Mike and I can be TV junkies or extreme couch potatoes if the opportunity is there. Living in the remote locations that we do could be used as an excuse but really we just like watching TV. Our anticipation for the barge was largely for a crucial piece of cable that it was bringing. We can now “stream” our much missed TV programs through the computer to our flat screen TV. Outstanding! .......but there's a catch.
Downloads or streaming can only be done 11pm to 4am., weather permitting, no rain or heavy cloud cover. We catch up on our favourite shows till the wee hours of the morning. In our world there are no alarm clocks!
The computer has become our TV.
Knowing that the OP was going to be extremely remote and not so easy to get things the decision to buy another laptop before we came in was genius. It doesn't take the place of sitting down with your morning coffee in front of the TV and seeing what has happened throughout the world during the night but we adjust and make the best of the situation. Side by side at our table with matching laptops we check emails, stock markets, world and local headlines.
Nothing can replace the pleasure of sitting down to browse through a new magazine, glossy and crisp, the sound of a page turning, the weight on your lap.
But where would we be if we never tried anything new. E books and digital magazines. Reading devices called Kindle,Nook and Kobo or download right to your PC. Why would I want to look at a magazine on my computer? Mike thought what a great idea, I can download all I want and read it off line. Great for a rainy day when our system goes down. Wasn't long before he had a library full of magazines -- PC World, Popular Science, Latitude 38, Coastal Cruising, Multihulls and Sail.
Maybe I should take a look. Once I get use to the “reader” I realize that looking at a magazine this way has a lot of advantages.
I can lighten the screen, enlarge the print or zoom in for a closer look.
I can stay up after the genny is shut down and read in the dark.
The laptop sits nicely on my lap.
I can sit back, put me feet up , and have both hands free while I read. Holding a glass of wine is good use for empty hands.
Evenings are now spent browsing through Popular Photography, Food Network Magazine, National Geographic Traveler and Islands. Excuse me while I go get a glass of wine.
Books. I brought several boxes of paperbacks with me. I'm a thrift shop, second-hand store, yard sale, exchange with your friends type of book person.
The thrill of finding a favourite author keeps me coming back searching through stacks on the floor,over -flowing broken down cardboard boxes, crouching in tiny nooks with shelves so jammed packed that that a pamphlet would have a hard time fitting it. I love it.
Many have seen better days. A well worn book is a read book. Rarely but it happens, you come across one that as soon as you open the front cover you know you are only the second reader. The cover is stiff and the spine hardly broken. A real find.
My interests ran the gamut. A quick glance has me reaching for the thick hefty book promising a saga of grand proportions. My next choice could be a slim hardcover novel of no more than 300 pages. Authors are irrelevant. Medieval historical fiction, the classics, humour, throw in an occasional thriller, a cookbook or anything by Nelson DeMille, Wilbur Smith,Rosamunde Pilcher or Dan Brown.
New York Times best seller, Booker Prize, Oprah's Book Club, spy any of these labels and I'll pick it up. For 25 cents ( Port Hardy Hospital Auxiliary) what have I got to lose.
What am I reading now? John Steinbeck's“The Grapes of Wrath”.
Till next week,
Heather & Mike
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