Archive for the ‘interests’ Category
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Well the IT men came, and I showed them what the problem was. There was a message on the screen to say that the current system they were using couldn’t support Flickr. So they decided they needed to upgrade the two computers that my friend and I were using to Internet Explorer 8. One of them did say that he thought they’d already been upgraded, and showed surprise that they hadn’t, but they still didn’t do the others, only the two we were using!
That took about half an hour, but it didn’t make the slightest bit of difference! One of my Flickr contacts made a comment on yesterday’s post saying that it’s probably the library’s filtering software. I’ve reported that to them, but they don’t seem to be very interested!
They tell me that they only have people use their computers for checking emails or looking into their family history. Apparently I’m the first person who has ever wanted to look at Flickr on their computers!
And it looks as though I’ll be the last too!
Tags: computers, filtering software, Flickr, library
Posted in interests, photography | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 6th, 2010
I’m not at home at the moment, so I went to the library to catch up on Flickr, to see if anyone has made any comments on my photots and to have a look at and make comments on the photos that my Flickr friends have added to their photostreams.
I remembered my user name and my password and got myself logged in and up came my stream on the screen. It looked a bit odd, and I was wondering what was wrong with it when I realised that there were no photos showing. Now that’s a bit of a problem for a photo sharing website, isn’t it!
The library staff put me on another computer, and then another one, but still no photos! Now they’ve sent for an IT expert!
I hope they can sort it out. I get withdrawal symptoms if I have to spend too long away from Flickr!
If you’d like to see my Flickr photostream, click on Katie-Rose’s photostream on the right by the photos. I hope you’ll be able to see them!
Tags: Flickr, library, photos
Posted in interests, photography | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
If you’re a follower of my blog, you’ll know that it’s been missing since the beginning of February.
Someone had managed to hack into it and do several nasty things to it. They had hijacked it, so that any visitors would be transferred to a Chinese website of a dubious nature.
When I tried to look at it, and was sent to the Chinese website, virus warnings started flashing up on my screen and going crazy. They told me that spyware was running in the background and could take my personal information. I turned the computer off quickly, and had to have it taken away to be cleaned up.
A friend was able to sort out my blog for me by finding what had been added and getting rid of it. He’s now upgraded the version of Wordpress that I’m using as the newer version will be more secure and less likely to be hacked into again. Thank you for all the time and effort you spent investigating and mending my blog and upgrading it. I’m glad you know so much more about these sort of things than I do!
It’s lovely to be able to post again, I really missed it. I am having a bit of difficulty finding my way round though! The new, upgraded dashboard is completely different from the one I’m used to and have been using since October 2008. It’s quite disorientating when you’re very used to something you use often and suddenly it’s gone, and something unfamiliar is there in it’s place. You have to work at doing something you’ve been used to doing without thinking. Perhaps I’ll get used to it quickly. I don’t really have any other option, do I?!
Tags: blog, different, hijacked, upgraded, virus, Wordpress
Posted in interests | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
At last yesterday I managed to get a reasonable shot of the Moon when it was (nearly) full! It was very cold outside and there was frozen snow on my car, which had taken a lot of scraping off. So I could only stay out for a few minutes at a time before coming in to warm up and then go out and have another go.
The photo below was taken at 7.30pm, 10 hours or so before the actual moment of the Moon being completely full. But of course I won’t see that from here. It won’t rise until around 6.00pm tonight, so if it’s clear, it will be at least 12 hours past full when I see it again.
The prominent crater Tycho shows up quite well. Tycho is a lunar impact crater in the southern lunar highlands which was named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. It’s about 85 kilometers across, and has rays of impact material radiating from it. To see where Tycho is, click on the photo which will take you to my Flickr photostream where I’ve added a note to show where Tycho is. Hold your cursor over the Moon to see it.
I hope to be able to get another shot of the Moon tonight, because today it’s at perigee. This is the nearest point of the Moon’s elliptical orbit in it’s cycle, and today it will be the nearest to us this year, apart from October. It’s distance away is around 359700 km or 223510 miles.
The furthest point of the Moon’s elliptical orbit in each cycle is called the apogee. The more extreme perigees and apogees often occur around January.
