Digital Books, Not My Thing!

Some people seem to think that books printed on paper will disappear.  I sure hope not.

I'm currently reading my third book in digital format and I can't say that I like the experience.  Other than the fact that I can read in low light, without using additional electricity, I don't see much of an advantage.  In fact, it seems that just as I get to an exciting part, I have to plug the darn thing in and recharge it.  Or often, the unit is recharging at the end of the day, when I'd like to settle down and read for a while.  Not convenient.  I'd like to pick up my book whenever I like, not just when it has enough juice to accommodate me.

I find I really have to pay attention to what chapter I'm on, because a finger can slip and cause the pages to scroll by.  One time I ended up at the end of the book, when really I wasn't even halfway through it. Since page numbers don't automatically show up on the page, it was hard to find my way back to where I was. I quickly learned to make some mental note of at least what chapter I an reading.

Then today I got a scare.  I'm reading "George, a Gentleman of the Road" by P.A. Davies.  This is a talented British writer that I actually met on Facebook.  He offered me to send me one of his digital books, totally free of charge.  I even got to choose which one.  When I had trouble opening the file he sent me, he pointed out when Amazon was offering the book for free about a month later. I got it then.  I have been thoroughly enjoying it, but I thought I lost it today. 

 

I have a tablet that has a few different apps for books on it, including Kindle. Every time I have opened Kindle lately, it has told me that I have an unauthorized book in there, and asked if I want to delete it.  I have several books in there and this notification was not telling me which of them I was about to lose, so no, I did not want to delete it.  Some of them I paid for, and the free ones would no longer be free.  I seemed to be able to continue reading the one I was in the middle of, with no problem, so I continued to dismiss this notice.  Until today.  I got distracted and hit the wrong button. The book that disappeared was the one I was reading. I groaned so loud you could hear me all over the house!  I'm well into this book.  In fact, I've read 82% now, and as much as I'm enjoying it, I wouldn't want to have to buy the book with so little left to read. 

I went to Amazon, and saw it offered for a price, so I started to wonder if I could get it through inter library loan. I doubted our local library would have it.  I checked my Amazon account and it just showed that I had been looking at the book recently, but it did not show up amoung my orders.  I just happened across a spot where Amazon had a button that said "Manage Your Kindle"   so I clicked on that.  There it was, George, listed among my other Kindle books.  I clicked on that and it had an option to send it to my device, so I chose that. I was able to breath a major sigh of relief when the book showed up on my tablet again, among my collection.  I can finish reading it now, and I'm very grateful for that. I had just reached a part of the story where there was a major turn of events, and I wanted to know what would happen next.  Now I can go find out. 

Apparently Amazon keeps a record of every book you buy in case you need to re-download them for any reason. If you delete or lose a book, or purchase a new Kindle, you can simply connect to Amazon's servers and begin rebuilding your library.  I won't panic next time this happens.  But I still hope there will never be a next time. 

I've taken the tablet outdoors on a nice summer day, thinking I could relax and read for a while.  I had to come back in as I couldn't see the screen in all that sunlight.  Maybe real e-readers can handle that.  I don't know.  I just know my tablet cannot, and I certainly have not been convinced to give up my paper books for one of those yet.

Though I have been using a computer since the days of the Commodore 64, I find I am strangely not ready to turn to technology when it comes to reading.  In fact, when faced with a page full of text on my computer, I generally turn on Read Please, and sit and listen while the page is read to me. My eyes don't seem to like to track all those words across a screen.  Reading a book on the tablet is at least better than that.

I have a pile of old fashioned non-digital books waiting for me, and I'll happily turn to them when I simply want to read and relax in the future.

As for the rest of you, if you haven't read George, A Gentleman of the Road, I urge you to seek it out. It's a heartwarming and often amusing story I'm sure you will enjoy. It's also available in paperback.
As for myself, now I'll be looking for a copy of Letterbox and The Good in Mister Philips by the same author. Paul, P.A Davies has a new fan.







 

Summer Weekends

My favorite thing about summer is that there are so many places to go and things to do, and most of it is free.

This weekend we were out looking for another art show but stopped to explore the Stewart Park Festival in Perth.  There were two stages with musical performances going on at the same time, plus other assorted things to amuse young and old alike. 

The weather was fantastic, so families were also enjoying the stream that runs through the park.  We never did find the art show we were looking for, but we've already been to a couple this summer, so we'll try for that one again next year.

