Day 14- Trying to Blog Here!

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The trouble with high tech... is that it is not meant for those who can't see.
The old typewriters were great... you could hear the clickety click, and you could nearly feel the words... With braille typewriters, you could...
With the new computers, you almost can't hear the keys. You can not see what you have typed unless you have the screen set to high powered magnification.... but oh, the ease at which you can change the typing!! Spellcheck is marvelous!! Spellchecker just told me that was the wrong spelling...
Sometimes when I am really tired, I don't even see the squiggly red line under a word... and in some fonts, I can't tell that I have made a mistake... I tend to have all the letters blur together into a blob of black and white..generally, I don't reread the post and  don't know that it is unreadable until my friend tells me.
And so it goes.
 I thought keeping a diary was cool... I just never could do it, I couldn't keep a daily diary for the life of me.  I liked journaling (spellcheck  told me I spelled that wrong) because it seemed a bit more relaxed, kind of... you don't have to write every day, but when you do, it is good to just let it flow.
With a daily diary, I tended to just put down the facts. I look back and think what a waste. I didn't put down why the day was bad, or good... just that something happened. Or if I put down the happening... I didn't elaborate on if I enjoyed it or if it was horrible...
So with blogging... it seems that I can decide to write once a day, once a week, once a month, or once a year if I want to, and if I don't post... I am not going to look back and say... oh, look at all those blank pages... but I do look at the blank time and wish I had written something... even just a bit.
It means something to me to look back and read...a snippet of my life, or of my kids... and it is good.

Books I want to read!

Blogging is hard though. To post something interesting and factual... you need to do a lot of research and thinking.  You need to read a lot, you need to study the facts and see what is relevant. Cut out what is irrelevant and to try to capture the feeling that you want to convey. If you are visually impaired, that is tough. I have bookcases of books I want to read and I end up tiring my eyes so much on the computer that I don't even try to read a book.
I use the National Library Service for the blind for any actual "reading" that I do. I "read" audio books... which is wonderful, since I haven't been able to actually read printed books for a while now. The service is wonderful! I have a special player that uses a decoder to play back books that I have downloaded from BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download). They have thousands of books to choose from. You can also get titles sent to you, and they also have braille and large type books and media.

  Larger font is helpful to be able to see more clearly on the computer, you can use the reader that actually will read to you what has been typed...  If it is something like a blog that you have written, it is good to have a friend proof read. Sometimes I find that having someone else read my blog is best. If you have a friend that has time for it...
Asking someone else to help all the time is taxing as well... not to just them, but to yourself as well. I am embarrassed to ask... all the time... to be helped. ergh.

This would be a blog today, full of pictures, jokes, music and some facts and figures

I feel like I owe a lot of favors.
You need to reciprocate with the people that follow you as well, you need to read their blogs and comment to make it equitable... I know some of my followers don't have blogs, but most do, and they want me to read along... and that is hard.  After a couple of blog posts.. I am done for the day. I feel guilty that I am just skimming so much, and that I do an injustice to writers out there.

Care and planning that went into this

Is it just me, or does anyone else have that strong desire to hold a book?
I mean, the only drawback to blogging... is not having that physical journal in your hands. I love the smell of paper. I love the smell of books...especially old books. I want to be able to hold a book in my hands, to smell it, to caress it... and... well, fondle it.  I love the old books for their jackets as well, the binding.. the care that was taken to make them nice.


This 31 Days series has been tough so far, reading and researching for the posts has been taxing. Looking through thousands of pictures has been fun but a real drain on my energy and sight. I have thought about dropping out, I thought about changing my subject to something a bit easier... and I am not alone. So many have gotten behind and try to catch up or beat themselves up... or do like I have done... I am cutting back at least once a week. I will post something that is a bit lighter... something a bit easier to handle...
I am not pushing facts and figures so hard... as I had planned on doing in my outline... I realize that nobody is going to be reading this anyway, so why not just do what feels right anyway?

Is there something that you would like to know about blindness? Is there a question on being Visually Impaired?  Don't be afraid to ask... Now is the time to do it. Just ASK!! lol... If I don't know.. I will find out!

Day 13--- Photographs and Memories

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Parents and Sis, Pre-Me!

Photographs have been around for well over 100 years. They help document history, remind  us of family, friends, places we've visited, how we want something done, the colors of or placement of things... History... ah, that is the stuff I'm talking about. We have pictures of the Civil War, President Lincoln, Buildings and bridges, homes and gardens, simple folk, fancy dresses...
I love to take photos.

Looks out of a Bond movie!

My mother took tons of pictures when we were young. Most of the time they were great pictures. She has tons of pictures from when she was young, most of them are great! Matter of fact, I don't remember seeing any that were bad. She had an old Brownie camera that she started out with. Later on she had other cameras, I am sure most of them were Kodak. One Instamatic camera that she had was so cute and took terrific pictures.

Distant relatives in a town that is now abandoned

My Aunt and her beau

Most of the pictures of us when I was growing up were black and white. I suppose they were the cheapest film you could get, and I still love that format. I still take pictures and use the black and white option. But the clear color shots that were occasionally thrown in the mix are great. I had forgotten the red corduroy pants. Or that the house was done in creams and that seafoamish green that has come back in style... or that my brother was sooo cool. Ah, he would have been cool even in black and white!

Biggar, Scotland Corn Exchange

Without pictures, we would still remember our family and friends... but would those memories be so strong? Sight plays so much of a role in your memories...the part of your brain that is in charge of storing our emotional memory is also in charge of processing our senses.{1} Now that is a big thing.If you look at a picture, you have that emotional memory, not just a cognizance of the  face or the place or the color, but that you have emotions tied to that picture. So, to a blind person, they have to make up for that loss... Do their emotional ties differ from a sighted person? I'm going to find out if there have been studies done on that subject.

