Explore! (August 2024)

The Explore prompt was easy for me this month as it started out in our continuing cruise to Iceland.  

I'll start this on the eastern coast of Iceland in a tiny little village called Djupivogur. We decided to take a little 4 mile hike when about half way it started a downpour and gusts of 40MPH. Still, we found this beautiful black sand beach.

Our next stop was supposed to be the island of Heimaey. Unfortunately the high seas would not allow us to make a landing but the captain took us on a cruise around the island and to this neat feature, Elephant Rock.

We landed in Reykjavik and disembarked the cruise. We had a few days so I have lots of of photos to choose from. We hired a guide to take the group of us around the Golden Circle. Our first stop was Þingvellir National Park. We walked between the North American and Eurasian continental plates and found a number of waterfalls. While these lovely falls were indeed lovely, they have a bit a sordid legend. The are known as the Drowning Pools. You can read more.

Our last stop on the Golden Circle was Kerið Volcanic Crater. It was quite a site to behold.

Before we said goodbye to our travel companions, we had one bucket list item we had yet to check off: Puffins! A quick Google search found a tour that would take us out to Puffin Island and we saw all the puffins we wanted!

Amy and I had one more night in Reykjavik. We hiked around town a bit before having a lovely dinner alone. We finished the night at the Lava Show. It was an interesting man-made lava exhibit. Our return home left us with a 22 hour layover in London. We booked a hotel at the airport and took the train into the city and got to see Wicked! The flight home was uneventful. Thankfully.

There are my five. I have so many more to share but you can find those over on my flickr page.

Things I Love (July 2024)

Last month the theme was I Get Around, this month, I really got around but I was doing things I love so it all worked out in the end.

Things I Love: Love and Love and Nothing Else...except for maybe live shows at Red Rocks and Trampled By Turtles!

And also maybe live shows at the Dylan Amphitheater and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit.

Oh yeah, and then there is street art, that's pretty cool and even cooler when led by a street artist that is passionate about it.

The lights of a city at twilight. It's a pretty sight.

And finally the Bee Gee's. 😁I mean, who doesn't love 'em!?

Special bonus: These three are my life without a doubt!

There's my July in a nutshell. Hopefully, you had a great month as well.

I Get Around (June 2024)

The one month this summer that I took a brief respite from travel and the theme was I Get Around! That took a little bit of work but not too much. I do get around!

I found this guy on a hike. He didn't much care for me so I gave him a wide lane.

One of Will's friends and my old scouts got married this month. We all got dressed up for the occasion! 

Bonus, because I got dressed up too!

Only one trip to Tulsa this month. It's been pretty quiet up there lately.

The Heart o' Texas Amateur Radio Club participated in ARRL Field Day 2024. It was miserable hot and there were only a handful of us that participated. We had quite a few visitors though.

And finally, more music. The city brought in Los Lonely Boys to play at the park. It was good fun!

I think this may be the first month that I got this posted before the link up! How about that? More traveling and more music in July. Hope to share that with you. 

Photo Blogging Challenge (May 2024): A look into my life!

This was a perfect month for a look in my life. Mostly because it was super exciting. My wife and I took our first trip alone probably since our honeymoon and that was 30 years ago next month. We decided to celebrate a little early and headed to Venice in late April for a cruise down the Adriatic and into the Aegean with visits to Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania; along with a few stops in Greece, too. We ended the trip in Athens for a few days to rest before heading home.

The month started with a landing in Corfu. From there we took a hydroplane 30 minutes across to Albania. There we visited the ancient city of Burint. 

Our penultimate stop was in Nafplion where we took a bus to Corinth where Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthians. There is a nice, small museum and the ruins of the agora and the court where Paul stood trial is right around it. This is the Temple of Apollo.

The cruise ended in Athens. We arrived on Orthodox Easter Sunday. While we missed most of the parties, the lambs were roasting on the pits for the Easter feasts, and we were able to peek inside some of the churches. All the official sites were closed for the holiday.

 

One night at dinner, we noticed a crowd on a hill next to the Acropolis and wondered what was going on. The next night, we saw a crowd again so decided to check it out. Turns out the crowd was there to watch the sunset. It was lovely.

We ran into this issue last time we were in Athens around this same time of year and thought I'd avoided it by being a week later; on May 1st they strike. It's a national holiday. Well, it turns out they didn't want to mess up Easter, so they pushed it back until after. So on Tuesday, we were also stuck with all the government run sites closed. We made the best of it and wandered around town. I downloaded a Rick Steeves walking tour that showed us some spots we might have missed. We found that the Panathenaic Stadium, the old Olympic stadium, is privately owned and was open. But mostly we strolled through the Athens National Gardens.

Here's a bonus selfie of us and the Parthenon. 

It was a great trip. It was great to get back home. We've been inundated with rain though. May set a new record for wettest month. I can't wait until we can get away again. With over 600 photos from our two weeks, it was tough to pick out just a handful. The whole album is on my Flickr page. For more glimpses into the lives of random folks :) take a look at PJ's blog. Join in and show us what you got!

