Thursday, June 28, 2018

What Manner of Contraption (Six Sentence Story) and Good Fences

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.)  


***********************************





“What manner of contraption is that?” the older woman asked with such obvious curiosity that I knew she wanted to try it out for herself.

“It’s an iPad,” I told her, “it does a lot of what your computer in there does, but I can carry it with me.”

“Oh, look, it has a keypad, and it folds up just like a laptop, and — you say  you can carry it with you and get online anywhere?”

“Yes, it can use wifi or use my phone data, and I bought the bluetooth keyboard to go with it, that makes it more like a regular computer and easier to use.”

“May I try it, I need to send an email to those two young buck attorneys of mine, make sure they are keeping up with everything, and it’s too hard to do it on my tiny phone and the computer has been acting up again.”

“Sure,” I told her, and got her started on it, glad to see her enthusiasm for a new “contraption”.


Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Manner.       

(For those who might be wondering, yes, Dr. D is 80 and loves to learn new technology.)


***********************************


Gosia, of Looking for Identity, has taken over Good Fences, and it's now Good Fences Around The World.  Post a picture of a fence or gate, link back to her blog, and go visit others to see what interesting fences see what interesting fences there are out in this big world.    

Some fences are just for decorative purposes.


***********************************



Today is:

Constitution day -- Ukraine

Festival of Terrible Poetry -- according to The Daily Bleed, and since there is some hilarious, if terrible, poetry out there, go find some, and bust a gut

Freedom Days -- Farmington, NM, US (the Four Corners region celebrates freedom and The 4th in a big way; through July 4)

Full Strawberry Moon / Rose Moon; related observances
    Ancient Celtic month Equos (horse-time) begins
    Nayon Full Moon -- Mayanmar
    Poson Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

Insurance Awareness Day -- now who do you think invented that!?!

International Body Piercing Day -- on the birthday of James Mark "Jim" Ward, "the granddaddy of the modern body piercing movement"    

International CAPS LOCK DAY -- a parody holiday created by Derek Arnold, a user on Metafilter, in 2000

Mnarja / L-Imnarja Festival begins -- Buskett Gardens, Malta (folk festival for Sts. Peter and Paul, begins this evening and continues through the 29th)

National Bomb Pop Day -- on the Thursday in June right before US Independence Day, to kick off the celebration with the original red, white, and blue bomb pops

National Ceviche Day

National Handshake Day -- US; sponsored by professional development companies on the last Thursday in June, encouraging everyone to develop a good, professional handshake

National Tapioca Day

Oregon Bach Festival -- University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, US (international gathering of musicians, master classes and performances, and family events so even the youngest music fans can fall in love with the works of J.S. Bach and other masters; through July 14)

Paul Bunyan Day -- the tall tale hero of the lumberjacks; celebrated at different times in some parts of the country, but most sites cite this date

Ra goes forth to propitiate the Nun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Saint Ignace Auto Show -- St. Ignace, MI, US (parade, cruise night, and swap meet; through Saturday)

Stonewall Rebellion Day -- now seen as the start of the gay liberation movement in 1969

St. Irenaeus' Day (Patron of Mobile, Alabama)

St. Paul's Feast -- Kato Paphos, Cyprus (religious festivities with the archbishop officiating and a procession of the icon of St. Paul through the streets, through tomorrow)

St. Peter's Eve -- English Christian tradition, night of bonfires and continuation of midsummer celebrations

Telluride Wine Festival -- Telluride, CO, US (meet winemakers, celebrity chefs, experts and authors for an unparalleled educational and epicurian experience; through Sunday)

Thangka Unveiling at Tashihungpo -- Tibet (Buddha Exhibition Festival, in which the large Thangka with the image of Buddha on it is unfolded in public) related observance
   Zamling Chisang -- Universal Prayer Day (to the Tibetan Deities, especially Samye Dolde)

