on time, and they told us we would be back in Montreal in just three and a half hours, ahead of schedule, due to strong tail winds. So far so good. But then we took off through thick clouds and as we kept climbing higher, we remained in clouds. They kept not turning off the seat belt sign. And then the fun began. We began bumping through some areas of turbulance, and it got stronger and stronger. The pilot came on and told us to stay in our seats as we would be going through some turbulance. We began plunging and heaving from side to side. The teenage girl behind me was screaming. Soon the flight attendants were making their way up and down the aisles collecting full barf bags in both hands. I've certainly experienced worse, and I never actually felt sick myself, but it still wasn't fun.
Worst of all, as it kept up, people couldn't go to the toilets. At last it calmed enough that there was a line-up of people to go to the washrooms. And they announced that there would not be time to serve the meal. When the plane finally touched down on the icy runway in Dorval, there were cheers and applause.
Customs was easy, and they gave me no hassle over the fact that I had 51 cigars as the store had thrown in an extra beyond my limit of 50. But the icy air outside came as a shock. I had left my winter coat in my car, so only had a light hoodie to keep me warm as I waited for the bus to take me to Park 'n Fly, and it was somewhat below -20C. It was only about a 10 minute wait, but it seemed like ages, especially as my cold was flaring up.
I got to my car, and it took a while to get it brushed off and for the worn-down battery to grind the engine to a start. The roads were icy and slippery and confusing, and I was tired and cold, and it was dark. I was hungry, having not eaten since breakfast. I began the two-hour drive back to Ottawa. By the time I made it to bed, it was past 1 a.m., but at least I could sleep in my own bed. I would have to be up early to begin work the next day.
Back in Havana
January 16, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
I was up early Saturday morning to catch the 8:15 a.m. Viazul bus to Havana. Although they told me the night before it was fully booked, they assured me (correctly) that there are almost always cancellations and I would have no trouble getting a seat. The Viazul bus is a hard currency bus taking both foreigners and Cubans. For Cubans only, there is another company, Astro, that sells tickets more cheaply in moneda nacional. Both are modern Chinese built buses — these are not the chicken buses running in old Blue Bird school buses that are common in other Latin American countries.
The ride was pretty smooth after the twisty, mountainous beginning — mostly along the Autopista Nacional, a freeway running through Cuba from Pinar del Rio to Sancti Spiritus where it abruptly stops due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and its support to Cuba coming to an abrupt end at the beginning of the 1990s.
Back in Havana, I got a taxi to Hotel Deauville on the Malecon, where I'd stayed before, but this time had to be content with a room with no balcony or Malecon view — just a window looking out at Old Havana and el Capitolio.
I spent the rest of the day Saturday walking around in La Habana Vieja and Centro Habana, picking up a few items — rum and cigars — to take home. I bought the cigars, two boxes of Montecristo 2, at the Partagas Cigar factory, paying the full government price for these, but being assured I was buying the real thing. These are not to smoke myself, but for others at home who enjoy such pleasures. Of course, when I left the factory, I had a number of jineteros tell me I should have bought from them at the "special price." Jineteros are constantly accosting you in Cuba to buy cigars cheap, but they are almost always counterfeits and low-quality cigars (or worse, banana leaves) with fake labelling. You buy from them at your peril.
I usually found the cigar jineteros backed off as soon as I gave them a polite, firm "no gracias." One, however, was particularly persistent. So I whispered to him: "Mi tio es Fidel Castro. El me da las Cohibas — gratis." (My uncle is Fidel Castro. He gives me free Cohibas.) The guy thought that was hilarious, and he walked away laughing.
I bought some Havana Club Añejo 7 años rum to bring back for myself from my shopkeeper friend who thought I look like a young Fidel. But other than that, I didn't see much to buy to bring back other than a few trashy looking crafts and Che Guevara t-shirts. I did get a book of photos by Korda, the photographer who photographed Fidel and Che and took the famous photo of Che that has become an international icon.
On Sunday, my last full day, I bought another all-day on-off tourist bus ticket and rode the double decker out to Vedado, getting off at the Colon Cemetery.
One think that struck me about Cuba was the relative absence of symbolism about Marx and Lenin. That's not to say there isn't the odd place named after them, but for the most part Cuba celebrates Cuban and Latin American heroes rather than the heroes of Communism. There are apparently two statues of Lenin in the Havana area, but both are in out-of-the-way places. Much more popular, however, is a statue to Lennon. That's right. John Lennon, the Beatle. Originally Castro considered the Beatles a sign of decadent capitalism, but when Lennon started singing against the war in Vietnam and other radical ideas, and when the Beatles became popular among Cubans, Castro did an about face and accepted that John Lennon was actually a revolutionary. So there's a park in Vedado with a statue of Lennon sitting on a park bench. His round wire-rim glasses kept being stolen, so now there's a little guy who hangs out in the background, and when tourists appear, he slips a pair of glasses onto Lennon's nose. Of course, he expects a small tip.
The Colon Cemetery is an enormous area with marble statues and elaborate building-like tombs dedicated to deceased great Cubans, colonial, post-colonial and revolutionary. One of the more popular tombs is easily recognizable because it's covered in flowers and is almost always being visited by pilgrims. It is said to be that of a mother, who died in childbirth, and her baby. When she was buried, the child was at her feet, but when she was exumed later, she was cradling the child in her arms. Naturally, this was considered a miracle, and pilgrims visit the grave, knock on the tomb with a brass ring, and walk away backwards. For this, they believe, their wishes will be miraculously granted.
From there, I made my way to Callejon de Hamel, the alley celebrating arts and Afro-Cuban culture. Sunday at noon is when rumba concerts begin. The performers were decked out in colourful costumes and the music and drumming were wild and lively, but more than half the people there were tourists. It was very hard to get a clear view of the musicians through the crowds clustered around the performers, but I did manage a few photos. It was worth seeing, even if it had the feel more of a contrived tourist event than of a genuine celebration of the Santeria African religion.
I spent the rest of the day walking around, and took several long strolls down the Malecon, enjoying watching the Sunday evening crowds along it. My trip was coming to an end.
Rumba drummer at Callejon de Hamel.
Fortune teller at Callejon de Hamel.
Marxist-Lennonism: A statue to "revolutionary" Beatle John Lennon in Vedado.
Crumbling buildings along Havana's Malecon sea wall.
Hanging out on the Malecon at night.
Viñales — the hills in tobacco country
January 14, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
Viñales is set in a valley scattered with tall limestone hills called "mogotes," that look somewhat like the famous formations at Guilin, China.
The floor of the valley has a red earth well suited for growing tobacco, for which Pinar del Rio province is best known. Throughout the valley you can see palm thatch triangular structures that are the curing barns for the tobacco.
I arrived in Viñales late Tuesday afternoon and had decided to stay the first night at Hotel Los Jazmines, which has the best view of the area overlooking the valley. I hoped to catch the sunrise from the hotel, and then move to a private home in the town the next day when I could start looking earlier.
I took a room in one of the comfortable cabins with a spectacular view. It was late, so I hoped to use the swimming pool the next day, as I haven't yet had a swim this trip.
One of the problems with Los Jazmines is that it takes large tour groups, so there were hundreds of Germans everywhere, making it hard to get served for dinner. The other problem is that Los Jazmines is 4 km up a hill and out of town, so you are captive.
I set my alarm for 6 a.m., hoping to get up and photograph a spectacular sunrise over the valley. Alas, the temperature dropped and when I got up in the morning it was cloudy with a light spray-like drizzle. I took some shots with a tripod, but the view just didn't measure up to what I've seen in other photos.
The temperature that day was around 15C with howling winds, and all the Cubans complained about the cold. They didn't agree with me when I suggested it was only "fresco" and not "frio." Definitely too cool to try the pool, but not an unpleasant break from the hotter weather of my trip to date.
In the early afternoon, I got a taxi to town. The driver said he wants to go to Canada – Montreal – to learn English and French, and showed me he had a Canadian flag hanging behind the mirror. As for so many Cubans through, money is the biggest obstacle.
In town I was besieged by swarms of jineteros offering rooms in private houses. I had decided to try first the Reyes family, who were recommended in Lonely Planet, so brushed off the jineteros. Then an older woman showed me a card for the Reyes family and said she would take me there. She insisted she was not getting a commission that would be charged to my room, but was a friend of the family. It then became clear she was trying to take me in a different direction from the Reyes house, and I pointed that out to her.
She insisted that she is a woman of 70 and wouldn't try to cheat me, and that the Reyes house was full, so she was taking me to hers. She again pointed to their card and said she was their friend. I insisted on carrying on myself to the Reyes house, and when I told them the story, they just shook their heads – they have no connection with this woman who was using their card to hustle business. Such is the nature of jineterismo in Cuba – they will tell you anything – even that the house has closed and the owner has died – to lure you away from your destination.
As it turned out, they Reyes house was fully booked, but they soon found me a place at the home of a neighbour, Dr. Luis Luis, his wife Elda, and their son, also named Luis. They were friendly, and I stayed there three nights.
They served enormous meals – a dinner of grilled "pargo" (red snapper) my first night, with lots of vegetables and fruits on the side. On my third night, they served me lobster tails, which they euphemistically call "chicken of the sea," because they aren't supposed to sell lobster to foreigners. I was often full well before I finished the meals, but always saved a little room at the end for the fruit – papaya, guava, pineapple and watermelon.
On my first day, I did a bit of walking through and around Viñales. Once I slipped in with a tour group who were visiting a tobacco barn to see the tobacco hanging and drying, and watching a man hand roll some cigars.
Thursday was my best day in Viñales. The weather was clear with fluffy clouds, and there was a cool breeze. The Cubans again complained about it being cold, but for me it was very pleasant walking weather.
I had arranged the night before to join a group with a guide on a walk in the National Park. It's not a national park in the Canadian sense, but it is protected farmland in a gorgeously scenic area.
We walked right from the town along farm paths, and the guide took us to a tobacco farm where we saw tobacco being hand harvested by a few workers, who make about $2 a day depending on how many rows they pick. A woman hand rolled some cigars and had some for sale about about $20 a dozen. I noted the irony that the price was close to a single Cohiba Esplendido.
Some of the buildings had been toppled in one of last year's hurricanes, and had been rebuilt with corrugated steel roofs. A man was in the process of preparing to replace these with traditional palm thatch, fitting in with the national park status.
After hiking through more farm country, we saw men harvesting yucca. I took a photo of one old yucca harvester with my guide and was surprised to notice he had blue eyes, like some other people in the Viñales area. My guide, however, was completely black.
My guide had been a high school teacher, but as he pointed out, teachers are paid low salaries in moneda nacional. By working as a guide, he does a lot better, after getting tips in convertible pesos. This seems to be part of a pattern in Cuba of people doing a lot better working in tourism than working as professionals.
We came to a steep part of the hike that required climbing a trail up one of the mogotes, using hands to assist. We climbed towards a pass, but before reaching it, we came to a network of caves that we had to go through in the dark, careful of our footing. The caves weren't long enough that we were ever completely in the dark, but it was dark enough that we had to shuffle feet in baby steps to avoid tripping. On the other side, a concrete stairway led down into the valley.
It was a pleasant walk, a good length at about 6 km, and covered an interesting variety of terrain. The group was a mixed group with a couple of German-speaking Italians, a younger German guy and two French couples. The tour was in English, but the French spoke little English, so I often translated for them.
In the afternoon, I wandered more on my own, visiting a fairytale-like garden run by a couple older sisters. They take donations, and you are free to wander around – looking at the flowers and fruit trees. The gate to their place was decorated with slices of real grapefruits.
After I walked around, one of the old women gave me one of the juiciest sliced grapefruits I ever tasted, along with a couple small bananas.
I rounded out the afternoon by taking the hop-on, hop-off tourist bus that makes a run up and down the roads around Viñales, through the mogotes.
Friday was another cool day of drizzling rain. I seemed to have contracted a cold the other night, but now it hit me full force. So I spent most of Friday in bed, trying to gather strength for my return to Havana on Saturday.
Sunset at Hotel Los Jazmines.
Tobacco farm near Viñales.
Tobacco picker.
This woman hand rolled a cigar as we watched.
Animal power is the main transportation around Viñales.
Hiking into the mogotes.
A yuca picker.
The entrance gate to El Jardin de Caridad is decorated with real fruit slices.
El Jardin de Caridad offers a peaceful walk among colourful tropical plants.
One of the old women who runs El Jardin de Caridad and a table of fruit from the garden.
The landscape around Viñales with its limestone mogote formations in late afternoon.
January 10, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
I'm sitting in a fairly modern Chinese-built bus at the terminal in Trinidad, waiting to leave for Vinales. Vinales is a small town in Cuba's western Pinar del Rio province in tobacco country. It's known for its scenery with tall limestone hills called mogotes, which have been compared to the hills around Guilin, China.
As I sit on the bus and watch passengers checking in their baggage at a little room nearby, it all seems fairly orderly. There is a big difference from bus terminals anywhere else in the Third World – no hawkers selling snacks and refreshments. State control lives on, despite obvious cracks appearing in the socialist system.
Like, when I arrived I had to leave the bus yard crossing a long chain that marked the boundary line beyond which dozens of jineteros weren't allowed to pass. Once I crossed the chain, I had to run the gauntlet of dozens of people aggressively offering rooms in private homes were trying to get me to take a taxi.
The house of Julio and Rosa Munoz was only a couple blocks away on the edge of the old town, so I knew I could easily walk it. Their house has been compared to a museum and was pictured in the September or October 1999 National Geographic. Built in colonial style, it has tall ceilings, about 4 m or 12 feet high, and is decorated with antique furniture.
Julio is an electronics engineer by profession, but he doesn't work in the field. Nonetheless his education gave him a very good command of English. Now he runs a bed and breakfast and rehabilitates abused horses. He told me that with government restrictions loosening, he plans to open an equestrian centre. He also does freelance photography, but says it's impossible to make a living with photography in Cuba. Despite all the family speaking good English, we mostly spoke Spanish as I said I wanted to practice.
Unfortunately, Julio and Rosa went away to Havana during much of the time I was there, so I never got to see his work with horses which I had been hoping to see. Nor did I have much chance to discuss with him photography in Cuba.
I did enjoy of few excellent meals, which included more shrimp and rice and vegetables than I could eat the night I arrived, and excellent breakfast of eggs fruit and real coffee with real milk from separate pots.
Trinidad itself is a colonial city with cobbled streets built with sugar fortunes in the 17th and 18th centuries. As a UNESCO heritage site, much effort has been put into preserving and restoring it. It's not unlike Antigua in Guatemala and other colonial cities dominated by one-storey buildings with ceramic roofing. The restored part is a relatively small area. This unfortunately means there's a high concentration of tourists and jineteros in a small area of streets radiating from the central plaza.
I found some of the streets outside the main area, with their crumbling colonial buildings, to be more genuine, and I had more genuine encounters with local people when I walked out in these areas.
I tried to do much of my walking around in the early morning and late afternoon when the light on the pastel buildings was a phenomenal and temperatures cooler. I often found an interesting scene to photograph and then waited to see who (and what) would pass through it.
On Monday, I had hoped to take a trip by an old 1919 steam train to Valle de los Ingenios, the historic area of sugar cultivation and processing. But for the past couple of months the train has been out of service, so I ended up taking a bus tour.
While it afforded an opportunity to see areas that I might not otherwise see, it's the nature of these tours that they spend much time in places where they can get tourists to spend money (like a ceramics factory) and not enough time at places of interest. The lunch break (included) was long, but it gave me a chance to talk with a Korean high school history teacher and a Dutch couple with whom I shared a table. While waiting for lunch, an old man took us down to show very us tropical fruits growing on his farm including mangoes and avocados, which are out of season, and guavas, which we tasted fresh from the tree. Of course there were also bananas growing, and goats and chickens running around.
I felt a little strange eating chicken for lunch while several chickens pecked around at my feet oblivious to what I was eating.
Street in Trinidad.
Street soccer in a church square.
Street in Trinidad.
Dog's eye view.
Pork for supper.
Street in Trinidad.
Street in Trinidad.
Boys hanging out.
Street in Trinidad.
Street game.
Ruined church at sunset.
Buildings on Trinidad's main square.
Two men in Trinidad watching the world go by.
Sugar plantation in Valle do los Ingenios. The gate was put there by some French making a film and is hollow plywood.
Shy boy, Valle do los Ingenios
Street in Trinidad.
Street band, Trinidad.
Around Havana and on to Trinidad
January 8, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
The only way to really get to know Havana is to explore it on foot. I was staying in the area known as Centro Habana, which is more genuinely Cuban than the old colonial quarter nearby, la Habana Vieja, or old Havana. It's a fairly short walk between the two along the streets of crumbling houses built several stories high, and with laundry hanging from balconies, and often people looking down from those same balconies onto the street below. You have to watch where you step – there are sometimes huge holes and other obstructions in the pavement, and streets are narrow and vehicles hurry by. Old classic cars from the 1940s and 1950s belch clouds of white smoke.
On Thursday, I made more of a point of trying to engage people and when possible take photos. I stopped by a shoe repair shop and talked to two men there and the wife of one of the men as I took several photos of them. They had numerous hand tools spread out over the workbench and were engaged simply in repairs, not making new shoes from scratch. They were friendly, and didn't ask for anything from me, except I agreed to send them some photos. They had been in business 15 years and it was their own shop – a private business.
I also stopped to take some photos in a barbershop that was literally in an alley with beautiful light filtering down. Again, the men there were friendly, and we chatted briefly.
