Someone asked a day or two ago how I'm feeling. My fever is entirely gone, thank goodness. I still cough a bit and have some sinus congestion, but I feel like my energy levels are pretty much normal. I cleaned the house yesterday morning and then took Olga on a walk to Hampstead Heath.
We got a late start -- about 2 p.m., I think, and the sun sets before 4 p.m. -- and Olga moves more slowly these days, so on the way I texted Dave and told him not to panic if we weren't home by dark. And realized that my phone battery was only at one percent. Always prepared, just like a Boy Scout!
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| N marks the spot? |
We wandered through the woods of the West Health and then went to Golders Hill Park to check out the squirrels at the stumpery. We also visited...
...the "Golders Hill mob," the park's collection of Bennett's wallabies. Olga just stared and stared as if she couldn't believe her eyes. The wallabies stared back. They were behind a double chain-link fence so there was no actual contact.
Then we began the slow walk home, and as it turned out we got back at dusk. So the timing was perfect.
I am seriously thinking I might cancel The New Yorker. Usually they're impossible to keep up with, which is a nightmare in itself, but now I have the opposite problem -- they've basically stopped coming at all. I haven't received any magazines since mid-November. I think this might have something to do with the postal strikes. (Who knows what other mail we're not receiving!) It underscores the silliness of mailing a piece of paper across the ocean every week. I should be getting all this stuff online, and I can get it through my library. So, yeah, I think I'm pulling the plug.
Speaking of antiquated media, I also need to decide what to do with our DVD and CD collections (which are housed in the cabinet we have to dismantle because of the leak in the dining room). I only have a handful of CDs, but Dave has a bagful, and we haven't played any of them in years. We don't even have anything to play them on. Likewise the DVDs -- our DVD player died when my old computer went on the fritz. We could buy an inexpensive portable player for not much money, or maybe we should just toss them all and stream what we want. I'm leaning toward the latter solution.
Maybe your local library would accept them? There are still people using that technology.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're doing better.
I think the Bennett's wallabies hail from Tasmania and can deal with cold weather. Correct me if you know. They appear to be well rugged up with thick fur to deal with the cold.
ReplyDeleteI've totally given up with paper media. As a retired person, I am too busy to read decent magazines like The New Yorker. If a matter is important and published, I will hear about it and that is why Google, Facebook, Twitter et al need to pay large and small media companies for content, and I believe there is a case before the Supreme Court in the US. Facebook went to extreme measures here to prevent paying including punishing average people in extraordinary ways. An agreement was reached and I know one was reached with the EU too.
We still have a CD player and a DVD player but we never use them. All VHS tapes were transferred to DVD but now even that is dying.
You could get a disk drive for your computer and transfer all your music. Or is that not necessary?
ReplyDeleteGlad you’re feeling better and hope the sinus congestion and coughing are soon gone.
I pulled the plug on magazines and newspapers a long time ago. I read the newspaper online and most of the magazines I subscribed too I did so for the woodworking plans. So now I just buy a plan as needed instead of a subscription to a magazine full of ones I'll never use.
ReplyDeleteI probably "have" 1000+ CD's that I have obtained over the years. I rip them onto my computer in digital files and get rid of the actual CD. Then I can copy files onto various playing devices, these days mostly my phone, and listen to them as desired. But it is getting somewhat obsolete to do even that especially if one is subscribed to a digital music streaming service. But even the best one of those doesn't have access to many of the songs I still have. As for the DVD's, I ditched the jewel cases and store them in binders met for CD's so they take up much less space. I just can't bear to part with them yet, especially since my kids are now interested in some of them.
Our local library has an annual fundraising effort which sells donated books to raise money. One of the most popular areas during that fundraising is the table of donated CD's and DVD's. Many people stock up on them cheaply, watch them, and then donate them back for next year's sale.
We are that luddite couple that still has a CD and a DVD player. They're used rarely these days, but they're there.
ReplyDeleteThat said, thanks for the wallabies. I'll be smiling all day.
I'm glad you're feeling better! We have an assortment of VHS, DVD, CDs and VINYL in our house and play zero of them. I feel like we should rent one of those trash skips & just clear the house out, but Dr. M is a sentimental soul.
ReplyDeleteI love the image of Olga and the Wallabies in a stare down :)
Glad you are feeling better.
ReplyDeleteI transferred our old family VCR tapes to my computer (my son bought me a device that makes it easy using an old VCR we had). You should give our DVDs and CDs away if you never use them especially if you can't play them.
It's nice that you are having a relaxing break at home.
We got rid of our old albums, DVDs and CDs a couple of months ago. We brought them to a local record shop that still sells this kind of stuff. We also cancelled all of our paper news stuff, but have online subscriptions to The New York Times, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and couple of other sites. We believe in supporting good journalism.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are feeling better and got out for a nice walk with Olga. So cool to see those Wallabies.
Good that you're feeling better.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're feeling better. As for the CDs and DVDs, no idea. Do you want to keep them?
