Aaaaargh! Computers.

Computers: love them most of the time. Hate them when they go wrong.

Decided that today was the day when I would finally stop procrastinating and do some of the things I have been promising myself I would do for the past couple of days (or weeks, or probably several months if I am honest). Got off to a good start - sat at computer, made coffee, walked the dog, sat at computer again, made lunch, put on a washing, sat at computer and imagined glue holding me to seat, typed letter & managed to add attachments to email (without resorting to consultation with children, which with most things computerly is quite an achievement for me. I probably still did it vastly more slowly than they would have done. Ho hum ...) and pressed send. Yippee job done.

Then, the email bounced back - notification of failure to deliver. What?!!! Was the web postie on his tea break? Turns out my server has probably been blacklisted by the recipient (whatever that means). Resorted to normal behaviour of my generation and sent it again and then again - a bit like shouting louder at the foreign waiter in the deluded belief that he will then understand - it bounced back again and then again, somewhat inevitably perhaps.

Luckily, I have two email addresses and apparently the second is not blacklisted yet, so posted email to myself and then forwarded it on to desired destination. Felt very clever about that. Especially when it didn't bounce back. Little bit worried now that it might have got lost somewhere in the flickering ether of the web; not very confident about the web postie's ability to find the right address really. Guess I won't know for sure until I get a reply ...

Comments

Colour, Delacroix, flochetage and why don't we all have a go at inventing words

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My beloved boy, how lucky I have been

It's an odd thing that when we are waiting for someone to die ... and I say someone here even though the one in question was a dog - but to us he had character and a place forever in our hearts and was more of a familiar someone than some of the people in our lives. So, I'll start again - it's an odd thing that when we are waiting for someone to die, our senses go into overdrive. We notice things that normally would be part of the background of our every day. We breathe more - or rather, we don't but what we do is notice our breathing more, as we watch his. We pause. We think. We listen to ourselves and our inner voices speak. Memories flood our dreams ... though sleep is fitful. Why am I telling you this? ... ... we lost this beautiful boy today And in the hours before he went, I saw perfect spheres of dew on blades of grass - little orbs holding micro-images of our world; a bumble bee drunk on nectar, yellow-dusted with pollen, resting in a crocus; ten - yes, ten! ...

Walking, wondering and not walking at all

We all walk. I walk every day. I also lie. I don't walk every day, as in I don't take the dogs for a walk every day. Poor boys, in this season of tax returns and desperate seeking of extra work and working to pay the tax bill, they are the losers. Four-legged-friend was looking distinctly skinny in his hind legs, when I brushed his coat while he wolfed down his supper this evening (he tries to eat the brush if I take it near him at any other time, so meal times have become grooming times). Oddly, I lose out on the walking too, but this fails to have the same effect on my 'skinniness'... Anyway, we all walk. We walked on Christmas day - Littlest and I walked at the weekend - Slowly. Time to appreciate the trees. Time to encourage the smelly boys into the freezing water. Time for the sun to go down. Time to walk very, very slowly - Littlest's finger phone was engaged throughout in deep discussion with the zoo warden - da...

Walking The Dog

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