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At Last!

Cafes are allowed to serve outside starting this week — hallelujah! Venetia and I ventured out to La Biela for the first time in almost six months.

I went with Venetia and Lina on Monday, but forgot to take a photo. Today it was just Venetia and me. It was only 12 degrees, so only the tough — or desperate — were out! It wasn’t totally deserted though, and a few of the tables were occupied.

We had our winter coats on, and sat outside to have red wine. Such a treat after all this time. Spring weather is promised for the end of next week, so let’s hope we can do more of this.

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I Just Wanted to Buy Some Yarn!

Yesterday I decided to buy some yarn to do some more knitting. I finally gave in and subscribed to Netflix, but I don’t like just watching movies as an activity all by itself, so knitting at the same time is a good option for me.

There is a whole yarn “district” in Buenos Aires, consisting of about a dozen yarn shops almost side by side on one street called Scalabrini Ortiz. It’s in a different barrio, and since we’re not allowed to take the bus unless going to work in an essential service, I took a taxi there and back.

Check out the lineup I had to wait in! This was for my favourite store, but it was the same at all the others. I know there has been a surge in crafts, including knitting and crochet, while people are locked in, so I guess that accounts for it. I just didn’t expect it!

Anyway, I got some nice pink and white cottons to make summer tops, so it was worthwhile.

On a slightly different but related topic, the news yesterday was that the lockdown would be extended until September 20, but with some lessening in Buenos Aires city. For me, the most exciting thing is that restaurants and cafes can now serve outside — yayyy!! Some of my friends have already agreed to meet at La Biela on Monday afternoon, and I think it will be the first of many — masks or no masks, it’s a step in the right direction. Gracias a Dios!

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Not much, but it’s a start

I may have mentioned this before, but about a year ago I kind of gave up on acrylic pouring. Despite the fact that I did some really good paintings in Toronto, I just couldn’t seem to get it to work down here. The materials were different, and it looked as if I would need to experiment (a lot!) to get the mixtures right. I was too fed up by that time, so I just put my stuff away and forgot about it.

Well, not quite. I didn’t forget completely, and I still like to watch the YouTube experts producing wonderful art with this medium and method. And this week I had a strong urge to try again. Wisely, instead of starting with a canvas, I bought some little wood coasters in a craft store, and did a bunch of them. Here they are:

The colours are more vibrant than they look here, and I’m really quite pleased with them. (The second red one was pressed into service for another project completely unrelated to painting, and I’ll tell you about that in another post soon. Stay tuned.)

I was encouraged, so I did try a small canvas — without success. Paint still the wrong consistency and it’s destined to be poured over. But I’m going to have another go soon – fingers crossed!

 

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Las Chicas in Puerto Madero!

When I told my friends in our WhatsApp group about my outing to Puerto Madero last week, one by one they all said, “Let’s go on Sunday!” So we did.

Venetia walked from her place in Palermo to my place and then we took a taxi. It was another bright sunny winter day and as you can see, we were all well wrapped up. This is the first time we’ve all been together since March — albeit illegally! We actually had problems recognizing each other wearing masks! Thanks to Venetia for once again talking the photo, which unfortunately meant she couldn’t be in it — nobody was passing to take it for us.

There is a market cafe where we met, and we all picked up sandwiches and coffee for lunch, which we ate sitting socially distanced on some benches looking out on the water and talked ourselves hoarse!

The only fly in the ointment was that there were no washrooms available! The one in the cafe was closed to the public because of quarantine and the Hilton Hotel, where we usually go to the washroom during our New Year celebrations down there, was closed like all the other hotels. That posed a bit of a problem and led to us leaving a bit sooner than planned!

All in all, though, it was great and there was general agreement we’ll do it again soon.

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Finally!

I finally escaped my lockdown haircut! Never did find my old hairdresser, so I just took a chance on a salon near me — here are the before and after shots.

What do you think? When I had it short before I could only wear it one way, but now with the length that had grown on the top I can style it different ways. I’ll be going gel-happy!

Colour me happy!

