How impractical?!

One doesn't wish to complain about another's choice of furnishings although if one is renting accommodation then perhaps one has the "right" to be a little picky. However there chairs in this apartment/room where I'm currently staying in the Virgin Islands are terribly impractical.
This first chair (of which there are three) is at the bench-How are you supposed to fit your legs under the bench? Even when one uses the cushions as a back rest and sits on the rather uncomfortable cane seat one's legs still won't fit comfortably. Perhaps it's a diet plan? Or perhaps the bench was made too low?

This second one is a puzzle as to how to sit on it. One must sit astride the corner which is fine but the arms are not for resting and they get in the way if one is trying to do anything while sitting at the table.

The furnishings in this particular room are not all that suited to my work needs but then I guess they didn't furnish the place with a view to working but rather to relaxing.

They've moved into the 21st century!

I know it is a really bad photo but finally some airlines have moved into the 21st century with their signs on aircraft. We all know you're not allowed to smoke and that smoke detectors are in the bathrooms so we don't really need the reminder about no smoking (not that anyone should be smoking at all).
On the aircraft on this particular flight they have signs for turning off electronic devices!

Tony

The gift of sympathy from AUSSIE

 He has been there all my life and is no longer. My big brother Tony died suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday 22 March at home in Perth Australia.
He was only 65- we are all still coming to terms with the shock of it all.
Time will help me to find ways to  acknowledge all that he was to me and our family. I know we'll miss his "big brother" taking care of us attitude and actions; his capacity to laugh at himself; his dedication to his family- kids and grandkids; his love of the sea; his preparedness to get in there and sort out problems; his grandiose statements of absolutes.
He was a good big brother to us all.

Some views

Just loved these rooftops from the classroom window in Queens

Spring is underway!

A kinder child's writing

Just loved this piece of writing from a child in kindergarten (5years old).
I had shared some photos of Spencer (the gorgeous cocker spaniel in Footscray and a photo of the beach at Aireys Inlet.

On her own she wrote

Translation?
Spencer is black
spencer does silly things
Spencer plays with the sand in the beach
Spencer is in the beach



Spencer is in Osh-tray-lia (Australia)

Love it!

40 secret iphone features

The gorgeous Bridie shared the 40 Secret iphone features with me and the one that I immediately started using was using the volume button as a shutter release. 

Needless to say I had yet to get out of bed when I read the article so this was the first shot i took using my new found knowledge

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took this one sharing it with Mary

1. Use Your + Volume Button as a Shutter on Your iPhone…

Taking a picture by holding your iPhone with just one hand is an easy way to get out of focus images. Fix it by holding your iPhone with two hands horizontally, and then push down the + button usually reserved for raising the volume. Now you’ve got a stable picture!

Here is the whole article

started with coffee

 Bookclub decided to visit a bookshop in NYC. It was Mc Nally Jackson Books on Prince St. What a great way to begin a Saturday. After a really good coffee (one of the big reasons to go there) we chatted and then made our own way around the books, roaming around coming back together with someone to see what they had found. A lovely start ot my day.

I then headed off on a walk to The Ink Pad which took me from Prince Street to 7th Avenue and 14th Street. I just roamed along wherever the traffic lights took me and the trusty iphone map.
A lovely morning.

This green wall is un- NYC I need to go back and get a better shot.

Love the old signs

An unusual St Patrick's Day choice of outfit?

Appropriate?

In a number of ways there are questionable decisions made about the choice of jacket/sweater/jumper.
The first is ...

Why would a manufacturer/designer choose to make this in a size that could only fit a child this age?

 But more importantly why did a mother choose to buy it? 

And finally why did she have her 8 year old daughter wear it to school? (a lot to be said for school uniforms!?)

I don't think it's cute on a number of levels but then I find some of those "sexy" baby outfits not cute either. It all sends the wrong message about kids, and girls in particular I guess I added to this little girl's future dilemmas by photographing the "slogan".

The daily commute

 I'm not particularly fascinated with the other passengers on the train necessarily it was just that I have been trying to figure out how to easily get photos of my day onto my blog from my phone.
These shots of my fellow commuters I took obviously as surreptitiously as I could. I emailed them to myself and then have just now downloaded them to my computer and here they are.
This lot all look very calm and other than the woman with the back pack who looks like a corpse waiting for a CSI episode they all seem to have things to keep them occupied. Actually on this particular occasion most people were asleep and I just managed to capture the few who were awake.
Much of the time is spent by some commuters in building the future of medical practitioners in particular those who specialize in hearing loss- some of those MP3 players are playing so loud you can hear them at the other end of the carriage.

