Beauty in the Night

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you had a wonderful week and have some nice plans for the weekend.  

Even though it's a long weekend here I haven't made any plans to get away. In fact, I'll be trying to make progress on decluttering.  I'm trying to get through this next big push because it will make a huge difference in how things look around here. I can finally put a few clutter bugs to rest.  I also have a few important things that are keeping me closer to home. I may share more about that later depending on other issues and posts I want to make.

Today I want to share some night shots I took on walk back from meeting a friend for a cool refreshment. I wasn't planning on meeting up with him as I had several errands to run. However he said he could stop off at a point near where I was going to be so we decided to get together. I wasn't pressed for time because stores were open late that night.

He's the fellow I mentioned in a post earlier this week who has been going through huge health and housing challenges.  The good news is that though he'd been told to move, the housing management backed off from their demand after he challenged them. He was prepared to take them to court over it an I guess they decided they wouldn't press the matter. At least not yet.  So that is very good news indeed.

On my way back from errands I decided to walk all the way home. I don't like where the new bus stops are located and it was still light outside. So off I went.  On my way home I have to pass by many heritage homes. The people who own them work very hard to keep them up to standard. I noticed that several of them had lights strung up and it made such a pretty sight.

My apologies to anyone who saw this post earlier. A different and incomplete version seems to have been published with an April 2024 date. I have no idea how that happened since I only took the photos a few days ago and the post should have been in draft. Anyway, it's a good thing Jeannie at Marmelade Gypsy saw it and commented otherwise I wouldn't have known what happened! Blogger and the things it gets up to, lol. 

I love technology but some days it makes more work for me. I thought it was supposed to simplify things!

A Beautiful Night

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope December is going well for you and your loved ones. Things have been rather hectic for me in this month as I prepare for Christmas and try to get a lot of other business out of the way as well. I'm sure most of you can relate. Soon the big day will be here and until then I am trying to get together with as many friends and family as I can before Christmas arrives. The actual Christmas Day will be a quiet affair with me making some kind of dinner, probably our traditional turkey dinner since we just had ham earlier this week. Jonah is working a lot this month and only has Christmas Day off so our first Christmas together will be rather limited. My local brother will be able to join us for dinner. My nephew will host in-laws from Europe so I won't see him for awhile. We made a point of getting together a week or so ago and we had a nice visit out at the university.

Today I want to share the beautiful light display from the Festival of Lights held annually at the Van Dusen Gardens. I don't think there was a light display for the past 3 years and I had been wanting to go all that time. I finally had the chance on Tuesday night and it was more spectacular than I had anticipated. I shared some photos with a friend who said she had gone a few years ago and it wasn't as nice so she and her family will go again this year and enjoy the lights anew.

Since I published my last post I have switched computers to a Mac Mini and am in the process of having to relearn how to do everything. I've been used to Android devices for so long and having both Android and Apple products means extra steps and frustrations to do what used to be done more easily, especially where photos are concerned. I also discovered I can no longer make comments on blogs. I get sent around in circles whenever I try yo log in, get asked to sign in again , then start the process all over again. I have finally figured out that if I use another browser I can make comments on blogs without all the rigamarole but it's a nuisance. It's an annoyance to have to find so many work arounds but that is what I get for making the switch. The big plus in making the switch to the Mac Mini is that I no longer have a huge desktop tower with which to contend.  Well it is still there on my desk but only temporarily. 

I'm super excited to have such a small computer. It's fantastic. I'm too lazy to read instructions so I've just been finding my way around the IOS intuitively. The first thing to trip me up was just figuring out how to close a screen. Also I'm so used to using all things Google that it will take time to retrain myself and adjust to something different.  I'm not sure how far I will go with Apple products. It might just stick with the Mac Mini or I might succumb to temptation and get an iPhone. These days phones have replaced using a heavy camera and you need a good phone for crisp, clear photos.  I'd prefer having a Google Pixel but that might create more steps and possibly frustrations in working with Google photos on an Apple computer. Anyway, time will tell and costs and device availability will dictate my final decision.

If any of you have experience with the transition from Android to Apple and can share your experiences and lessons learned I'd love to hear from you!