Trip to Arcadia or trip to Sanibel?

Sometimes your plans aren't about what you think. We planned to visit Riverside RV Resort, where we've gone for many years to teach our tech seminars and Smartphone photography workshops to the snowbird RVers who live there. We did that. And Jim posted this photo in Facebook. 

I posted this photo of our Smartphone photography class. 

A friend on Facebook, Prudence G noticed this posts and mentioned that she now lived in Sanibel Island and we should stop by and see her. 

Hey, we love Sanibel island,  and haven't been there in years. We met Pru while we were all diving in Fiji way back in 2006, then we visited her at home in the Chesapeake Bay area later that same year. She's the kind of person with whom we immediately felt an affinity, but we hadn't seen her since that visit back in 2006.

Hey,  Sanibel is right on our route home - let's go.  We pulled into her driveway and she greets us at the door.  Conversation flowed as if no time at all had passed.  She told us how her husband Reid had been instrumental in the creation of Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. How cool! Ding Darling is a very special place - we haven't been there in years. We were sorry to hear that Reid died a few months ago. 

I really want to go to Ding Darling and Pru graciously agreed to take us.  What a gorgeous evening.  

Then we went to dinner at a wonderful Mexican place (400 Rabbits)and continued our conversation discussing our favorite dive destinations all around the world. 

We driveway camped for the night and went to breakfast the next morning at Rosy's.

It was a wonderful visit - Thanks Pru! - and now that we know where she is we'll go back! 

As we were driving home, Jim said, "Y'know - I think the purpose of this trip was to meet up with Pru!" Serendipity!

Valentine's Day

 Jim and I mark the beginning of our relationship from our first kiss which was on Valentine's Day in 1993. I counted on my fingers and toes and decided that means we've shared 30 Valentine's Days together. We'd better celebrate right?

Well, we did a good job, even if it was by accident. You see, Jim bought tickets for a Rod Stewart concert. He bought them a couple months ago and it didn't register that the date was Valentine's day. He also neglected to put it on the calendar. Therefore, when I got a notice from Pelican Harbor that, as a regular donor, they were inviting us on a sunset cruise on Valentine's day. That's what I really wanted to do, so we were prepared to forfeit the concert tickets in order to go on the sunset cruise.

But wait, what time are these happening? The cruise, in Miami, is 5-7 and the concert starts at 8. Hmmm, we may be old, but we decided we could do that. If Rod Stewart, at 77, could get up on the stage and perform, we could make the drive and and watch him.

It was a great night with both events.

All's Right with the World

Jim and Jimmy always get together in Jan/Feb and go diving, but there was a disturbance in the force last year called Covid and he didn't make it down.

We're so glad he was able to make it this year. And, I'm glad that there's some lobster in the freezer!

Then a well-deserved soak in the hot tub! I had to get this picture for Jimmy to send to friends shoveling snow back in New Jersey!

Morikami Gardens and Mary Helen

 Google Photos has a habit of posting photos from years past to remind me of my memories. Recently, I've been seeing a lot of photos from when Mary Helen and I spent an afternoon at Morikami Gardens in January 2018. So when she called and said, "let's do something" I said yes! Morikami Gardens.

It was a perfect day.

Dreary Day

 It's raining, drizzling, and gray. And my mood is matching. 

It was a dreary day, but dry enough to go for my walk

My last post was about what a good day that was :-) 

The contrast reminds me of a passage from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

The lesson is that dreary days are not to be condemned, they are to be appreciated since it is only in the contrast that you can appreciate the sunny, joyful days! 

Today is a good day!

 First of all, there's nothing on the calendar. I can sleep as late as I want. I can leave my hair uncombed and wear my PJ-style clothes. I can do a little yoga to get the energy flowing before sitting down at the computer and seeing where the keyboard takes me!

Then I started playing with Snapseed some more. We did our "Button" show on Snapseed this Sunday. I have so much fun with that app! Every time I teach it I learn something more. I was extra excited about the double-exposure feature that I've used before, but really figured it out for a particular purpose on Sunday's show. In this video I show how I took the first two photos below to create the third one.

During the show we had a couple of questions from the audience that have been bouncing around in my head ever since.

1. Can I add text "below" the photo?
2. Can I add a copyright watermark?

I said no to the first one, and yes - but it's work, to the second. Today I figured it out, and it made me dance around the house I was so excited. I'll be writing about my latest Snapseed discoveries in our Geeks on Tour newsletter that will come out in a couple days. 

Next on my To Do list was to rattle some cages with the Trip Insurance claim I filed for our quarantined Central America tour. I've submitted all the documents I have and they still want more. After 2 hours (literally) on hold, I talked to someone who said that someone else will send me an email and clear it all up. I'll believe it when I see it. But, in any case I felt good for doing my part - this kind of detail paperwork is NOT my strong point. I deserve a pat on the back! 

Then I turned my attention to creating the show notes that I write up after each Button Show. I'm really proud of these notes. They're a lot more than bullet points, they are written documentation of everything that we teach during the show, including links to videos and other materials. I review them all the time. I rarely re-watch a whole 45 minute show, but I often refer to the show notes to remember how to do something. 

For our Geeks on Tour Members, I convert the show notes to a .pdf file and it's important that the links in the notes be clickable. What good is a link if you can't click it?! Well, I use the Evernote web clipper to accomplish this and, about a month ago, it had a bug where links did not convert properly in the .pdf file. If you clicked it, you got a 404. I know, I know, I'm getting a bit geeky here, but trust me - this was a major problem for me! I haven't done the show notes for the last 3 shows because of this problem. SO - I was SO HAPPY when I checked it today and the problem is fixed. I can now get the notes done for the last 3 shows.

Today is a good day!

Maybe I'm even ambitious enough to go fill in the blog blanks from the last couple weeks. :-)