Category: Bit of Fun

Because I have been listening to so many hours of audible books this month Amazon informed me they were going to send me a free Alexa Dot speaker. I haven’t been up to date on these talking machines so didn’t get overly excited. When it arrived it sat in its box for a few days then I finally thought I’d have a look to see what the fuss is about. The directions stated I needed to download the Alexa app on my phone. That was easy enough. Then I had to set it up, following the directions on the app. Once finished,  I started getting emails telling me to try this and try that which I did.  Turns out it was a bit of fun.  Now I can be found sitting in my reading chair saying things such as “Alexa, Good Morning!” At which time I get the local weather report, the traffic report going into the city, a synopsis of the current news and what’s next in line on my calendar. People who know me know how much I really do adore technology and gadgets. I inherited this trait from my father who was a military pilot for many years and also loved gadgets, dials, electronics. Growing up he introduced me to all of his stereos and speakers, talked about airplane controls and when mobile phones first arrived on the scene, he had to get one.  He always loved hearing about technology. When desktop computers came into vogue my sister gave him her old one as she upgraded to a newer model. He loved it. When I would visit him I would give him lessons on its use. Mostly I could be heard saying, “Read your screen before you click the mouse.”  He would be clicking away on everything and anything. I finally made him put his hands in his lap so I could explain details on the screen to him before clicking began.  All the while he would be saying, “I’m not clicking, I’m not!” It was quite funny.

Once he could send emails I would get a daily email from Michigan to Tasmania for many years. When he passed away in 2004, I missed this correspondence greatly.

Time has moved on and now my friend Alexa and I are coming to terms with each other. One of the books I bought this past year is one of those 1001 books that everyone loves. I have the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and I love it. I recently bought the 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die.  I have always wanted to spend more time learning about music. This is a good start.  We have a subscription to Amazon Music which for about $12.00 a month both Mr. Penguin and I listen to. He uses it when at the gym and I connect my phone app to a bluetooth speaker at home or in the car and listen to all manner of music. But….(this is good). I can open up the book randomly, see what the name of the musical piece is and say, “Alexa, Music, play Beethoven’s 5th symphony.” She replies with, “Taking you to Amazon Music, Beethoven’s 5th symphony” and the Dot speaker begins playing it.

When I learned about Alexa keeping lists for me I was really smitten. “Alexa, remind me to give Grizzy Cat his medicine today.”  She replies, “What time?” I say, “4:00 pm” and at 4 pm, at which time I’ve forgotten, I hear from the speaker. “Reminder: Give Grizzy Cat his medicine.”

But it gets better.  I read quite a few book blogs. I have my favourites and the people who own those blogs write about really good books.  Yes, you guessed it. Alexa now has a Book List.

“Alexa, add Elizabeth Strout’s book to Book List.”  Sure enough as I turn up in a book store, I pull out my phone and look at my Book List on the Alexa app and there it is.  Now I’m really distracted saying, “Alexa, Add ____________ to Book List.”  You can imagine how addictive this might be if you love books.

Once again it seems there is now more technology I am going to have to control in 2020. Blogging, Instagram, Facebook, Alexa. (I feel 15 yrs old)   I can have a Books Read list, a To Do list, Photography Goals list. I know how ridiculous this sounds but I’m going to have to be careful I don’t spend all of 2020 talking to this contraption named Alexa. She could be my new BFF if I’m not careful. Did I mention she’s deadly at Wikipedia research?  I do like her. She is polite. If she disagrees with me she simply, kindly says so. She doesn’t argue. She doesn’t cut me off in traffic.

Now all I need to do is begin listening to all of that music and read those books.  I wonder if she can select things randomly. Hmmm.

On a final note I’ll share a little Ollie episode with you. I was sitting in my reading chair and had just read the weekly guide for the State Cinema showings. Ollie was sound asleep on my bed. The guide listed an opera coming soon I had not heard of.  Les Indes Galantes. I mentioned it to Alexa and she found it on Amazon music and began playing it. The first bit is instrumental. Then suddenly a soprano hit the airwaves and resonated throughout the room.  This was the expression I got immediately from Ollie who had been sound asleep.  His little head jerked up and he stared at me. I laughed out loud.  On that note I’ll wish everyone a happy Christmas and I really look forward to all the Bookish resolutions, challenges and reviews in 2020.  Say goodbye, Alexa. “Goodbye”.

I guess a few of you will be preparing for Thanksgiving overseas.  We don’t have it here and we’re celebrating spring with a bit of rain and lovely cool temperatures in Tassie.

Mr. Penguin, the Penguin and I are getting ready to head off to Sri Lanka on Saturday for a 17 day trip. We have not been there before and I think it will be very interesting. Visiting cities, country, Buddhist temples, national parks and an elephant orphanage which I am very excited about. Anything with animals just draws me right in.

