Friday, July 31, 2020

Sunday Post #361

  

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews
It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Book Date  

Hey there! How is everyone this week? I'm writing this up on Friday night (I really should rename this post since it always goes up before Sunday) and the main thing for me is- what to do about the blog? As those of you on Blogger know there is a new Blogger template taking effect, and while they say the existing interface will still be optionally available, there is understandably some skepticism about that. So- do I switch to Wordpress? Stick with Blogger and try to adapt? Questions...

Does anyone have suggestions for a good hosting service or someone who switches blogs over? I'm not much for coding, I just want to write stuff, so the nuts and bolts of it is not my strength. 

I decided to share a few more pics from vacation. Hope everyone is well and enjoy! 

 


This next one is how the bay looked when we arrived- very rough. 


This is near a lighthouse out on the Old Mission Peninsula.


This was neat- Brys Estate & Winery built a Secret Garden of lavender. Neat place. 

  

Songs from the Deep

Song of the week


PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 

Amazon.com: Cats Prowl at Night Vintage Pulp Novel Cover Retro Art ...

NEW ARRIVAL/ UPCOMING REVIEWS:

Good Girls Lie

BOOKISH LINKS

Here's a peek at the Secret Garden.   


Here's another Tokyo walking tour and this one has shrines located all throughout the walk- I thought this was really interesting! 




51 comments:

  1. I had nothing but trouble trying to set up wordpress so I gave up and went back to blogger. Now I need to use a fake email to leave a comment on wordpress blogs as it won't let me use my own email address. If blogger try to force me to use something I hate, I'll be forced to quit doing a blog. Why can't they just leave us alone to write on our blogs instead of all these forced improvements we don't want!

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  2. Oh, what lovely vacation pics!

    I'm not looking forward to the Blogger update. I tried it for a few minutes a couple weeks ago and went right back. It didn't feel as intuitive to me, but I suppose I would just get used to it after awhile.

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  3. How ironic that Blogger is now changing things, since I just put up a post earlier in the month about the Wordoress change to the editor---I haven't switched over yet, but I'm going to have to face it eventually!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  4. I'm a big fan of WordPress and you don't need to know how to code to use it. But Nicole is right, WP just changed their editor and people hate it. I'm self hosted so I have a way to keep the old editor, but eventually it will go away😥

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  5. New Blogger is the pits. Everything seems to take twice the time now. And I had to go back and edit 199 (😱) posts because, apparently, their formatting was at odds with the new interface - I was only able to see snippets of the original post on New Blogger (while I could still see the whole post on Legacy Blogger). Of course I freaked out (especially since 150 of them were reviews, and I only post the first paragraph on Goodreads, so I thought I was going to lose them for good), but the official forum helped. They told me to revert to Legacy, enter each post, go to HTML, then back to Compose, and save the post again. Thank goodness, it worked, but I spent 5/6 hours rechecking and fixing all my posts. I don't think you'll have the same problem, because as I said, most of the post I had to fix where reviews (where I use frames), but then again, even the Tell Me something Tuesday ones were affected, and there aren't any frames there.

    Love the Secret Garden and its tag!

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  6. I'm with you on the whole Blogger new interface thing. I'm not good with change and I really want to keep the Legacy interface, but it's looking like that's not going to be an option in another month or two. 2020 strikes again! And while I've heard good things about Wordpress I'm not sure I have the technology capability to switch my blog over myself, or to create my own website. It's a problem. If you find a good solution, please let me know!

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  7. Change is a pain, I wanted to move to Wordpress a while back but now I’m hearing people complaining about changes over there. I did buy custom domain names in case I change my mind but I think I’m going to stick it out. I was laughing the other day about how terrible new windows and reminiscing about windows 3.1 and 95. I’m hoping change will be for the best.

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  8. Wordpress blogs (at least self-hosted ones) have a new post editor that really drives me wild -- I uninstalled it and shan't be installing it again if I can possibly help it! It was really annoying.

    Here's my weekend post!

