This LOVELY pink rose
didn’t last for long because
Aloha ‘gallumphed’ …

Click images to embiggen for better viewing …

It’s not easy to
catch crisp views of Aloha
… always on the move!

Her exuberance
often takes a toll on the
blossoms in my yard

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers,
Shadow Shots, Camera Critters, Pet Pride, and Macro Monday

Walking recently
these window views caught my eye
with palm reflections

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Window Views and Weekend Reflections

If YOU loved PacMac the way I did, you’ll enjoy Google’s home page  … celebrating the game’s 30th anniversary! You can actually PLAY the game there … Enjoy 😉

Thought for Today
“Inside all of us is a Wild Thing.” Maurice Sendak

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

One gladiola
survived ‘doggie play’ and PINK
loveliness emerged





Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers,
Macro Monday and Mosaic Monday

If time permits … you might enjoy this brief inspirational video clip from Simple Truths entitled ‘The Push‘ … I watch it occasionally, just because … and it ALWAYS touches my spirit with its simple but powerful reminder 😉

Thought for Today
“We can never discover new continents until we have the courage to lose sight of all coasts.” Andre Gide

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Scroll down for Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers,
Shadow Shots, Camera Critters, Pet Pride,
Macro and Mosaic Monday

1. Setting up a new wireless network when my ancient D-Link router failed proved to be quite simple. I used my $30 refund from Staples (for recycling old ink cartridges) to help defray the cost of a Home Valet Plus by Cisco and found the set up quite simple … using the enclosed flash drive they refer to as a ‘key’ to do most of the work for me. So far it works great and hopefully it will last as long as the D-Link did.

2. I’m grateful I wasn’t watching yesterday’s crazy ‘free-fall’ of the stock market when it dropped 998 points in just a few minutes and that I didn’t have ‘stop-losses’ in place that would have kicked in automatically. What a mess! Learning about it after the fact is distressing enough. I thought automatic ‘stops’ were in place to keep this kind of thing from happening … but I guess they don’t take effect that late in the day. Interestingly, I received a letter from Vanguard just yesterday that they’ve reduced the trading costs from $25 to $7 … probably to compete with the likes of Scottrade and other inexpensive trading companies. Once upon a time (a few years back … before blogging) I used to trade stocks more actively than I do currently … and I would have been in front of my computer when it happened.

3. Walking through the neighborhood recently I discovered and photographed these beautiful pink hibiscus blossoms to share for Pink Saturday and Macro Monday …




… and am delighted to share my newly cleared off parkway in this mosaic … featuring a few remaining rose blossoms and one pink gladiola (that survived Aloha’s exuberant play this Spring) … ready to burst forth in bloom any day now.

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers,
Macro Monday, and Mosaic Monday

4. Once upon a time, Ms. Kitty was a ‘hunter’ … but once I started to feed her she stopped and the birds returned. Unfortunately one of the neighbor’s cat hunts quite patiently. One morning this past week I noticed him on the prowl when I went outside to feed Ms. Kitty … grabbed my camera to capture a few shots. Ms. Kitty doesn’t have much to do with him, but with me nearby … she DID approach … perhaps to remind the younger cat not to encroach upon her territory. It’s good to know she can hold her own at her advanced age.

Straight out of the camera above and
poster edges below

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Camera Critters and Pet Pride

lookingatthesky

5. The skies have been blue for the most part this past week, but I did capture some interesting wispy clouds I’ve decided to share with you this week … just because.



… and I’ve enjoyed looking at the skies from my blue patio chairs (Ms Kitty and Molly keeping me company) whenever possible because the weather has been so pleasant. It amazes me to realize that THIS is my 250th WordPress post … that more than 5200 comments have been left by visitors here (with more than 2000 SPAM comments caught by Askimet). Taken with the 520 posts at Sacred Ruminations, 692 at Small Reflections, and 35 at Blog Rolls and Bling … I’ve published 1476 times in this virtual world since I started blogging on October 21st of 2007. Who knew I’d be so prolific? I’m grateful to all who have assisted and encouraged me along the way.


Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Friday’s FAVE Five,
Looking at the Sky and Midweek Blues

WordPress does provide interesting ‘stats’ in the ‘Dashboard’ that don’t seem to be available at Blogger. Here are a few from today:

Blog Stats Summary Tables

Total views: 29,429

Busiest day: 177 — Saturday, September 12, 2009

Views today: 12

Totals

Posts: 250

Comments: 5,268

Categories: 86

Tags: 13

Email Subscribers

Blog:3 active

Comments: 19 subscribers, 23 subscriptions

Spam

Akismet has protected your site from 2,163 spam comments.

