iPad test

I am testing an iPAD 1. It took some getting used to since I am not familiar with the operating system. It does work pretty well with a keyboard. I think I am so used to using a keyboard that typing on the screen seems weird! I will be taking this to a meeting tomorrow to take notes. It should certainly last longer than a laptop, as far as batteries go.

I do really like the graphics and the sound. More to follow.

Flowers in a Tire

I don't remember planting any flowers in this tire. Maybe we did?

 

We planted these shrubs last summer. this particular one was a replacement that went in late in the season. I hope they make it this spring!

Spring Flowers

As the days are getting warmer the flowers around the house have started to bloom. The previous owners had beds of bulbs everywhere. We have been trying to rein them in, but they seem to be spreading even more. So here are some pictures as they evolve. These pictures are from today, 3/22.

A Russian Journal

A few weeks ago I heard about a writer who tried to trace the route that Steinbeck traveled for his Travels with Charley. I never read Travels with Charley, aside from an excerpt that was in a high school literature book. But the new book made me think of another Steinbeck book I had read, A Russian Journal. I decided to reread the book that I fortunately found in our library. 

It's a short book, detailing Steinbeck's trip to Russia with photographer Robert Capa in 1948. Their goal was to get to meet ordinary Russian people, just as the cold war was getting underway. This was a time when Russia was very much closed off from the world at the height of Stalin's rule. In addition to Moscow, Steinbeck and Capa visited Kiev, farms in the Ukraine, and several cities and farms in Georgia. They also participated in the 800 year anniversary of the founding of Moscow.

The book has no political commentary on the differences between the USA and Russia, apart from humorous descriptions on dealing with Russia bureaucracy. Instead, we are shown how the Russian people were trying to recovery form the devastation of WWII. The description of the Ukrainian women dancing together after a hard day working on the farm because there were no young men, was particularly poignant. The book really the lives of the people. Steinbeck acknowledges that he didn't see the prison camps or the sensitive areas. Instead he excels in his sympathetic descriptions of the people he met.

This was the era where heavy drinking seemed to be expected, especially among the expatriate journalist community. Those were the days! Reading this book makes me want to go back to reread the Steinbeck classics.

Posted via email from Black Gap Road

Guinea Bankrupt?

I just read this article from the BBC. President Alpha Conde says that the military junta that has ruled the past two years bankrupted the country. When I visited Guinea at the end of 2006 I couldn't believe how poor and mismanaged the country was. Yet Guinea has enough mineral resources that everyone in the country should be well off. I really hope this new democratic regime can fix things!

Posted via email from Black Gap Road

Any Human Heart

I really enjoyed the first night of Any Human Heart on Masterpiece. It was a little disconcerting at first when the show switched to different times in Logan's life. I did get used to it as the story went on. Logan is remarkably selfish. I wonder if he will develop as a person by the end. I am thinking about getting the original book by William Boyd. Maybe after this is over.

Posted via email from Black Gap Road

New Deicer

I put in a new deicer for the koi pond. It's a 300 watt model in the shape of a rock. (I got it from Foster and Smith Aquatics, who were running a sale. They had great service, too.) When our old flat one stopped working, I put in the 1250 watt one for a while, but I was afraid it would use too much power over the long run. With the ice and rain storms we've had it also warmed up enought to melt all the ice. The fish like to line up like this for some reason.