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  9. Keep the pictures coming. They beautiful! I switched to the new editor a when they first made it available. I personally am not having issues, but I know other people are. I wasn't crazy about the way the comments were handled in the new editor, which is why I installed disqus. I always think about switching, but when I was poking around in free wordpress, I felt lost, and I really don't want to pay $30 month to self host and have someone else migrate my site. Decisions, decisions.

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  10. I know a lot of people are switching to Wordpress. But idk! I’m not the most techy and I don’t mind blogger. I think Wordpress would take too much getting used to.

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  11. Changes to platforms are never fun, but I know you'll figure out the best thing for you. FWIW I switched from blogger to wordpress years ago and never looked back, I just find the interface, features and templates much more straightforward and easier to navigate. Lovely pics from your vacation, looked like a relaxing time!

    ~Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

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  12. I personally run my site on Wix. I find it pretty user-friendly, personally. However, the platform does have fees. There are positives and negatives whichever way you go, I suppose.

    Your vacation images are STUNNING! I so badly want to be laying by a body of water with my book. Unfortunately, it'll be quite awhile before I can do so. Your pictures are quite comforting, though.

    I hope you have a happy and successful week!

    -Lori @ www.food4thought.online
    (blogger makes me post anonymous")

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  13. It's so frustrating that companies make changes that cause all sorts of trouble for the people currently using their service. If it doesn't affect your posts though, maybe it won't be so bad? If you want to switch to WP free hosting, you don't need a webhost, I don't think. I'm sure there are tutorials for how to export and transfer posts, maybe that would help. Anyway, I love your pics, esp the purple flowers!

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  14. I'm still struggling with the new Blogger interface. It's such a pain. I wish I had a suggestion for you regarding hosting services and switching over. I am likely to stay with Blogger and just tough it out until I eventually get used to it. And complain all the while how much trouble it is. I'm stubborn. LOL Such beautiful photos from your vacation, Greg. Thank you for sharing. I hope you have a great week.

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  15. While I'm not loving the new Blogger interface, I'm sticking with it. Blogger makes the whole process (of blogging) so easy. I'm concerned that if I switched over I wouldn't have the know-how and would struggle. Love all the vacation pics! Such a pretty area.

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  16. Greg, thank you for sharing your lovely holiday photos - I particularly like the look of Brys Estate & Winery and their Secret Garden of lavender. I'm afraid I can't help much with the impending new blogger template as I am on Wordpress, although we have a new block editor that no one seems to be a fan of either! I am still clinging on the classic editors while they let me. Take care and happy reading. 🙂

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  17. Wordpress has the same interface with coding however, if you get a self hosted you can download a classic editor plugin that will make it go back to the way it was. I thought it would be confusing and it was at first with the wordpress blog, but if you need help at all I will be happy to help you out. I believe Nosegraze offers switching and hosting.

    Your vacation looks very relaxing!

    Have a great week, Greg! Happy Reading! :)

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  18. Hi there! Your pulp cover for today is just for Elza I guess?? Aaah thanks Greg!! Ha ha ha!!!

    Lovely pics of your holiday. I need one.

    I'm the odd one here today, I love the new interface! It made my template "work". I see I have a bit of trouble with the comments, but I'll manage it. Don't feel like another plugin.

    I can't get a free wordpress site anymore. It might have something to do with inter country rules or whatevers. So I'll just stay with blogger until I feel like creating my own domain. I'm like you - I just want to write.Nothing more.

    Hope you will have a really great week. I've posted a book cover for you on our post! Sure you'll love it! Follow it here The Sunday Post

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  19. Urg! Sorry to hear that Blogger is also deciding to change their editing suite, too. I'm still getting to grips with the new Wordpress editor and have now found workarounds for the options I've lost in this 'new and improved' system and there are definitely advantages - but I do resent how they're not honest about the things that are no longer available. Like inserting an image in a body of text so it nicely wraps around it, for instance...

    On a happier note - I love your pics! Those seascapes remind me why I love being so close to the sea - it's never the same two days in a row... And the lavender farm is a joy - I can just imagine the heavenly blasts of scent! Have a good week, Greg and best of luck with the blog!

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  20. Beautiful vacation shots and thanks for sharing the youtube clips. you got me hooked on the coffeeshop/ambiance ones.
    Ugh, I used to be on Blogger then switched to Wordpress. They recently changed their post editor too, but I just keep opting out of that and using the old one.
    Good luck with it!
    Enjoy your week ahead.

