Hi, I’m Colina, Señor Estrella de la Colina to be exact. My friends call me Hilly. Brian isn’t around right now, neither is Edie. El Fantasma is gone too. That’s why I’m doing the writing today. Brian and Edie are my buddies. We’re close enough that Brian is trusting to me to do the talking this...
Author's Note: In July and August of 2018, the City of Cuenca, Ecuador presented my solo exposition “Momento Decisivo - Joyas Ocultas de los Andes.” Nine selections of my art hung in the Museo Central de la Escuela Viejo in El Centro. The exposition was originally intended to be mostly my portrait...
She was always there. Every Sunday morning she came at the same time. It was during my early days in Ecuador, when I walked in the area, that we met. I studied her and familiarized myself with her mannerisms. She was a disabled person. Her handicap was the inability to walk. Awareness can arrive...
I enjoy the lift that a freshly cut vase of flowers imparts to its environment. All flowers are enjoyable in the sense they elevate my mood. I enjoy the almost imperceptibly delicate to somewhat heavy perfumes they emit. Then, there are the shapes and the colors that entertain the sense of sight....
The first time I ever “brushed up against” Ecuador was before I had ever conceived of living here. The experience was one of happenstance. It ignited an interest, an itch, that was satisfied in Edie and I moving to the southern hemisphere. Let me tell you how it happened. I’ve been a photographer...
Author's Note: In July and August of 2018, the City of Cuenca, Ecuador presented my solo exposition “Momento Decisivo - Joyas Ocultas de los Andes.” Nine selections of my art hung in the Museo Central de la Escuela Viejo in El Centro. The exposition was originally intended to be mostly my portrait...
Several years ago, Edie and I decided to take our cameras and their support equipment on a different type of shoot. We had never done any planned bird photography and decided to try our hands at it. However, we had both been able to make some very good bird photographs during our normal forays...
Few people get to see the things I have seen. Fewer still record their visions. Even fewer write of them. When there is a chance to show the world we live in but rarely see, it’s good to share it. I’m fairly well traveled even though I wouldn’t say I had “seen the whole world.” As an aficionado of...
Back when Edie and I lived in the United States, we often went on rides at the end of the day. Our Tundra, Big Red, carried us out of the city and into pine forests and hardwood bottoms. There, the smells and sounds of ancient bayous assuaged the senses in a way that other places cannot....
Authors note: I wrote this piece about five years ago after having arrived in Ecuador only a few weeks earlier. I’ve learned a lot about the folks here since then and a quite a bit more Spanish also! The shop is still there and the same artisan is still tapping that tiny hammer. There are many of...
