I’ve been testing out some apps to see how useful they are for composing posts and zine blurbs and so far the one I like the most is, believe it or not, Microsoft OneNote. Shocking. But it let’s me add photos to my writing with ease and it auto backs up to an online folder as well as my computer if I want. Unlike the stupid typepad app that won’t autorotate the onscreen keyboard for entries OneNote let’s me do that. (and then I can copy and paste into typepad.)

Go figure, Microsoft does something right!

So, I suppose now would be a good time to tell you about my latest project…. But Imma leave you hanging for another few days. A hint though, it involves the iPoo, writing, photos, and art journaling.

Also the photo in the post was taken with the iPoo and edited with instagram and camera+.

I had the greatest intentions of posting some pics of my painting in progress, a Hopper inspired view of Super Chicken, whichyou can see in black and white in the photo below. I'm combining on site (in situ) viewing as well as photographic reference for the painting.

However. I worked on the painting diligently for a weekend, went to Maine the following weekend (I'm an Aunt!) and now I've been sick and this weekend I'll be at a funeral. So, painting and updates wait.

Woprk has been interesting. People come into my office and start to talk, their eyes narrow, they say, "Are your allergies bugging you or are you sick?" I tell them I'm sick and they slowly start to back away from my office door. It has greatly decreased the real actual work that is occuring. Additionally my voice has that smokey husky quality that Pheobe in Friends had in that episode where she sang, "Smelly Cat," and people really liked her music until she got better. I still can't sing but these are the kinds of things that I think of when I'm on DayQuill. People, it's not good.

Anyway, Super Chicken…

On another note, can I stop hacking and sneezing and oozing from my sinuses? Just for a few weeks so I can ()**&^^&%&*(^(*&(*_ enjoy fall, after all it IS my favorite season.

I started a new blog to house all my camera geekery, think of it as a subset to my regular blog. Check it out here.

When I went for my walk on Sunday I was greated with perfect air, not too cold, not to warm. The sun didn't rise until later in the day and the trees have lost that golden yellow green color, they have changed to that deeo green shade you get right before fall and everything turns yellow, orange or red.

From here the days will get shorter and we're only weeks away from snow, I'll be soaking up the last of the sun while I can.

We had a few rainy days this week so I was pretty happy to have a nice sunny day for the Beverly Harbor Fest. We walked down and wandered about listening to some live music and checking out the crowd. I could really see this take off and be a great event for the city, much like Art Fest, in fact I’d love for the city to have a fall harvest style festival right on the water.

On our way home I took this picture. I might try for a better shot of it next time I’m out. I have to admit I’ve never stepped foot in this shop, but maybe I should.

I have been mulling over a few decisions the last few days. The biggest one is about what role social media plays in my art. I love to share my art and the stuff I find on line, but sometimes ALL the STUFF available is just, too much.

I made the decision to get rid of pinterest and Tumblr today. I started Tumblr to share rants and info that didn’t fit with my regular blog. Before too long I was simply sharing stuff to Tumblr for the hell of it. As for Pinterest, I never really took to it. I also found a ton of unattributed art on both sites. A terrible thing I noticed on Tumblr was that many many images were not being shared with attribution. I found that an art journal image of mine was shared without attribution. Aggravating but also not in keeping with my CC attribution request.

I find that Tumblr is a really nice blogging platform but since I use Typepad to good result I don’t see the point of using Tumblr.

So I deleted my accounts, as of yesterday they are gone. I expected to feel, I don’t know sad about it, but I don’t. I don’t regret it and I’m ready to focus my attention back to the social media that matters to me: my blog. I will keep some sort of presence on Facebook and Twitter but I see those as downtime distractions, for moments where I need to unwind and not think. Maybe laugh and chat with friends.

I started this process months ago when I started to delete twitter accounts that were aggravating to me. There were some tweets that seemed like a rock in my shoe, not really painful or irksome initially but after a few dozen steps were leaving an irritating blister. So I cut them out. I suddenly found that twitter became a more positive experience. I then turned around and did the same on Facebook. Again, it was more positive. I had a group of likeminded, and similarly humored people interacting with me. It was great. At the time this process started I was reading some Audrey Lourde, and there is a quote that I found particularly arresting at this time, “This is an old and primary tool of all oppressors to keep the oppressed occupied with the master's concerns.” I had a personal epiphany while reading some of her essays and my behavior which I won’t bother to share here as it’s not relevant to what I’m writing. The point is that sometimes when I make a decision I can’t be overly concerned with how others feel about it.

I know that some people will be disappointed in my backing away from FB and Twitter and I do feel bad about that, but again it must be done. I will be participating but simply not as much.

I am planning on moving a great deal of my social media time over to G+. I like the format and the amount of learning taht has been going on over there. IF you are interested in joining G+ follow this link and add me I'm here.

There is some sort of lesson in all of this. I'm not sure what it is, but I suppose that's part of the journey isn't it?

This little guy was exhausted and on the sidewalk next to work. He's still got his egg tooth and his shell was soft. Most likely he was within a day or 2 old. In the cold pouring ran he had turtled up and I picked him up and took him to the swamp, snapped his picture and placed him on a gentle slope in leaf litter. I like turtles with their prehistoric looking faces, hard shells and deceptively slow movement.

No walk today, just a few picture from over the weekend.