Old Havana is much more geared to tourists and the colonial buildings have been beautifully restored. There are shops and cafés along the narrow streets, and there are people who make a living posing for pictures for tourists for a peso a shot. Outside the hotel Ambos Mundos, where Hemingway used to stay, was a bearded man dressed like Hemingway pointing to a big cigar in his mouth with Hemingway written on it. I found that just a bit too gimmicky so declined to take a picture, but I did take a couple more shots of Graciela, an old lady with just two front teeth in a big cigar in her mouth.
I made a stop to visit the Havana Club rum museum. There they explain the process and history of sugar harvest and making of rum. There was an elaborate scale model of the sugar refinery, and an explanation of the oak barrels, ironically from the United States. Rum is cured in these. Then they showed the range of Havana Club products – from Anejo Blanco, the white rum used in mixed drinks, to Anejo 7 anos, an aged rum for drinking straight. Finally, they ended the tour with a sample of seven year rum. Afterwards, I went to the bar for another and to sit and watch a group play traditional Cuban acoustic music.
Again in San Francisco Square, I encountered a group of performers on stilts, this time dressed all in white. They paraded through the streets performing for people and I followed for a while taking pictures. Some of them had very tall stilts, and it can't be easy to walk with those without falling.
Back in Central Park there is a spot where a group of men can always be found arguing fiercely. The argument looks very heated and you might think they will burst out into violence at any moment, if you didn't know better. No, they are not arguing politics or religion, unless you consider baseball a religion. This spot is known as La Esquina Caliente, the hot corner, and it's a spot where baseball fans hang out daily to argue the game. I've seen passionate hockey fans in Canada, but the level of excitement in these men was like nothing I'd seen before.
I ended the day by walking out to Callejon de Hamel, which is an alley that must be unique. It is a celebration of the art, Afro-Cuban culture, and Santeria, the Afro-Cuban religion. Walls and buildings are painted and decorated in wild colours, and old bathtubs are inlaid into walls to form benches or simply as decoration. There were sellers of art and of traditional herbal medicines. Every Sunday rumba music is played there. It's become a bit touristy, but it's still worth a visit.
Friday I continued my explorations of Havana, this time taking a taxi through the tunnel to the other side of the inlet where there is an impressive network of castles and fortifications. It was nice to be in wide open spaces with clean air and views across the water of congested Havana. Several rooms in the fortifications were set aside for a museum to Che Guevara, who seems to be the most celebrated hero of the revolution. It featured photos of him and personal items such as his cameras – Che had been a photographer as well as a doctor, Minister of the Interior, and numerous other occupations, aside from revolutionary idol. Another room was set up as a museum of torture showing some of the tools of the trade from the colonial period, and pre-revolutionary period. Apparently the garote is more humane than hanging because it kills its victims more quickly. There were thumbscrews, torture shoes, and other instruments that didn't look very comfortable.
Afterwards, I walked to the village of Casablanca, passing a huge statue of Christ that was one of the last monuments built by Batista. From there, there is a rickety old ferry crossing the water to old Havana. They search the bags of passengers getting on, even though there are no searches on buses and other travel. Apparently this is because there was once a hijacking attempt with the ferry by someone unsuccessfully trying to make it to Miami. Frankly, anyone crazy enough to attempt to go to Miami on this rickety old boat with just an open floor should have been allowed to go.
I got up very early Saturday, skipping breakfast, to take a taxi to the bus terminal to go to Trinidad. It was a long trip of over five hours mostly through not very exciting scenery – just flat scrub seen from the side of the Autopista Nacional. Only at the end did this scenery get nicer as we passed through Cienfuegos and took smaller roads through hills and along the Caribbean. The bus was comfortable, and except for the last bit I had two seats to myself. The music they played was schmaltzy and not great, but thankfully they didn't play kung fu videos as they do in Mexico.
The arrival of the bus in Trinidad is greeted by dozens of persistent jineteros trying to collect a commission by taking tourists to rooms for rent. As I already had a reservation in the colonial home of Julio and Rosa Munoz, I just made a beeline through them repeating over and over "no gracias." Apparently some are so persistent that they will even tell tourists that the home is closed or the owner is dead as they try to divert them elsewhere. I found the home a few blocks away and was met at the door by Julio, who is a horse whisperer and photographer among other things. Their beautiful home has even been pictured in National Geographic in 1999.
Men working on scaffording in Havana.
Shoe repair men in their shop, Habana Centro.
Barber shop in alley.
Musicians at Havana Club Rum Museum.
Stilt performer, Old Havana.
Santeria musician, Old Havana.
Stilt performer, Old Havana.
La esquina caliente (the Hot Corner) where men have ferocious arguments daily — about baseball.
Callejon de Hamel — an alley of art and Santeria religion.
Callejon de Hamel.
"Every Cuban must know how to shoot — and shoot well." A street rifle range — while guns have a place in Cuban revolutionary mythology, I do not detect the obsession with guns that one finds in the U.S., for example.
A 1950 Chevy near el Capitolio — this man had the hood up, and he said it was the original engine.
Havana from the Morro castle.
A woman hauls food up to her balcony from the street in a basket on a rope.
Photographing old models
January 5, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
Wednesday was a day to walk around exploring the city centre and Old Havana. I also shot hundreds of photos, of old buildings, some decaying and others restored, as well as old models – cars and people. Some of the old 1950s classic cars have been beautifully restored, but most are in very rough shape and belch dark smoke. One I saw even had a padlock holding the driver's door shut, and others had similar improvisations. Despite the inefficiency of 1950s (and late 1940s) American cars, this was definitely a period of classic designs, preserved here in this living car museum.
I also tentatively tried photographing some people. In the old city, there are a number of older people who dress up in costume and pose for tourists for a peso. Some travellers object to this, but for many of these people they are like professional photo models. We don't have a problem paying people to model in North America, so I don't begrudge these people trying to earn a little hard currency. Some of the costumes are pretty kitschy, but sometimes that adds to the appeal. And some of them have very expressive and interesting faces.
In some cases I asked strangers to pose, or they invited me, and there was never any discussion of money. In one case a smiling woman motioned me to come quickly for a photo op, and pointed me behind a large transformer-like object where there was a man urinating. As she laughed, I pretended to do paparazzi-style photos of him (I didn't really take any). The man laughed too, as did some older people on a park bench. I chatted with them, and in the end the older people let me photograph them, and were happy with a look at my LCD screen.
Another time, I bought a drink at a small tienda that mostly dealt in moneda nacional, the almost worthless currency, but also handled convertible pesos. I paid in convertibles, but got the change in moneda nacional, but the woman there gave me a reasonably fair exchange – not like some Cubans who try to cheat tourists by fooling them by mixing moneda nacional with convertibles. I chatted with her, and she let me photograph her. She was complaining about the cold, but I told her I actually felt hot. It must have been in the low 20s and humid. She had a vague idea of what cold is like because she had once been to the Czech Republic in winter.
Sometimes people see my camera and call me into a shop or business to see and photograph something. They want a bit of money, but the subjects are often interesting. On Tuesday, I photographed a man in a small shop who had an old cash register made in 1922. Today, I photographed some men working on an old classic late 1940s car in the back of a parking garage. They were fixing one of the seats, hammering metal parts.
In the old town, I explored the many streets with restored and beautiful colonial buildings, and large squares, some with trees. I climbed a long stairway to visit the Camara Obscura, an old-style projection camera that projects images live from around Old Havana. It uses ancient camera technology to gather images with a rotating telescopic lens, which projects them into a large saucer-shaped dish in a darkened room, while a guide explains what she's showing. You can see people and cars in distant parts of the old city moving in real time, and with absolutely no electronics.
In other squares, there were book stalls selling old books and more recent ones mainly on subjects of the revolution, but with a sprinkling of other Cuba-related themes such as Hemingway. The only ones that really interested me were some books of photos by Korda.
In one square, I was taking photos including some of a Chopin statue on a bench, when suddenly some colourfully dressed characters on stilts appeared, dancing and playing music, along with a couple, who were being celebrated. I snapped a number of photos of the activity, as did others, but never figured exactly what was going on. My guess is that it was a couple of newly weds celebrating a birthday because there was some birthday sounding theme music. They all seemed to be having a great time.
I've taken to returning for a nap in my air conditioned room during the hottest part of the afternoon. Today, having not slept very well last night, I fell asleep and didn't wake until near sunset.
Classic cars
Classic cars
Classic Chevy
Couple in park
Men working on seat of classic car
A spontaneous celebration
Professional tourist model
Much photographed tourist model, Graciela
You look like a young Fidel Castro
January 4, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
Over my life I've been told I look like many different people. Sometimes I've been compared with people who don't look at all like me except for our common red hair. But when the man at the cash in a store down the street told me I look like a young Fidel Castro, it was certainly a first.
I suppose it was intended as a compliment. I told the man I thought el Comandante was a "moreno," a dark-haired man, but he insisted Fidel has my complexion. Of course Fidel is lighter than many Cubans in this country where the majority is mixed race with a lot of black influence. I think it was the beard that prompted the comparison, though.
I probably looked even more like Fidel when I sat up on my hotel balcony later in the day puffing on a big cigar, a Montecristo 2, the kind recommended by my co-worker Mike. I bought it at the Partagas Cigar Factory, in the city centre, where they have a shop selling all the finest Cuban cigars. Cigars here are not cheap, but evidently they're a lot cheaper here than outside of Cuba. This one set me back about $8, but it lasted a long time – well over an hour. Smoking a cigar is relaxing, but I question whether the pleasure is worth the money. And my sense of taste and smell must be deadened, because I didn't experience any of the "nutty" and other flavours that people claim. It just tasted like burning leaves and left me light headed, even though you just savour the smoke in your mouth and don't inhale.
The Partagas Cigar Factory normally offers tours where you can see the leaves being sorted and hand rolled, but the tours are currently suspended because of the holidays. I don't know if I'll be able to take it in later during my stay, but hopefully I'll be able to see the process somewhere. Cigars are such an important part of Cuba's identity, whether smoked by such American Mafiosi as Al Capone, who rented an entire floor of the Sevilla Hotel, or by the later revolutionary leaders.
Next to the Partagas Factory, right in the city centre, is el Capitolio, a large domed building that bears a striking resemblance to the Capitol in Washington. It's a little more weathered looking, and is surrounded by palm trees, but it looks no less elegant. Alas, it too is closed for tours as it is undergoing major renovations.
But I did stroll around it Tuesday admiring the many 1950s classic U.S. cars, most of which now serve as collective taxis. I've spotted a few that look a lot like the old 1956 Buick our family owned when I was a kid.
Tuesday was mainly a day to get oriented, and what better way than to hop onto the upper level of an open double decker bus. These run a regular route throughout Havana and are geared to tourists. You pay a $5 fare for a ticket that's good all day and you can hop on or off as you please. I took the entire route, going along the Malecon and out to Vedado and Miramar, the more modern parts of the city. Vedado offered a glimpse of Plaza de la Revolucion, with its Ministry of Interior building whose outer wall features a giant steel image of Che, taken from the famous Korda photo – probably one of the best known images in the world. Che once worked in that building. We also passed the Colon cemetery, where many famous Cubans are buried, and which features many elaborate monuments. I didn't stop, but will go back later if there's time.
Other than that, there was little to inspire me to return to Miramar. It has vast open vacant lots with junk interspersed with luxury hotels, but we saw nothing of interest until we returned to the city centre and waterfront area of Old Havana.
I did some exploring of the city centre on foot, walking along the Prado, a tree-lined boulevard similar to, though not as elegant as the Ramblas in Barcelona. Havana has quite a number of tourists, mostly European, but some apparently Canadian. As a result, many Cubans become jineteros and jineteras, street hustlers, where they can earn much more in convertible hard currency than people like doctors, who are paid in nearly worthless moneda nacional. I am continually harassed to take a taxi or buy cigars – under the pretense that these are top brand cigars at cheap prices, though almost certainly they are fake. Few of the jineteros are too persistent, and most back off if I give them a firm, but polite, "no gracias."
As the sun set, I photographed people fishing or hanging out along the Malecon with lights appearing along the waterfront. Then I returned to my balcony to finish smoking my cigar.
Ministry of the Interior
El Capitolio
El Prado resembles the Ramblas in Barcelona
Old Havana
The Malecon at sunset
The Malecon after sunset
A room with a view
January 4, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
The Malecon is a stretch of sea wall running from Old Havana, past the city centre, and out to the more modern area of Miramar. It's where Habaneros go to stroll, hang out, fish, or where young lovers go to share the moment.
My hotel, the Deauville, is a former mafia den right on the Malecon just west of Old Havana. It's an out-of-place-looking building, a bit gaudy with its 1950s architecture, among its neo-colonial surroundings. And it has long balconies overlooking the Malecon.
I asked when I checked in for a room with a view, and I got one. It's on the fifth floor, so not too high up, but from my long corner balcony I can look down the Malecon towards Miramar, and also look the other way to the castle of Los Tres Reyes del Morro, a stone fortification across the water. And of course I can look out over the relatively calm waters of the Strait of Florida, just like the Habaneros who imagine relatives in Miami across the strait.
The flight down was relatively uneventful. I had two seats to spread out over, and though a little girl kept climbing up the seat back to interact with her father who had moved back to the third seat next to me, it was a tolerable flight. As it was from Montreal, the flight service was in French, just as I'm trying to think in Spanish.
The wait at customs and immigration was long and hot, but certainly nothing as bad as I've experienced in Miami and elsewhere. They scanned hand luggage coming in, which was a new one, and they photographed everyone. When the people at the scanner saw my cameras on the X-ray, they asked if I was a journalist. I assured them truthfully that I was not, and the cameras were for "uso personal," which satisfied them. I don't think a blogger with a very small following counts as a journalist.
It was a long taxi ride in from the airport, but I was able to chat with the driver in Spanish, and view all the billboards. Instead of ads for products, they were revolutionary slogans about the continuation of the revolution. Many were about "el bloqueo" — the U.S. embargo and the cost of it and damage it's doing to Cuba. Pictures of Che Guevarra were abundant as a revolutionary symbol, but perhaps surprisingly, I saw few of Castro. You can't judge a country's infrastructure with just a trip from the airport, but first impressions were that Cuba is more developed than most other Latin American countries, but it's definitely a third world country facing difficulties.
I was hot, exhausted and had a splitting headache, so only managed a stroll both ways on the Malecon and a walk around the hotel. As the sun set over Miramar at the end of the Malecon, but out of view behind buildings, I shot some time exposures of the traffic and lights of the Malecon from my room.
Your carrion weighs too much
January 3, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
I once saw a cartoon of a couple vultures at an airport clutching suitcases bulging with animal carcasses.
"Only the carrion," one tells the woman at the check-in.
And so it was that I arrived at Dorval Airport (Now P.E. Trudeau Airport) with a carry-on bag loaded with camera gear and a netbook — stuff I don't want to let out of my site as checked baggage.
I had read that airlines are pretty fussy about the size and dimensions of carry-on, but they don't usually fuss about weight. Alas, I was asked to weigh it, and the woman told me I was a kilo over.
At the last minute I had squeezed a second pair of walking shoes into my carry-on, as that was the only place I could fit it. I now had to open my bags at the check-in and try to juggle contents to get the shoes into my checked luggage. I was flustered and sweating, but the woman told me take my time and not worry. Several times I thought I would have to leave the shoes behind, but at last I managed to zip the bag closed.
I'm now waiting to board for a flight that doesn't leave for an hour and a half. So far, Dorval seems a less crazy airport than others — carry-on incident aside — and the worst part of the airport experience, security screening, was relatively painless.
I drove to Montreal last night and stayed at the Days Inn, not getting a lot of sleep. I'm too excited.
Now I just want to get into the air.
Take me to Havana
January 2, 2011 by Richard McGuire · Leave a Comment
Back in the 1960s, the first airplane hijackings started. Havana was a popular hijacking destination because there were no regular flights from the U.S. and because some people sought asylum in Cuba.
As a result, the phrase "Take me to Havana" entered popular language.
The irony is there were other hijackers in Cuba trying to go the other way, especially in later years. There was even an unsuccessful attempt to hijack a Havana harbour ferry to Miami. It never made it out of Cuban waters.
The U.S. embargo of Cuba has made travel between the two countries inconvenient at best, and at times almost impossible. Fortunately, for Canadians wanting to travel to Cuba, there have always existed other safter options.
Cuba is a popular vacation destination for Canadians (and Europeans), many of whom travel to Varadero or Cayo Coco for all-expenses included resort vacations on the beach and in the sun. Even many Americans vacation in Cuba illegally by going through Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.
At times the U.S. hatred of Cuba has been visceral — especially among Miami's Cuban expatriate community for whom Castro is worse than the devil. I've never quite understood why the U.S. was so rabidly anti-Cuba when it has been willing since the 1970s to make peace with the repressive regime in Communist China. I understand that many American properties — many controlled by the mafia — were confiscated by the Cubans after the revolution, but that was more than 50 years ago! Probably it has more to do with Cuba's proximity to the U.S., and remnants of the Monroe Doctrine than with the nature of the Cuban regime itself.
While the embargo has hurt Cuba, and has only succeeded (ironically) in keeping the Castro brothers in power longer than ever, it has also kept Cuba from being globally homogenized like so many other parts of the world. The only McDonald's in Cuba is at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay.
I have long wanted to see Cuba for myself, though I find the idea of a resort vacation incredibly boring. The 1990s film Buena Vista Social Club, and other glimpses of Cuba have made me want to visit Havana — to see all the old 1950s classic cars, the Afro-Latin culture and music, and the relatively unspoiled colonial architecture.
And so, tomorrow I set out from Montreal on a chartered flight to Havana. I will be very careful though not to make any hijacking jokes.
Take me to Havana.


