Category Archives: imovie

First Attempt: DJI Mini 2

First attempt at using the DJI Mini 2 drone midmorning with diffused lighting. I think we’ll have to resort to auto settings until some ND filters can be purchased. It’s a little nerve wracking since we don’t want to lose or crash the drone! Tips, anyone?

Video edited with iMovie

Camino Portuguese Day 14 ~ Santiago, here we come…

Sunday, August 19, 2018 | Albergue Cruces Inn to Santiago de Compostela, Spain | 21 K

Reservations have been made at Seminario Menor (school, seminary and pilgrim hostel) in Santiago so we allow ourselves time to enjoy breakfast and plan for a leisurely walking day with no worry of racing to score beds. Really? Truth is, we are pretty excited to arrive in Santiago so it seems we keep a steady pace throughout the day.

We enjoy random encounters with friends made along the trail along with interesting conversations with new friends on this final hiking day. This is accompanied with a twinge of sadness knowing, most likely, we will never see them again. But, alas, this is the Camino. We experience a little piece of life together and move on. My hope is that they think of us as honest, decent, and kind human beings.

Thank you to all who took the time and energy to smile, laugh, converse and share experiences as we walked the same pilgrim path for this short while. Truly, the best thing about the Camino is the Camino.

Camino Portuguese Day 13: Night Hiking, Mausoleums and the “Squid.”

Saturday, August 18, 2018: Caldas de Reiss to Cruces Inn, Escravitude, Spain|26 K

We bid farewell to the Lotus Palace (Does the name sound like it should be located in Asia?) at 5:25 a.m. hoping to put in a longer day thus reducing the distance tomorrow as we enter Santiago de Compostela. The past few days have been alongside the freeway N-550 so it is assuring to know we are not lost if we occasionally hear the busy traffic.

It’s always fun to visit with young people as we walk and Randy enjoys learning and sharing special handshakes, such as “The Squid,” with some of the young men we meet. Laughter is also shared along with the handshake.

We cross the bridge and enter the city of Padron which is the legendary starting point of St. James’ ministry in Spain and also the subsequent return of his mortal remains following his martyrdom in Jerusalem. We spend some time exploring the church and find it well worth the stop.

Challenge of the day is finding our destination of Cruces Inn (a new albergue) located past Padron and Escravitude, but asking directions and the prominent signs posted here and there lead us right to the door.

We locate the friendly owner in his office, check in to our lower bunks and explore the grounds. Cute, clean albergue rooms with storage units, bathroom/showers in two locations and a storage shed used for pilgrim overflow. Apparently, no kitchen so delicious food is ordered and delivered from town, while beer and wine is always on hand. Highly recommend Albergue Cruces Inn. Plus, we are promised coffee and breakfast in the morning ~ double hooray!!

These days of hiking have flown by… Santiago tomorrow!!

Santaland 2018, Madison, MN

Fun holiday tradition located in Madison, Minnesota!
  • Christmas, my child, is love in action. ~ Dale Evans

Camino Portuguese Day 11: Camino Angel in the Night

Thursday, August 16, 2018 | Cesantes to Pontevedra |

19.6 kilometers

Albergue included breakfast for a fee so arrangements had been made for an early start  to try and beat the afternoon heat. The number of pilgrims has increased substantially since Tui, so the odds of scoring  beds, especially bottom bunks, appear to be slim to none in Pontevedra. Thus, we have a reservation at a hostal across the street from the public albergue. No worries today.

A large grocery store is within walking distance so the evening meal consists of lettuce salads and pizza washed down with wine, all consumed in our cozy little room.

Absolutely no available beds to be found in the next destination of Caldas de Reis so it’s early to bed ~ tomorrow will be an epic bed race for the 50 municipal albergue beds listed in the Brierley book.  Can we do it?

Glass Blowing in Mexico

I find myself mesmerized by the process as each step is carefully, yet quickly, completed. Noticing the bare hands, I wonder how many burns occur during a typical work week. I know I would need a first aid kit within close proximity.

Exploring Santaland in Madison, Minnesota

The light in a child’s eyes is all that it takes to make Christmas a magical time of year.

Discover and explore Santaland in Madison, Minnesota. It’s much shorter than traveling all the way to the North Pole and just as much fun!

Intro to Camino de Santiago

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”   Maya Angelou

Images and video clips by Joyce Meyer.

Music:  The Wrong Direction by Passenger

An October Walk… Gary, South Dakota

This is what happens when Randy and Joyce take a walk through scary Gary, South Dakota:

Video by Joyce Meyer ~ RJMeyerArts