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  21. I am not happy with the new blogger either. It is very slow and they removed many things I absolutely loved about blogger. But I am not sure if I will move my blog to the free WP version or stick with blogger. The bad thing is, here in Germany I´ve got told a few days ago, that the old legacy will only be available for me until the end of August. After that, I will have to work with the new blogger. Grr. If I am correct, you can upload your blogger backup over at WP. During the installation process, WP will ask you if you want to upload content from another source or not. At least that´s what I saw two years ago. Not sure if that is still the case with the new WP dashboard. Ah, can somebody tell my why they have to change things to the worse? I don´t buy the google answer that they had to switch to a new server. Or are they planning on offering some of the good things the legacy blogger does for money?

    Thank you for the pictures. I hope you are safe and sound and that you could enjoy your camping trip.

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  22. I moved to Wordpress from Blogger a while ago and I don't regret it at all. I can't think of going back to Blogger anymore. Stay safe!

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  23. Wonderful pictures, Greg!
    I have the same problem with Blogger, I'd like to switch to Wordpress but I won't be able to do that by myself. If you have figured out what you are going to do, please let me know as well!

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  24. The Winery/Lavender farm looks gorgeous! We tried to switch from Blogger to Worpress a while back and couldn't hardly figure it out so we just continued with Blogger. I tried the new interface and hated it. It says that you can continue to use the old one so I switched back. It seems like it's more work to set up a post and I don't think more steps is an improvement. I'm interested to hear what you decide to do. Have a great week, Greg! :)

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  25. I'm sticking with Blogger for now. I've had my blog for 15 years and would hate to have to change to WP. Hopefully the bugs get worked out. I love your vacation pictures.

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  26. Well I am on Worpress for years now but I would not be helpful as I am on wordpress.org meaning, I am self hosting, updating everything myself etc. I think though that people on Wordpress.com are very happy!

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  27. Beautiful vacation photos! I'd love to visit that winery and lavender farm sometime. Although I'm curious as to why they call it a secret garden; I think of those as walled, like the one in the book of the same name, not wide open and easily visible. But it is lovely, and must smell heavenly!

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  28. I'm sticking with Blogger. I don't have any issues with any of the new changes.

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  29. I tried Wp, but meh, so I will stay but omg it suuuuucks. I keep having issues

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  30. I use Ashley from NoseGraze. She switched my blog to Wordpress and then she keeps it running smooth and all that every month, for a really good price!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  31. Can't help with the nuts and bolts, but hope it works out which ever choice you make.

    Love seeing the water in your vacation pics.

    Neat walking tour vids of Tokyo.

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  32. Blogger is so slow for me now. I don't know if I can dedicate the time to switch platforms right now so I'll deal with it for now.
    Love the vacay views! I hope it was a great trip!
    Have a great week! :)

    Stacy Renee @ LazyDayLit

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  33. I could sit in the lavender for days! Brys is one of my favorites to visit. It was strange not having tons of people in town for Coast Guard and so quiet on Saturday. I will probably stick with blogger, so far it hasn't been that much of a pain that I want to quit.

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  34. Beautiful pictures!

    I decided to switch to WordPress when I started blogging again. There is a definite learning curve, especially with the new editor everyone complains about. I felt like writing a post took 3 times as long as it should have! I'm getting the hang of it now though. My Blogger blog was so large (almost 1100 posts, even after deleting things that didn't seem terribly important), I couldn't get WordPress to import it automatically. I paid $10 for a premium plugin called Blogger Importer Extended - Redirects enabled. It worked like a charm and was worth every penny. I highly recommend it if you take the WordPress route. Good luck with whatever you choose!

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  35. Great images! I like the one called Social Distancing.

    Enjoy your return from vacation, and relaxing into the Normal.

    Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  36. I tried using wordpress but didn't like it and came back to blogger. I'm going to try and deal with it, fingers crossed I can keep the old format for as long as possible. Love the pictures, hope your enjoying your vacation.