text:
BALTIMORE – Call him "your favorite player's favorite player."
Kyle Beckerman has made a quiet but crucial contribution to the US national team in the Gold Cup, one that might not be as easily noticed by the casual observer as the slashing runs of Landon Donovan or the power and trickery of Eddie Johnson.
Beckerman himself has added to this under-the-radar status by largely avoiding the media, a decision that sources with knowledge of the situation told MLSsoccer.com stems from what he believes is a misunderstanding of his role and responsibilities.
But if you look closely, there's no doubt about the essential function he's serving at the base of the USMNT midfield – and it's certainly not lost on the growing list of teams vanquished by the Yanks as they continue to roll towards the Gold Cup final.
"In a game like this, everybody needed to sacrifice," said El Salvador head coach Augustín Castillo after his side's 5-1 loss to the US at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday, diverging from a reporter's question to single out the Real Salt Lake veteran's importance in the one-sided result. "I wanted my players to pressure Beckerman in holding midfield for the US, however, that didn't quite work out."
The only pure holding midfielder called into this tournament by USMNT boss Jurgen Klinsmann, Beckerman has performed the "destroyer" role to perfection thus far.
But he's also playing the part of the metronome who keeps the ball moving and sets his team's rhythm.
"It's fun to play next to Kyle," said Mix Diskerud, his central mid partner against El Salvador. "He wins so many balls and is a really good team player. It's just fun to stand next to him, watch him do his thing and then suddenly you have the ball and you can make a play."
Klinsmann typically has a glut of holding and box-to-box types to choose from, with European stars like Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Danny Williams and Sacha Kljestan often pushing Beckerman down the USMNT depth chart.
More than a decade of sustained excellence in MLS play and cerebral contributions to the national team have earned him the respect of his peers, however, and keep him in the forefront of Klinsmann's thinking.
"Kyle is the Peyton Manning of soccer, for me, as far as an experienced player [who's] very good at what he does," said Eddie Johnson. "He keeps us connected as far as keeping the ball, keeping us organized and that winning mentality that he's had. He's been a consistent player throughout his career and I'm very fortunate to play alongside him.
"And I'm very happy to see where he is, considering that's a difficult position on this team, given the players that play over in Europe. But for him to be able to stay true to himself, believe in himself and keep making it harder for the coach to make a decision in that spot, I'm delighted for him."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A resort city in Riverside County, Rancho Mirage sits between Cathedral City and Palm Desert and it one of the nine cities of the Coachella Valley. Incorporated in 1973, the city has now come to be known for its golf courses, spas, and stable housing market. Home to gated communities and tennis facilities, this is truly a haven for luxury living among the hot, arid climate of the desert. Home to 13 golf resorts, Rancho Mirage is the place to be for those looking to hit the links. With lots of local amenities and a high income per capita, this is a wonderful destination for those looking for the finer things in life.
A special community, the city itself has seen much growth in recent years. The local high school, Rancho Mirage High School, had its first graduating class in 2016, and for its many residents, there are a number of incredible health facilities: Eisenhower Medical Center, The Betty Ford Center, and the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center. Rancho Mirage caters to a specific set of people with discerning tastes and interests, and for those looking for some of North America's best golf, finest spas and wonderful dining experiences, this is the place to find it in the Heart of the Palm Springs Valley.
Get home value estimates, buyer breakdowns and recent nearby sales.More
Get new listings, price changes, recently sold and more.More
Receive email updates, save searches and favorite listings.More
Find exclusive and featured properties in Rancho Mirage.More
Note: Household Income figures are based on total household income.
* All numbers in this section are 2016 projections provided by Geolytics Inc
Number of people in this zip code by age.
* All numbers in this section are 2016 projections provided by Geolytics Inc
* All numbers in this section are 2016 projections provided by Geolytics Inc


