Joyce has 30 years in the field of education, currently a substitute teacher, farm gopher and photographer specializing in art and image restoration editing.
Randy has a degree in studio art / art education and runs a corn/soybean farm along with a Seed dealership.
Whatever life may send your way – make the best of it. Don’t waste your time and energy worrying about it. Instead, find a way to do something about it. ~Les Brown
Here I am at St. Jean Pied de Port, near the border of France and Spain, ready to hike the Camino Frances across northern Spain! Too bad Spain is going into another lock down and won’t let me in with my USA passport. Darn Covid! Disappointing, to say the least, but all is not lost. I can virtually walk the Camino Frances thanks to the website walking4fun.com. Sign up, log your steps and trace your progress on one of 26 trails spanning 12,488 miles! Explore your trek through maps, photos and videos. Before you know it, you’ll have walked hundreds of miles and still be itching to get in a few more to see that view around the next bend in the trail! Signing up is easy and free!
Here is my route and current location. Looks like I’d better hop on the treadmill or get outside if I ever want to complete the trail!
Hiking through a tunnel along the Camino de Santiago. Image by Joyce Meyer. Edited in Topaz.
Winter arrived way too early in Minnesota this year and we are still in the midst of a pandemic. I guess I’ll just have to rely on one of the many lessons learned while hiking… embrace the suck.
A woman deep in thought while doing laundry in Porto, Portugal. I stare at this image while my own load of laundry finishes whirring in the machine, ready to hang up and dry.
Laundry day… same but different.
Laundry day in Porto, Portugal. Image by Joyce Meyer.
I grew up watching the Vietnam Conflict on the nightly news complete with American and VC body counts. Depressing, to say the least. Covid-19, canceled travel plans and the current status of politics has taken its toll on this blog these past few months. I think its about time to get out of this funk… Bring back the music, bring back the excitement of things we love and let’s just get along. For me, faith, music and travel help heal the soul.
You may also feel a little better if you click on the image below for a YouTube video of the song “Get Together” including images from times gone by. May we learn from history rather than forget.
“Get Together,”also known as “Let’s Get Together,” is a song written in the mid-1960s by American singer-songwriter Chet Powers (stage name Dino Valenti). The song is an appeal for peace and brotherhood, presenting the polarity of love versus fear, and the choice to be made between them.
A throwback image with our Italian friends. We treasure time spent with them and others around the world that we have met along the way. Peace out…
Canceled or cancelled is the past tense of the verb to cancel. Both spellings are correct; Americans favor canceled (one L), while cancelled (two Ls) is preferred in British English and other dialects. However, there is only one correct spelling of the word cancellation, no matter where you are.
Oh, how we long for those carefree days prior to Covid-19. Waiting for the bell to ring, sports played in noisy gyms while family and community cheer from the stands, tedious homework along with the usual trivial social drama.
In the northwestern state of Chihuahua, Copper Canyon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The combined length of the ravines makes Mexico’s Copper Canyon a whopping four times larger than the Grand Canyon in the United States. In some places, it’s even deeper than the Grand Canyon, with a depth of over 1 mile (1.6 km) The Tarahumara people, or Rarámuri as they’re known in their own language, call the Copper Canyon home. They are a group of indigenous people who have protected their culture and way of life by retreating deep within the Copper Canyon system some 400 years ago when the Spanish arrived in the north. They are so remote and so secretive that there are no accurate estimates as to their population size. The El Chepe Train transports people into the canyon on a railway track that stretches from the city of Chihuahua to Los Mochis on the Pacific coast and consists of 37 bridges and 86 tunnels. ~visitcoppercanyon.com
A visit to Copper Canyon, Mexico, via the El Chepe Train has been on my sister’s Bucket List for 35 years. It’s about time… Below are four videos that document our adventures as we cross the border into Mexico to tackle theMission NOT Impossible…Copper Canyon, Mexico.
We have FAILED at corresponding with family and friends this year since no holiday cards were sent. We even attempted a photo during our family Christmas gathering! Instead, we have resorted to using social media and this site to feature our greetings and wish our family and friends peace, love and happiness.
Have we really failed? Not in my mind. The money that would have been spent on cards and postage has been donated to the Mefi-Boset Orphanage in Mexicali, Baja, Mexico.
For some time now, I’ve been following, with great interest, the hiking and humanitarian adventures of an amazing, kind hearted nurse originally from our part of the globe along the Minnesota/South Dakota border. From time to time, items are purchased and delivered to the Mefi-Boset Orphanage by this individual living across the border in the United States. The images of these endeavors have spoken to my heart, especially after our visit to small villages and cities along the Copper Canyon region and northern Mexico. I am confident that our donation will provide some much needed items at the Mefi-Boset Orphanage.
It appears as though the Mefi-Boset kids are excited with the new arrivals.Birthdays are wonderful when you can share with friends.The person in the white t-shirt is Peggy, my contact for Mefi-Boset Orphanage donations. Healthy food choices for the orphanage.Children everywhere across the globe enjoy an ice cream treat.
Thank you, Peggy, for sharing these images of your visit and for all of your humanitarian efforts. “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hey, animal lovers! Elizabeth Meyer Art is having a winter sale for pet portraits! 15 percent off ALL commissions submitted now through the end of February. Submit an order through her website—ElizabethMeyerArt.com—or email her at elizabethmeyerart@gmail.com. 🐩🐈🐄
