Tuesday on the Road, Wednesday at the Computer

Rain. In the forecast. There were areas of moisture on the pavement on Tuesday morning, then dry areas. Spots of rain on my windshield, perfectly dry at Sister's when I picked her up for Soroptimist. February is Healthy Heart Month and we were all wearing RED for Healthy Heart Day. I'd been asked to photograph us all in red, or, so I'd be included, find someone to operate the camera.

We had about 30 people to fit in the picture, so Sister and I scouted various suggested sites. At the end of our meeting, we all crossed the highway and lined up on the steps and street in front of the Iron Door. Our photographer stood across the highway. I had set the camera to wide-angle.

We were traffic-stoppers, even though we didn't mean to be. This is an uncropped version of our group photo, showing much of the exterior of the Iron Door as well.

I hadn't visited Brother-in-Law's Car Barn, or the Grand Garage, for a couple of weeks. The exterior paint is completed, and gutters and downspouts have been installed.

Upper bays

The electrician has installed the exterior light above the lower bay door.

. . . Taping the drywall in the lower bay . . .

. . . Drying the taping in Sister's storage room . . .

. . . Drying the taping in the stairwell . . .

. . . overlooking the downstairs bay . . .

I went home to pick up my French books, then headed down the hill to the city for French class, and to restock cat food for the ferals and cat treats that I've discovered Henley likes. He's heretofore been unbribable and, shall we say, resistant of late to going into the kitten room at night.

Finally, some window-wetting precip!

But before class I have a quiet dinner.

A new student walked into class unexpectedly, but hadn't had any previous class instruction, having relied on books and tapes for learning French. He understood a little, but with longer blank periods. How well I remember that feeling, since it still happens to me, less than "before," but not "never." While far from fluent, I can get around comfortably enough in France. As with English-speakers, some French-speakers are easier to understand than others. We recommended that the new guy try out the advanced beginner class to start with.

This morning, Wednesday, with nowhere to go today, I let myself get sucked into Facebook and blog-reading, instead of the more constructive opening mail or starting on taxes. I went to the Facebook Timeline format for my page last week. I understand it's coming for everyone. Do not be afraid. It's not that daunting. It wouldn't hurt to have some photos picked out that have a strong horizontal line of action through them, then test drive them in the "cover" frame for that big picture at the top of Timeline. The rest of the page makes itself. Everything can be hidden or deleted or edited, but it continually moves down the page along the timeline as you add new stuff.

While fiddling in Facebook, I discovered more photos of Granddaughter in Ghana of her Monday-off at the beach, taken by her friends. There were a lot of pictures, but I'm posting one delightful little sequence that speaks for itself.

Gecko warning ahead. The 5th picture down is a lovely photo of a gecko. I'll leave it small for any geckophobics, but the rest of you should click on it to see it larger. (And in return, please warn me ahead if you post any gratuitous arachnids. Thank you.)

Jamming!

Illumination

 In quite a coincidence, Skype rang (another new toy I'm trying to figure out) while I was downloading Granddaughter's photos, and up popped her Skype ID.

We SMS'd, rather than talked, because we get warnings that our Internet speed is too slow for video.

Granddaughter: hi grammaaa
                            guess what I just did

Moi: Hi sweetie
        What? I've just been looking at your beach pictures.

GD: I just bought a ticket to india        for spring break!  (Oh, oh. Redacting the place in case Mom hasn't been fully apprised of this plan yet)

We went on to discuss the when, where, how and who of this plan, then I asked her about her Ghana experience:

Moi:  Looks like you're having an over-all good time.

GD:  it's pretty great
        I was a little intimidated when I first got there but it's a very nice country
        you an count on nearly everyone to be nice and help you if you are lost etc

The immediacy of this is amazing, with only an eight-hour time difference. Somehow it seems like Africa is at the other end of the earth.


See you soon.

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