Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

One Year Ago

One year ago we were packing for a two week trip to Scotland.

The fall colors were just beginning there.





By going then we missed granddaughter L's 1st birthday.  This year we are packing for New Hampshire and will be there to celebrate with L as she turns 2.

Don't know if the fall colors will be as vibrant as when we were there at this time before.



But being with L (on the left below) as she celebrates will be well worth it.




And an update on my Blogger issues: unresolved.  What this means is that I can view all the blogs I have in the past but only a very few are set up that let me comment through my google account.  Most are not recognizing that I am signed in. The home page of my own blog does not recognize that either.


Friday, September 21, 2018

Blogger Sign in Issues Continue

Many of you have commented that you stay signed in to blogger all the time.  That was the case with me too.  In the last couple of months I'd discovered I wasn't signed in because my comments on your blogs wouldn't take.  The problem has only been getting worse.

In returning to my blog this is what I'd see in top right corner.



So I click on sign in and it takes me to this page.  I can post, no problem.



I click on view blog and get this again.


This means I can't edit portions of my blog from that page, like adding to my book list.

When I go to some of your blogs it shows that I'm not signed in and I can't comment.



If I comment on my blog it shows I'm signed in.  Some of you have this same set up and I can comment.


I'm so totally frustrated!


Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Blogger issues

For some reason, Blogger does not show me as signed in when I'm looking at my blog
or anyone else's.  

I click on sign in and it takes me to the posting page and shows me signed in.

It won't let me comment on other blogs without signing in.

Anyone else experiencing this problem?  

Hmm ... just realized if you are you can't comment here either.

I'll have to do some more research.  My first search didn't solve the issue.

postscript:
by commenting on my own blog it's showing me as signed in on my blog.  Now to see if I can comment on other blogs.

Well, lost the sign in again!

Frustrated!

Monday, September 17, 2018

Will You Vote In Mid-term Elections?


Our country is facing an important decision point in democracy.

Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or unaffiliated you will agree that our elected officials, and government employees should be held accountable for their actions when they are breaking the law. At present that is not happening especially in Congress where oversight responsibilities lie.

We must elect a Congress that will examine the misdeeds of the present administration.

Are you registered to vote?

Go here and take the pledge to vote in November.



Spread the word.

Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman, said this in recent editorial:
The question for voters this fall is whether their country will move beyond this troubled chapter in history or whether they will continue supporting a politician who has done more damage to the dream of America than any foreign adversary ever could.


One last thing if you doubt the need to vote, read this Editorial:

Friday, September 14, 2018

Spy Museum

Housed in a former motel is the National Cryptology Museum.  It's right next door to the National Security Agency (NSA) which used to be so cloaked in secret that even folks that worked there wouldn't admit to it.  Now it's such a large employer and a huge campus it's well known what it is but not known really what they do there.


Vantage House, where I live, had a trip there with a docent led tour.


Staff from NSA have to be reminded not to be "loose lips".



Once the docent explained what a cipher was he took as to the Enigma exhibit for a history lesson on how the Nazi cipher was deciphered.






It was good to hear how women were such an integral part in the code breaking.  Once the algorithm was figured out, these huge machines called, bombes, could break the coded messages.







A fascinating trip and one we'll likely take again since there was much we didn't touch on in the 2 hours we were there.  Like the Navajo code talkers.


Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Happy 100th

Today my dad if he was still living would have been 100 years old.  


At their 50th anniversary celebration in 1990 he expressed the wish to live to 100.


This was likely an engagement photo since they were married in September of that year.


He died 11 years shy of that target.


Mom made it almost to 95 before she joined him.

In searching for photos for this post I discovered that most of my photos of my dad are hard copies in albums or framed like one of him with me at a lakeside that sits here at my desk. 


I think I'll keep them saved that way.

Happy Birthday, Dad!


Monday, September 10, 2018

Sharing Grandchildren Photos Plus

Sorry, no frontal views of my three granddaughters, but they are so cute even from the back or in shadow.

We had a wonderful family vacation in WV in August.

Here's Dan helping 4 year old A to get a drink of spring water.


A loves insects.  She's trying to get a huge beetle to crawl up on her stick.



L is almost 2.



In the water her teeth chattered.


A took swimming lessons this summer.


A & L are sisters.



The youngest, I, at 1 year loved the water.




As a plus here are my siblings in order from right to left.  I'm #4.


We gathered at the end of our week vacation at my older sister's retirement community in PA. There is 19 years difference between the oldest and youngest of us. We reside in PA, MD, VA and the brother next to me in AZ.

Saturday, September 8, 2018

More from Goddard

The Visitor Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center is filled with displays.





While we waited for our bus to be searched for bombs by the four legged bomb sniffer we could wander around the exhibits.


No bombs were found so we boarded the bus to go visit a very, very large clean room.


But not clean as in someone had taken a mop and bucket or vacuum cleaner to it, but clean as in no outside particles.  It's official name is much longer.


It was in this clean room that the mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope were assembled.


The mirrors have left and of course kept clean but multiple wrappings we were told.  They are now in California where they are joined with the rest of the telescope in preparation for launch by the French Space Agency sometime in the future.


The clean room is being used for other preparations now. You can see how well wrapped staff working there have to be.

The panels below are the filters - several stories high.






Our docent with a model of the telescope.  Unlike the Hubble Telescope which orbits the Earth and was reachable so it could be fixed,  this telescope will orbit the sun.  It will be sending back pictures from very deep space, in a sense looking back in time 13 billion years.  Fascinating stuff.  Go to the website above to learn more.