Then, of course, there are the farmer's markets. Kemptville has eliminated the competition by holding theirs on Sunday afternoons, instead of using the usual Saturday morning time slot.  One of the great things about that is that our favorite vendor is now available much closer to home. I'm sure we will both gain some weight by the end of the summer because Frank's Buttermilk Pie is entirely too good to resist!  It is available with or without various berries in it, and only costs $8.50 per pie.  You won't get a better deal for anything so delicious anywhere else. I guarantee it.

Today we brought home some scones from another vendor, as we can eat them in one sitting, and not be tempted to get carried away.  I do need to fit into that new bathing suit, you know.  Scrummy Scones have some interesting varieties, and are available for taste testing first, as are Grammie's Jams.  Actually they go very well together. 

Now that I've had a perfect weekend, my garden can stand a bit of rain. I'm so glad it didn't come in time to spoil our fun.

My Favorite Department Store is Headed for Disaster!

Who ever is running Sears these days isn't doing it any favours.

For at least 45 years, every time I needed an appliance, big or small, I bought it from Sears. Even all our outdoor equipment also came from there, as did much of our furnishings.  There were two reasons for that. They used to deliver for free, and they always stood behind what they sold. There was even a guarantee that if a part became unavailable within 10 years for any appliance that broke down within that time, they would replace that appliance for free.

I had one of the early microwaves that used to have a rubber seal around the door.  The seal developed a crack, and while I expected them to repair the door on the microwave by replacing the seal, they replaced the whole door instead.  The following year it became necessary to do that again, and they did. By the time it happened again, they were no longer making microwaves with rubber seals on the door, so they couldn't find us a new door. Then they called back and said they had found one. My hubby asked what they were going to do the next time, and when they realized this was an ongoing problem, they replace the entire microwave, with a new, more modern model. No hassle and no charge. 

The company has stopped delivering for free, and I have stopped ordering things from the catalog. I don't want to pay shipping charges for the privilege of trying something on. It may not fit, so I usually decide to wait until I get to the store.  Of course, if I do get to the malls where the stores are, there is a lot of competition for my money, and I'm likely to buy something someplace else.  They lost a frequent customer for their mail order business when they eliminated the free shipping.

And now, they have closed their service department, so if I need something fixed, where do I go?  Actually, they will eventually have authorized repair people scattered about the country, but if something needs a part right now, things get a little difficult.  If you ask them about the warrantee these days, for a new appliance you may be interested in, you get a lot of hemming and hawing. It would have been good if Sears had managed to establish where and how things would be repaired before eliminating the existing service department.

Recently our lawn mower decided not to start.  Luckily I have a husband who is mechanically inclined, so he took it apart and was able to determine what it needed. Then he set out to find it.  Well, it would have been easy if the repair depots were still in operation, but now you have to go to a Sears store, where the clerks are not repair people.  If you know what part you need, you have to order it, as they don't stock anything in the store.  If you don't know what you need, you are going to be in trouble. 

As it is, hubby was able to order the part he needed.  He was told it would come by mail and that he would get an e-mail with a tracking number so that he could see where it was on route to us.  He never got the e-mail so after a couple of days he tried to phone.  The line was busy all day long.  He eventually got someone who said the part had been shipped and was on it's way to Toronto.  I don't know where it was coming from, but we still had no e-mail to follow it's path.  The week went by and it wasn't here, so hubby phoned again, and was told it was on back order until the end of the month.  How can that be, if it was supposedly shipped earlier in the week?  Of course the number you call these days is just a call centre someplace, and not Sears at all.  The information you get depends entirely on who answers the phone at the other end, and how interested they are in their job.

Our grass could not wait a month to be mowed. We would have a hayfield by then. My clever hubby got online and searched out a cross reference chart to find out what the manufacturer's part number would be. That's right. Sears gives everything their own part numbers just so you will have to go through them to get things fixed.  He found the chart and got the number and bought the needed part from a local repair shop.....not even one that would be listed as a Sears repair depot when the time comes.  The lawnmower was then fixed and the lawn was mowed.

The next trick was to cancel the part ordered though Sears.  Apparently that could not be done over the phone for some reason. So, on Sunday, when we were in the vicinity of the Sears store where the order was placed, hubby tried to get them to cancel the order.  They said they couldn't do that.  They seemed to think it was necessary to hand over the ordered part, even if it took a month to get here, in order to credit the account.   Personally I would not expect the account to be charged until the order was shipped.