Google is commemorating Tchaikovsky’s 170th birthday
with this nifty logo … very kewl isn’t it.

Thought for Today
“Consciously cultivating thankfulness is a journey of the soul, one that begins when we look around us and see the positive effects that gratitude creates.” MJ Ryan

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Scroll down for Camera Critters, Shadow Shots, and
My April Gratitude List transferred from
the sidebar at Small Reflections

My early pink Spring roses took a beating from recent rains followed by strong winds … but are still fascinating to me. I hope you enjoy my pink floral views.







Click any image to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers,
Mosaic and Macro Monday too

Molly Smells the Fading Roses
on a Sunny Spring Afternoon

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Camera Critters, Pet Pride,
and Shadow Shot Sunday

“Smile, breathe and go slowly.” Thich Nhat Hanh

gratitudelogo-daisies

givingthankschallenge-southbreeze

South Breeze Farm hosted the Giving Thanks Challenge and I participated at Small Reflections in November of 2008 and decided to continue indefinitely … generating the following list one day at a time throughout the month of August. I’ve decided to transfer the lists at the end of each month from Small Reflections to Happily Retired Gal … just because. Click to see previous lists already published here.

1. for a pleasant day spent with my sister while accomplishing a few necessary tasks.

2. for the day to rest & recover at home 😉

3. to spend the afternoon with a good friend … enjoying lunch then helping her run some errands and trouble-shooting some computer problems for her.

4. I’ve learned about and signed up for the 2010 Summer Writers Retreat at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House & Conference Center in Taos, New Mexico … I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and meeting new people too.

5. there’s room for Molly at Camp Ilene when I go to Taos this summer so she’ll get a ‘doggie’ vacation … with the opportunity to play with fur-friends for a couple of weeks while I’m away from home.

6. to connect & catch up with another friend for brunch … using a ‘buy one breakfast – get one free’ coupon at Mimi’s Cafe.

7. for the opportunity to reconnect with my cousin & his wife (along with my sister & her husband) at the Knott’s Berry Farm Chicken House this morning.

8. today at home to rest & recover after watering the yard this morning before the winds kicked up outside.

9. to spend today with my sister … hanging out & having lunch later at Matsu, my favorite local Japanese restaurant.

10. I’m beginning my days writing ‘morning pages’ as I used to do for decades …

11. my roses have started to bloom already 😉

12. the rain stopped long enough to squeeze in a walk with Molly this morning before I went to my Windows 7 class.

13. for one final breakfast at the Harbor House Cafe in Sunset Beach shared with my sister this morning before she and her husband head for Yosemite and places beyond.

14. I drove into my sister’s after today’s Windows 7 class to teach her (one final time) about labeling photos in Windows Photo Gallery before she & her husband leave on this trip and hopefully she won’t spend HOURS ‘renaming’ the photos as she’s done on previous trips.

15. that through sheer persistence and experimentation, I’ve managed (finally) to correct some of the frustrating ‘glitches’ on the Dell Inspiron resulting from all those dreaded Blue Screen of Death Crashes during the first 20 months I owned it … before (with Dell Tech Support’s assistance over a month or so) finally ‘stabilizing’ the system.

16. for all the beautiful ROSES blooming in my yard currently … pink, red (scroll down for these), and apricot (I’ll add the link soon once I share them – see the end of my April 23rd post here at Small Reflections).

17. I’m getting my files backed up on an external drive, slowly but steadily. One of these days I’ll figure out how to make that happen automatically.

18. to be attending a ‘Spring concert’ this afternoon with friends.

19. I’ve managed to find and copy most of the photo & data files from an old backup of the Dell that ‘crashed’ a few weeks ago and I’m very relieved.

20. I ran errands after class today so the Explorer has a full tank of gas, Molly has food & treats and I have fresh groceries in the house.

21. It’s started to rain late this afternoon … and I’ve moved Ms. Kitty’s bed and the blue chairs to a dry alcove by the front door.

22. the weather cleared enough for a pleasant camera walk this afternoon and I remembered to pay my bills online today.

23. to have connected by phone this morning with my sister and her husband as they were leaving Yosemite … headed up and over the Sierra Nevada Mts.