text:
Crepes and schools. I couldn't resist trying out the Crepevine in San Rafael when I found a coupon in one of those mailers with lots of paper saying that Crepevine would donate 10% of your meal cost to support Marin schools.
Oh yum! They had fresh squeezed orange and carrot juice mixed! I first tried this combo at the Crepevine I first visited in Oakland. This was sooo fresh and the flavors blended well.
I had the Santa Fe crepe which was stuffed with grilled chicken apple sausage, scrambled eggs, green onions, provolone, and topped with salsa fresca. It was accompanied by home fries and a fresh green salad, lightly dressed in vinaigrette. This was hearty and the flavors blended well. The service was attentive and the setting was airy, bright and cheerful, with outside seating available as well. Definitely will return here!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Posted by Anna Haight at 12:02 AM
Labels: breakfast, Marin Breakfasts, San Rafael
7 comments:
- EmailHosting.com said...
How delicious does that look? Wow! I have to go eat something that at least resembles that.
- December 02, 2006 8:11 AM
- BionicBuddha said...
I heard it through the crepevine!
- December 02, 2006 10:31 AM
- succoach said...
The food looks great and I would love to come out there and sample your food. I spoke with Jeff Fisher and he said he helped Jennifer Ellis with a court case in Marin County last year and won.
He also said he ate at som ice cream shop in Tiberan that was just down right heavenly.
He told me about a cool site out these. http://www.sfvedanta.org/bookshop/VSNCTitleDump.php
Please visit my blog to see what I am all about and also read my expose on Mark Foley and The Drug Free America Foundation
- December 02, 2006 8:17 PM
Great Blog-keep up the great work!
- December 02, 2006 10:01 PM
- Anna Haight said...
Thanks for visiting my blog and taking time to comment.
- December 04, 2006 9:08 PM
- 佩剑布衣 said...
I like orange!
- December 04, 2006 9:44 PM
What the flip?! A blog about food? Weird. Cool, but weird.
- December 08, 2006 8:15 PM


