Made a video at a local church as appreciation for them letting me practice on their property.  Learned a lot!  Found lighting challenging doing POI's with the Sun so low in the winter skies.  Still learning how to use Adobe Premiere Elements 13 (is an upgrade to 14 worth it?).  
Used a polarizer for half of the clips most part using a home made a paper lens hood using the pattern from Pianist a member here. Lessons learned- use ND filters and stiffer paper for the lens hood.  (you can see it on the left side, very windy 15-25 mph winds made it visible. )  Finally got a second battery for the second trip out, two batteries seem to be the sweet spot so far.  

Any Helpful hints to help push me along the way in learning my second career after retirement (or not!)

It's so nice of you to share your skills with us !  Thank you very much !