24. for beautiful clear sunny weather to spend time in my garden (after a sleepless night due to noisy neighbors) and an evening phone call from my sister letting me know they made it safely over the mountains … staying in Bishop, CA for the night before heading to Death Valley on Sunday.

25. for a good night’s sleep … and David Pogue’s Windows 7: The Missing Manual. What an incredibly useful (not to mention entertaining) resource!

26. I’ve set up an automatic backup for my Sony Vaio and shifted relevant files from an external backup of the old Dell Inspiron 9100 that crashed a while back.

27. my brother-in-law managed to share three ‘snow photos’ from their recent visit to Yosemite with help from their oldest son. Here’s one … I’ve shared the others on Friday at Sacred Ruminations: (They’ve been resized to be smallish files but you can click to embiggen a bit for better viewing)

28. for all I’ve learned in my Windows 7 class that ended today and the week-long ‘break’ before the next session begins.

29. I’ve checked out Goldstar.com … finally! What a nifty way to save money while getting out to enjoy entertainment opportunities.

30. for my sister’s sons … Happy 28th birthday to Daniel and happy 30th ‘gotcha-day’ to Casey! I love you both 😉

Thank you Joy

FYI – My previous Gratitude Lists can be found at Happily Retired Gal, my new WordPress site. It is my intention to keep this ‘Daily Gratitude List’ in my sidebar indefinitely because I believe it makes sense to focus on what’s right in our lives regularly. Click for:
2010 Lists –April, March, February, January
2009 Lists – December, November,
October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January
2008 Lists – December, November

Thought for Today
“It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, it only matters where you’re going.” Brian Tracy

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Scroll down for Thursday Thirteen, Haiku Friday Sky Watch,
Camera Critters, Midweek Blues, Window Views
and Weekend Reflections

Mary the teach at Work of the Poet
has asked bloggers to share Yard Art on Thursdays …
Lots of people who live near the beach
in Southern California ‘decorate’ their yards
(often in unique ways) so I’ll have a steady supply!

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Yard Art

113-hfskywatch-hrg

Thirteen photographs
of a sparrow hanging out
in local palm trees





Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Thursday Thirteen,
Haiku Friday, Sky Watch,
and Camera Critters

Window Reflections
near Long Beach Marina with
beautiful blue skies

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Window Views, Weekend Reflections,
and Midweek Blues

Thought for Today
“”Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
Albert Einstein

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Raindrops and Sunshine on Roses …
Pretty in Pink





Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, and Shadow Shots


Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Weekend Reflections and Window Views

Thought for Today
“The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything — or nothing.” Lady Nancy Astor

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

My PINK roses here
RED ones on my other blogs …
ending with ‘pastel’

climbing roses … small
and short-lived but abundant
yellow, peach, and pink

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Pink Saturday,
Today’s Flowers, Shadow Shot Sunday,
Color Carnival and Mosaic Monday

Ohmygosh … it’s been a WHOLE WEEK since I’ve posted anything here, and even longer since I’ve visited anyone in the Blogosphere! Real life activities have kept me busy and away from the computer lately. Thanks to everyone for your continued visits and comments in the face of my absence. My ‘reader’ is collecting your posts and hopefully I’ll find time soon to begin catching up.

Last Wednesday I published my first ‘Mr. Lincoln’ rose of the season at Small Reflections and yesterday I shared my first Veteran’s Honor roses at Sacred Ruminations (along with some Beauty, Skies, Window Views, Reflections, FAVES & musings … Just for the JOY of it) … and I’m hoping to update my gratitude list then publish Camera Critters and Pet Pride at Small Reflections later today.

Soon I’ll share my ‘apricot’ Just Joey Roses
I hope you’re each enjoying a wonderful weekend 😉

Thought for Today
“An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.” Niels Bohr

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Pink Amaryllis
blossoms and pink roses in
sunshine and shadow






Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Pink Saturday,
Today’s Flowers, and Shadow Shots

Thought for Today
“Today I will do what others wont, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” Jerry Rice

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

I happened upon
RUBY blossoms in these trees
on a recent walk

“Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.” Confucius

“The mind is everything; what you think, you become.”
Gautama Buddha

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Ruby Tuesday, My World,
Outdoor Wednesday, Midweek Blues, and Wordful Wednesday

Thought for Today
“So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us.”
Gaston Bachelard

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Scroll down for Weekend Reflections

Springtime blossoms from
my garden … pink and yellow
just for Easter time!