Then there are the loud phone calls on the trains once they are above ground- that heavens it is subway much of the time.
It's hard to decide whether squealing indulged kids or fruity aroma homeless persons are the next on the downward scale but they both assault the senses in different ways.
And so I must head off on my next adventure on the subway.

Another day of self indulgence

An early morning walk along the beach- a lovely refreshing way to start the day. It was brisk out.
A short walk from the B&B is the beach where the tide was out at the timer of day that I ventured out. That made for good walking as the sand was firm and I could go a little way along and then headed of to a path and back via a different way past houses and different places.

All day in Westbrook CT

What a great opportunity... time with scrap-buddies in Westbrook.
The place to stay? Captain Stannard House.
Why? They feed you great food and the space was all ours with plenty of room and light to get on with the range of projects we all have.
I have managed to do scrap pages but others have worked on a range of projects.

Then there were two stores/shops that specialized in scrapbooking supplies and stamps. Not being a stamping person it meant I was able to save money and use it on scrapbooking supplies always keeping in mind that one has to schlepp it all home on the train to Grand Central.

A bit of John Cleese is a "lightening" thing

ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2012 EUROPE : BY JOHN CLEESE

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya,
Egypt and Syria and have therefore raised their security level from
"Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet
again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross."

The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea
supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from
"Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a
"Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the
Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get
the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they
have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300
years.
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror
alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France
are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent
fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing
the country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to
"Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective
Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."
The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance"
to "Dress in Uniforms and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two
higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only
threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.
These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish
navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia ,meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to
"She'll be alright, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I
think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is
cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final
escalation level.
-- John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person

A final thought: Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting
aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC.  

Fancied myself as a thinker...

but after tonight? Give that idea up!

Have I just been "titling at windmills?"

A discussion I was sitting on the edge of, when I should have been in the thick of it, has left me feeling as though I have been really kidding myself in recent years.

I thought that I could think but really had that knocked out of me when I couldn't understand what we were being asked to do in a discussion tonight let alone doing it. Linguistics isn't my thing I guess but even so I should have been able to understand what everyone else seemed to understand and were all terribly excited about to boot.

Time to take stock.

Albert Nobbs

I have no idea what I was expecting from this movie but found it quite haunting and so quietly portrayed. Glenn Close is subtle and her character such a self effacing person searching for happiness. Life in 19th century Ireland was so bleak for so many.
It was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Great Friends

Thank you Shirl for posting the following  on my facebook page.

"It has been said that everlasting friends go for long periods of time without speaking and never question their friendship. These friends pick up phones like they just spoke yesterday, regardless of how long it has been or how far away they live and they don't hold grudges. They understand that life is busy and you will ALWAYS love them."

The added instructions was to share this if you have at least one of these friends. They will know who they are.

I am lucky to have more than one of these friends- you do know who you are and I treasure our great friendship.

You are so right Shirl we are like this... we only chat once or twice a year and it is like there is no gap in time or friendship.

The cost of travel

One makes these decisions to go to places that may seem exotic...this time I'm going to be traveling with Michele to South Africa and doing a tour and so have done the trip to the doctor for the vaccinations. So here I sit about $700 poorer  but knowing that:

• mossies can bite me;
•  I can get a nasty bug and get rid of it;
• rusty wire and nails I am safe from;
• polio is not allowed to strike;
• typhoid is being prevented;
• Hep A warded off (is that grammatically correct?);
•  Yellow Fever will not touch me;
• I think I might be radio active :)

Is it worth it? Every penny for peace of mind, safe travel and I'll be allowed back into most countries.

It's going to be a great way to spend Easter.

They don't write themselves...

Along the beach in St Croix

An unbleached shell just sitting on the sand 

 

 

It has been an embarrassingly long time since I have posted and it has dawned on me today that blog posts don't write themselves :) so i have put fingers to keyboard and will drivel on for a little while so that at least I can say I have begun posting again.Part of the reason has been the traveling back and forth to the Virgin Islands for work- you can be lucky sometimes... however often there is unreliable internet there and I'm usually exhausted by the end of the day... excuses excuses... which makes me think I should list things that don't "do themselves"

So here I go..
1. The washing doesn't wash itself
2. My bag doesn't pack itself for work with the right things like the notebook I should have taken today!
3. The apartment doesn't clean itself although the list that we have of doing a bit at a time is helping keep it very clean.
4. The silver jewelry doesn't keep itself shiny and I end up with black fingers from cleaning it
5. The Met card doesn't refill itself ...unlike my phone card which does when it gets below a certain point
6. Dinner doesn't cook itself... and it's that time now.