Tall Ships Regatta

Yesterday, as many of you already know, me and mine took ourselves off to see the Tall Ships Regatta taking place on the docks here, in Quebec City. There were nine ships in total, 5 of which were tall ships that were on parade earlier this month, in New York City, for the 250th birthday celebration of the US.

These five ships sailed up the coast visiting different ports and now, are here for the next 3 days. Included were the Unión from Peru, the Gloria from Columbia, the Esmerelda from Chile, La Belle Poule from France, and finally, the Amerigo Vespucci from Italy.

And will you look how tall these masts are?

Of course, there were over a hundred thousand other people there at the same time us, all queueing to get onboard each ship, for a tour. So that, in the end, we never did get onboard any of them. Not unless we wanted to wait 40-50 minutes or more. Instead we chose to walk the entire length of the quayside from one end to the other and just take in the whole atmosphere.

Oh, and fun bonus? The clever Italians had set up a series of containers with a small boutique selling souvenirs, a cool drinks booth, and an outdoor seating area to watch a video of the training recruit in action, on the high seas. All in all, they came prepared to make it a day trip for everyone. That’s not to say the other crews weren’t welcoming, they were.

It was another absolutely memorable day in the sun.

Stapled

Dear Valued Customer,

I am sorry to hear of your recent troubles with your order. Please understand we do our very best to provide you with a service second to none, allowing you to buy items online that are otherwise not available in our brick and mortar stores. As that would be far too convenient.

We would far rather you order everything through our interactive website. Yes, I know, we have been experiencing some problems recently, but our tech analysts advises us that the problem with double billing customers has now been resolved and just as soon as our Accounts section has received the correct paperwork, from you, in triplicate, we will endeavour to reimburse your credit card with the appropriate amount. Please take the time to visit our interactive website and fill out a form 411-B parts 1 through 7 online.

Thank you.

Meanwhile, your order was dispatched not as promised from the local depot in your area, but one in the Yukon, as they had another order to deliver to your local area. Strangely enough, to the very same address [what a coincidence]. And while it is true our system didn’t register this and notify you that you would not receive your order on the Tuesday you were in receipt of our automated email, your items—according to our antiquated, late 90s tracking system—are now routing via the Yukon on express delivery via UPS—United Planetary Services—and, we are told, should arrive with you before the end of the calendar year.

Please allow 3-5 business days for confirmation that delivery will occur within the stated period. We apologise for any inconvenience, but once items are dispatched via UPS from our depot, we are unable to offer tracking and or support for your order. We understand that UPS has a habit of arriving at inconvenient times when you are out of the household or at work all day, and prone to leaving threatening looking documents demanding you pick up your items from an inconvenient locale 30 miles from your home. But we are not responsible for delivering your order, or what happens to it in transit.

If you are still experiencing problems, or have not received your items within three calendar months, please advise us by going online to our interactive website and filling out form FUBAR-7-11 parts 1 through 14 and returning it to us with your original receipt of purchase, proof of identity, and full credit card details, including your PIN.

Your continued business as a valued customers is very important to Stapled & Co. and we do hope you will shop with us again soon. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Rob R. Baron
Regional Manager

Postcarding

It’s been a good decade or maybe even more — as I forget Covid swallowed up several years of our lives — since I last wrote out and sent someone a postcard. Even longer since I sent anyone a handwritten letter. But today, over on Mastodon, Harry was talking about finally sending a card to a friend of his that lives in Chicago and, well, it got me thinking. I would love to get a postcard or two from various people living across the planet. I mean, wouldn’t you? How cool is it to open up your mail box and, instead of flyers and junk mail, you’d find one or two postcards?

So, as Harry said, Let’s Write More Postcards. Let’s bring a little silly joy back into our lives.

By the way, I have dozens of vintage postcards in my collection (I say vintage, as they’re all about 30+ years old). Who knows, I may even pick one out of my collection, and send it to you.

Note: If you are interested in swapping postcards, leave a comment to that effect, and we can swap postal addresses.

I am pie

If you wanted to express to others about who I was, after my death, done in the vein of an artist [see: Museum Honours Late Artist.] you would see the floor covered in lemon merengue pie. And I mean, the whole thing.

