During our hike in Portugal and Spain we had reserved hotels for most of the overnight stays. In a coastal town called Cee we spent the night at the Hotal Oca Insua Costa de Morte. Like any morning after staying at a hotel overnight we went for breakfast before resuming our journey. Nothing special to say about the breakfast at this particular hotel except that there was an interesting waiter. I usually seek out the chairs facing the restaurant to observe other guests and the ongoing business in the restaurant. So there he was a man in is upper twenties. Largely an average person, dressed in what appeared to be the required attire- a white Polo shirt and black pants. He was friendly and greeted us and other guests with a routine that included directions around the buffet that was spread out on multiple wall spaces in the vast dining

On our hike in the coastal areas of both Portugal and Spain we had the opportunity to observe a wide variety of flowers. Some are associated with the spring season that we witnessed, some probably have a more permanent long-term presence. Two flowers in particular resonated with me in a profound way. The first one was the ice plant. It is a ground covering succulent plant that we saw both in yellow and pink growing in many places along the broad walks on the Portuguese and Spanish Atlantic coast. I had to look up its English name- in German and apparently also in Spanish it is called the midday flower, because it has the property to open up when the sun is close to its peak point, and to close again when it lowers. Along the way I learned that it is not native to the two countries but originates

Every night we spend a little time to watch some news – on our local channel or on one of the larger networks that offer reviews of the most important topics of the day. When using the over-the-air channels or streaming services like Roku we understand that advertising is necessary to cover the cost for the broadcasting company. Usually, it is actually these interruptions of the news cast that ultimately put me to sleep prematurely and make me miss the very news that I was looking to consume! Sometimes I do pay attention though and what is increasingly disturbing to me is that the public broadcasters fill their advertisement slots with self-advertising – so if I watch the CBS news roundup they are pushing for me to watch their CBS morning show, similar things are happening on NBC news and others. As I am processing this, I am truly wondering