Mini - vacation

Me, before coffee, even if it is decaf. Yep, I feel very ogre-ish.

However, I slept well for being in a hotel and in a downtown location.

I was in bed by 8:30. No night life for me! 🤣, I did take a walk along the back side of the hotel. So many people were out either at parties on the Marina or fishing quietly along the rocky shoreline.

I was really tempted to grab my camera and take some pictures from the promenade by Harbor Park.

I decided that sleep was more tempting.

I struck gold at the BAM-- bricks and Minifigures store by scoring the purchase of a hard to find Ogre and some other minifigs.

The Ogre was the one next to the brewing coffee....

I even built a custom minifig. She is the blonde with the sword.

I got to have supper with Rory and Mom and Dad. 

No pics of Rory, we don't post them. However, I can say that she is as cute as a button and full of smiles. A...dor...able as all get out!

Saturday greeted me wayyyy too early. I woke at 3:30 and tried like heck to get back to sleep. Which never happened. However, I did get brave and walk out part of the way to the Art Promenade near Harbor Park.

The winds were fierce coming off the lake but I decided to try a 'long' exposure of the morning light anyway. This is a cell phone shot which didn't do the dawn sky any justice at all. The promenade is on the right and I was still on the street with this shot. 

I haven't taken anything off from my good camera yet because...well...

because I have been too busy! No time for anything but fun with Aurora...Rory, and mom and dad!

I mean, who can pass up the chance to have meals, play time, drive time, hike time, and more play time ....with this little charmer????

LOL...don't you just love faces hidden? That is okay. I don't mind. Mom and Dad have made the choice to not post her face and I totally get it. Too much media these days!

So there she is! Crawling and do all those great things little ones do!

This is just a quick synopsis of me on my mini vacation!

Hubby's supper delivered to him last night by Olive!!!
Morel mushrooms and Pepperoni Pizza.

What a great time I am having being ON my Own... on a mini vacation...

and enjoying such a great time with my wonderful son and his wife...

and even more fun enjoying Rory!

Best

Time

Ever

[yeah...and I even sort of learned a new game which I was too tired to comprehend last night]

I'll be back home tonight but don't hold your breath. I may have to recover from all of this fun!

The FB Portal

Gosh, there sure isn't much to talk about these days.
We received something called Facebook Portal through the Red Cross for Veterans that are pretty much stuck at home. I learned about it from the VA's Vantage Point Blog.

I was very leery of anything 'free' so I called the Caregivers folks and they said yes indeed the items were free and the promotion was free to the first 7,400 veterans that applied. I applied and then forgot about it.

I got an email from the Red Cross notifying me of a delivery date via FedEx and lo and behold, this was delivered.

It works by using contacts through Messenger on FB [yeah I don't like FB that much, but I have it]. When set up you can activate the voice and camera and ask it to call someone on your contact list.

So we talked with his daughter on Friday with the grandkids using the Portal. There is a 'smart' camera that detects motion so if one walks out of the room and back the camera sort of follows.
The sound is good and the video is excellent.

On Saturday Rich wanted to talk with Kristi from Missouri and see the boys. Kristi is like a second daughter to him. The kids showed Rich all of the lego stuff, talked about their Advent Calendar and Rich was able to see everyone.

On Sunday he wanted to do a Portal call to my oldest son. Again, lots of waving and laughter, checking out Covid Hairdos and holding up dogs to the camera.

The Portal has a slider to put over the camera to shut it off or you can manually shut it off. It will show a slide show of photos and you can connect it to Alexa through Amazon to play music or ask for the weather. 

I use it once in a while to play music while I am in the kitchen doing things. Otherwise I just unplug it and stick it off to the side.
All in all it really put a huge smile on Rich's face to be able to SEE and interact with those he loved. 

The premise behind the Red Cross effort with the VA was to put isolated veterans in touch with their friends and family. Sure most people can use zoom or a smart phone or duo...or they can be like Rich and not have a smart phone or computer. This is perfect for him.

Last night I loaded photos from my FB feed onto the Portal and let it cycle through while we ate supper. Rich enjoyed looking at the photos of old hound dogs, Morris, mules that had passed on, and the grands when they were little. 

After we 'hung' up with Eddie, he leaned back and smiled. "Boy that was fun, I sure like that a lot!"

I have read mixed reviews about the Portal and some people hate it. All I know is that it is making one Veteran very happy. And that is good enough for me.