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  37. I haven't had blogger in so long I wouldn't know what do over there...lol. I think if you don't mind having the basic wordpress.com version it wouldn't be to hard for you...my is hosted and I had to have some help with coding some things but after I got use to things it's not real bad.I think since you just use your for writing and low key things you would be okay on wordpress once you got use to it.
    This site might help you decide:
    https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/what-you-can-and-cant-do-with-wordpress-without-knowing-how-to-code

    Good luck either way!
    Stormi
    Week in Review

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  38. I’m also thinking about leaving Blogger and have all the same questions! I tried out the new version, and it wouldn’t let me format posts the way I do now, so I switched back. I don’t know what to do. It’s stressful. Your vacation pics aren’t stressful though. That looks like a really nice place. I hope you have a good week!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  39. Your vacation pics are pretty amazing, and I love the smell of lavender so much! I've been trying to get used to the new Blogger, and will continue to hang in there until I get it all figured out because I don't really want to switch to anything new right now. Hope you're doing well! Hugs, RO

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  40. I hate the new Blogger dashboard. I tried it last month and had problems with it so I went back to the original but now it automatically takes me to the new one and they did fix some of the bugs but it's still not perfect.

    Looks like you had a good vacation. Welcome back.

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  41. Lovely photos from your trip... I'm sure I said this last time, but the water scenes (the calm ones!) are super inviting. We are lucky to live in a place full of greenery on our doorstep, so no shortage of places to walk at the moment, however I am missing being by the sea - we tend to travel to the coast once a year, and for us that just won't be this year... So your photos are appreciated by me for that reason.

    I'm with Blogger and currently am just going along with the changes - but it is pretty frustrating when you get in the swing of things and they throw changes and new things to learn on you!

    Happy reading and a lovely week to you.

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  42. Great photos! Ugh. I'm sorry to hear that Blogger is changing and potentially screwing things up. If I were you, I'd ride it out to see if you like the new template and interface. If you don't, send me an email. I've been a professional Wordpress developer since 2006 (and a professional web developer since 1999). I can help you move over for a decent price. :)

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  43. Ugh too often Interface improvements are anything but! Working it out with Blogger is the easiest choice, but you might want to check out a NoseGraze.com if you are considering self hosting.

    Wishing you a great reading week

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  44. The vacation pics are gorgeous.

    I've switched back and forth with the new template. A lot of people have had problems with existing posts but I haven't. I stay pretty basic with code so I don't know if that's why or I'll have problems later.

    I'm trying to decide about WP (& even starting an entirely new blog) as well.

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

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  45. I miss up north! I loved seeing your photos. :) We visited that Secret Garden a few years ago, so beautiful! Glad you had such a fantastic trip. :)

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  46. I've got mine switched over to the new Blogger and went ahead and updated my blog all at once. The layout of it is pretty similar to a website I manage at work, so I guess I had a leg up there. Thanks for sharing!

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  47. I love your vacation pics. Thanks for sharing them! That really sucks about Blogger making so many changes. Wordpress made a similar change a while back and it created a lot of drama and chaos. I will say though, in case you do decide to make a change, that I do enjoy the Wordpress platform as a whole. I'm not tech savvy at all and have always found it fairly straightforward to use.

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  48. Honestly I'm doing okay with the new blogger. I made the jump when it first became available and once I figured out where things were it's been okay. BUT I keep things super simple so I"m not sure how I would feel if I did anything more custom. My big problem is somehow I changed the settings for how photos open and it's driving me CRAZY and when I remember I never have time to fix it. But that's my computer not Blogger. Love love the Secret Garden video and the Tokyo walking tour. If I ever head up to Michigan I'm adding Brys Estate to my Must Do list. Hope you're having a great week!

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  49. I started using the new blogger when it came out, to get used to it when they announced it and I like it just fine. it is really not hard, and I don't feel like the changes were so major. I also have not noticed any problems with old posts. I say give it a try!

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  50. I wasn't a little bit happy with the new blogger (I'm not a fan of change!) but I've forced myself to use it and it's not so bad once you get used to it. It has it's strengths and weaknesses like everything else. I'm constantly debating a switch to wordpress but I don't think I'm techie enough to handle it, lol.

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