A FEW RAMBLES, A FEW PHOTOGRAPHS, IN ORDER AS THINGS HAPPEN

I had fun putting this together using a brick wall template in one of my iPad apps, "Pip", in a collage collection, finishing off in Paint Shop Pro which is on my laptop.  I used some of my favorite photos taken from various get togethers with son and daughter-in-law this year so far.

My laptop seems to be working okay now.  Still scratching my head on that one.  For a while there I thought I would have to be getting rid of it.  The shaking that I got on the screen has mysteriously gone away.  Am I being lulled into a false sense of security?  Maybe but I'll take it.  Still backing up everything regularly and wondering how long this will last.  

We took a friend to the airport last Tuesday.  She is spending time with family.  We had a couple of hours to enjoy a cup of tea and a chat at home, then we headed out to the airport.  We were there in the afternoon where normally the place would be hopping, but it was relatively quiet.  A good day to travel apparently.  After we saw her through the security gate we made our way home, stopping for lunch at our favorite noodle shop.  That was our main meal for the day and there was no cooking dinner that night.  Yes I take pictures of fire hydrants!

We will be getting back into the garage to do more throwing out and more tidying up, and more finding of family treasures no doubt.  The exciting part of one day, and yes I jest and yet we still enjoyed the experience, was a trip to the local refuse collection center.  We filled up the boot of the car with no longer useable items.  First you have to stop off at the kiosk at the entrance, and asked the friendly lady where we should deposit each item we had.  

We had cleaned out a box where a few cans of old paint had been held, and we wanted to dispose of them responsibly. Directed to a special area, the young man who helped Gregg told him when asked, what happened to the paint.  The young man said that if the leftover paint was less than ten years old, they gave it to Habitat for Humanity, but that our cans dated back to 2004 so that wouldn't happen.  At Gregg's surprised expression he immediately laughed, and he realized he was joking. We were happy to hear that our old left-over paint would be going to a good cause.  We also drop things off at Goodwill if what we have is in decent shape, but if they don't want it, off to the dump we go.

We also dropped things off at the recycling area, and are attempting to do our small part of keeping as much plastic out of our daily life as possible, even when it comes to going to the grocery store.  We won't use the supermarket's plastic bags for produce any more, and have bought something like these reusable produce bags.  We are slowly seeing places banning plastic bags but at Trader Joes recently, we were told that theirs are made of a biodegradable material.  Thought that was very interesting.  We still, however, will keep using our reusable produce bags, if nothing else than to keep our own trash down as much as we can.  

The refuse center is impressively organized, and that was our exciting excursion for that day, and yes I take photos of everything! (We do get trash pick up at home by the way, four pick-ups a week on various days, two for trash, one for recycling and one for yard waste; grass cuttings, trimming of branches, etc.  We can also make a phone call if we have anything larger to get rid of, but anything that we can fit into the boot of the car that won't mess the car up, we actually take it to the dump.  As I said, exciting, or as our son sometimes like to tease us and says with a chuckle, retired folks!) 

We had a Facetime chat today with our niece and nephew over the pond.  Always love seeing their smiling faces and it was good to catch up.  I told my niece as I was talking I noticed a chipmunk on the deck.  She asked me to send photos which I had taken before our call, so these were the ones I sent to her.  Two are a bit blurry because I took them through the screen on the back door, one was taken through the glass.  In one photo he is drinking out of the water bowl, but can you see how that little greedy-guts is gobbling up the seed and stuffing his cheeks?  Storing it all up for next winter no doubt!

Gregg spent a few hours with our son later.  I would have gone but felt a bit grotty, so did not want to put a damper on things.  I enjoyed hearing all about it when Gregg and I had a chat afterwards.

After a couple of heavy rain-filled, chilly days (and back to sweaters and coats), the sun is out and we will be experiencing comfortable temperatures again.  Maybe we will get out for a ride in the countryside.

Whatever you are doing enjoy, and thanks for reading this rather long ramble.