ReplyDeleteWe never really collected DVDs, we have a few, the boxed set of Firefly and the set of Riddick movies and Big Trouble In Little China but haven't watched any of them in years. I guess the DVD player still works. Still have all my CDs but nothing to play them on but my computer though I've uploaded quite a few into iTunes but I really don't listen to them anymore either. We've still got our vinyl collection. Last time Autumn cames to stay for a few days she wanted to listen to some of them and discovered that the needle on the turntable (that plays through my computer) was gone (?) and I ordered new ones online but haven't used it yet. We got a huge donation of DVDs and even older VHS tapes. The other volunteers set them out...take as many as you want.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there were wallabies on the Heath. How fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI put all my CD's on my iPod years ago and now that too, is obsolete. And, it's funny, my Apple TV has a music app and I can find some of my music there but not all of it. I have no idea why only some of the music can be found. None of my classical music seems to be there. And, there are other music on there that I know wasn't mine. I don't have a working CD player either but I'm tempted to get one. I don't have a DVD player either. I purchased a few movies digitally and got rid of all but one that can't be replaced. I should just call the Apple help line and ask them to explain how all this works.
1%, wow! Sounds like me. I have CDs, DVDs and VHS, including the players. I rarely use them but hate to get rid of them. There are some French movies that I don't think I can stream anywhere.
ReplyDeleteWallabies on the Heath. Sounds like the title of a poem.
ReplyDeleteI should do the same with the NY'er but I always like to take one with me if I'm going somewhere that I might need distraction while waiting on something. Isn't that silly?
So glad you're better. I know you are too.
When we went full time in the RV, we kept the CD player because we knew that they would be scarce in the future. It's great for playing music in the garage. The DVDs went over the side, there weren't that many, so out they went. I was not expecting to see wallabies on the Heath.
ReplyDeleteWe still have Vinyl LPs and 45s, VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs, and a few select Cassettes. (and the means to play all of them) And despite reading our newspapers online, we still get certain magazines in paper form. I'm not sure I'd bother to read any of them if I had to go digital.
ReplyDeleteI'd have been right there with Olga, staring!
I have that same problem with CD's and a few DVD's. I have a player but haven't hooked it up since we moved. Can't seem to get the urge and there's always Pandora.
ReplyDeleteOlga Girl
ReplyDeleteFor now I'm keeping my CDs and DVDs. I used my DVD player yesterday some of my favorite Christmas movies aren't on streaming so I needed my DVDs. I suppose I could watch movies that are available, but it wouldn't seem like Christmas if I give up my favorites. I know a lot of people are getting rid of their CDs and DVDs though. I'm glad you feel better.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I don't blame Olga for her confusion. Those are some mighty weird looking squirrels!
ReplyDeleteI remember tossing all our vinyl records when the indestructible CDs were released. A shame as they would have been worth a bob or two but I don't think CDs and DVDs will ever have that same nostalgic tug.
I miss the old weekend newspaper for its puzzles and lifestyle magazines but I don't think people lead the sort of lifestyle anymore where you would spend hours with several cups of coffee just slowly reading it all.
I hope you haven't missed anything really important with the mail strike. That could be an interesting legal conundrum - who is at fault?
-Caro
Give them away or sell them, but please don't just trash them. Someone out there will be searching for a particular movie or song and you might just have it in your collection.
ReplyDeleteBoud: The ones we get rid of we'll probably give to the charity shops on the high street. As a librarian, I can tell you that "donations" can be both a blessing and a curse.
ReplyDeleteAndrew: The wallabies didn't seem cold to me! It's not very cold at the moment, though. Our VHS tapes, cassettes and vinyl are all gone.
Mitchell: Oh, the CDs have already been transferred to my computer. I did that YEARS ago. I guess I was saving the physical CDs as a backup?
Ed: The binder is not a bad idea. Maybe I'll do that with the DVDs we keep. First, we need a method to play them!
Bob: We had a DVD player until it broke. Fortunately there are cheap ones available online.
Bug: Dave isn't sentimental about most things, but for some reason he's very attached to DVDs.
Ellen D: From your lips to Dave's ears!
Robin: I agree about the need to subscribe to good journalism. I subscribe to a couple of papers myself. That's an argument for keeping the digital version of The New Yorker, at least.
Red: Thanks!
Pixie: I want to keep three or four CDs for sentimental reasons. Otherwise, no.
Ellen: I'm impressed you can still buy a needle, though I know vinyl is in vogue among some millennials.
Sharon: That's weird, about some of your music being available through your Apple TV and some not. I wonder if the classical is there but in another "folder" or location?
Margaret: You still have a functioning VHS player? That IS impressive!
Ms Moon: Actually, that's not silly at all. It's one of the reasons I haven't cancelled yet! I like to read it on the tube and I couldn't do that unless I have a paper copy. (No internet access underground.)
Allison: If I had a CD player I might use them, but I don't.
Kelly: Well, that IS the downside of digital. It's easy to lose track of your subscriptions without a paper copy.
Catalyst: Well, maybe it's enough to just have them, on the off chance you might watch them someday, even if you never do. Ours will probably just live in a box forever, a kind of digital security blanket.
Padre: Enjoying her day out and about!
Janie: Hey, I think if you watch them, by all means, keep them! We never watch a lot of ours, though.
Caro: I know! Surely that must be happening. We don't get much mail but all Dave's patient notifications from the NHS (for example) come through the mail. So where are those?!
River: Oh, I wouldn't throw them out. We'll probably give them to a charity shop for resale.
I've never seen a wallaby before. They're pretty cute!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are feeling better. Awful to feel crummy around the holiday.