It felt like the tropics this week...

This week, we have alternated from sundresses to raincoats. Big winds with lightning and thunder one night that was exhilarating to be out in... streets around us were blocked off Saturday for a marathon... 15,000 runners zoomed by...and the IMF(International Monetary Fund) announced it again has no plans to even consider letting Argentina back into the fold....

It stopped raining for the "Internations" party, so we were able to move tables onto the sidewalk....and along came a guy I had to admire for his entrepreneurial spirit..he had affixed his photos to magnetic sheets...true refrigerator art...

This week's food shot from the neighborhood french restaurant makes me salivate with memories...three chilled scoops of chocolate mousse (dark, milk and white)..and a truly grand mousse with lots of egg white and cream....

Technicolor Buenos Aires

No, I am not now using exotic South American drugs...just having fun with my new photo editing program....I bought it on line along with a new camera on Argentina's version of Ebay, and picked it up near the presidential palace....here's some of the buildings surrounding the palace plaza.

And here is a shot of just one of the rooms in our local gymnasium (SUTERH, Sindicato Unico de Trabajadores de Edificios de Renta y Horizontal).....its a beautiful old building, three stories high, build during Avita's day for the city workers.

There is a huge swimming pool, roller skating, aerobics, gymnastics, a restaurant, and even boxing for girls!

On the political front, here is a scene of the same Plaza de Mayo that's in front of the presidential palace, but instead of looking up at all the buildings, I am looking at several groups of demonstrators.... I counted at least 6 groups that day....

And my food shot for this week was taken at the interior patio restaurant of the Museo Sivori, in Lagos Palermo Park...the big pitcher was filled with mint ginger lemonade... Dave had chicken with a lemon mustard tarragon sauce accompanied with a great chutney....I had a salad (but couldn't stop eating Dave's chicken..

lots o rock...

For the last month and a half, Dave and I have been whackin' away at rock every Saturday on the plaza of Central Cultural Recoleta...its a great place to work. Every now and then people stop by and talk... there's a big fair out front selling snacks and crafts, and the slow, rhythmical chipping away is a surprisingly relaxing and enjoyable process... it reminds me of why I like knitting or weeding.... the repetition of the activity seems to allow my brain to

float and clean out the cobwebs...

This photo was taken when Dave had just started on his rock...

Dave is now putting in extra hours besides Saturdays, and this is what it looks like today...

Here is another side.....

And here is the tiny rock I am working on.... it's only about 7 inches long.... and if you are having trouble figuring out what i am going for, its a woman lying down sleeping... the big bump in the upper left is her butt, and the smaller bump in the upper right is her shoulder....

spring !!!

Although there are still yellowed leaves from last summer on this tree, it's decided to wake up and send out giant balls of seed down... note the two green big pods that have not opened up yet in the lower left hand corner... they are about the size of baseballs... i have no idea of the name of this tree....

carving by Dave, painting of the Andes by Jamye.....

Right down town is a memorial for the 649 Argentines who died in the war against the UK over ownership of the Falkland islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ....This war lasted 74 days in 1982, ending with Argentina surrendering. The war hastened protests in Argentina against the military government and contributed to its downfall . Argentina is still trying to negotiate with the UK, but so far no talks.

Right after I shot this pic, my trusty camera died , so you will have to imagine the food shot for this week.... we were in the Man San, a great blend of Peruvian and Chinese cooking, with most plates under 15 pesos....i had grilled duck with noodles and different peppers , and Dave had roasted duck....it was raining, so we had the extra treat of two musicians from Peru who got out of the wet....