I might have a solution!

I've been testing out a new blogging app. This one is supposed to work seamlessly with blogspot/blogger now that blogspot no longer supports a blog app. My only trouble seems to be getting the pictures to be sized the correct size so I'm going to put a couple of pictures into this post and if I can manage to get them to show up a reasonable size, I'm claiming success. But so far these are not the right size. I shall continue to edit!!

And let me try this one now....

If you had happened to be checking the blog while I have been playing with the pictures, you would have seen everything from ten inch photos to one inch high photos. And print size of microscopic to normal, just opposite of the pictures. I THINK, this is an OK size of photo and text...I just have to remember to set my photo sizes to around 400 or 500 pixels before I publish them. But I think this new app might be a good substitute for the one-who-shall-not-be-supported.

if anyone happens to be reading this and wants to make a comment about the size and how it looks on your screen, please let me know and tell me if it is an iPad or full size screen.

Test, test, test

Well, crap.  Turns out Google, in its limited wisdom, has deleted the blogger app.  So what used to be a simple matter of composing a post offline and then posting a completed document when I could get online has now become a lot more complicated.   Geesh, now I have to write the post in some other format, copy and paste, then go online to add pictures to that text and then upload the whole thing.  Much harder to do with limited internet on ships and using cell data.  This does not make me happy at all.  So thanks for nothing blogger and Google.

Hmmmph!

And we are home.

And my blog or app is still messed up. I think it has something to do with the keyboard because it's only when I hit punctuation keys that it crashes on me. So I have been using the microphone to record the words. But even then it crashes every three or four sentences or whenever I try to put in an apostrophe or. Period

After another lazy afternoon and casual evening watching the World Series, we packed up after breakfast this morning and headed home. We stopped at the Bosque Del Apache wildlife refuge on our way home.

The fall colors on the cottonwoods were absolutely gorgeous. And while we did not see any Sandhill Crane's while there, we did hear that they are on their way. We will hear them from our home as they fly on down. And that's where we are now, at our home. It was a lovely vacation, and we both commented on how we want to re-create that on our future trips

Truth or consequences

That's the name of the town. For those of us of a certain age who remember the game show back in the 50s, it's the same town that used to be called Hot Springs but because the game show offered them a bunch of something to change their name to truth or consequences that's what it is now.

It is about 7 miles down the road from the lake. So we took the scooter and our bathing suits and went to the Hot Springs for a soak.

I am, unfortunately, still having trouble with the Blogger app. I think they updated it to put in new features, and all it did is mess with the old version using iPhones and iPads. I am sure they will get it fixed soon but in the meantime I'm just going to give you a couple of pictures from today. Oh and I did get some of my embroidery done yesterday. other than sit around and do nothing that's what got done it's been a fun Little relaxing vacation.

It's a mini Blog!

So far this app has crashed on me three times since I managed to start getting something put down. I'm saving after every sentence. So this is a mini blog for our mini vacation. I was reminded yesterday that we blog when we travel and that means were supposed to blog on our little travels too, not just the long ones.  I've been having a little trouble with the Blogger app it keeps crashing on me and this is now the fourth time I've tried to just say hello. I think the best thing is to show you the picture of where we are staying.

As you can see, it is a desert sort of lake. Nothing like the lakes you may envision from your time in the Midwest or the east. But it's cool and comfortable and we're looking forward to a quiet weekend. Except of course during the World Series when we expect there to be a lot of yelling.  Yes, we do have TV. And were supposed to also have Wi-Fi, and while we can see the signal, the speed is so slow it's not worth even trying. So we are using our cell phone connection, because we have a fair amount of leftover data we can use up.  Sorry for the lack of punctuation, it's something I usually try to catch, but it has crashed on me two more times so I think we're up to time number six. I think I will be safer to just go ahead and publish this on my luck is holding out. I'll try and catch you up again sometime tomorrow.

Homeward Bound

I'm writing this from the Dalllas airport...we've had an uneventful morning of travel, and are just waiting through a long layover.  Our friends (and neighbors) are prepared to pick us up in four hours and then we adjust to re-entry.

I wanted to make one last travel post for this trip to thank those of you who have stuck with us throughout this adventure as well as add a couple of photos of yesterday evening.  Yesterday we hit the MoMa, Museum of Modern Art....

Danny, look what you can do with leftover latex paint!

And especially for Barbara, we saw this and even though Cezanne painted it a century ago, it sure reminded us of that fellow at the bar on the ship!

....and then, thanks to friends of friends, we scored VIP tickets to the Late Show with Steven Colbert yesterday.  It was kind of odd to see the taping, which was from 4:30-7:00, but felt later to us since we were watching a show that normally started at 10:30/11:30 pm.   After taping and grabbing a humongous sandwich at the Carnegie deli we headed back to eat and pack and watched the first part of the show before falling asleep.

It has been a fabulous adventure...thanks for going along with us.

Approaching the Real World

As I write this on Tuesday morning we realize that our month of travel will be coming to an end in 36 hours, as we return to the real world.  We've been fortunate to experience so much in so many places.  Interestingly, to us it seems like the cruise was a while ago, although it has only been three days.  (Jam-packed New York City days, but still.)  So you can understand that the start of this trip, Iceland, seems so long go that it was another trip entirely, but it was exactly five weeks ago today.  I think getting home will be good, to sleep in our own beds, but the shock of five weeks worth of mail piled up and having to cook and clean for ourselves will be the biggest adjustment.

BUT, we're not quite done yet and I have a couple of days left to tell you about....

Yesterday, we planned to do the midtown area.  Empire State, Times Square, Grand Central, Rockefeller Center, etc.  We realized, however, that we needed to build in more down time, or at least less standing and walking time.  My knees and feet, Tom's knee and ankle; they keep reminding us of old injuries and ongoing aging issues.  So we went first to the Empire State Building, and while up there decided that we were getting our best look at the Chrysler building and some of those other famous landmarks mentioned earlier without actually walking to them.  

We then ventured into Macy's (largest department store in the world), walked up Broadway to Times Square, took the required pictures, marveled at the hubbub and crowds, stopped at one of the Shake Shacks for lunch and then returned to the hotel to rest a few hours before our night out in the theater district.  We finally got smart about this pacing yourself thing.

(this is a screen grab off the video on Facebook, see that for the whole thing)

https://www.facebook.com/tom.graham.100483/posts/717471481736371

At five we headed back out, had a fabulous pizza dinner at John's of Times Squre (supposed to be one of the best pizza places in New York--we agree). The restaurant is housed in a former church, replete with stained glass windows and they use coal fired brick ovens to bake their pizza.  One of the best margherita pizzas we've had, including in Naples--Jackie, I know you will remember that one!  An with a pitcher of beer and a salad that could have served six, we could not finish all of it.

The evening was capped off with a night at the theater, Paramour at the Lyric theater.  Gorgeous theater, great sight lines.  The show is a mix of a Broadway show and Cirque du Soleil acts.  The music and storyline of the musical part is a bit ho-hum--movie producer discovers starlet who realizes she really loves the faithful songwriter boyfriend--but the way the acts were woven into the story was creative and different.  But it was the acts that stole the show.