text:
So I'm trying to get back to getting this all more regular. My sweet blog! Oh how I love it and I love you all for hanging in there with me. So I got engaged in June. One of the best days of my life.
So with that comes wedding planning. I talked a little bit about the one wedding show I attended and it was a good time. Link to that adventure here.
I don't want to overwhelm with wedding details and other wedding shenanigans but I thought there maybe some friends and readers that could be interested so I thought I could share maybe once a week or so. So here goes nothing.
My first observation about wedding planning is that while pinterest is good it is also evil! You get so many ideas and before you know it. Your entire wedding board is full. And how do you know what you are supposed to do and how to do it and who should be involved?
Well before I get into all of that fun stuff…my future mother in law had a celerabration for us.
How those are the only pictures from that event, I do not know. But it was a wonderful time with our parents and my son. We are very lucky that as a family we just make one big happy one and we don't make a distinction between Todd's family and my family. It is all our family and it's so awesome. Trust me it's a feeling that I will forever be grateful for.
My mother gave us our first gift's on this day.
This book along with the Emily Post Planner. Which those that know me well, will not find this as a surprise at all. I have an inclination toward all things proper and old fashioned you might say. I'm not saying I'm always proper by any means, but I do have a fondness for an old fashioned and often forgotten lifestyle.
The planner is going to have a post all on its own so I assure you that you will see plenty of it sooner rather than later. But if you find yourself wondering, who is supposed to pay for what and how do I not invite that person and do I really have to register for that…check out this book. I assure you that yes common sense in most cases will rule out but I have found in my very long 35 years that everyone's definition of common sense is just a little bit different.
Until next time!


