Lazy Days and Ducklings

Thought for the day:  Why waste six days while waiting to celebrate the seventh? TGI Fridays isn't only open one day a week.   

Yesterday, my husband and I took a walk at Jones Bridge Park. Usually, activity at this bustling park is  concentrated around the soccer fields, playgrounds and wide-open spaces, but yesterday, few people braved those sun-baked areas. Instead, most chose to congregate beneath the shade trees and pavilions,  where their grills filled the air with the enticing aromas of Oriental and Hispanic cooking, as well as good ol' American hot dogs and hamburgers. And more than we've ever seen before, people were beside ... and in ... the river.

The Chattahoochee fairly races past this park, bubbling over and around large boulders, dancing in mesmerizing eddies and then resting in small still pools. It's not unusual to see someone sitting out on one of those big rocks, watching the water and the world go by, or to see a couple rafts or kayaks maneuvering around them. It also isn't unusual to see one or two hip boot-wearing trout fishermen in the water, flicking their lines. And year round, no matter how cold or how hot it is, this place is normally a fowl-filled haven for ducks and Canadian geese galore.

But not yesterday. Yesterday, the bone-chilling  river was positively teeming with people. Kids playing under the watchful eyes of their parents. Couples sun-bathing on the rocks. At least a dozen fisherman. One couple encouraging their poor shivering pup to swim. It was the most people I've ever seen in the water there at one time. And, undoubtedly not incidental, the fewest fowl.

There were no geese at all, only a handful of ducks, and one adorable duckling. But let me tell you, that little duckling was one big peeper. As though he were singing, that little guy would swim around, peeping his little heart out, the vision of happy. Then, he'd evidently cross some invisible line, known only to his mother, and she'd go after him. While she poked at him with her bill and quacked at him, his peeps would take on a different tone, but once she left him to his own devices, he went back to his happy song again.

Reminded me of bloggers.

As long as Blogger works well for us, we're happy little ducklings. And then something goes wrong. Something doesn't work right. We have trouble posting images, or can't make comments, or can't even access our own blog. It's as though we cross some invisible line, known only to Blogger, and while we're having problems with it, our happy-happy-joy-joy-I-love-Blogger tune changes. Just like that little duck.

I've managed to overcome (knock on wood) the problems I was having with Blogger, so now I'm doing swimmingly again, and peeping a happy tune. Since I know some of you have been having problems, too, I thought I'd make like the mama duck and give y'all a gentle nudge in the right direction.

If you haven't already done it, I'd highly encourage you to install  Google's

It's free, it's easy to install, and it works seamlessly with Blogger. Once I installed it, my problems with posting images became a thing of the past. However, even after switching to Chrome, I still had one lingering problem that was about to drive me nuts. I was having trouble posting comments on my own blog. Instead of showing the normal prompt signal, the only thing it would give me was a silly little dot or squiggle, and trying to type anything into the comment box only resulted in more of those dots and squiggles. Frustrating, right? Somebody's kind enough to leave a comment on your blog, and you can't respond at first attempt ... or second ... or tenth. Then I stumbled upon the solution. Now, I have no earthly idea why this works for me, but it does. Now, if I get that tiny little mark instead of the proper prompt, I simply click in the comment box on an earlier post. For whatever reason, the older comment box yields the correct prompt. Once I get that, I can go back to the newer post, and proceed without a problem. And I'm a happy little duckling once again.

How about you? Have you found solutions to your problems with Blogger? And by the way, how do you track the statistics, like what searches lead people to your blog? For those of us (ahem ...like  ME) who haven't quite figured it out, please ... do tell!

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to visit a local writers' group. I have no idea how many people attend, or what to expect, but I'm looking forward to it, nonetheless. And I'll tell you all about it on Wednesday.

Until then, take care of yourselves. And each other.

one cool chick