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The Show Must Go On

This morning I had an experience that showed once again what a strange world we’re living in and how events across the world can affect us directly.

I was scheduled to attend an international business symposium put on by my friend and colleague Mike McInerney. The platform he was using to conduct the event was owned by a company located in the Ukraine. Think about it. They were just invaded by Russia and there is chaos everywhere. I wrote Mike yesterday to ask if it was still on.

He said it was. He had been in close contact with the folks who run the platform. Here they are.

They look about 14! In any case, Liza was able to get out to Frankfurt so she would run everything from there. The three guys stayed at home—fighting.

Takes the expression “The Show Must Go On” to a whole new level. What a world we’re living in.

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This Is For One Person?

On Wednesday night I usually go to the milonga with Lina and we go out to dinner afterwards. Last night she wasn’t feeling well, so I went by myself. (Danced every tanda for two hours, which was lovely but my arthritic legs are paying for it today!)

Afterwards I went to a neighbourhood restaurant near me. I ordered calamari (here we call them rabas), thinking it would be a snack size plate, and this is what they brought me! Looks like a family platter to me! The good thing is that I brought half of it home and I’ll be having it with roasted veggies for tonight’s dinner!

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Imagine Van Gogh

Back in early January, when I found out this event, “Imagine Van Gogh”, was coming to Buenos Aires, I made a big note in my follow-up system because I did NOT want to miss it! Yesterday the day finally arrived and I went with a couple of friends. It did not disappoint.

A couple of my friends saw it in Toronto and I understand it is touring the world, so you may well have seen it too.

I decided not to take photographs, but just to drink it all in and enjoy it in the moment. But just to give you a quick view, I made this short video as I walked in the door. You can see the scale of the images from the people in the foreground. They were constantly changing to represent different stages in Vincent’s life and career, and the music was appropriate for each. The whole thing was wonderful.

Afterwards we went out to the area out back that they were calling the Cafe Van Gogh and had some refereshing lemonade as it was a hot day.

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Tango Concert

Venetia and I went to the CCK for another of their great free concerts last night. The group was called Bombay—no idea why, as they are all Argentines singing tango. These two videos are very short, but will give you an idea of the music.

The first two did more traditional tango songs, and the one in this clip is a classic, “The Night You Left Me.” The larger group was a bit more modern, but still with the emotion of tango. I hope you enjoy them.

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This Week’s Daily Sketches

Top row, left to right: At the Plaza Congreso after my tango lesson yesterday. In the eye doctor’s waiting room — I did this with drops in my eyes, haha. Panic because I hadn’t done my daily sketch, so resorted to this quick one of one of the plants on my balcony. Cliff sings cowboy songs in the plaza. Back to Cafe Bogota. First effort to sketch a night scene, at La Biela. Outside Dos Escudos—the lady I was sketching moved away, but another one sat in her place and I was able to finish. None of the people in my sketches have faces anyway, so it doesn’t matter! Inside Las Delicias, one of my favourite local eating places where, as they used to say about “Cheers”, everybody knows my name!

If you’re beginning to suspect I spend a great deal of my life in eating and drinking places, you could be right! Is this a problem?

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Cowboy Concert in the Plaza

One of my group of friends, Cliff Williamson, is a talented singer and songwriter. Every Sunday evening during February and March he is giving a free concert of cowboy songs in Plaza Vicente Lopez, near me. I went along on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought of taking a photo of people sitting on the grass, but once I struggled down onto the grass myself I wasn’t getting up again until it was time to leave!

Cliff is also in my writers group, and I’m glad I get to share our love of writing every Friday on Zoom. He just published an excellent book called Shining New Testament. It’s been a long time in the making, and his undoubted writing talent and imaginative thinking is clear on every page.

It’s not what you might think—and it may not be for you—but it’s a great read. Check it out here.

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Daily Challenge Sketches

I talked in an earlier post about this challenge I’ve set myself to do one sketch a day for a month, so here are the ones I did this week — every day! They are small sketches in my pocket sized sketchbook, and for the most part black and white. I did feel the need to add colour to one when I got home, but the rest are as I finished them on location.

I was encouraged by the guy whose idea this was (on YouTube) when he said the challenge is to do a sketch every day, not to do a good sketch every day — that took the pressure off!

I did put captions on all these, but WordPress has some new format and they all disappeared when I posted. Anyway, the first four are inside and around Cafe Bogota, where I have my coffee every morning. The next one is a different cafe on Avenida Santa Fe. Next is the building across from my apartment. The last one (no idea why WordPress made it this size) is inside Dos Escudos, a different cafe where I went this morning as there was nothing left to sketch around Bogota!

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Got My Booster

I finally had my booster shot yesterday. Went and got tested on Friday just to make sure I wasn’t getting a double dose of Covid, which is what happened to my friend Lina. I’m happy it’s done.

As a side note, because I am allergic, I had to go to one of the special venues, and this one turned out to be the stadium of one of the two big football teams in Buenos Aires. I had been to a football match years ago at the Bombonera, home of Boca Juniors, but had never been to Monumental, home of River Plate, so I was kind of excited when they sent me there. Unfortunately, though, the clinic was just in one little part of the stadium, and of course it’s too massive to get a photograph when I was so close, so I just made do with these two shots that at least identify where I was!

Not the way I would have wanted to see the famous Monumental!

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Dancing with My Other Tango Teacher

I think I’ve said before that I have two tango teachers. One is Ale, and I’ve published a video with him before. The other is a couple called Beto and Lis. Lis is currently on the disabled list, having broken a foot, so I’m missing my lessons focusing very closely on foot movements. Beto, however, stepped up to the plate and I’m currently have a lesson with him every week.

Ale teaches “tango milonguero“, which is the kind of 3-minute hug style that most people dance in the milonga. Beto, on the other hand, teaches “salon tango”, which is a bit more of a performance. It’s still danced pretty close—still not like the ballroom dance that we don’t even acknowledge as tango, but a little more open. This allows for different steps and movements. Although I prefer milonguero style, I do enjoy this too.

While my video with Ale was planned in advance and we both got dressed up, this video is simply a dance at the end of last week’s lesson — he comes to my place for the lesson. I thought it might be interesting for you to see the difference, so here you go — enjoy!

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I’ve Set Myself a Challenge!

I’ve been dabbling in various art forms recently, some of which I’ve put on this blog and others not. But I’ve felt a little dissatisfied with the amount of my usual sketching I’ve been doing — which is very little. I was going to go out and sketch today, for example, as it’s a beautiful day for it. But Venetia and I are going to an early concert this evening, so there wasn’t much time.

However, I watched some YouTube videos by other sketchers and they made me realize I don’t always have to “go out sketching”, as there are things to draw all around if you just look. So I set myself a challenge to do one sketch every day for a month and see what happens.

I have a small sketchbook that fits in my bag—about 4″ x 6″ I think—and that’s what I’m going to use. I always have it with me in my bag, so there should be a nice variety of subjects. Since I decided not to go out this afternoon, I had to pick something in my home, so here is Daily Sketch #1.

It’s a line drawing of the three big poster size photographs I wrote about when I put them up. They were taken by my friends Susan and Venetia and my brother Bruce, and the subjects represent my three countries. I love the photos and look at them often, so I enjoyed doing the drawing.

I won’t subject you to every day’s drawing, but I did want to record the first so that I am more likely to meet my own challenge. What do you think of my idea? Maybe you’d like to join me!