I totally agree about the paperless office - whatever happened to that?
Governments, legal people, regulated industries and various other bodies have been slow to accept the equivalent relevance/acceptability/security/physical permanance of a digitally signed/approved or emailed document which would usually be signed/faxed/posted and stored somewhere physical.
speaking as someone who
a) used to work for a company heavily involved in paperless office technology, you know, Portable Document Formats, and all that
b) now works in the heavily regulated and Jurassic-technology-dominated pharma industry
My Missus has Psoriatic Arthritis with flare ups, so I know what you're going through. Do you think it may have been brought on by anxiety about the new pup? - even though you are so experienced.
Oh Piglet! Prayers for you and the ivory tickling D. He will have been prescribed something to deaden the pain, for you I think the prescription is a fine malt - Talisker? Or would the Orcadian prefer something from Gordon & MacPhail?
Welcome, Echo! You have a wonderful life ahead of you!
While visiting our Vet this past week I read Rescue and Jessica, which was in the waiting room. I thought of you, Boogie, and the many dogs you have helped along this path. (And I must admit, my eyes got a bit moist reading this book and the true story behind it.)
I think you mean Scapa, but that might have been autocorrect! To my eternal shame, I'm not a whisky drinker, despite having grown up within sniffing distance of both Scapa and HP. My spirit of choice is GIN, of which a most excellent example is produced in Deerness, a few miles from Kirkwall, and where my late b-i-l came from.
Thank you for all the good wishes for D; he's still heavily sedated in Intensive Care, but I think they're reasonably pleased so far: the second surgery seems to have achieved what they hoped for.
Still very early days though - he's got a long way to go.
Thanks, R of S. As most of you know, I've had a rather traumatic few days, but hope to be back manning the teapot and talking about the weather very soon.
Dear Piglet... it's so lovely to see you here on the threads and I hope being here is a comfort to you. Be kind to yourself and take a break if you need to. You'll be shocked and traumatised and emotional and things will be busy too. Our hearts are broken for you.
Piglet - I don't normally visit Hell, but have just read your posts on the C thread. So very sorry.
Praying now for you, for comfort and strength as you try to process the whirlwind you have been in for the last fortnight.
D is now in the arms of Jesus, and don't forget that those arms will also be around you in the coming weeks and months.
Having been more-or-less off ship for a little while I was just catching up and have only just read about D. {{Piglet}}, I am so sorry. I'll be lighting a candle for you both tomorrow at church.
Still deciding what to play for our Michaelmas Patronal Festival Voluntary (yes, I do know I should plan these things better - but I mostly tend to easier but effective music in term time saving showier pieces for the times when I can do more practise) but, whichever it ends up being, it will be in honour of D, Piglet.
A friend who's the organist of a local United church but is really a pianist (and does most of her church music on the piano) posted on FB this morning that although she doesn't count herself an organist, she'd be trying to be one today by playing Faure's Pavane on the organ, in D's honour.
My eyes started leaking when I read that.
I didn't go to church today; too many "triggers". I did, however, have a phone call from a former curate in St. John's who said that his current church (where we went when we left the Cathedral there) would like to have a Requiem for D., and would pay my fare to go over for it! My ghast is flabbered.
I've had a busy-ish day today: an old gentleman who used to come to D's organ recitals came and took away 12 bankers' boxes* of organ magazines and periodicals which are of no use to me, and I gave a telephone interview to the local paper, who wanted to do an obituary. I also heard that BBC Radio Orkney had done a very nice tribute.
* I can now assemble a bankers' box in under a minute; should I put that on my CV?
We're having glorious autumn weather and the trees are looking wonderful: why did D. have to miss that?
Piglet, you are doing well to be engaging here and getting tasks accomplished and admiring the beautiful day. Moping is to be expected. Turn your face to that beautiful sunshine and enjoy it. We had the same day here and it was glorious. Spent the afternoon at the beach with my dog - she played and I read my book.
Moping is perfectly acceptable, Piglet. I've just had to google bankers boxes and realised I knew exactly what they were, just never heard them called that before.
I've just finished charging the camera to get pictures of the autumn leaves and possible glorious sunrises and sunsets. For some reason, we get pretty spectacular ones of those where I live. I think it's possibly this bit of the West Midlands conurbation is slightly higher than most of the surrounding area and there's also a large body of water which can add to the gloriousness of the sunsets. Even the somewhat limited in vocabulary youth on the bus the other night did a "Wow, look at that sunset." as they were getting off to go to the notorious hostelry at the top of the hill on my way home and did I have a charged up camera on me to capture one of the most spectacular ones I've ever seen? I did not.
Japes, I can never get even a half-decent photo of a sunset, even with my nice little camera (a Sony). For some reason all the colour seems to get bleached out of them - is there a magic trick I can use, please?
Mrs. S, frustrated
PS @Piglet I can't tell you how lovely it is to see you on these boards.
