Sunday, February 15, 2015

I finished the Pocket Square, due in part to watching the rugby. Ireland beat France; it was a rather good match, especially at the end. Today Wales play Scotland here in Edinburgh. That could be good, too. Both were beaten last weekend, and both are cross about it.

I even dropped a stitch, and laddered it back up over three bars, without leaving behind a Messy Patch. This yarn (Rowan Cotton Glace) really is magic for garter stitch. Now I'll send the square to London and we can discuss requirements – size, colour, texture, laciness – with something concrete in front of us.

My friend came yesterday to look for the iPad but soon gave up in the face of endemic disorder. If it's here, it's somewhere I put it. But where? I am pretty far down the road towards buying a new one. It's going to be pricier than I expected but I can't go on like this. I think what I miss most is the Kindle app: I wonder if a new iPad will have access to my library of ebooks in the cloud? I miss lots of other things, too – my lists; looking up recipes; Zite. But I really don't want to go back to cluttering up the place further with paperback-buying. And I am afraid I like abandoning a book if I'm not enjoying it,  and not having it lie there accusing me.

Thank you for your comments yesterday, which helped clear my mind. I do want fingerprint recognition – my friend who came yesterday has that. I had not previously known about it. Wow! [Ridiculous, in my case.] And I don't need fancy connectivity, just plain vanilla wi-fi.

The non-knit, non-iPad topic I keep meaning to mention is the brilliant exhibition currently on at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. They have had one of their masterpieces copied from a digital image by a Chinese consortium which goes in for that sort of thing, and they have hung it in place of the original. The exhibition is called Made in China, and your job is to spot the fake.

The whole thing, including shipping, cost them less than £200 – less than my new iPad – and will bring in hundreds of viewers, I am sure. They will have to go about the Gallery looking hard at the pictures – no use reading the labels. I hope no smart-ass newspaper columnist spoils the fun. I wish we could get there – we always used to enjoy Dulwich, and I am sure my husband could spot the fake without difficulty. Alas, he doesn't think he could totter about even if driven to the door. We really must investigate wheelchairs.

The other thing to look at if you go there, is their metasequoia glyptostroboides, not far from the front door – one of the first in Britain. It is one of those familiar stories; I'm sure I have told it here before. It was a Japanese scientist I think who identified it from a fossil during the late war and gave it that less than snappy name. After the war when academic papers again circulated freely the Chinese said, oh, yes, we've got that, down by the river.


It's also called Dawn Redwood. It's a deciduous conifer. We planted one to mark James' and Cathy's wedding. Ours has struggled, because we planted it on a slight slope and the soil is very light and it really prefers to have its feet wet. A few yards nearer the burn and it would have been fine. But it's hanging in there. Whereas the Dulwich one, put in not long after the war, is splendid.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:49 AM

    Some of the London galleries have wheelchairs or even the motorised sort which can be used by visitors. There are also companies which hire these out. Why not look into this? Then your husband could proceed in a stately manner around the gallery for as long as he wishes.
    Helen

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  2. I had a similar deesaster with my Kindle...guy came to check my electric bed, and stood on it..did he tell me..not a chance.....I replaced it with a tablet this time, Lenovo, its really good gives access to all my kindle books Ravelryect, also been watching podcasts on it into the weee hours....it was a mere £120 at Argos, could be an effective replacement.

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  3. Ellen2:14 PM

    As long as you register your Kindle app on the new iPad to the same Kindle/Amazon account, then all of you Kindle books will still be waiting there for you "in the cloud". Amazon allows up to six devices to be registered to the same account, so that you can read with whatever device you have with you. You can do this on t he manage Your Account page online, or you can call the dedicated Help phone number and they will talk you through it. However, if you have not yet changed your Amazon password yet, you should do so now, just in case the IPad was stolen.

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  4. Going forward what about investing in Tile (https://www.thetileapp.com)? It is a sensor device you attach to various things so you can locate them. It’s like the Find My Device feature on Apple products, but you can use it for keys, purse, and so on, as well as iPad, phone, and such. Slight expense but perhaps cheaper than the fret and worry?
    Cheers.

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  5. Have you tried a slip stitch edge on your garter squares.... It will give a nice finish to the edges.

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  6. Also, there are folding wheelchairs which can be placed in the trunk/boot of a car. Hopefully, your husband is not too proud to use one.

    Please go ahead and purchase a new iPad or other tablet (there are many out there). If the lost one shows up, then you will have an extra/backup.

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  7. Just a thought - have you mentioned your lost ipad to your nice Polish cleaner? She might come across it during her visit...

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  8. ...and of course you checked that deep recess between the arm and the cushion of your favorite chair where all knitting implements hide? I have found my iPad there more than once.

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