Straight out of the camera above
Poster Edges below

Reflected blossoms
white and yellow irises
gracing my parkway

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers
and Weekend Reflections

“The story of Easter is the story of God’s
wonderful window of divine surprise.”
Carl Knudsen

Easter is the demonstration of God
that life is essentially spiritual and timeless.”
Charles M. Crowe


givingthankschallenge-southbreeze

South Breeze Farm hosted the Giving Thanks Challenge and I participated at Small Reflections in November of 2008 and decided to continue indefinitely … generating the following list one day at a time throughout the month of August. I’ve decided to transfer the lists at the end of each month from Small Reflections to Happily Retired Gal … just because. Click to see previous lists already published here.


1. that the damage from the ‘twister’ that touched down nearby in my neighborhood over the weekend was minimal.

2. I managed to make the phone call to call Anthem Blue Cross Senior Services and still get to class this morning just before the class started so I didn’t miss anything.

3. for a hair cut & perm after a pleasant lunch with my sister at BJs … I do love ‘minimal effort’ hair!

4. Tracy filled in for Nami (who was ill) at this morning’s Digital Media class and we learned a couple of nifty new techniques that I’m looking forward to playing with as time permits.

5. that although I received a ‘denial’ letter from United Healthcare on 3-3-10 (regarding Plan D Prescription coverage for failure to supply required information), TODAY’s mail contains an ACCEPTANCE letter & payment coupon book … so I guess I’m covered finally! Third time’s the charm 😉
In addition, a refurbished keyboard for my Dell Inspiron 1720 arrived in today’s mail … THAT was QUICK! It’s installed and I have no more sticky keys … HOORAY!

6. for a day at home to catch up on tasks I’ve neglected for too long …

7. that I picked up the iris bud knocked off the stalk by Aloha & Molly playing on my front lawn and put it in a tiny vase on my kitchen window ledge because it opened today … beautifully.

8. my computer continues to work without crashing as I catch up on blog visits over the weekend and this afternoon.

9. for a fun afternoon with my sister … even though the winds were gusty & cold we bundled up and walked out on the pier, enjoyed a late ‘birthday’ lunch of ‘fish tacos’ and ‘Hula’ pie(with Margaritas) at Duke’s

then walked the Tuesday Street Faire on Main Street … stopping to enjoy the live music entertainment before heading home.

10. for coming up with a plan ‘b’ …
Since I didn’t have time to devote to the ‘inspiration video’ I wanted to create (see #7 in Sunday’s post at Sacred Ruminations), I’ve gathered photos of Molly (regular & resized versions) to bring for part two of the Friday Movie Maker class so perhaps I’ll be able create something to share on one of my blogs after all.

11. Although the ‘scheduled auto post’ for my Yard Art #2 didn’t work, I’ve manually published it this evening belatedly at Happily Retired Gal. I’ve got my ‘wireless router’ working again and had Time Warner Cable ‘tech support’ reconfigure my ‘cable modem’ … so when Vinnie from Dell Tech Support calls tomorrow at 1pm (after my Movie Maker class from 8:30-11:30am) perhaps he’ll be able to deal with the WLAN crash issues. Keep your fingers crossed for me. It’s been another BUSY week, so I’ll be catching up on blog visits over the weekend again.

12. Dell Tech Support is finally researching the problem I’m having with my ‘too dim to read’ monitor display when running on battery power.

13. Costco had one Sony Vaio left last night (on sale for $100 off) so I’ve got a new notebook to play with. It’s a 64 bit computer running Windows 7 … came with minimal software but should run the programs I own & use. If not, I have 90 days to return it.

14. all but two of the clocks in my home changed themselves for Daylight Savings Time overnight while I slept … so I didn’t have to change them myself and I knew the correct time without realizing it 😉

15. I spent the day productively … and am tired so I should sleep well on my freshly laundered sheets tonight.

16. the magnitude 4.4 earthquake centered about 30 miles north of me in Pico Rivera at 4:04am didn’t cause much damage … and served as a ‘readiness’ event to check our ‘earthquake preparedness’ here in Southern California.