Your camera works on the basis that you want an even daytime-ish level of light in your photos. You may need to get it to under expose when you’re wanting to capture a sunrise or sunset.
If it were me, I’d let the camera do it’s usual thing For one photo, and then use the backlight adjustment to take two or three more photos at different levels of under exposure.
Some cameras have a specific setting which you can choose for sunrises and sunsets which might be worth a try.
There are probably other tricks that really experienced photographers use.
Dreary weather here too, which suits my mood. I took my eldest away to start university at the weekend, with the anxiety that entails. I am resisting the urge to message him as he needs his freedom.
My new studies start next weekend with a two day residential so today I am writing a ‘needs analysis’ for that. So the day is unlikely to get any cheerier!
When my son is away, he goes with the dictum "A message a day keeps the mother happay!" Doesn't have to be a long message - just so I know he is alive!! When he goes to uni (if he does) next year, I will relax the rule,,,, My daughter no longer has that rule and it has recently dawned on her that she is only in touch when she is needing something - money or advice or sympathy. So when I don't hear from her I know all is well.
Re cameras: I have a little Sony point-and-click which has a menu of shooting modes - including Sunset. AFAICS this just means a pink filter. I end up doing a certain amount of post-production in Photoshop to get the image to what it was 'really' like.
It occurs to me that I have had this camera for maybe 15 years or more. I do notice that my iPad - even my phone - gives better results. But I'm reluctant to get another while it still works.
Comments
speaking as someone who
a) used to work for a company heavily involved in paperless office technology, you know, Portable Document Formats, and all that
b) now works in the heavily regulated and Jurassic-technology-dominated pharma industry
I'll see meself out (but I hope you have a better day tomorrow!)
This was for Boogie, but I didn't notice that there was another page...
Ah well.
Episcopal Blessings, nevertheless, are hereby aimed at @Boogie (and Echo), and also at @Piglet, and D.
While visiting our Vet this past week I read Rescue and Jessica , which was in the waiting room. I thought of you, Boogie, and the many dogs you have helped along this path. (And I must admit, my eyes got a bit moist reading this book and the true story behind it.)
Thank you for all the good wishes for D; he's still heavily sedated in Intensive Care, but I think they're reasonably pleased so far: the second surgery seems to have achieved what they hoped for.
Still very early days though - he's got a long way to go.
Praying now for you, for comfort and strength as you try to process the whirlwind you have been in for the last fortnight.
D is now in the arms of Jesus, and don't forget that those arms will also be around you in the coming weeks and months.
I can’t imagine your pain, do be kind to yourself.
A friend who's the organist of a local United church but is really a pianist (and does most of her church music on the piano) posted on FB this morning that although she doesn't count herself an organist, she'd be trying to be one today by playing Faure's Pavane on the organ, in D's honour.
My eyes started leaking when I read that.
I didn't go to church today; too many "triggers". I did, however, have a phone call from a former curate in St. John's who said that his current church (where we went when we left the Cathedral there) would like to have a Requiem for D., and would pay my fare to go over for it! My ghast is flabbered.
* I can now assemble a bankers' box in under a minute; should I put that on my CV?
We're having glorious autumn weather and the trees are looking wonderful: why did D. have to miss that?
Sorry - that was a mope.
I've just finished charging the camera to get pictures of the autumn leaves and possible glorious sunrises and sunsets. For some reason, we get pretty spectacular ones of those where I live. I think it's possibly this bit of the West Midlands conurbation is slightly higher than most of the surrounding area and there's also a large body of water which can add to the gloriousness of the sunsets. Even the somewhat limited in vocabulary youth on the bus the other night did a "Wow, look at that sunset." as they were getting off to go to the notorious hostelry at the top of the hill on my way home and did I have a charged up camera on me to capture one of the most spectacular ones I've ever seen? I did not.
Mrs. S, frustrated
PS @Piglet I can't tell you how lovely it is to see you on these boards.
If it were me, I’d let the camera do it’s usual thing For one photo, and then use the backlight adjustment to take two or three more photos at different levels of under exposure.
Some cameras have a specific setting which you can choose for sunrises and sunsets which might be worth a try.
There are probably other tricks that really experienced photographers use.
(Actually that's a bit unfair as I did see a bit of the sunrise yesterday. But you know the dictum, "Red sky in the morning ...", and so it proved).
That said, it's raining in gai Paris as well.
My new studies start next weekend with a two day residential so today I am writing a ‘needs analysis’ for that. So the day is unlikely to get any cheerier!
The anxiety is familiar to me too, and IME so far it doesn’t diminish for a subsequent child.
It occurs to me that I have had this camera for maybe 15 years or more. I do notice that my iPad - even my phone - gives better results. But I'm reluctant to get another while it still works.
I’m not complaining - Echo is a super little chap and great fun.
Here he is playing with his teddies.