Posts:
Like many of you, I’ve been advised to take calcium supplements. With health insurance what it is (and was when my employer provided health insurance), every couple of years my company would change coverage, and I’d have to change doctors to stay in “network.” As I...
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. ~ Zig Ziglar New Year’s resolutions are a time-honored tradition, often a promise to do something better next year. The...
I love kids so I really like to see them in action as the stars of many parades they are participants in. They all seem to have their moods just like their adult counterparts running the full gamut from boredom to completely flipping out over their event. The...
We don't do Thanksgiving here in Cuenca but our Christmas is spectacular. My apartment is on a section of the Tomebamba River that is festooned with a string of blue lights across the river every 75 feet or so and this year they have added fish, frogs and ducks. The...
As 2017 draws to a close, I’m reflecting back on our third year in Cuenca. I never get tired of my early morning walks on the Tomebamba, but lately since we’ve moved downtown, I’m mixing it up with walks in the city. I love the sunrises in Cuenca — the early morning...
The Way It Is There is a thread you follow. It goes among Things that change. But it doesn’t change. Tragedies happen; people get hurt Or die; and you suffer and get old. While you hold it you can’t get lost You have to explain about the thread But it is hard for...
Body Temperature Have you ever wondered how 98.6° Fahrenheit or 37° Centigrade became “normal” body temperature? In the 1850’s, a German physician named Carl Wunderlich collected data on 25,000 patients, taking their temperature multiple times. Wunderlich was the...
Change is inevitable, that’s for sure. I think it’s how it is dealt with that’s the issue at stake. I’m afraid that I often do what I set out not to do. As the years have passed, I find I have to be more vigilant of certain responses I have to change. It’s a very...
This week, I had the pleasure to visit with an iconic Ecuadorian artist, Gustavo López Moreno, at his El Centro gallery on Luis Cordero at Honorato Vasquez. We had a great time. He’s a simple, unassuming man, considering his talent and experience, and he likes to joke...
Are you one of the many consumers that have heard that the mineral magnesium is important for good health — but are not sure why? If so, you’re not alone. A recent survey shows that 90% of U.S. consumers are aware of magnesium, but 70% don’t know the specific health...
By Liam Higgins Cuenca's municipal transit authority estimates that more than 500 foreign residents 65 and older purchased pre-paid city bus cards in 2017 at the discounted rate of 12 cents per ride. Full fare is 25 cents. "It's a fabulous deal that proves age has its...
Are you still confused about the “best” and “worst” fats? Are low-fat diets best for weight loss? Or is that old news? Myths “Fats” is not a four-letter word signifying obesity; fats are essential components of a healthy diet. However, all fats are not equal in terms...
As a photographer, I am compelled to seek out and record interesting imagery. As a photojournalist, I am compelled to shine the light of my lens on issues I believe need additional awareness. Sometimes, the making of a particular photograph actually informs me in an...
In the 1960s the idea that diet influenced heart disease was new, but there was a debate among experts about which was the culprit — fat or sugar. Health experts weren’t convinced that all fats were “bad” and even that far back some wanted to examine the role of sugar...
By Estelle Erasmus A year before she retired in 2014, Joan Rall, a New-York-based partner at the accounting and consulting firm EY (Ernst & Young), wasn’t worried about how she’d spend her time. “I landed a teaching job at NYU’s Business School and thought that...
El Fantasma was making good time, dropping down from Ecuador’s northern border with Colombia, somewhere south of San Lorenzo. Edie and I were headed back by Atacames to have some ostione ceviche for lunch. We had been seeing some type of small objects carefully lined...
Three weeks ago, I noticed some scaffolding was being erected on the westernmost dome of the New Cathedral. You may have noticed that the large dome of the nearby Iglesia San Blas is also undergoing repairs. I was disappointed that it had been rapidly covered by...
A quiet, sunny and warm Saturday afternoon. Quite a contrast to last Saturday, the third day of the four day celebration of the 197th anniversary of the freeing of Cuenca from the rule of Spain. Exhibit tents spread out more than a quarter of a mile up and down the...
Our world is a crazy place. For the first time in history more people are at significant nutritional risk from over nutrition instead of malnutrition. But, in most industrialized countries we actually eat fewer calories than we did at the beginning of the 20th...
By Michel Blanchard The art exhibition "Reality as a Pretext and the Myth of the Ephemeral,” currently showing at the Galleria de la Alcaldía, on the corner of Presidente Borrero and Simón Bolívar, is composed of mostly large works or art in strong colors, a modern,...