17. the piece of metal I thought was a filling … isn’t. After visiting the dentist yesterday afternoon & getting the good news, I dropped by Duke’s (at the urging of a friend) … let a manager know what had happened and (after he consulted the head chef) learned that the mysterious piece of metal comes from a ‘fastener’ on their ice cream containers. As a thank you, they’re mailing me a ‘gift certificate’ … an unexpected but delightful turn of events. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

18. for friends who invited me to join them today at the Laguna Playhouse for a delicious lunch and entertaining play by the Second City: ‘Can You Be More Pacific?’ (lampooning Laguna Beach and Orange County, California) … making for a pleasant afternoon.

19. my sister and I enjoyed a delicious ‘sushi’ lunch at Matsu around 1:45 today … slipping in just before they close at 2pm because I waited for Dell Tech Support’s scheduled 11am call longer than I should have. Click for the latest update

20. I was able to move plants from my parkway to make room for the Veteran’s Honor Rose birthday gift from my neighbor and hopefully my gardener will remember to plant it for me on Wednesday since I’ll probably still be in my Windows 7 class when they do their twice monthly yard maintenance.

21. I was able to spend significant time todday catching up with blog posts that had collected in my reader. I’m especially thankful for everyone who makes the entire post available in their feeds because it makes catching up so much quicker and easier.

22. … and I’m dancing for joy!!! My Dell Inspiron 1720 has been unplugged for more than an hour… I have an hour and 54 minutes left on battery power and the screen is bright enough for me to read easily!!!!! What a wonderful surprise THIS is after all the hassles I’ve been through previously. I’ll explain the final modification Tihman from Dell Tech Support had me make this afternoon in a blog post soon so that others with this ‘dim monitor issue’ can try to fix THEIR laptops too.

23. the Health Reform Act finally passed and was signed into law! Methinks it’s long overdue. If you have doubts or concerns, I offer this link to a recent NY Times opinion piece by Paul Krugman on Health Reform Myths for your consideration.

24. for Dalton at the Bella Terra Staples store in HB who helped me set up my new Canon ‘all-in-one’ wireless MX870 printer. Perhaps I’ll finally get my very belated Christmas cards printed & sent out soon 😉

25. I spent a pleasant day with my sister (starting with a tasty breakfast shared at Mimi’s Cafe) and my 18-55mm lens is back (finally) … working just fine!

26. for beautiful Spring weather here in Southern California at the beach. I suspect we’ll have lots of ‘inlanders’ visiting today and tomorrow.

27. for time to do some catch up blog visits (after being away from home most of last week) as I took minibreaks from writing personal notes in my belated Christmas, NewYear’s & Easter cards.

28. to catch up with my ‘writing buddy’ from Taos in a phone call this morning before continuing to write notes in the cards & catch up on blog visits.

29. what I thought to be ‘one last purple iris’ isn’t … another has opened and there are two more purple buds as an added surprise.

30. the Canon printer did a great job printing envelopes (after I managed to create a new address database in the newer Dell) and most of my belated Christmas, NewYear’s & Easter greetings are in the mail. I’m still digging around for a few addresses since I can’t seem to find the backup from the old address database (from the Inspiron 9100 that died recently) on my external drives.

31. for a lovely sunrise this morning!

Thank you Joy

FYI – My previous Gratitude Lists can be found at Happily Retired Gal, my new WordPress site. It is my intention to keep this ‘Daily Gratitude List’ in my sidebar indefinitely because I believe it makes sense to focus on what’s right in our lives regularly. Click for:
2010 Lists – February, January
2009 Lists – December, November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January
2008 Lists – December, November

Thought for Today
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’” William A. Ward

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Scroll down for Wordful Wednesday & Midweek Blues too

Warmer weather brings
people to the beach and pier
also the Street Fair

Do you see the seagull in the picture below?


How about in the next photo?
If you missed the one above, look up again 😉

If walking to the end of the pier and back is more exercise that one wants, there are folks who will give you a ride in one of these.

Kids can play in these colorful contraptions and people enjoy a variety of foods while enjoying the Street Fair on Tuesday evenings from 5-9pm.
Click to see more views and entertainment shared previously

Click to embiggen for better viewing and for
others participating in Ruby Tuesday, My World,
Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday,
Midweek Blues and Wordful Wednesday

Thought for Today
“Live out of your imagination, not your history.” Stephen R. Covey

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

This week’s Yard Art
and Earth Hour information
are in the next post …
Scroll down for Looking at the Sky, (belated) Midweek Blues
Pink Saturday and Today’s Flowers herein with my FAVES


1. Although he arrived very late (and by himself without his usual two helpers) on Wednesday, my gardener took time to plant my birthday ‘Veteran’s Honor’ rose bush as promised. I’m hoping it will do as well as the other roses I have growing in my yard.