Thanksgiving for Useful Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

Vidovdan (Festival for St. Vitus) -- Eastern Orthodox Christian, based on the traditional Julian Calendar date
    a recognized holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Watermelon Thump with World Champion Seed Spitting Contest -- Luling, TX, US (fun for all, and lots of juicy watermelon, bring lots of wet wipes, enjoy the music and food and crafts, too; through Sunday)


Anniversaries Today:

Harry S. Truman marries Bess Wallace, 1919


Birthdays Today:

Kellie Pickler, 1986
Steve Burton, 1970
Danielle Brisebois, 1969
John Cusack, 1966
Mary Stuart Masterson, 1966
Mark Grace, 1964
John Elway, 1960
Thomas Hampson, 1955
Alice Krige, 1954
Kathy Bates, 1948
Gilda Radner, 1946
Bruce Davison, 1946
Turkan Soray, 1945
Pat Morita, 1932
Mel Brooks, 1926
Maria Goeppert Mayer, 1906
Richard Rodgers, 1902
Clara Louise Maass, 1876
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712
John Wesley, 1703
Peter Paul Rubens, 1577
Henry VIII, King of England, 1491


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Nutty Professor(Film), 1996
"Amos 'n' Andy"(TV), 1951
"Quiz Kids"(Radio), 1940


Today in History:

Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul, 1098
Ottomans defeat Serbian army in the bloody Battle of Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe, 1389
Guadeloupe becomes a French colony, 1635
The coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1838
The Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris premieres the ballet Giselle, 1841
The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1859
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I, 1914
The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, formally ending World War I, 1919
The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces, 1922
Israel annexes East Jerusalem, 1967
COMECON, as part of the last vestige of the Soviet Bloc, is formally disbanded, followed by the Warsaw pact 3 days later, 1991
Slobodan Milosevic is deported to ICTY to stand trial, 2001
The Republic of Montenegro is admitted as the 192nd Member of the United Nations, 2006
The U.N. reports 10 million people are effected by the worst drought in 60 years, 2011
A SpaceX cargo rocket explodes shortly after launch; the unmanned vessel was carrying over two tons of food, provisions, supplies and equipment for the International Space Station, 2015

12 comments:

  1. What a lovely tale. And she is braver than I am. I have never used an Ipad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My husband has such a contraption and I've been contemplating getting one myself. I'd definitely need that bluetooth keyboard. A slice of life makes a good story.

    ReplyDelete
  3. GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE CONVENIENCES SOME MODERN TECHNOLOGY AFFORDS US.
    I CAN TOTALLY RELATE. HERE'S TO CONTRAPTIONS THAT MAKE LIFE EASIER ☺

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember getting the first computer in school ad I thought that amazing. My goodness, look at what we have to use today. I must be getting really old. LOL See ya Mimi.

    Cruisin Paul

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am thinking of getting a laptop or a tablet which I can take along. I am now using a PC.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think computers come in many sizes. Hubby has a tablet and that's all he uses anymore. He's happy.

    That's a very small decorative fence.

    Have a fabulous day. ♥

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love your decorative fence Greetings from rainy Europe

    ReplyDelete
  8. more often than not, they (people such as the character in the Six) are far more versed in a topic than we often credit them... (I bet they do that on purpose, I would ...lol)

    ReplyDelete
  9. There are no words for how much I enjoyed the visual of Ra going forth to propitiate the Nun. In a fit of deliberate misunderstanding mischief, I chose Sister Wendy as the nun!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I personally enjoy having the additional keyboard to go with my iPad. It is much quicker to write using that keyboard than the one that pops up on the iPad screen. Having the flexibility of using the iPad other places than sitting in a chair in front of the computer is a plus for me.
    "Manner of contraption" - Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good story. Never a dull moment with Dr D.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for meandering by and letting me know you were here!
Comments on posts more than a week old are moderated.
If Blogger puts your comment in "spam jail," i'll try to get it hauled out by day's end.