Today is Tuesday, and the part has just arrived.  It didn't come by mail after all. It came by UPS, and the packaging is not in very good shape. Just a thought, but why didn't they just send it with other Sears orders to the local pick up spot, instead of shipping it separately?

I don't know if there is a difference in price between what Sears charged, and what it cost us to get the part elsewhere, but gas to get to the city store doesn't come cheap these days and it took two trips so far, with another one lined up to return the part that we were told was back ordered.

It used to be so simple to get something fixed if you bought it from Sears.  Now, apparently it's not. 

Sears, get your act together.  Bring back the service department, and do it fast.  Oh, and I'd still appreciate free delivery too, but I guess that's out of the question.

 

The Unfinished Work

I recently saw a picture of a lovely vase online that really got me thinking.  It had graceful lines but the potter had taken it a step further and made marks in the clay to enhance it.  I took a pottery course way back, and looking at that picture I couldn't help thinking that I would have been afraid to wreck such a perfect piece by intentionally making marks on it.  Why take the chance of ruining something that has worked out so well? Yet, those marks were exactly what made the vase special.

I've been told, on several occasions, that I'm brave to attempt some of the things I do, whether it be by writing for publication or simply trying to paint something I've never tried before.  There always seems to come a point when I stop fiddling with what I'm working on. I become afraid that I will destroy what I have already created. That's when I usually decide something is finished and move on to something else.

I do, however, have a painting underway that I put aside and have not worked on for more than a year. I liked how it was going, but felt it needed something in the lower right hand corner. I don't know what that something is, as there is nothing there in the photo I took. I just know it will not be finished until I do something with that corner.  I have been afraid I will ruin what I've done so far by adding the wrong thing.  I have never stepped away from a painting this long before. At this point, I'm even afraid my style will be so different after all this time that whatever I do add will be entirely too noticeable.

I like what I've done so far.  Instead of adding something that doesn't exist, maybe I just need to make some marks.  Soon.

Christmas in the June Heat

As the heat shimmers off the pavement, and people are all finally happily wearing shorts and sandals, my hubby got to use his Christmas present for the first time.

I had found it difficult trying to find a present for him this past Christmas as he had more clothes than ever, and didn't need anything else either. Men aren't like women as they prefer things that are useful.  Women, on the other hand, are happy to receive nice things they would never buy for themselves.  And, as men do, he tends to buy what he needs or wants, when the thought occurs, even if it is just a couple of weeks before Christmas. That makes things even more difficult.

Then, online I discovered I could order packages of tickets to the theatre at the Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque well before they went on sale individually to the general public.  I remembered that he had mentioned we should go to a play several times over the past year or two. We used to go fairly often, but had not been for a while.  I thought this would be a great gift for him.

I discovered that instead of season's tickets there was also a package called the Flex 6 that sounded perfect.  I could buy these six tickets, and he could apply them to any play he chose at either of the two theaters, using as many as he cared to for any performance.  And, since I was buying them early, they would throw in an extra ticket.  He could use that to take his sister, or another family member or friend of his choice along with us. Or, as he chose to do, we could simply purchase another ticket after Christmas to pair with that one, and we would see four plays this coming year. He wisely decided to pick matinee performances so we could also enjoy Gananoque while we're in the area for the day. The bonus being that we don't have that long drive home late at night.

It seemed like a great gift, but thinking about it now, I realized that he never actually got anything until this past weekend.  After Christmas, he chose the four plays from the seven choices in the brochure I wrapped up, and picked the dates. By chance, the choices were all at the Springer Theatre anyway.  This weekend was the first time he ever got to see any of them.  We went to a musical romantic comedy called She Loves Me about two coworkers in a 1930's parfumerie who don't get along with one another. They each are secretly writing letters to a lonely hearts penpal they had never met. You can guess the rest.  It was a lively, fun loving show, with a lot of exaggerated but hysterical acting.  A few of the characters will be remembered forever in my mind, even though they were not the stars of the show.

Though I found myself recently feeling sorry for my hubby not actually getting the benefit of his Christmas present until six months later, I must say, I certainly can't complain about my choice.  Every time he gets to use this gift, I get to go along, not only to the play, but also to enjoy a meal out.  We had a lovely day and are already looking forward to the next outing.