There's nothing like a deadline to get things done! That's what our live YouTube show is for me. We've been doing it for so many years now that I have muscle memory for what it takes to put a show together.  First, the topic I need to come up with a topic by Friday morning and hopefully have a sketch of the outline. It's good if I can have the review questions written before I go to bed Friday night - start with the end in mind. If I know what I want people to know at the end, it's easier to put the lesson plan together.  Then the materials and the learning Saturday is a work day ..read more

No travel on our calendar for February thru April. So, when I saw an ad for peace love and vans I said"cool" and showed it to Jim. He said "cool." So we went. It's 4 hrs away and starts on Friday afternoon, so we left Thursday and stayed one night at Hillsboro River State Park. Beautiful. And we took a bike ride before heading up the last hour to the event. Friday afternoon was beautiful. We took a bike ride around the grounds. So fun to see hundreds of Vans. That evening was s'mores in the woods. Far out! Saturday morning was a yoga class under the"taking tree" - that's when it starte ..read more

Our cruise ship next stop was in Hilo Hawaii. We were late, which meant that the people who were trying to get off the ship were backed up by at least and hour. AND it was raining. But we persevered and got off the ship to a waiting car driven by Arynne's friend Lizby.  She drove us thru town and on to the Rainbow Waterfalls. Beautiful.  Then a tropical drive to the botanical gardens that are so beautiful we hardly even noticed that it was raining. Yeah, right. Those flimsy ponchos don't do shit. We got soaked. And there were so many trails, one of us took one trail and ano ..read more

Today is a very special day. It's Jim's 70th birthday and we're celebrating on a cruise ship in Hawaii with a group of 12 other people who came with us.  The Rest of the Story ... This seems like a good time to tell about Jim, a little about his life, how we met and why I've loved him for over 30 years now.  Although we didn't meet until we were both about 40 years old, we shared similar upbringings. His was a middle class family with 2 kids - one boy, one girl. Mom and Dad were loving parents. Jim claims the title of a momma's boy - as a youngster he spent most of his tim ..read more

What a day! New Year's Day 2024. We woke up in our sweet little camper van, parked in Marie's driveway. We were there for a great New Year's Eve party and we didn't want to drive home. Woke up early and got on the road in order to be home and ready to present Fun with Photos over Zoom for the tech for seniors show.  It went well, then we got back to work preparing for our Hawaii trip. The last thing on my list was to get Google fi working on my Samsung. I'd already given it a couple tries and was just getting myself deeper in trouble, first trying to set it up with my google voice ph ..read more

 Our dive club - UnderSea Adventurers, USA Dive Club for short, plans local dives usually twice each month. We took advantage this week and joined 6 other club members to go out on a dive to the Abby 2 reef, and one other whose name I don't remember. I belong to the 80-80 club of scuba diving. This means I only like to dive when both the air temperature and the water is 80 degrees or more. This is still winter - March - so the water was 75 degrees. hmmm. But, it looked like a beautiful day - 84 degrees air temperature - and Jim wanted to go diving while it's still lobster season - August ..read more

After planning and double planning, communicating with everyone involved, arranging transportation for 12 people, and getting excited … on the day of our whale watching excursion I get the message: Cancelled. ?  Now what? I asked the taxi driver for recommendations and he told of a public aquarium right at the harbor where we were set to go whale watching.  Well alrighty then. This is the reason why I believe in being flexible! Can't waste time lamenting what isn't happening. Just go do something else. Blessed be the flexible for they shall not get bent out of shape. Nice place ..read more

Our Hawaii Cruise for Jim's 70th Birthday - everyone was invited! Saturday went smoothly. We had a delicious breakfast in the hotels cafe, then relaxed in our hotel room till check out time at noon. Catching up on emails etc. We met up with Jo and Devon downstairs, and also Gail West! I waited to call the Uber until we're all on the sidewalk ready to go. It arrives in 1 minute! Then we're at the ship, drop off our luggage, check in and get our shell necklace leis. Very little waiting on lines. We go straight to the bar to wait for our room. Then lunch at the buffet and our room is ..read more

 Another concert! Also at The Parker. This one is The Fab Four - a Beatles Tribute band. They were really fun. See the photo album for some video. Then came the USA Dive Club Christmas party in Delray. It's about an hour drive, so we took advantage of the special rate to spend the night at the hotel where the party was held. Any excuse to feel like we're traveling! We've been partying, and diving, with some of these people for nearly 40 years. Still going strong! For the Christmas day event, things were back to normal with Jim's sister, Debbie, hosting.  For New Year's Eve ..read more

Day 4 was rainy. We were in Hilo and Jim and I separated for the day. I went with arynne and Terra. Arynne friend Lizby lives in Hilo and drove us around.   Jim stayed with Devon and Jo and took the volcano tour. We both got quite wet.  Even in these miserable conditions I loved the scenery. Rainbow falls is so classic with lush surroundings, and we spent the most time at a botanical garden ... Just WOW. And since it was a rainforest, it seemed appropriate to see it in the rain. ? Then we went to lunch at the Booch Bar. Like a brewery, I got a 'flight' of kombucha.&n ..read more