what a beautiful mirror … in the washroom!

Oh .. .sigh …another learning curve is being encountered in my life .. one of a number, it seems!

The latest one is my new Asus or Acer, or whatever .. computer!  I still have my trusty old $80 Toshiba as a backup.  But .. after hours of losing connectivity and waiting for yet another slow web page to download .. I thought .. argh .. no more.

So … looked at my savings .. and there was nearly enough for a new one.  Discussed with DH … and .. went over to Mother Computers to see what they had.   This is our chosen computer source … we are not computer savvy and leave the details to them … whom we trust!

Ended up with this wonderful, lightweight notebook, has all the bells and whistles. Plus, Windows 8 and an annoying Skype setup.

Tonight I went through the i-manual and have the keyboards functions down pat …. so that is great.  I’m slowly learning how to find my way through the changes.  And wowee … there is a camera in this thing!

That little learning curve is chugging along fine.  As is the Ecological Landscaping course.   Such a formidable wealth of information.  And numbers … I dream of numbers now.  Measuring exactly on grid paper with an architect’s ruler (3 sides).  Could I ever have imagined that I’d be doing this?  No.   But, I’m slowly getting through that hurdle .. or .. gigantic learning curve.

 

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But enough about that .. look at these skies from last week … lovely!

My pal D and I decided to leave the reality of the everyday world and embark on an escape day … which means shopping at some very wonderful thrift stores.  And .. perhaps .. some seaweed gathering .. who knew what the day would bring.

Our shopping started with some little oddities!  Driving down Blanshard (and missing the turn-off that I should have taken) we noticed a boat-laden pickup truck being driven the wrong way … the driver had somehow travelled part way up the highway and ended up in an enclosed area of the road that was cordoned off for road repairs.

This resulted in us driving down another road and saw a dog standing in the middle of the traffic .. luckily not much traffic at this time.  So I parked D went to gently get the dog off the road.  He ran away.  We drove down a side road to find him.  Located him climbing over the low fence of a local yard.  All seemed ok (except .. if this was my dog, he would not be outside!!)

D noticed she’d lost a glove (a new one, right!)  so we retraced our steps …stopped at one place and .. there was a bright purple Purdy’s Chocolate bag .. neatly folded.  However, it hadn’t been there a minute ago.  Strange.

Drove on a bit .. and voila .. there was the lost glove ..now found!

We drove on and on.  Reached our first store.  Spent hours inside, wandering, wondering, considering, choosing.   Found some treasures.  Then .. lunch time!  Found the most wonderful Thai restaurant!!!

 

My yummy lunch

D’s delicious looking lunch

Such a lovely and restful restaurant.  And there were some interesting chairs.  We chose a table with some sparkly plexiglass chairs .. so very pretty and very comfy.  Fun chairs.  Looking around the restaurant, we noticed that there were other styles of chairs also.  In particular, massive carved elephant chairs.  I tried to move one and just couldn’t.   Beautiful, elegant elephant chairs!

What a cozy sight ..

Time was quickly ticking away! How I love that clock ..

Shades of Polar Express! What a great buy this was

We had loads of fun.   Found such a variety of lovely dishes, graceful glasses, useful measuring items (for me and my course) even found this fantastic sleigh bell collar for a horse.  What a deal and I just love this.  Perfect for Christmas and perfect for the garden.

We had such a wonderful time going to the thrift shops!

And then I wanted to write about it .. but.. learning curves and photos didn’t mix.  Kept losing my photos in the Gallery .. so finally downloaded them into our desk computer!  Sigh.

Guess learning curves are just little challenges sent our way so that we can expand our horizons.  Work hard.  Perhaps some frustration (it’s math, for me!)  And the lovely feeling that arrives when the curves are past .. and the path is forthright.  Until the next curve!
Anyway .. I do like my new laptop.   And it’s ever so helpful for my course ..
So .. nighty night .. enjoy a lovely relaxing evening .. and I will try to write more about our shopping trip tomorrow.  And perhaps a little about my landscaping field trip today.  And .. more oak leaves gathered!

🙂