text:
Breast Cancer Center to Open in Jefferson City
Building a breast cancer center takes work. But the Community Breast Cancer Project hopes to turn an old Jefferson City house into a non-medical center for anyone to find research, information, and support.
"I want them to feel warmth, to feel secure. That's what I envision this place to be; a heart to heart place," breast cancer specialist Mariam Kuensting says.
A private room will offer a chance to meet with specialists. And breast cancer survivor Cecilia Gehlart can't wait to open the library where anyone can do research.
"You can do it at your own pace. You're not going to be bombarded by doctors and nurses telling you so much information that you can't take it all in," Gehlart says
Gehlart hopes the comfortable environment will be a welcome change for others also.
"I didn't go to a support group because I thought I could handle it all on my own, and initially, I thought I was doing a really good job. The realization of cancer hit me and...Whew! I lost it. I lost control," Gehlart says.
Working with other volunteers, Gehlart found new support. And the mid-December opening can't come soon enough. She hopes the home will give all people renewed courage to pursue life after cancer.
"A good life. That's right. Full," Gehlart says.
The Community Breast Cancer Project relies on donations from volunteers.


text:
How To Contact TOO
Please send all letters to the editor, manuscripts and promotional materials to Editors @ theoccidentalobserver . net
Written Correspondence to:
The Occidental Observer
1750 Delta Waters Rd.
Suite 102, #374
Medford, OR 97504
[Thank you for not contacting Dr. MacDonald about subscription or distribution issues relating to your subscription to TOQ. Those things can only be handled by TOQ staff. Thank you.]


text:
You might have noticed the "Read Me" file that is now available for download with every PDF pattern you purchase from CKC. Several people have asked what it's for. And our advice is... read the "Read Me" file and you'll find out!
Just kidding. It's actually a great question. And the answer is pretty simple. That's what we will talk about today!
All of our recent patterns have our size charts included right in the patterns. For some of our older patterns, however, we knew that our patterns were true to size and our sizing charts were easy to find on the website, so we did not include them in every pattern. However, now that there are a lot more PDF designers out there and they are not all true-to-size like we are, we felt it was important to start including our sizing charts with our patterns every time. That's where the Read Me file comes in. Any time you purchase one of our older patterns, you can also download the "Read Me" file that has our sizing charts and all kinds of other helpful info in it.
If you're not sure if you have seen it before, the "Read Me" file looks like this at the beginning when you open it:
I recommend that everyone saves this file and keeps it on hand for future reference! In fact *I* have it saved to my own Dropbox so I can access it on my phone when customers have questions. If you don't like that it's called "Read Me", you can easily rename it to "CKC Info" or "CKC Size Charts" or something like that so you will know right where it is on your computer or device. Again, we are including the sizing charts in all our new patterns; this is just to provide a little extra info for you to use with the older patterns, several of which are our best sellers.
If this is the first you are hearing of our "Read Me" file, you might have overlooked it in the excitement of downloading your new patterns! See the red arrow above. That is the file we're talking about. It's been there with all of our pattern downloads for several months and we hope you haven't been missing out on its helpful info!
But if you have missed it and you don't want to go looking for it, you can get it right here, right now:
Now you're all set! I have one last suggestion now that you have downloaded the Read Me file:
Read it.
Let's Create! ~ Kristen


text:
By Ahsinet Monee
Hip-HopVibe.com Staff Writer
"Love and Hip Hop" frenemies Kimbella and Yandy Smith are back feuding again and fans have no clue why.
Kimbella and Smith had been close friends since season 1 of "Love and Hip Hop", but their friendship came crashing down in Oct. 2017 when Vanderhee called the mother of two out for wishing her a happy birthday through social media and as opposed to calling her.
During tonight's episode, both Yandy and Kimbella had attended Johnathan 34th birthday party. While others were enjoying the party, these two were having an argument over their friendship. Kimbella is upset because her and Smith haven't spoke in months, and calls her out on being fake and having a fake marriage. Twitter reacts to drama stating Kimbella is angry, and Yandy is always playing victim.
Read what Twitter has to say about Yandy Here:
Follow Hip-HopVibe.com on Twitter @HipHopVibe1.


