Homer's Travels: February 2020

Saturday, February 29, 2020

Happy Leap Day And A Photograph: "Concrete Steps"

I hope everyone enjoyed/is enjoying the extra day this year.  It's a beautiful one here in Omaha with sunny skies and unusual warmth for February so the Wife and I went out for lunch followed by antiquing.

"Concrete Steps"
by Bruce H.
The person who left these prints should have leaped a little farther.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Bird Nerdy

I have to admit that I am getting bird nerdy as I get older.  I feed the birds in our backyard and have accumulated quite a following of birds there.  Over the last year or so I have played around with the birdseed mixture as well as added new feeders with different foods.  I now have three feeders: a standard one with a mix of birdseed, a suet feeder, and a thistle seed feeder.

In the past year our usual sparrows and mourning doves have been joined by goldfinches (who like the thistle seed), downy woodpeckers(who like the suet), cardinals (who go for the Cardinal mix in my main feeder), and, more recently, robins and blue jays.  I'm excited about the Jays since I have seen them very rarely in our yard but I've seen one twice in the last three days so I'm hoping it/they stay.

A hawk squatting on a light pole behind our house.
Also attracted to our backyard, and the new street light poles the city has installed behind out house, is a hawk that, I expect, is hunting critters that feed off the seed that falls from the feeders.

I will have to try to get some pictures to post as I discover new birds checking out our yard.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Chilean Patagonia: Days Seven And Eight - The Way Home

Day Six:  On our last partial day in Patagonia we took a free shuttle into town for the last gasp of our sightseeing and shopping.  We visited the modest church and a few stores we'd stopped at a few days earlier to finish off our shopping list ... mostly.

After a lunch at our hotel we were taken to the airport for our mid afternoon flight to Santiago (the flight where I left my fleece).  We were picked up at the airport by the same guide who's helped us nearly a week earlier.

We ate dinner at our hotel's rooftop bar before walking to our favorite ice cream shop in Santiago.

Day Seven:  Our flight home didn't leave until the evening so we had a free day in the city.  The Wife had one task - buy Cuban cigars for her brother.  It now seems to be a custom since we've bought them in Cuba, Canada, and now Chile - all the 'C' countries.

The Wife had asked our guide about the easiest way to get to the Casa de Habano cigar store.  She suggested we take the subway.  She also suggested take the subway to a market connected to a church.  Her suggestions became our last day itinerary.

We walked a couple blocks to the subway and rode it to the end of the line.  A short, and hot, one block walk took us to the market.  We ate lunch in a restaurant connected to the market before we dropped some more money here buying some rather unique pieces for our collection.

There was a funeral going on in the church so we couldn't go in so we got back on the subway and headed to the Casa de Habano.  This was a longer walk from the station and I was sweating by the time we got there.  The Wife pulled out her brother's list and impressed everyone with her brother's taste in cigars.

After the cigar shop we stopped at an ice cream place.  It was good but not nearly as good as our favorite.  Our guide had suggested another ice cream place but we didn't see it until after we'd had our ice creams.

A subway ride took us back to the hotel's neighborhood.  On the walk back we browsed through the protest stickers and found some more treasures.  I'll have to share one or two in future posts.

Cat on a chill tin roof.
The rest was uneventful. They took us to the airport where we caught our red-eye flight back to the States.

A peacock displaying his finest at the church market.
It turned out to be a nice relaxing trip.  It is the southernmost the Wife and I have ever been.  The opposite of last year's trip to Iceland geography wise.  I think next Christmas we'll stay home.  I kinda miss being home during that time of the year.

Pictures can be found in my 2019-2020 Chilean Patagonia Google Photos album.

Sunday, February 09, 2020

Chilean Patagonia: Day Six - A Tour Of Torres Del Paine National Park

Sorry for the delay.  Not very motivated to write lately.

On New Year's day we booked a full day tour of the Torres del Paine national park.  We were joined by another couple from Slovenia and our guide, Chiche ... an Argentine Gaucho.

The rugged mountains of Torres del Paine national park.
The van took us into the park where we periodically stopped to take pictures of guanacos, rhea, condors, lakes, and sweeping mountainscapes.

Sweeping vistas along the way.
We stopped near a small lake and walked along the marshy shore.  We all watched the waterfowl, flamingos, and other birds wading among the grasses and reeds.  At the end of the short trail we arrived at a small camping/picnicking area where our driver had prepared a really good spread of food and drink.  We sat around a picnic table and talked about ourselves and what we'd seen so far on our tour.

Flamingos in the distance.
Back in the van we visited waterfalls, lakes, and even more sweeping vista.  It just went on and on.

Mountains, Waterfall, and summer flowers.
In the end it was a nice relaxing and satisfying last full day in Patagonia.

Our last view of the mountains and lakes of Torres del paine.
Pictures can be found in my 2019-2020 Chilean Patagonia Google Photos album.

Saturday, February 01, 2020

Countdown To Deletion.

This is it.  Sometime tomorrow my Facebook account will be officially deleted.

I hope that many of you will follow me on Twitter or subscribe to Homer's Travels' RSS feed or Email subscription service. Those who still want to follow me can find out how by reading this post.  I'm sure most of you will not continue to follow me which makes me a bit sad.

No matter how sad it is to lose contact with past classmates, Camino friends, and others, I am still convinced that this is the right thing to do.  A form of protest against what Facebook stands for and what it has done to our society.

Not sure you will see all of my posts once I leave so this is your last chance.  Visit Homer's Travels and subscribe or follow @HomerTravels on Twitter.

So long ... and thanks for all the fish dog videos.