It's been a smorgasbord kind of week - the usual daily garden chores, dealing with computer related problems (the old Dell XPS finally died in a blaze of interesting green color bands on the screen before it breathed it's last breath). I had to install a new modem, get the smart phone into ATT for a new Sim card since that wasn't working properly either, etc. etc.), some fun social evenings with friends and our son and family who are in town for the week, and spending a lot of time reading up on laptops. The more I read the more confused I got!
Instead of buying a new computer, I've decided to buy an iPad mini. It's going to replace the smart phone I don't need since we have one of those pre-pay phones, and the iPod touch which limits me to wi-fi connections. When my back up computer dies, then I'll buy another computer, but for now, this small, lightweight mini iPad is going to be a nice, small, lightweight easy to read device for my mobile needs. It also gets a computer out of the living room which makes both of us happy. Now I have to figure out how to get it and my other units synched with the information on the hard drive of the deceased Dell XPS laptop! Any do it yourself ideas, anyone?
We attended a wine tasting at a friends, with the wines from another friends, young winery. It was so much fun tasting and mixing the 3 wine grapes, straight and then blended, voting on them and learning more about the art of wine making. And of course there were a lot of lovely tapas type munchies in between all that tasting. Who knew that adding acid actually made the wine smoother and took away the flabbiness. I never knew wine could be flabby. You learn something new every day!
The next night it was pizza party at our sons, who has become quite the expert at managing that wood fired pizza oven. Our daughter in law is an amazing cook and she's in charge of the the dough and toppings. Then last night it was dinner out at the local Mexican restaurant with family and friends. Tonight it's salmon dinner at our sons (they got lucky on the Rogue River early this morning). Dinner was caught by 8:30am! Tomorrow it's barbecue at their place and Saturday is their yearly party of about 100+ people. I think we'll need a vacation from all this lovely partying. The scale and I will definitely not be touching each other for a couple of weeks!
With my potatoes having been dug up, I filled those squares with broccoli starts and another eggplant early this morning. I also harvested the rattlesnake pole beans which are producing like mad, even though the plants are in bad shape from some rust/fungus that I've been dealing with this years on tomatoes, beans, squash, cucumbers and a few other things. That bean is a great heirloom variety that I've grown for years and this is the first times I've seen anything like this attack them.
My friend Mike loved the special mug I made for him. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the finished product. I've been so busy the past ten days or so, with all this gardening, cooking (spent a whole day making 70 perogis a couple of days ago) and those computer, modem and phone problems that there just hasn't been time for the studio other than a couple of half days to finish and bisque it and another day firing it with a couple of black slip tests, in my tiny test kiln.
I signed up for our local womens club luncheon next month where members can bring their art, crafts, business ideas, etc. So that will get me moving. There's enough work made - just a few pots need decorating. The kiln is about 75% loaded with pots to be bisqued; and I have a bunch of pots already bisqued, so I'm in good shape. I just have to free up my afternoons next week for the studio. So much for retirement being a time to slow down!
Instead of buying a new computer, I've decided to buy an iPad mini. It's going to replace the smart phone I don't need since we have one of those pre-pay phones, and the iPod touch which limits me to wi-fi connections. When my back up computer dies, then I'll buy another computer, but for now, this small, lightweight mini iPad is going to be a nice, small, lightweight easy to read device for my mobile needs. It also gets a computer out of the living room which makes both of us happy. Now I have to figure out how to get it and my other units synched with the information on the hard drive of the deceased Dell XPS laptop! Any do it yourself ideas, anyone?
We attended a wine tasting at a friends, with the wines from another friends, young winery. It was so much fun tasting and mixing the 3 wine grapes, straight and then blended, voting on them and learning more about the art of wine making. And of course there were a lot of lovely tapas type munchies in between all that tasting. Who knew that adding acid actually made the wine smoother and took away the flabbiness. I never knew wine could be flabby. You learn something new every day!
The next night it was pizza party at our sons, who has become quite the expert at managing that wood fired pizza oven. Our daughter in law is an amazing cook and she's in charge of the the dough and toppings. Then last night it was dinner out at the local Mexican restaurant with family and friends. Tonight it's salmon dinner at our sons (they got lucky on the Rogue River early this morning). Dinner was caught by 8:30am! Tomorrow it's barbecue at their place and Saturday is their yearly party of about 100+ people. I think we'll need a vacation from all this lovely partying. The scale and I will definitely not be touching each other for a couple of weeks!
With my potatoes having been dug up, I filled those squares with broccoli starts and another eggplant early this morning. I also harvested the rattlesnake pole beans which are producing like mad, even though the plants are in bad shape from some rust/fungus that I've been dealing with this years on tomatoes, beans, squash, cucumbers and a few other things. That bean is a great heirloom variety that I've grown for years and this is the first times I've seen anything like this attack them.
My friend Mike loved the special mug I made for him. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the finished product. I've been so busy the past ten days or so, with all this gardening, cooking (spent a whole day making 70 perogis a couple of days ago) and those computer, modem and phone problems that there just hasn't been time for the studio other than a couple of half days to finish and bisque it and another day firing it with a couple of black slip tests, in my tiny test kiln.
I signed up for our local womens club luncheon next month where members can bring their art, crafts, business ideas, etc. So that will get me moving. There's enough work made - just a few pots need decorating. The kiln is about 75% loaded with pots to be bisqued; and I have a bunch of pots already bisqued, so I'm in good shape. I just have to free up my afternoons next week for the studio. So much for retirement being a time to slow down!
Hey June sounds like life is good in the northwest! Just for fun, I typed " Computer Problems" into the search block on your blog. Technology has kept you busy.
ReplyDeleteJust an FYI,if you plan to blog with the ipad, it can be challenging. I sit around with mine quite a bit, but I have trouble commenting on a lot of blogs, some I can't open, some I can't see videos they post and sometimes links won't go where they should. It's also difficult to post a blog, photo placement is different.... anyway other than that I love my ipad and use it as a tool for many many things. Right now Im using it as a unit converter from ounces to grams for soap making. What did we do without all these things!?
ReplyDeleteI use dropbox and google drive to move files around between my laptop, daughter's laptop, ipad and iphone, it's simple simple to use
Enjoy all that family time, nothing better in the world!!!
Tracey, the iPad will be used for email and some apps and reading. I have this HP laptop and and old desktop that I has XP on it, so I'll see about installing my copy of Windows 7 that I purchased a couple of years ago, on it, if there's enough memory. I have a generation two iPad but I think the smaller mini will be a lot easier one to carry in my purse. Plus it has a better screen for outdoor viewing supposedly.
ReplyDeleteReading about your soap making inspired me to get a few books and a video out of the library. It sure looks like fun. At our sons party today I met a gal who just started soap making and she's made her own deodorant and other things which she says are great. She recommended the Shea butter deodorant recipe at Wellnessmama.com. She says the woman is very generous with her recipes and knowledge. Right night I have a lot on my plate with two gardens to care for, but when the gardens get put to bed, I'd like to try to make some soap. Meantime, I'll check out some charity shops for old spoons and some suitable containers to use as molds. By then, you'll be a real pro and I'll be asking for some tips!
I think I opened one of those dropbox accounts a couple of years ago. I need to start using it. There was another one I also signed up for - maybe iCloud or??? I'm no familiar with Google drive, so I'll have to check that out.