text:
Ray Robertson is an irrepressible voice, with brass balls, and a heart of gold.
— Jonathan Evison (author of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving)
It's 1979. Tom's dad is the local tattoo artist, his mother is a born-again former stripper who's run off with the minister from the church where the pet store used to be, and his sister can't wait to leave town for good. And everybody along his daily newspaper route looks at him a little differently, this boy who's come back from the dead, who just might be the only one who understands the miraculous, heart-breaking mystery that is their lives.
Set in the year that real newspaper headlines told of North America's hard turn to the right, 1979 offers a small-town take on the buried lives of those who almost never make the news, and one boy's attempt to make sense of it all.
Ray Robertson is the Jerry Lee Lewis of North American Letters.
— Chuck Kinder (author of Honeymooners and The Last Mountain Dancer)
Ray Robertson is the author of the novels Home Movies, Heroes, Moody Food, Gently Down the Stream, What Happened Later, David, and I Was There the Night He Died, as well as three collections of non-fiction: Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing and Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live, and Lives of the Poets (with Guitars). His latest novel is 1979. Born and raised in Southwestern Ontario, he lives in Toronto.
When he describes the art and craft of these 13 artists . . . you can hear the tender vocals, the searing guitars, every one of their creative idiosyncrasies. And you can feel Robertson's passion for the material in every word . . . he's done meticulous research to learn their life stories and delve into their personal pedcadillos . . . boy, can he write.
– NOW Magazine


text:
I can hardly believe that Christmas is just a week away! Time sure does fly when we keep focused and busy. The funny thing is that I have been focused and busy with Valentines Day cards so I feel as if I have totally blown past Christmas and spring should be right around the corner...it is, right?
I spent the morning sorting, tucking, counting and packing the cards I have been creating for Operation Write Home over the past few weeks. I was pretty tickled to find that I had stamped exactly 100 Valentines (I thought it was ironic, anyway.) In total I will be shipping out 153 cards on Monday morning, several of which you can see by scrolling through my recent posts.
I was able to put together 18 Valentines last night and thought I would share them on my blog. The first one here was inspired by Splitcoast Stampers weekly sketch challenge (aka SC311.) Unfortunately I am unable to upload my photos directly to their site - something to do with the number of pixels my camera takes or some such craziness (being electronically challenged I just accept that I can't do it and haven't pursued fixing it. lol )
And here is my card:
The sentiment was cased from OWH's Stars and Stamps Blog free digi's (for OWH cards only) as were the sentiments on these other cards to follow. I typed the words in Microsoft Word then printed them on white cardstock. My goal was to use these lovely sentiments paired with last of the hearts DP I wanted to use up with this card shipment. Here are the others:
These are all pretty simple cards and could easily have been turned into kits for a card making event as well.
If you like what you see, of if you have any questions, please take a minute and leave me a comment and a link to your blog. Thanks for stopping by!


text:
I am back into only eating homemade bread in 2015. I lasted way longer in 2014 than I thought. I actually did not purchase any bread products for 6 months! I blame weekend beach trips and those delicious onion buns from The Fresh Market. Those onion buns were a gateway into my old carb charged ways. But what does fascinate me is how hard it was to buy that first loaf of white bread from TFM. I looked at the loaves of bread for weeks before I could bring myself to buy one. And then it was a slippery slope. But this bread is proof that practice does make perfect. This is my best bread recipe yet and it is so easy!
This recipe is along the lines of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. But the recipe is tailored to a standard sandwich bread loaf. I love the freeform loaves and I love baguettes, but this is definitely better for making sandwiches and easier to portion control if you are counting calories. Forming your sandwich loaf really does not take more than 5 minutes. This dough is easy to work with, and all you have to do is just keep stretching and turning it until it is approximately the length of your pan. The dough can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks. If you are counting calories in the new year. I calculated this at 100 calories per oz, a thin slice is about 1.2 oz.
Every Day Bread
450 g bread flour
450 g all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
735 grams water
In a large bowl, mix together the flours, yeast, and salt. Add water and mix together with a wooden spoon. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Proof on the counter at room temperature for 5 hours. Make sure you use a bowl/container large enough to accommodate the dough doubled in size.
After proofing the dough is ready to be used, or it can be stored in the fridge for two weeks.
When you are ready to bake a loaf, pull off half of the dough, return the remaining portion to the fridge. On a floured surface, knead the dough a few times. Then stretch it out to an 8×12 inch rectangle (or a rectangle that approximates the length of your bread pan). Role it up into a loaf. Place seam side down in a buttered loaf pan.
Allow to rise for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes until it begins to brown. A thermometer inserted into the middle of the loaf should read 210 degrees when it is done.


text:
Last Sunday while I was attending a baby shower for Doris (who will be traveling to China to get Daphne soon!) hubby took the kids to the local rink for some skating practice. We had taken Naomi last year and she hated every minute of it! This time she apparently loved it and stayed on the ice for a good 45 minutes! Not the best quality photo since it's from a phone camera but I am glad to have the moment captured!!! She has been asking to go back all week!
Naomi loves to "help" in the kitchen. She was so happy to try out the new apron my mom made for her.
She *loves* to crack the eggs ... mmmm .... crunchy brownies ... lol!
Last Friday night I was at the grocery store when my son called me to announce that our two (supposedly) female hamsters produced a litter of 6! Lovely. Never trust the employees at the pet shop. Lesson learned. They are super cute though ... anyone want a hammie?


text:
The classic example is opal: for years the average person thought of it as something that a tourist would purchase for $6 – or alternatively, was sold overseas for tens of thousands of dollars. However, artisan jewellers and the custom-make market has changed all that. Today there is a flourishing market for opal varieties such as boulder, pipe, fossil, crystal, plus standard white and black.
It's up to us, the experts, to change perceptions in a similar manner about other gemstones. So, let me set the record straight on a few of the most underrated stars.
The amount of times I've had people turn up their nose at zircon is off the charts! This is purely because the name sounds similar to cubic zirconia, so the customer thinks you are trying to sell them a synthetic.
It can be so bad, that once I had a jeweller with over thirty years experience tell me they weren't interested in zircon, because they didn't carry synthetics – at which point I politely informed them that was fine, because the tray of stones I was presenting came from an artisanal mine in the Northern Territory.
While zircon has an acceptable hardness of around seven, it is seen as less suitable for jewellery because it is less durable. But emerald, which has a tendency to chip, and pearls, which are soft and susceptible to chemical wear – are still widely used without protest.
With a refractive index exceeding almost any other natural stone, and a range of hues from pure white to sultry mauves and pinks – not to mention the vivid blues produced with heat treatment – zircon can produce the most amazing sparkly gems.
Stones such as apatite, kyanite, fluorite and facet quality varieties of minerals like sunstone and moonstone have all been overlooked often, due to slightly lower durability. But these days, consumers are looking for something fresh and exciting; less durable gems, if set sympathetically and cared for properly, can fill this demand and usually at a fraction of the cost of other stones.
There are also more obscure stones creeping into the market. For those who have not seen a stunning teal or vivid electric blue apatite, it is definitely something to seek out.
Garnet is a durable and cost effective gemstone that also has good recognition with consumers. Most people think of garnets as orange-brown or very dark, wine coloured gems, yet green garnets like tsavorite and demantoid can be unbelievably beautiful.
Rhodolite garnet is also becoming more prominent: an amazing range of hues from the most intense pure violet, to almost candy like raspberry tones are now available – no longer only the dark ruddy purple it was often associated with. If that were not enough, it's also not uncommon to see colour-change garnet on the market. These make an excellent alternative for people looking for an affordable multi-hued stone.
I have also noticed a growing interest for raw gem material. As with the rise of opal, people are looking for organic, naturally styled jewellery, and this is the perfect avenue to use more obscure and interesting rough gems. If your customer shows an interest in less mainstream styles – why not show them a few more colour options?
The demand for deep red spinel in South East Asia is filtering down to Australia too. Another great looking gem with a refractive index and hardness approaching sapphire, there is a growing trend to use a diamond cut on spinel to produce very attractive pieces, especially in lesser known colours such as grey and steel tones. Encourage your customers to admire these combinations – if they don't know about them, they can't buy them!
I enjoy the teaching process, and the recognition a consumer gains when they come to me looking for, say, a standard blue sapphire, and end up with a steel blue spinel they never knew they would fall in love with. There really is an amazing world of coloured gemstones to be discovered which can provide beautiful, cost effective, and unique alternatives for gemstone jewellery. We just have to be willing to take the plunge; first ourselves – then to help our customers do it too.
Name: Charles LawsonBusiness: Lawson GemsPosition: Owner/DirectorLocation: BrisbaneYears in the industry: 12


