Woof

In Florida I admired the variety and beauty of the bark.
(All from Florida except the birch which was in Quebec.)
See the Edcanvas project here.

36 Hours

I dislike the 36 Hours in.... series in the New York Times travel section for many reasons.
1. They are not often a place I want to go. They are usually cities and not the countryside

2. If I really wanted to go to a place, I would plan to spend more than 36 hours there.

3. The emphasis is on running from one thing to another as fast as you can. Savoring, bumbling around or "doinking" isn't an option.

Charles Isherwood addresses that issue in the opening lines of a recent post:

Trying to sample the pleasures of some cities over a weekend can be a bit like entering a pie-eating contest. Sounds like a madcap lark, but after a while you’re likely to feel overstuffed, foolish and maybe a little sick. Sure, you could do Paris without the Louvre, but why? Even negotiating the fabled museum itself in that time frame would be a challenge. San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, poses no such problems. 

So I guess the trick is to choose a "less worthy" site to "do" in 36 hours.. or stay home.

How to Stay Warm

Isn't it funny how when you feel cold, you can't ever remember being warm and then when you're warm you can't remember being cold?

Here are some things that you can do to stay warm when it's 15 degrees outside for a week and it's 55 in the house.

- wash some dishes in hot sudsy water

- work with your laptop in your lap.

- go to the library and read a book

- do something creative that takes your mind off the cold like editing a picture (not needlework cause your hands are too cold for that)

- cook something, better yet, bake something

- go shopping

- clean a room really well

- try very hard, when you are tucking your long underwear tops into your long underwear bottoms not to touch your back with your very cold hands.

- wear thick wooly socks and thick soled shoes

- drink hot tea. Hold hot tea

- find some place to go in the car (visit a far away friend, preferably one who lives further south)

- do some yoga stretches

- eat some hot oatmeal for breakfast and hot soup for lunch

- hug your dog

Photo Credit: MarsuMic via Compfight cc

The Joys of Non-Social Media

My husband was keeping notes and reflections on his IPad in the yellow pad notes app so when a friend recommended Day One, a new diary app, I thought I'd try it out to see if it would be an improvement.

Day One is simple; it does what it does, period.  I loathe the word "intuitive" when applied to a software interface, but suffice it to say you can't do anything too wrong here. You can write text notes in a box and do some minimal formatting. You can add a subject tag, a geo-reference and, most importantly, a picture (just one)

It's perfect for a trip diary. Even if you just add a blank entry it will track where you were and what the weather was. You can add those stray notes about a place and the odd photo you take with your IPad. 

I used it during a 10 day vacation recently and it worked well for me. I was able to add  stray notes and observations as well as a short list of activities for that day. 

After using it and exploring it for a bit I realized that what felt truly different about it was that it was not social. I wasn't sharing my observations with anyone but myself. In fact, you can tweet an entry or put it on Facebook, but there is no easy way to share the whole thing with someone else or download, export or print in any meaningful way.

And you know what? that's just fine. I like it here in my private space. I like the creativity of posting a picture for my day, sometimes just a picture. Sometimes just a phrase.

It is a definate improvement on the yellow pad notes app. Both folks that I've recommended it to find it is an easier and faster way to do what they were trying to do with other clunkier software. 

It did cost $4.99, a rather steep price for a simple app, but sometimes, even usually, less is more. It was awarded the Mac App Store 2012 Mac App of the year. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/day-one-journal/id421706526?mt=8

Available for Iphone, IPad and Mac

There's No App for That

I first noticed it walking down the street toward my hotel in a strange city. On the corner across from my hotel was a nice looking Italian restaurant… maybe a place for dinner? I could see that the menu was posted at the front door.  Instead of walking over to look at the menu I went back to my hotel and looked it up on the IPad.

Eating breakfast by the kitchen window, the one with the outside thermometer attached, I open the weather app on my iPad to see what the temperature is.

I started keeping track: 

How many things do I do online that I don’t NEED to do online?  Things, that if I didn’t do online would give me, at a minimum, more human contact or more exercise.

And it's not only with computers and the internet. A friend told me he wanted a Super Remote for Christmas. It replaces all your remotes; you need never go looking for the “right remote” again.  So now, you not only don't have to get up to change the TV channel, but you don't even have to get up to look for the right remote.

Mobile devices can surely make you more efficient.  But aren’t there times when being efficient is not and should not be the primary goal?

Yes, of course. Which means that we each have to think about and set boundaries on what should be done with electronics and what is better done by moving an object through space and time.

So I’ve been trying to be aware of what I am doing when I open the computer. What is the task that I went here for? what  type of task is it? Fact finding, communicating, time wasting?  I  just name it.

I ask, is this the best way to complete this task? Is there a way to do this that would connect me with people more? Give me more exercise? Make me more focused?  It’s not much but it’s a start.

Here is an ode to movement done with technology: the best of both worlds.

November view

November brings me a lesson each year. And each year I have to re-learn it.

It’s that there is a world behind the leafy-green boundary that suddenly disappears when the leaves fall.  Ponds appear. Distant hills jump closer. Houses tucked back in the woods stand up. The effect is magnified by the sideways light, throwing a spotlight through the trees. It is a startling and humbling experience.

The November view and the July view are of the same landscape, yet completely different.  Can I remember this when talking with someone with whom I don’t agree? That we may very well be looking at the same landscape and seeing different things?

How Beautiful Are the Feet

Statue of Statue of Peace Leader Sri Chinmoy along Burke-Gilman Trail, Fremont, WA

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. Isiah 52:7