The River Eamont and Brougham Castle

So we take pictures.

I love to take photos of colors and buildings, fields and flowers. I always think that I'll paint that field when I get home... and sometimes I do, but usually the photos don't come out very clear or I lose the desire to paint them or... more than not... I don't have time.
I have had a few people call me asking if I would take photos for them...I've photographed kids, pre-dance.. prom stuff... and I got pretty good at it... but I am far from professional. I am not high tech, I am a throw back to an earlier era... nah, I do have a digital camera.
 I like still life, the photos of my family, the pictures of buildings... and that is how i would keep it. Most of the photos I take come out blurry... and I never know it until I get home and put them on the computer and blow them up... I think they are great shots... until I can see them on a larger scale!!! Then there is the lighting... Glare is such a problem, for the pictures and for my eyes... hard to see in bright light...
Meridith Bernard of    Meridith Bernard Photography offers this information: when taking a picture of people (something I need to work on!)  You need a 'catchlight' in the subject's  eyes.  So positioning them in a way t some that there is filtered light to their side  will yield best results or something to reflect the light back into their face if they are lit from behind... . Softness is what you are looking for, I suppose, not glaring lights...

The Blob

Now, another problem is that I have a tendency to see what I see through the view finder, and think that it is good. My head is crooked or maybe my eyes? and I don't realize that they are... because to me, that is how I see... but when I take that photo, it seems that it comes out crooked, or I see half of what I wanted to photograph... like the "Biggar Corn Exhange building. I thought I had the whole building in the sights... but obviously... not so much...All I can say is... isn't it wonderful that we have cameras now that you don't have to waste time and money with pictures that are trash material? Really, digital cameras are such a blessing. The ability to take hundreds of photos without spending anything on film or developing... wow! amazing!

Forth Bridge

If there is something on the lens... I don't see it. I have to take off my glasses to be able to see in the viewfinder of the camera. I do love the large viewing screen that some cameras have but my Cannon has the small view finder that you put your eye to and line up the little boxes... which should help me to align the camera correctly... but... I am far sighted now, and it's difficult to see anything with the other problems in my eyes. So, I think if I want to keep using a camera... it might be time to invest in another type. 
I guess to sum it up,  it is a matter of taking time, not getting excited and wanting to snap picture after picture, and making sure I back up a bit, steady the camera, and use good lighting... It would probably help to use a tripod with a level in it. Many times, it is hard to do that, simply because it is hard to carry a tripod all the time... I just try to look at the overall picture. If it looks level, and it looks in focus... it might be. I can try it out. Sometimes I think everything is right but I get it larger on the computer... and it is all wonky... But sometimes... they turn out lovely!

Firth of Forth at Portobello at Dusk

Portobello at dusk

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***Visit Meridith's page and see some  of her work, very professional. While you are at it, visit her "Pen" page and read her blog on the 31 Days Writing Challenge.
both pages are extremely interesting. This is the link for the 31 Days blog 31 Days of Living Like I'm Dying Blog. Please visit and read!

1...Piergiorgio Strata,1,2, Bibiana Scelfo1, Benedetto Sacchetti1,2:Involvement of cerebellum in emotional behavior p. 8 paragraph 3

Day 12- One Last Look

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Jenner's in Edinburgh, House of Fraser :)

I wanted to leave you with one last look at some of the pictures of the last visit to Europe. Just a few...
Tomorrow, I'll be linking a page on photography and speaking on the challenges of taking pictures. If you love photos, you might want to come by and check the linked pages!

E

on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland

corner is old Martin's Bank then the  old Barclay's Bank gate is entrance to old cattle market

window of old ABC theater in Carlisle

Lily in the garden, Silloth

Sunset and Criffel in the distance

Gravestone at old Kirkconnell cemetery

Lowther Street,  Carlisle

Cowbridge, Brother's Water, Lake District, England

Drain at Blacket House, Eaglesfield, Scotland

On the hill just to the right of center is where the Bell peel  tower once stood. Blacket House grounds
Eaglesfield, Scotland

Day 11- Before You Leave

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I've posted that I loved traveling, yes, that is true, but the worst part of traveling, whether sighted or blind... is the leaving...


Going "home" is always bittersweet. You look forward to being in the place you belong... but covet the time you have had in that dream world.

Like all good things, the my studies and traveling  had to come to an end. My vision had worsened to the point of needing to be seriously looked at. I was not insured as the British subjects are... I couldn't have taxed their system, well, I could have. It turns out that they are very good in the UK about treating foreigners, the National Health Services are very accessible...Ophthalmologists are very well trained in handling retinal detachment, and possibly finding the cause earlier would have helped some in my case. 

 but, in the case that you need surgery,  you might not be able to fly for a while... and my son needed to go back to the US school system. He needs to be able to graduate with his class... needs to be able to go through the system.... be a good little citizen.... or else I would have never, ever left.
I still pine for distant lands.

Before we had to leave, before my vision got worse than it had been in France, we visited Scotland again, Edinburgh, The Kingdom of Fife... Ecclefechan... and so many, many places. We wandered through libraries, caves, gardens, Abbeys, on beaches, over water, through woods, and ruins.  Over bridges and under. We made the best of the time we had left. Ate the full "Scottish Breakfast" and had fried Haggis. Watched the Pipe Band Competition  and waded in Hermitage Water, we sat on Arthur's seat, had kabobs in Portobello, gazed at the ships making their way into the Firth of Forth. I sat in the graveyards of my ancestors for days, listing their names, mapping their resting places...