text:
It may be tempting for Canadian employers looking at the bottom line to question the value of employee and family assistance programs (EFAP) that are so often included in employee health-benefits packages.
For many companies, these programs – which offer confidential services to employees in crisis — have been in place for so long, their existence is almost taken for granted.
But a new study by the human-resourcing firm Morneau Shepell indicates there's more to these programs than just keeping workers happy. Indeed, the study, the largest of its kind in Canada to date, found that companies with robust EFAPs in place stand to reap huge rewards with relatively minimal financial investment.
Specifically, researchers calculate the rate of return for every dollar spent on an EFAP at $8.70 in improved productivity and fewer employee sick days taken.
"The service helps people get back on track in terms of productivity and it prevents a lot of problems," said Paula Allen, vice president of research and integrated solutions at Morneau Shepell.
The study comes as the public conversation around mental health in the workplace gains steam in Canada. Big-name athletes like Olympian Clara Hughes, celebrities and business leaders who've chosen to be open with their own struggles with depression, anxiety and stress have done much to raise awareness around the topic and make it possible for it to be discussed out in the open.
It is a very real problem: A 2013 report by the Mental Health Commission of Canada found that about 500,000 Canadians miss work on any given week due to mental illness, with total costs to the economy in the range of $51 million annually.
A separate study by Morneau Shepell published earlier this year found workplace stress to a major contributor to the rising number of disability claims in the country. According to the study, stress levels have doubled since 2009, driven largely by financial insecurity, job insecurity, global competition and corporate turbulence.
The previous study also found that Canadians are overwhelmed and overloaded with information, leading to greater levels of stress and anxiety.
Among personal issues workers wrestle with, Allen said emotional problems related to the breakdown of a relationship – whether with a spouse, partner, child or even co-worker – was the single biggest reason cited by those accessing an EFAP.
EFAPs can also offer help to those in need of financial planning, bankruptcy, legal issues, or even those looking to find affordable child care or caregivers for elderly parents.
The most-recent study compiled data from 80,000 cases. EFAP users were asked to complete a questionnaire at their first session after seeking help and another questionnaire at their last EFAP session, providing information on changes in productivity or absenteeism at work.
Key findings include:
- 63 per cent of employees said their productivity at work had been negatively impacted in the four weeks before they contacted their EFAP because of the issue that led to them calling.
- Of the people who reported productivity loss in the month before accessing an EFAP, the average time away from work was 51.6 hours.
- Employees seeking help through their EFAP recorded a 35.9 per cent increase in productivity at work, compared to their productivity just before seeking help.
- One third of employees reaching out to the EFAP said they would have been off work for more than 20 days were it not for the support they received through the EFAP.
Allen said the average cost of an EFAP is about one per cent of the total cost of a health-benefits plan.
The latest study was conducted in consultation with Mark Attridge, a Minneapolis-based social psychologist and research scholar who specializes in workplace mental health and employee assistance programs. The dollar value for return on investment was calculated using the average wage for each client's industry based on July 2013 Statistics Canada data and the case cost was standardized to the average.


text:
Jason Howard Deere
Associate / Atlanta
Jason Deere is an Associate in our Atlanta office who focuses on medical malpractice, general liability, and long term care. Jason graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law in 2011. Jason received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, cum laude in 2008 from the University of Mississippi.
Prior to joining Copeland, Stair, Kingma & Lovell, LLP, Jason worked as insurance regulatory attorney. His duties included statutory and regulatory research and offering advice to businesses regarding regulatory compliance matters. He has also worked in complex litigation and managed teams through the discovery process for multiple cases involving the pharmaceutical and financial industries.
Jason completed a clerkship serving as Intern to the Honorable Lewis M. Blanton in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.


text:
It's impossible for your staff to note everything that's going on at your church. The Connect plan invites your entire church body to engage with you on a whole new level. As people connect with each other and the opportunities you offer, you'll gain true insight into actual involvement, personal growth, and church health.
Equip Leaders
New responsibilities shouldn't discourage people from serving in a leadership role. We approached Realm in their shoes and built tools to make their life easier and more rewarding.
- Assign to Groups or Teams
- Provide Communication Tools
- Train with Pathways
- Enable Profile Updating
- Can Mark Attendance
- Share Files & Resources
- Manage Group Events
Engage Members
Just because someone calls your church home, doesn't mean they make it their home. Give people multiple ways to get involved, connect, and take advantage of all you have to offer.
- Join Groups
- Give Online
- Register for Events
- Accomplish Pathways
- Participate in Discussions
- Monitor Giving/Pledge History
- Maintain Profile Info
Plan Highlights
Get everything in the Inform package + engaging Connect features all for one simple monthly price based on your typical weekly attendance.
Connected Groups
Give people the tools to build meaningful relationships.
Increase Group Participation
Anyone in your church can search for and join a group. They can also post messages to the group, check its meeting schedule, and sign up to bring listed items.
Organize People Into Groups
Your staff can define your ministry areas and then create small groups, build teams, and assign leaders that fit under the oversight of specific ministries.
Simple Setup and Oversight
Realm makes it easy to create groups that meet specific ministry objectives and assign group responsibilities to the appropriate people.
Give Leaders Tools to Lead
Create groups with discussions, meetings, rosters, and resources, then delegate group management to the people best suited to keep everything up to date.
Help People Find Connections
Anyone in your church can use Realm's group search capabilities to find a group that fits their interest, needs, or ministry affinity, and get involved.
See Who's Connected
Attendance dashboards provide immediate insight into attendance patterns. Pivot on date ranges, campuses, ministry areas, demographic attributes, and much more.
Provide a Place to Connect
"We love Realm! We love that it's online and can be accessed from anywhere. Our worship team loves that they can have their own forum to stay connected easily!"Kari, Fort Collins, CO
Attended Events
Engage people before, during, and long after they walked through the door.
Oversee Check-in System
Your staff can centrally manage individual check-in kiosks, assist with checking people in, run attendance reports, and view attendance activity in real-time.
Track Group Events
Group leaders can mark attendance during or after a meeting. Members can check their kids in, verify allergy information, or add special instructions on the fly.
Eliminate the Line
Optimized for accuracy and speed, parents use a simple touch-screen to indicate which children they're checking in and quickly print name tags.
Create a Welcoming Environment
Customizable check-in kiosks make a great first impression and help you set a tone of trust and security with Realm's quick, seamless check-in.
Automatic Attendance Tracking
There's no need mark attendance when your check-in system does it for you, reducing manual tasks while increasing accuracy and giving you powerful insights that help you care for families.
Staff-Managed Registration
Your staff can register people for events and track relevant attendee information. You can also produce lists of people to communicate before or after events.
Simple Event Check-in
"Realm is very focused on the end user's needs and how we're using the product in real ministry life. Realm goes above and beyond."Belva, Tomball, TX
Targeted Communication
Stop blasting and start targeting.
A Variety of Options
Realm is committed to giving your staff the tools they need to communicate more efficiently, from posting announcements to leaving messages on group walls.
Broadcast Important Messages
A unified database and multi-dimensional notifications give you the power to send instant communication to your whole church.
Target Specific Message
When you need to get your message to a single group of people, Realm lets you do that effortlessly, while enabling group members to communicate with ease.
Facilitate Getting In Touch
Similar to an online directory, your church body can look up available contact information for their friends and post messages for their groups.
Self-Managed Contact Info
Everyone in your church can create and manage their own personal and family profile, delivering a church directory that's never out of print.
Always In Control
Give everyone the ability to determine who can see which information. Plus, Realm gives people personal control of their own notification preferences.
Plus More
- Self-Maintained Profiles
- Personalized Check-in
- Self-Registration for Events
- Serving Opportunity Listings
- Volunteer Check-in
- Invite-only Events
- Attendance Dashboard
- Delegate Group Leaders
- Small Group Sign-ups
- Personal Notifications
- Threaded Group Discussions
- Group Resource Sharing
- Direct Messages
- Group Pages
- Group Search
- Custom Check-in Systems
- Skills & Interests Tracking
- Auto Address Correction
- Name Badge Printing
- Customizable Kiosks
- Event Reporting
Get everything in the Inform plan + engaging Connect features all for one simple monthly price based on your typical weekly attendance.*
*Typical weekly attendance includes kids but only counts people once, even if they attend or serve at multiple services.
Take it to the next level.
Ideal for Multi-Site Church Ministries