Photo Blogging Challenge (April 2024): Point Of View

Well, I don't know that I can convince even myself that these represent the theme Point of View. I will say April was an interesting month filled with an exciting music filled weekend that culminated in a total eclipse of the sun. Then ended with the beginning of a wonderful adventure filled trip with my gorgeous wife! Regardless, here are five photos that stood out among the many I took this month. I didn't even include any of the concert photos. You'll have to check out my Flickr for more of that. And I'm sure you'll be seeing more of my trip next month.

This was my first total solar eclipse. I didn't think that much of it going in to it. I figured it would be cloudy if I spent too much time planning something for it and I had seen several partial eclipses. Let me tell you, if you haven't seen a total eclipse, you don't know what you are missing. I find myself planning to try to get to Spain for the one in 2026 now. It was indescribable.

We had a rattlesnake at the house this spring and Amy said there was no way she was sitting in the bluebonnets this year. So, my pretty girl, Charlie, kept the annual Bluebonnet tradition alive for me.

Let's change our point of view now. This was from the vaporetto from the airport the day we arrived in Venice. It was my third time there, my wife's second. We were last there on our 5th anniversary. This June will be our 30th so we celebrated a little early. We are here for a couple of days before boarding our cruise of Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and several sites in Greece; Corfu, Sami, Nafpilon, and ending in Athens. 

This was a church turned art exhibit in Venice. The artist is Reza Aramesh. Those are porcelain underwear on the floor and the statue at the end is a man in a stage of undress. There was audio playing throughout of prisoner numbers and names. The church was home of the Order of San Fintin that comforted prisoners before execution.

And finally, the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. We awoke to a slow sunrise cruise through the bay of Kotor up to the port. There was only space for one ship so we made anchor out a bit. On the left you can make out the Fortress of Kotor with the wall running up to mountain. It was a beautiful trip.

There are my five. I hope you will take a look at the others on a lil hoohaa's blog. Until next month when we see what we can come up with again!

Photo Blogging Challenge (March 2023): Eleven

I can't believe it's really been 11! For the "Eleven" photo challenge, I decided to explore the concept of abundance through repetition. I set out to take five photos, each featuring eleven different objects. Struggling for the last couple, I found an answer in the kitchen. Then, scrolling through the TV while processing Easter lunch, I was presented with a most fortuitous UFL American Football score. Enjoy Eleven!

   

 

That's my 5 of 11. Y'all, I had another I took with 11 Cadbury eggs. I had one job. I'm here to tell you that even though they were in a container with 12 spots, I somehow only put 10 eggs in there and didn't notice until I sat down to post this. Thankfully, I had a couple of spares. I look forward to seeing yours. And I look forward to another monthly challenge. To see more or join in head over to a 'lil HooHaa!

Photo Blogging Challenge (February 2023): Exploration

February was another busy month. The them this month was Exploration. I did my best to get out and about.

We have a beautiful park in town. I spent some time on the trails and had a little geocache maintenance to boot.

We tried something new this year, exploring the slopes of Heavenly in Tahoe on Ski Byks. They were fun but challenging.

South Lake Tahoe is a real beaut!

 

Exploring a little closer to home along the San Antonio Riverwalk.

I remember.... the Alamo.

Photo Blogging Challenge (January 2023): The Best

The Best! Am besten(I'm doing German on Duolingo) 2024 started with quite a bang. The best is a good place to start. But is the best yet to come?

Baylor opened a new basketball arena in January. They did some real scrambling to get it ready in time and we were there opening night. The new thing around here is smaller venues. The Foster Pavilion is smaller and LOUD. It should be a fun arena. Bill Gates was there, he is dating a big Baylor donor. You can see her name on the floor there, Paula Hurd. 

2024 started off strong in the life music department, too. My wife, sister, and a good friend went to Cancun for a four day music festival with Noah Kahan as the ultimate headliner. It was a great venue on the beach. All the musicians were friends and performed together throughout the trip. Here is Noah with Taylor Meier from CAAMP having some fun.

   

My sister hit the jackpot with our room. I'd say that this is definitely the best way I've attended a live show...from our balcony.

 

All the acts also had an intimate pool set. It was pretty cool seeing a live show in a pool as long as you didn't think about how much these folks were drinking and that many weren't leaving the pool. I'll leave it at that.

Wrapped up January with a little 7.5 mile hike out at Reveille Peak Ranch. We took a round about way to Decision Point. It was a great day hiking and weather wise. 

There's my five. 2024 is off to a great start. We have some fun adventures planned. I'm ready!

Photo Blogging Challenge (December 2023): Have A Very Merry…

Tis the season to be... Merry. December was a busy and festive month. Let's dive in.

This is a restaurant and bar in Tulsa. They go all out at Christmas time. We were there for a little celebration...

 

Bonus shot: The celebration was my first hole in one. Pretty amazing. What is even more so, we were playing two days later again and one of my good friends made her first hole in one, too. It was super special.

Amy and I attended a German Christmas service in a tiny little community church about an hour outside of Waco. It was really nice. We'll try to make it again next year.

You can't have a very merry... without a Very Merry! 

The house was full again on Christmas day. Lot's of family and great food.

The gang is all back together. Lili has been in Sorrento, Italy studying for the semester and Evan works in in Arkansas now. A little cousin break was in order.

That's my five. January is only four days old and already heating up to be busy. I hope you all had a very merry... and best wishes for the new year!