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San Martin Day

Today we honour Argentina’s greatest hero, General Jose de San Martin. Known as El Libertador, he not only liberated Argentina from Spain, but did the same for Peru and Chile. The story of his crossing the Andes is legendary in Argentina. I have a book about him that I’ve been trying to read for two years — reading history in a foreign language isn’t so much recreation as hard work! But I’ll get through it yet, because it’s a fascinating story.

Here’s a link to a YouTube video featuring a very stirring rendition of the Hymn to San Martin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flD1ktGpFTc

I don’t expect it will bring you to tears as it did me, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

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Cupboard Update

I almost forgot to include this because I was so excited about my brief escape from lockdown!

Here is the cupboard as it looks now. Using the containers made a huge difference, and there is even space left over. It’s a pleasure to open the doors now — although so far it hasn’t brought me back to my painting. One of these days.

Actually, as I write this I realize that’s not quite true. A couple of weeks ago I poured acrylic on this papier maché bowl and I quite like it.

The balcony is looking good too, but I still have a couple of plants to add and I have to tackle the kitchen window plants, so I’ll post photos when it’s done.

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An Afternoon of Escape!

I’ve been walking in the neighbourhood quite a bit with my friend Susan, but today she suggested something different and I’m glad she did.

There’s a barrio down on the river called Puerto Madero – very modern with highrise buildings. It could be anywhere really, and is not typical of Buenos Aires. But it does have lovely parkland, and a canal runs parallel to the river, lined with restaurants and nightclubs.

We took a taxi down and walked quite a distance in the sun, watching families with kids and dogs having fun while more or less respecting social distancing. On our way back, we passed the restaurant strip, which was quite busy. One place was selling takeout, so we bought a small bottle of Malbec and drank it out of plastic cups, almost in the exact spot where my friends and I celebrate New Year. We had to take our masks off to drink the wine, of course, but were very conscientious otherwise!

The sun was warm and the sky was blue, so definitely a forecast of spring and a brief but welcome respite from lockdown.

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Clean-up Week!

This seems to be a week of cleaning up for me.

First, I tackled this cupboard. It’s a marvelous space, but I had just been careless about keeping it in order. There was also a lot of wasted space because the shelves are so tall, and I wanted to make better use of the space. The left side is for all my painting supplies (and other unrelated things that seem to have crept in there unobserved!) and the right is what I euphemistically call the stationery cupboard — although it’s more of a catch-all.

Anyway, one day last week I got fed up with it, and I went online and ordered a boatload of plastic baskets and containers and set about making changes. The right side is done (and looking fabulous), but the paint side is not finished, only because I ran out  of containers. So this morning I went out and bought some more, and I expect to finish it tonight. I will send an “after” photo.

Then there’s the balcony. Ah yes, the balcony. When I moved in a year past in March, there were six big planters filled with lovely red geraniums, as well as some beautiful clivia and other bulbs that surprised me when they appeared last fall. The geraniums bloomed all through last winter, but this year — nothing.

Unlike my brother, who inherited the gardening gene from my mother, I’m not a natural gardener. The cleaning lady used to water the plants on Monday and I did them on Thursday. Well, she hasn’t been here for over four months, and during that time I barely managed to keep up my own weekly chore. No wonder the poor things got discouraged.

Anyway, I was looking out there last week and I felt ashamed, so I decided to do something about them. My friend Venetia, who is one of those people who loves to get her hands in the dirt, came over yesterday to help me, bringing three lovely little flowering plants with her. I had bought a small lemon cypress tree, some pots and soil. Oh yes, and some plant food — you guessed it, I had never thought of giving them any food!

I have to empty a couple of the big pots because they became infested with an invasive plant. My brother, who has had experience with invasive species, strongly advised me to empty them and start over with fresh soil. Also, some of the bulbs had a mysterious blight of some kind (OMG, I’m starting to talk like a gardener!) There’s a lot of soil in the pots and it’s kind of heavy work, so I’m just doing it a bit at a time. As the photo shows, it’s a work in progress, and I’ll post another one when it’s ready for display.

And when that’s done, there are many plants on the bedroom window ledge (outside) and more along the passage outside the kitchen! Stay tuned.