what's up

Lately it's been all book reviews, Thursday Challenges and classic poems here at promptings.This is just to let you know, there is a real person behind all the words - and photos, and here's what's up with me lately.

Wild bleeding heart - April 4, 2010 at Elgin Park in Surrey

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

I'm loving spring. It's early this year and so welcome. The trees are already in leaf. Daffodils are finished, tulips still opening here and there, the azaleas and rhodos,
the latter especially usually reserved for May, are popping all over the place.

Shield your eyes! Just had to capture this pink explosion of azalea color.

April 14, 2010 in Langley

I had some fun with my computer just over a week ago when I upgraded from Mac OSX 4 - (Tiger) to OSX 6 (Snow Leopard). I  always find installing software stressful no matter how easy it's supposed to be. Fortunately the install went smoothly, though I lost the ability to print for a few hours, until I got in touch with one of the boys at Simply who told me to 'simply' delete my printer, then add it again. It worked!

I also noticed, after a few days of the new OS, that all my applications were loading very slowly. Mail was positively spastic. Since Snow Leopard is supposed to improve speed, I wondered what I had done to make old Newton the exception. When things got ridiculous, I had visions of $$'s worth of repairs / memory upgrades etc. Before I did anything drastic, though, I tried the trusty old cure-everything fix from PC days: shutdown and restart. Voila! Just like that my computer was back to its zippy old self. What a relief!!

One of the main reasons I upgraded was for the Time Machine backup feature. Now I'm backed up daily - actually hourly as long as I leave it on - a good feeling. (A few days after I upgraded, hubby saw a feature on the evening news on another backup system - an external hard drive called Click Free. It looks interesting too!)

Creamy magnolia blossoms - captured on 

one of my walks around Langley this week.

Volunteer-wise the Alpha season is over. My job as kitchen setup and cleanup coordinator is done. It's nice to have Tuesday nights free again.

Writing-wise I've given my notice for the Poet's Classroom columns at Utmost. Two more and my columnist days there are done. I enjoyed writing those and learned so much. But after almost two years' worth of monthly articles I'm squeezed dry. It's time for someone else to take up the baton.

Tulips just outside our front door

I still write though - a poem a day so far in April using Robert Brewer's prompts at Poetic Asides. And I still blog daily at Other Food: daily devo's. Writing daily devotions is probably the most challenging and significant writing I've ever done - and I love it! What better subject to write about than the Bible, God, His relationship with us and ours with Him!

That's what's up with me. What about you?