Apparently January’s full Moon is called the Wolf Moon which comes from the hungry wolf packs that would howl outside the villages of Native Americans in the coldness of January.
The forecast for tonight is clear skies and very cold, so hopefully I will be able to add another day to my collection of shots of the Moon on every day of it’s visible phases.
Tags: crater, elliptical, frozen, Full Moon, January, Moon, orbit, perigee, photo, snow, Tycho
Posted in Moon, interests, night sky, photography | 1 Comment »
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
I’ve started to feel Christmassy now. The lights and decorations being up don’t do it, because they’re up in time for my Birthday, and that’s what they make me think of. What’s made me feel like is a Christmas play and a flower arrangement.
The children from the local Primary School did three performances of their play, and the people of the village were invited to one of them, so I decided to go along. It was really good. Very well organised and performed. It had a Christian Christmas theme, although it wasn’t a nativity play. All sorts of things had been woven into it, including a version of X Factor! One of the acts was two young boys singing. They introduced themselves ‘I’m George, and he’s Henry, so we’re called Genry.’ I love it when topical popular things are included in something traditional, and of course they both sang a lot better than Jedward!!
Every year I’m invited to help decorate my local Church ready for Christmas. Lots of people help and we have a large flower arrangement on all the windowsills. I really enjoy doing them because I like doing things big and there’s lots of space I can use. I had some red baubles that I don’t use because I like to use purple, turquoise and silver on my Christmas Tree, so I decided to wire them and use them. I like the result. I think it’s worked well. The candles at the sides will be lit for the Christmas services..
So I’m definately feeling more like Christmas now, especially as I’ve had another couple of mince pies.
Tags: arrangement, Christmas, Church, flowers, play, Primary School, X Factor
Posted in interests, seasons | No Comments »
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
I’m still enjoying eating my home grown runner beans! I love going into the garden and picking them fresh to bring them in and cook them straight away. Now the clocks have changed and we’ve gone back to GMT, I have to remember to pick them early because it’s too dark by 5.00pm. It’s hard enough to find them in good light because they hide behind their leaves, so in the dark it’s impossible! I suppose that’s one advantage of having my hours cut. I can get home early, pick my beans and cook a proper meal instead of being too tired to cook and just snacking.
We’ve had such amazing weather during September and October, so warm and mild and sunny, that I expect it’s quite unusual for me to still be eating my own beans when it’s nearly November, but I don’t know as I haven’t grown them before. Does anyone else know?
There are still plenty of little beans on the plant needing a few days to mature so that I can eat them, so I expect it will a race betweem them and the frost. I would imagine that the first frost we have will turn the plant black and that will be the end of them for this year. I will definately grow them again. I’ve enjoyed it. It was fun watching them growing, and I love eating them. They’re so sweet and tender, so much better than the ones you can buy in the shops. Next year I’m going to expand my vegetable plot and try some broad beans as well. I’d like to try corn on the cob and courgettes too.
The photo shows the beans cooked and ready to eat. They’re sitting in a bowl of my favourite china, Sophie Conran for Portmeirion.
Tags: beans, British Summer Time, cook, dark, eat, frost, GMT, hours cut, mild, photo, Portmeirion, runner beans, Sophie Conran, sweet, tender
Posted in food, garden, home, interests, life, weather | 1 Comment »
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
My beloved Canon PowerShot A700 has died. I must have banged it when it was in my bag, or maybe it was when I had to do an emergency stop and the bag fell off the passenger seat onto the floor. However it happened, the screen has gone. I’m told that it’s more expensive to repair it than to buy a new camera.
I’m very upset because it’s been my constant companion for the last three and half years and has served me well. It’s not just a tool, but part of my creative process. I will really miss it. I’ve taken it everywhere with me because you never know when you’ll see something that you want to photograph.
People tell me that I should get a DSLR, but there’s no point in having a good camera sitting at home when I see something I want to take a photo of. I can’t not have a camera in my bag, so I decided I needed to buy another one. So let me introduce to you my new Canon Ixus 95IS. Yes I know it’s pink, but that was the only colour they had it in. But I do like it being pink! It’s my second favourite colour after all tones of purple.
