We spent today with Aysin, from Cookistan to learn how to cook a 6-course Turkish meal. We traveled there using Uber for the first time, which worked well in getting us directly to the meeting point, though it took 93 minutes to travel 27 km (about 16 miles) in Istanbul traffic. With Aysin’s directions, we […]
Evelyn’s First Solo Exhibition
Lynda with her new painting from the Parada de Bus series How many people will come to Evelyn’s reception? That was a question that plagued us for weeks. How much food and wine do we prepare? We have been to some art show receptions where only a handful of people showed up. We were advised to […]
Evelyn Solo Art Show Announcement
Evelyn is opening her first solo art show this week! Her first (and only prior) show was in July, 2014, where she exhibited with two other artists. 19 months later, she is having her second show, and this time as the only artist. Not only that, but she is exhibiting at Galería Larrazábal, an exclusive […]
Another Senior Moment
Evelyn blows out the candle on her special dessert cake Burt turned 65 in February. Evelyn caught up today, so she now qualifies for the Ecuadorian term of Tercera Edad or Anciano, meaning she is now in her Third Life (aka Senior Citizen). In Ecuador, that is a major milestone, which qualifies for half price […]
Approaching Our First Year Anniversary in Cuenca
Hard to believe, but we are only a couple days short of our one year anniversary of moving to Ecuador and starting our lives as a retired couple. So much has happened in this past year that it is hard to get my head around it. I find I go back and reread my […]
20/20 (and 19/20)
We are both now legal Ecuadorian drivers — we both received our driver’s licences today! The process here is almost silly in the number of steps required, but we completed the last of the hoops today and walked out with our licenses. We can now rent and drive cars within Ecuador. (The International Driver’s License […]
Art Exhibit Wrap-up Slideshow
Evelyn’s first art exhibit is now complete, and was a complete success. Here is a slideshow of the paintings, artists, and guests. Evelyn Art Slideshow 2014-07 from Burt Johnson on Vimeo.
Evelyn’s First Art Expo
After years of having friends try to convince her to have an art showing, Evelyn finally caved and had her first opening reception tonight. After weeks of being nervous and fearing nobody would come or like her work, she sold 6 out of the 14 she displayed within the first 3 hours — far more […]
El Verde
Another of our weekly trips into the countryside brought us to ‘el Verde‘ today. From our apartment, Alberto drove us to Turi, a famous hilltop overlooking Cuenca, then down the other side. We drove a few miles more until we came upon a promising landscape view in this tiny village. While Evelyn and Alberto painted […]
Ricaurte
Evelyn continues to spend Sunday mornings with Alberto Soriano, painting landscapes of the region around Cuenca. It gives her a chance to get some expert guidance in her landscapes, and gives us both a chance to see the outskirts of town, always within an hour’s drive of our apartment. Without a car ourselves, it would […]