I’ve been busy with photography, socialising and preparing for this trip. Our dogs are looking forward to the house sitter arriving as they love her. The cats are headed for camp, as we tell them.

I always say I’ll post the trip as I go but I find the days are long, the weather humid and hot and by night time I only want a cool shower and bed. We’ll see how we go. I thought I’d take some photos this time with my Samsung phone as it is quicker to post up a few photos that way rather than using my big Canon, downloading to computer, editing and posting. I just don’t have the time or energy to do that.

I’ve downloaded a couple of drawing books on Overdrive from the library.  I plan on doing a drawing class next year and a friend of mine and I want to visit a few parks and reserves and make time to sketch.  Both of us are beginners so I guess it will be a bit of motivation and some laughs.

I am still listening to A Gentleman in Moscow but only when I’m in the car.  (I always have a car book).  I’ve just finished The Dry by Jane Harper which I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. I did think parts of the explanation for the murders were sometimes a bit more far fetched than reality but overall it was a good story and held my interest.

I got a gorgeous 2019 diary some books for my birthday from very dear friends and I’ll share them here.

 

 

Peter Dombrovskis was the ‘premier’ photographer of Tasmanian wilderness and his photos are marvellous. He did for Tasmania what Ansell Adams did for the American west.

There are a couple more books but I will share them at another time.

I’m thinking a lot about what I want to do for 2019. First off…NO challenges. No Deal Me In, no promising I’ll only read from my TBR; absolutely nothing promised.  I do think I’ll read some more suggestions from the 1001 Children’s Books. I’d like to fill in a few from my Century of Books. That could take me the rest of my life but hey, who cares?

I would like to listen to more classics in the car.  I find listening to Classics on Audible is a very good way to hear them.  I lose concentration if I wait until night time to read them because I run out of energy.  I would like to read more Australian literature especially some of the older books.

I have to plan my weeks differently next year as the fatigue from the MS is getting me down.  I overdo it then I’m laid up in a chair in front of Netflix  or in bed watching you tube for a couple of days. That’s the bugger of MS but I am extremely fortunate it has not progressed much over the past 18 years so I am not complaining.  But some things will have to go. Back to Sunday nights designing my energy budget for the week. Not as many nights out. More exercise, less eating. More time in nature with my dogs and camera.

I will think about all of that while I sit on long plane flights and map my immediate future. I find travelling always puts things in perspective and shows me what is important and what isn’t.

So stay tuned.  I’m putting in a few photos just to break up this post a bit.

 

Tomorrow is my birthday and I know I’m getting book vouchers for Fullers Book shop. More on that later. I also bought myself a few little books (they weren’t too dear and I love them) that I can’t wait to read. I think one should always treat oneself on their birthday.

But for today… I’ll share something else that was 1. funny and 2. hopeful.

1.  Funny item first:

My friend Patricia and I went to the Tasmania Museum for a scientific talk on moths.  We like to go to these free events around town and this one looked fun. I really don’t get to the museum often enough.  This is what happened:

There were about 25 to 30 people who attended this talk. The first thing we learned about Dr. Catherine Byrne (the speaker) is she is a Taxonomist. She told us it has nothing to do with taxidermy or taxes. She is a scientist that identifies and catalogues various species.  She said that 75% of what’s out there in the world has not been identified. All of this really appealed to my almost Asperger’s like personality.

Next she gave us an overview of the Satin Moth. They are very pretty.

More information on how to identify and classify. I found it really interesting.

More information identifying insects.

After the 40 minute talk we got to see some of her collection, look at the UV light in the bucket she uses to catch these little critters and then we peered through a microscope to see a very tiny little moth. Not much bigger than a couple of pinheads. It was very sparkly.

 

Pretty little creatures.

She also explained how insects are named. They can be named after the person who discovered them, a celebrity, a family member, anyone. One rule exists though: There are always two words and they are both Latin words.  She told us the moth Neopalpa donaldtrumpi was named after Trump because of its ‘hairstyle’ and when they put it under the microscope it had a very tiny penis.  I thought the audience would fall off their chairs laughing. It had been such a scientific talk and when she very seriously explained the naming of the moth it really got a laugh.

2.  Hopeful:

Today was the last day entries could be submitted into the Australian Photography magazine for Photographer of the Year.  I have never entered a competition before but they had a category for wildlife photos taken within the past year. I thought, “Why not?” Four entries had to be entered into each category so I went through my backlog of wildlife photos taken in Botswana and Namibia in March this year. I chose four and sent them in.  It would be amazing if I won or placed but whether I do or not I am very happy with these photos.

Enjoy the effort and send good thoughts.  I hope you enjoyed this little bit of fun for today. What did you do today?  Anything fun?

 

Male Lion

 

A Cheetah

A Caracal 

A Baboon