Technology is a Problem..

About a week ago, we ran out of data. I had to unplug for a while, waiting for the new month to start. Our new data month started up yesterday, and today, the tablet cracked. I can't use it at all and have to run in to see about it's replacement. It's obnoxious and frustrating. 

During my week off-line, I distanced myself a little from my social media habit. And while I was excited to get a chance to go online again, I didn't crave time online as much as I had. It was nice to be forced away from the distraction. But complete unplugging isn't ideal for us right now. My husband has been reviving Paperwine and I've been reviving my blogging and enjoying Instagram. Those aspects have been especially healthy and good. I want them to continue.. I even want much of my facebook use to continue, in a limited sense. And in the winter, on these long, cold nights of stove tending - the connection is entertaining. 

So I'll be heading into town some time this weekend to figure out what's to be done. The problem doesn't really go away, it just keeps getting patched up and moving forward. And tonight, while the stove crackles merrily and the air outside dips down below zero again, I'll be drinking coffee or tea..or maybe a manhattan..and thinking about how to make this latest issue less of a burden and more of an opportunity.

Quotidian Notes: April Penance

Bright blue skies and steadily rising temperatures are a blessing, even if the low 40s aren't exactly my ideal April average, and the piles of snow everywhere are nearly as deep as they were in February. Still, I'm grateful. Really, I am grateful.

It's going to be a messy spring. We're not alone this year in parking out on the road. three of our four neighbors are doing the same, to avoid cutting up muddy driveways or getting caught in a sink-hole. It's a long, wet walk in, but really, what else can I expect when this is what the first day of spring looked liked:

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 I gave us dishes for our wedding anniversary last Saturday. Fun square plates, espresso cups and saucers, and rice bowls. As well as place-mats and napkins. I love setting the table..

 

Pretty, aren't they! I'm trying to keep them from getting ruined by Yarrow's mess and my carelessness. 

The espresso cups are my favorites right now. Aren't they adorable! I've been drinking way too much coffee, because I like them so much. Two of those cups were mine this morning, one is Yarrow's...

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Last week we watched 'Frozen', and..eh..Christie's views on the movie come closest to my own, except that she actually enjoyed it, and I was merely bored..so bored I had to go and watch the Buffy musical afterwards. I missed the more interesting, fairy-tale characters of older Disney films, missed a real villain, missed the 'magic'. And more than anything I missed good animation. Frozen was so flat, so soulless..The fabric especially suffered, it looked like rubber.

Yarrow rejected it early on. She watched just a little before scampering off to play. Seth and I were only slightly more forgiving. We watched it, but lost any hope of enjoying it before Elsa's "look, now I'm all sexy!" costume change during her 'frozen fractals' song.

What did you think of the movie? 

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It's raining now, after an afternoon of beautiful weather. I'm praying it stays rain..there are rumors of another 3-5 inches of snow tonight. Please, please, please, no..let's just have spring. 

Early last April..look at all the ground!

The Simplicity Project: Silence

It’s something I’m pursuing. The quite times when there is nothing but world around me, and the people in my day, when I haven’t got the radio, the computer, or the phone. The time to converse, to play, to reflect. I making one tomorrow, with my visiting family, and a nice block of solitude. It won’t be silence in the pure sense, Yarrow, Luba, and the family will keep the conversation going, but it will be media silence, silence from distractions that live in this very connected world of ours. I’m looking forward to it, and to looking through my home in that silence to see what I want to send away.