2. My parkway is awash with color, brightening the neighborhood and my spirits. I feel so blessed to live here in Southern California near the Pacific Ocean where Spring arrives early, and it’s a joy to share such views on my blog for those in colder climates still waiting for the weather to warm up.


lookingatthesky

3. Our skies have been variable as clouds drift through the area but there have plenty of beautiful BLUES above like these:



4. I happened upon these lovely pink blossoms at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach while hanging out with my sister this past week. I’m not sure what they are but wonder if they might be Rhododendron. What do you think?




5. Finally … my 18-55mm lens for my Nikon D60 is back in my possession and working the way it’s supposed to! More than a month ago the Vibration Reduction went ‘wonky’ (shortly after I had it cleaned at my local ‘repair’ shop under the Ritz Camera warranty). They sent it to Nikon and when it was returned with the VR fixed, the lens wouldn’t take photos at the ‘infinity’ setting … so the repair shop sent it back to Nikon (with a ‘rush’ order). When it was returned in a couple of week with a note that nothing was done to it … my local guy sent it back once again with the instructions highlighted. All this took considerable time. Of course I’ve had my camera with the Tamron 28-300mm lens, but I’ve missed the smaller lens and am glad to have it back.

Click any image to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Friday’s FAVE Five,
Midweek Blues, Looking at the Sky, Pink Saturday, and Today’s Flowers

Thought for Today
“And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
Abraham Lincoln

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Mary the teach at Work of the Poet
has asked bloggers to share Yard Art on Thursdays …
Lots of people who live near the beach
in Southern California ‘decorate’ their yards
(often in unique ways) so I’ll have a steady supply!

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Yard Art

I you’re interested, click for an update on my Dell Inspiron issues … they’ve ALL be resolved! Hooray 😉

Join the Earth Hour Movement
on March 27th at 8:30pm
Hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations. Learn more about how Earth Hour began, what we’ve accomplished, and what is in store for 2010. Click to learn more
To participate, just flip off your light switch
at 8:30 pm local time to cast your vote for
action on climate change.

Thought for Today
“You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think.” the Talmud

Click for comments at the TOP of the post under the title, rather than at the bottom ;–)

Friday’s Fave Five, Weekend Reflections,
Camera Critters & Looking at the Sky are in the next post

Raphiolepsis
I just learned the name of this
bush with pink blossoms




I’m still searching for
the name of the plant below
blooming in my yard

shared previously
both in ‘normal view‘ and in
macro view‘ as well



Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Pink Saturday,
Today’s Flowers, and Shadow Shot Sunday

For those following the continuing saga of my Dell Inspiron issues … this past week ‘Sanjay’ scheduled two 11am calls, one on Tuesday and the other on Friday. I waited Tuesday for 90 minutes before having to leave for an appointment (took his cell phone call at about 1pm but since I wasn’t home couldn’t do anything with my laptop) and waited Friday for two and a half hours (missing the 4:40pm call from ‘Sean’ by seconds trying to fish the cell phone out of my purse when it rang).


I called Dell Tech Support when I arrived home … around 6pm and spoke to Roy who listened attentively and made notes in my file. Specifically I needed to let Sean and Sanjay know that I would be unavailable at 11am for a while and that it would be better to call me early in the morning or late in the afternoon.


Roy scheduled a callback for Monday between 4 and 6pm. He also encouraged me to talk directly with Customer Service which I did. However, three different people assertively told me (multiple times) there was no way to replace my battery (even though it had clearly been faulty from the get go) unless I was willing to pay $159 for a new one. The 3rd representative (Angel) actually hung up (yup … you read that right) on me as I expressed my frustration and asked for yet another ‘supervisor’ to talk to after telling me that even during the first year they wouldn’t have replaced the battery, but would had me return the entire computer. That conflicts with what the Tech Support guys have told me. Apparently Customer Support personnel don’t have access to Tech Support case files and Tech Support can’t handle the ‘battery’ issue since it’s a Customer Service issue. Talk about a Catch 22!


So … my extended warranty will pay to have someone come to my house to ‘trouble shoot’ … even replace the monitor, but not the battery. There’s no way I’d spend that amount of money without assurances that a new bigger battery would actually FIX the dim monitor problem. Upgrading to Windows 7 and replacing the battery would cost about the same thing as new Dell notebook (not that I’d be likely to buy another Dell any time soon).


