Happy Monday April 13. Work Smarter, not harder, finding the Tools to bring us Success

It's rainy morning here. Grey with bright colors of spring flowers blooming, punctuating the browns and greens of spring.

image available on Google Images. many options there for your Zoom Background
Today began at 5:45 for us. As a family we usually go to a sunrise service at a local tree farm where my family lives. I can only remember a handful of years in my life that I haven't gone to this. So, because we couldn't be with my parents at home. We decided to do our own sunrise service at a beach we can walk to from our house. We tested FaceTime outside with my parents the day before while I was working in the garden, continuing to plant as I feel we need the food security of seeds pushing up through dirt in containers and in the ground we have available to us.
Sunrise service went well, and gave me something new to cherish with my parents. 
sunrise service

picking daffodils

as the sun hits the first places on our local turning earth

Annabelle our Easter Bunny

as we walked home after singing Morning has broken and enjoying the first rays of sunshine on this Easter morning

our local fish ladder I walked to Saturday with our sweet older puppy dog Macy, awaiting the arrival of Glass eels arriving from the Sargaso Sea and River Herring.


My daughter, who is home and attending her University from here, went out and picked all the daffodils that were blooming here yesterday when she arrived home from her walk with a friend  (social distancing of course) and made bouquets for our Easter dinner celebration. She realized that the wind that arrived here around dusk on Sunday will pick up throughout today and ruin all the blooms, so now they are safely inside and bringing us cheer here.

If you need a way to connect with others right now google meets and zoom have become part of our regular existence currently, for University classes, meetings, and learning for me too.

Google Meet Up
My partner has his client athletes from Catalyst Wellness + Performance joining him on Google Meets for regular meetings, if G suite member, unlimited for the duration of the Quarantine ( about $120/year for G suite basic, analytics, emails, etc. This service allows you to meet for more than 40 minutes for free. There is no minimum on participants. The questions are visible to the right and easy to read while running your meeting.

Zoom
Last night we got together with our family for our Easter Dinner. (Computer, phone, or iPad) It was amazing to have a virtual Zoom dinner. These meetings are free up to 40 minutes. Taught to my by my daughters and a quick class I took last week through the invitational link. I joined the site quickly before the meeting and everyone worked through glitches as they joined. (My older daughter, and brother who was the coordinator/host of the meeting, helping them with the computer via phone. We even helped my my Mom fix a problem with her phone icon that has been bothering her for a week, we had her hold the screen up to the Zoom meeting and we all worked through our thoughts on solving the problem, and finally with all of our input we were able to fix this issue for her and with her. Bringing her peace of mind and a very valuable tool we can all use to help them as we can't be physically with them or touching their phones right now. Very satisfying for us all. Our first Zoom dinner/family meeting was successful and brought us all joy as we haven't been together at all.
A new tool to bring us together is a silver lining in this period of time. The tractor above is what my daughter added to our zoom background to make her grandfather smile. Feel free to draw it.
below: To add an IMAGE to your Zoom background.
1. go to the google search bar. (Go to the "Home" bar of your search engine, I usually have all my recent windows open on my desktop, so I need to go to the bottom right {of the top Bar} find the + (plus) SIGN.
on the google search bar TYPE/ENTER the word to look up the image you want.
2. click on images.
3. drag image by putting arrow on image, click and drag to your desk top.
4. click back on Zoom, window, to open that frame.
5. Go to lower left words at bottom, go about 4 to the right. The last thing is the up arrow,
6. Click on the arrow, go about 4 up. it says, something like alternative back ground. (There will be a few words on the bottom of your window on the lower left. The up arrow at the right is the tool you click on.)
7. click window, Alternate background.
8. a new window opens with about 8 stock backgrounds. at the top right there is a plus sign in a little rounded box.
9. click on the plus. then you need to get the image that was placed on your Desktop from Recents in the Apple (system) not sure about Windows system.
10. find your image in the recent pdf's or other, photos, media...
11. click on that image # (or small thumbnail image and it appears behind your image.) My daughter was moving around and the images, adding, and changing them, appearing and disappearing, making us all laugh while we" Zoomed" through our family gathering.
12. to leave the meeting there is a red "Leave Meeting" at the lower right of the Zoom window. As people leave the meeting, the "Meeting" does not shut down till the last person leaves, there are also different options for viewing/sharing the screen, we ended up with all parties shown in cubes on the screen. Fun. experiment.
Enjoy.

Today's links. As I find things I will add them. My "add" for the blog today is the content above the site/link. Working on getting links to be cohesive. not sure why some are, and some need copy/paste to work. ideas?

For a good diversion... check out this author/bibliophile's blog I have followed for years. 
1. https://modernmrsdarcy.com/links-i-love-242/

How to plant a garden. Farmer’s Almanac.
and a valuable rescource and blog I follow.

3. https://awaytogarden.com

WERS Emerson College Boston, MA. LOOK FOR CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND SHOW. We started listening to this year's ago, while working at an old friend's shop and on drives when it was on. 

MOMA

Billion Oyster Project, Brooklyn, NY. Build a paper Dory

Draw every day. Youtube

9. Pitbull. says, "Stay Informed." From his GMA appearance this am. He added,"Thank you to WHO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation…" from the, I believe EVENT 201. 10/18/2019

F.E.A.R.
Growth mindset….
FACE EVERYTHING AND RISE. 
VS.
Shrink mindset
Fear everything and Run… 

10. Great change for Restaurants and Farmer’s Markets, selling grocery items. Meal kits, Virtual meals, virtual dates. delivery (their deliveries become available to citizens.
Smart, then Pickup.

from my friend Meegan...this is a very cool youtube piece on stop time ski, climb, aerials, awesome for creativity and stop gap filming.
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HrIVWziJ0Y









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wifi is limited, so many people using the systems. Many people around Cape Cod and the Islands of New England during the summer months. Covid brings new concerns to Mind. Hearing more people infected and favorite spots shutting again as people are getting sick. Wear a mask, protect yourself and others.