Graham cracker biscuit crumb base held together with butter, layered on top the lemon curd filling, topped off with the iconic lightly torched fluffy white merengue cresting in stiff peaks.

Each layer wonderfully expressing different aspects of my personality.

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

Hyperrealism Part IV

And finally, the best of the rest, as they say. I have so many photos but rather than overwhelm my blog (and you) with images, here are 4 more amazing pieces from this fantastical exhibit.

Honestly, the guy encased in the “ice” box was very disturbingly real looking. While the guy coming out of the floor was 6 foot tall from the hips, a veritable giant of a man — if he were, in fact, real.

And finally, floating man …

Like this sleeping guy was being abducted by aliens … or something!

Hyperrealism Part III

Harkonnen Nude.

Yes, yes I went there, it was a much more polite way to talk about this particular figure and piece of artwork rather than stating the obvious.

I chose to shoot this one in black and white with spotlight highlights to showcase the exhibit, I hope, in an eery way. Not that it wasn’t already weirdly eerie, including the dead eyes.

At six foot plus in height, he was, to say the least, an imposing figure.

Hyperrealism Part II

Giant Baby.

Moving on from yesterday’s elderly woman and baby I present to you Giant Baby. There’s the giant Buddha in recline and now, there’s Giant Baby in recline. A Giant Newborn Baby I should point out. Complete with simulated blood. At least, I hope it was simulated … anyway, you decide.

Oh, this artwork was at least 10-12 feet in length. Pity the poor woman giving birth to this guy. Ouch doesn’t cover it!

Enough to put you off having kids forever.

Hyperrealism Part I

Elderly woman and baby.

As promised, here’s the first personally chosen selection from yesterday’s exhibit at the museum on Hyperrealism. I’ve decided to post in parts to better present the subject photos rather than have one long, unwieldily post.

Out of all the artwork on display—and let me tell you there were a lot of amazing pieces—this one is the one that most disturbed me. It was like looking at someone caught in a single moment, frozen in place. So hyper realistic was the artwork, I really, and I mean really wanted to reach out and touch the exhibit. Pinch the woman and see if she would open her eyes.

Of course, that wasn’t allowed. And the artwork isn’t real, it just looked freakily real.

I still can’t stop looking at these photos and feeling like, that any minute, this woman will wake up and say something.

Swimming with the Fishes

Yesterday we had a fabulous day out at the city aquarium here in Quebec City. The OH surprised me at breakfast saying they’d booked tickets online for us, and had ordered a taxi for 9:30 am to get there — this mostly because the city, after 50 years of deliberations finally gave the go-ahead for construction to begin across the city for the new tramway.

So we’re now in the start-phase of digging up half of Quebec in order to put in the lines and accompanying tap that goes with it. The consequence of which means all the bus routes are either changed or, in some cases, completely suspended till further notice. Hence the taxi.

All that to say we had a quick ride to the venue thinking getting there early would mean no crowds. Ha!

Let’s just say Saturday was not a great day in the middle of July to choose to go to the aquarium. That said, despite the hordes of kids swarming all over the place. We did get to see nearly every exhibit without too much fuss, and actually thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

First up was the Jelly fish house …

Then there was the octopus …

We also got to see one of several common harbour seals, and one of 4 giant otters.

I don’t know where all the others were hiding but it was hot out, about 28C. Then … there was Mr. Bear doing his yoga poses for us for about three minutes before he too went inside to cool off.

And finally, one last walk around the grounds with more water features, waterfalls, and ponds, before we decided to go home.

And a good day was had by all.

Old Quebec City

Okay, so I’m a little late posting these photos from our Sunday walkabout but that’s because the weather has been so damn good — sunny, warm and inviting.

Late or not, we took an early bus into the historic centre to go ambling about, taking in the sights like a tourist prior to seeing the French National Aerobatics Flight do a flyby in the afternoon. This was one of many international teams that had been in New York on Saturday for the 250th anniversary flight/sail extravaganza on the Hudson river.

They chose to do a flyby over Montreal and then us here, in Quebec City, on their way to Bagotville here in the province. Before flying back to France Monday. It was a treat to catch a glimpse of them fly up the St. Lawrence river.

Anyway, here’s a few highlights of some of the sights we took in.