I’ve decided to let some time pass (to calm myself) before trying again … but I suspect this Inspiron 1720 notebook will remain a desktop indefinitely. Looking at the bright side, at least the machine is finally ‘stable’ and not crashing repeatedly any longer … and THAT’s a good thing. I do love my new Sony Vaio notebook. It’s bright enough to use on battery power without changing from the ‘balanced power’ settings and gives me about 3 hours of battery life before suggesting I plug it in … so I’m technologically ‘mobile’ again at last.

Thought for Today
“A great teacher never strives to explain her vision: she simply invites you to stand beside her and see for yourself.” Rev. R. Inman

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lookingatthesky


1. Although it finally cooled off yesterday, we’ve had amazingly warm weather the past few days here in Southern California at the beach and I’ve been able to take advantage of it … walking with my camera in hand several days.

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and if you missed them, I shared some
‘kewl’ pelican shots at Small Reflections
(see #5 of 13 things on my list)


2. While celebrating my sister’s birthday recently (sharing a delicious frozen dessert with nuts), I bit down on something hard. Thinking it was a piece of shell, I retrieved it from my mouth only to discover it was metal and looked suspiciously like a filling. Fortunately it wasn’t (a visit to my dentist confirmed that it did indeed LOOK like a filling but I didn’t have one missing) so I don’t have to have any work done on my teeth. At the urging of a friend whose husband used to manage a restaurant, I returned to share the incident with the manager. Upon checking with the head chef, we learned their ice cream containers have metal fasteners … and the piece in question was part of that. As a thank you for bringing the problem to their attention, they’re mailing me a gift certificate … adding an unexpected bonus to the experience.


3. Last Friday I drove by Costco for gasoline and went inside with my sister who wanted to buy some bananas. I stopped to look at laptops and ended up buying this …

a Sony Vaio (running Windows 7) … appearing here alongside the Dell Inspiron 1720 (running Vista) that I’ve had nothing but trouble with since I bought it in July of 2008. I’m working with Dell Tech Support to resolve continuing issues since it’s covered for 4 years by an extended warranty … and I’m delighted that it’s no longer crashing regularly, but when disconnected from the power supply, the screen still becomes so dim as to be unreadable … making it essentially non-functional away from my desk unless I carry the power supply with me and find an outlet wherever I go. I’ve suggested a larger more powerful battery … and there’s been talk of a new monitor. Hopefully I’ll find out more today when Sanjay calls me around 11am. In the meantime, I’ve got a new ‘toy’ to keep me connected and it’s pretty kewl. The software I own and use regularly with Vista (Microsoft Office and Photoshop Elements) seem to run just fine so far even though it’s a 64-bit machine running Windows 7.


4. The local Adult School is offering classes in Windows 7 and I’ve signed up … changing from the class I’d intended to take to this one figuring I could use a bit of help making this transition. In addition, I enjoyed a delightful afternoon with friends yesterday visiting over lunch in Laguna before seeing The Second City in Can You be more Pacific at the Laguna Playhouse. Before heading home, we purchased advance tickets for a May performance of Hershey Felder in ‘Beethoven As I Knew Him’ … we hear it’s quite entertaining.


5. Once I finish with Sanjay from Dell Tech Support this morning, I’m spending this afternoon with my sister once again. We’re trying to maximize the time we have left before she and her husband hit the road again on April 15th. I want to share one more view from this week containing reflections of the sky and the beach in the windows of this Lifeguard Tower on the pier … pretty nifty, eh? Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Thought for Today
“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” Anne Frank

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I'm a happily retired teacher. Originally blogging as storyteller, I've changed my avatar early in 2010 to reflect my recent growing interest in photography. You might recognize me from one of my three original Blogger-based sites:

Small Reflections

Sacred Ruminations

Blog Rolls, Bling and Blurbs

If you don't, click to learn more about me.

Welcome to my first WordPress site. I hope you'll look around, leave me a comment or two, and check back as often as time permits.

Hugs and blessings,
happily retired gal
(formerly known as storyteller)

1st Blogoversary celebratory post

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All words, images, and art on this site (unless otherwise noted) belong to storyteller, a most Happily Retired Gal. Please ask for written permission before using anything here. Thanks ;--)

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