How I Sometimes Watch Wimbledon

We are deep into the Wimbledon fortnight. Sometimes, I want to catch up with the score on another match while we have the telly tuned to the match that we most want to watch. That's when the trusty iPad comes in handy.

Tablet fore, tv aft

I can't really watch both for long, however, and the closer and brighter tablet pulls my eyes, so once I have caught up sufficiently, I turn the tablet off and focus on the tv once again. 

You may wonder why I don't just change the tv channel for a minute, and of course, I have done that, but fumbling with the remote and then getting back to where I began can be a rigmarole. I find it easier to reach for the tablet, and I don't lose track of the main game while I catch up on the other game  

We’re getting near the end now. Not counting doubles and juniors, which we don’t watch, there are only eight players of the 256 players remaining, four women and four men. The women will play their semi finals later this Thursday morning, and by about noon EDT, only two ladies will remain in the hunt. The men will do likewise tomorrow.

It’s okay because we finished our last bowls of strawberries last night at supper. While there are more strawberries to be had locally, we will await next year’s tournament and crop, knock on wood.

Unhappy Landing

It was Monday morning. As usual, I was up hours before Sue. Eventually, she came into my den to make the coffee, the maker of which is on top of the little fridge just opposite my chair. I was playing one of my games at the time: One Word Search.

She interrupted my game to ask me to use my unmighty muscles to pull the tab on the new quart of cream, which I did. She doctored her coffee and went to her room to enjoy it and do whatever she does on her computer and tablet in the morning. 

Moments later she came back and showed me her cup.

Yes, that ↑ is an AI image, but she really did have a dead fly in her mug . . . after taking only one tiny little sip.

I thought it post-worthy. Some might disagree, but that morning cuppa is pretty darn important.

Dr Google Reassures AC

We were watching Wimbledon on Saturday morning when I noticed a curtain of jagged shimmering across the top of my right eye.

What was I seeing? Did I rub my eye too hard? I didn’t recall doing that, but as the sensation continued, I found myself becoming concerned. My vision is somewhat crucial to my well-being after all.

This jagged shimmering continued for some time. Even while it was happening, I began to consult Dr Google.

Seeing a shimmering or flashing light in your eye can be due to a few reasons, with some being harmless and others requiring prompt medical attention. It's often a result of the vitreous gel inside your eye pulling on the retina, which can cause these visual disturbances. However, it could also be a sign of a more serious condition like a retinal tear, especially if the flashes are sudden and accompanied by other symptoms.

The shimmering stopped after 15 minutes or so, maybe even less, but in my anxiety, I wasn’t timing it. So, I will take it to have been the harmless type resulting from a pulling of the vitreous fluid.

Both Sue and I experienced something related many years ago, and we each had our condition checked out at the time. Back then, it was more like sudden flashes, almost like lightning bolts. For both of us the diagnosis involved a shifting of the vitreous fluid. Although Saturday's experience was different — a sustained flashing curtain rather than a sudden bolt — I am choosing to believe in and take solace in the probability that it was a harmless occurrence.

It was very alarming at the time, but Dr Google was there to reassure me. Good ole Dr Google.

Mournful Monday

When I scanned this slide, I had to laugh.

It was the early 70s, and Sue's friend was getting married. She's the one in the middle. Sue was a bridesmaid, and we were hanging out with the bridal family in the morning before the ceremony.

There were nerves, and a certain amount of alcohol was consumed. The parents were shocked that we weren't also imbibing.

=================

I had been going to simply post the photo, but I decided to get a little serious and go on and tell a little bit more about Val and our relationship with her.

Val was a longtime friend of Sue’s, going back to high school. I knew her somewhat then from church and better for many years after Sue and I got together. We kept in touch regularly through the years, usually with single Val visiting us. Her marriage did not last beyond a few years. 

We only visited her a couple of times after 2005 when we moved here to Eastern Ontario, one time as her health was deteriorating. Thankfully, Shauna was able to drop by and visit Val in the hospital before Val passed away. She had suffered several strokes, the penultimate one leaving her functionally blind. She loved to use the computer but was unable to after the first stroke. More than once, I tried to help her set the computer up so that she could navigate it, but we did not achieve success.

Val had a hard life. Except for the time around the wedding, she was obese and was mentally fragile, but she was a good friend and a very generous person, and I am glad to have known her.

A Happy Moment at Her Wedding
Sue was the middle bridesmaid

Pizza and Fireworks

On Monday we ordered our monthly pizza. It must have been a busy night, for it took more than an hour for our supper to arrive. Further to that, it must have been a busy night because the pizza arrived sans sauce. I didn’t even realize what was amiss at first because it still tasted pretty good, but Sue figured it out.

It took me until Friday to go in to see them about it. I had the verifying photos that Sue took to prove my point. He told me they don’t make pizzas without sauce unless I had ordered it that way. 

When I showed him the bill, he offered me a half-price pizza. I declined because I hadn’t received the pizza that I had ordered. I was willing to come away empty-handed rather than pay for more pizza.

He then said that he would make me a new pizza at no cost.

"Do you want it now?"

I didn’t really and asked if he could give me a coupon. He said they weren't set up for that, but that he would remember me when I called in. I doubted that, so I said that now would be fine.

Fifteen minutes later, I left with a hot pizza.

I thanked him. I said something like, “We all make mistakes, but you corrected yours."

At home, after pizza, I went back to my fireworks photos, which I have not been too thrilled with. I cropped this bunch  differently, much tighter, They are what they are, which is about as profound as this old fella can get. Unfortunately.

Caturday 84: A Lack of Trust

It's breakfast time, but I have kept Lacey waiting for awhile. I always do because I think it is good for her to spend some time awake, and she'll just go for another snooze right after she eats.

Usually, I go down the stairs first, but sometimes I make her lead the way, and she always shoulder-checks me. just to make sure that Dad is following.

In this vid, she checked me six times.

Not very trusting, is she?

Happy Caturday

The Fireworks

I did return sans Sue to my usual fireworks vantage point looking from the trail bridge to the main bridge and townhall. Sue was tired and also remembered the mosquitoes, so she demurred. We can actually get a good view from our bedroom, so she didn't miss anything.

Trying to outsmart the mosquitoes, I wore light long pants and a long-sleeved orange shirt with a hoodie. I sprayed my hat after I parked the car and added more later, but the biters found me anyway, and I was itching something fierce. Maybe they are attracted to orange. When I took my shirt off at home my back was absolutely covered with huge red bites.

Sue sprayed some stuff, and after a shower, the itchiness disappeared, Thank goodness.

The Shoot

I decided to go vertical, but once the fireworks began, they were drifting partly out of frame because they seemed to have shifted a bit from previous years, so  I couldn't change the composition by then. The reason requires just a bit of explication, but I have decided to spare you the details.

So, here are the shots, or at least 5 of them. Town Hall appears in all of the photos as it is the point of choosing this location. You will notice that the sky is not completely black; some colour remains, and that is what I was working to accomplish this year with a bit of blending in post.

Having accomplished the sky thing, although it didn't worked as well as I hoped, I am done with that location forever and ever, hallelujah, hallelujah. If I shoot the Canada Day fireworks again, it will be from our bedroom or from some other location, wherever that may be. But I shall worry about that if and when.