I hate having a new camera. It doesn’t feel part of me, and I have to get used to it and learn how to use it. When you’re used to a camera you can take a shot quickly without having to think about it, but with a new one that’s different you have to work out how to do it, and if you take too long the photographic opportunity has gone! I hope it doesn’t take long for me to feel at home with this one. It feels very strange at the moment, and I’m really missing my PowerShot A700.
Tags: broken, camera, Canon Ixus 95IS, Canon PowerShot A700, new, photo, pink, screen, upset
Posted in interests, life, photography | 4 Comments »
Friday, July 31st, 2009
I love Morgans. They’re the type of car that makes you smile as you see one go past. I was lucky enough to have a ride in one once when a friend of mine asked her brother to take me out for a drive in his. That was fun. It was summer and the roof was down and everyone looked as we drove past! He worked for Morgan which is why he had one. I think everyone who works for them drives one, which is certainly good publicity for them.
There have been a lot of Morgans on the roads recently because of their 100th anniversary celebrations. Last week as I was travelling to visit someone, my journey took me past the Morgan factory and there were lots of them parked outside. To see one is fun and exciting, but to see so many of them all together was brilliant.
You can see more about their Centenary Festival here.
I took this photo of a Morgan a while ago in Tewkesbury, and you can see the lovely old buildings of that town reflected in the shiny bodywork. You can also see a bit of a reflection of me!
Click on the photo to see it bigger on my Flickr photostream.
Tags: 100 years, cars, Centenary, Morgan, photo
Posted in interests, news | No Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
It’s 40 years ago today that man first stepped onto another world. While Michael Collins orbited the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended the last 60 miles in the Lunar Excursion Module for the first Moon landing. The world watched and held it’s breath while Neil descended the ladder of the LEM. He paused to check how far the ladder had gone into the surface of the Moon which was only a couple of inches and not the several feet that one scientist had predicted.
Then he stepped down onto the surface of the Moon and uttered those now immortal words “That’s one small step for man….one giant leap for mankind.” Buzz Aldrin followed him as the second man to walk on the Moon, one of only 12 men to do so.
On the September 12th 1962 at Rice University, John F. Kennedy made what’s become known as his “We choose to go to the moon” speech.
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win……..
It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.”
This day 40 years ago on the 20th July 1969 that dream came true, and the world has never been the same since. This other world exploration gave people hope and let them feel that anything was possible. Over the years since then that hope seems to have melted away as the harsh realities of life and war and economics took hold.
But now there’s talk of new Moon landings. Space exploration hasn’t been forgotten. At this moment the International Space Station is orbitting the Earth with the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked to it. There are a record 13 astonauts above us. They are continuing to enlarge and build the space station where astronauts from different countries work together to experiment and push the boundaries of science.
This photo is my tribute to today’s historic events and is also on my Flickr photostream. I created it using a Vintage Lego Space Crater Moon Base Plate No. 305.
Tags: Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, Endeavour, first moonlanding, ISS, John F. Kennedy, ladder, LEM, Michael Collins, Moon, Neil Armstrong, one giant leap for mankind, photo, Space Crater Moon Base Plate No. 305., Space Shuttle, That's one small step for man, Vintage Lego, We choose to go to the Moon
Posted in interests, news, world | 2 Comments »
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
This evening when I went out to watch the International Space Station go over, it wasn’t dark yet. The sky looked blue. It didn’t look as if it was cloudly but I couldn’t see any stars so I wasn’t quite sure. Then a few stars started to pop out, so I knew it would be good visibility.
Right on cue over the tree at the end of the road came the ISS with the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked to it. It was coming from the West which is my favourite trajectory because it goes right overhead as I stand in my front garden and travels parallel with the road I live in. It was lovely and bright and as it was clear I could see it for the whole of the pass. It always amazes when I see it to know that it is over 200 miles high.
I’d like to imagine that it looked different and bigger with the Shuttle docked to it, but it really didn’t look any different from usual. It was exciting watching it knowing that, although I may never go to the USA and see the Space Shuttle, it had come to me, right along my road and that there were 13 astronauts gliding above me – a new record set by this mission.
Exactly 40 years ago Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had just enterd the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) ready for their Moon landing the following day.
Tags: Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, clear skies, Endeavour, International Space Station, ISS, LEM, Neil Armstrong, Space Shuttle, stars, trajectory, visible pass
Posted in interests, night sky | No Comments »
