Wednesday 12 August 2020

Stupid New Blogger!

Hello there! Not only is it far too hot and humid at the moment, I have just spent a frustrating hour trying to upload my photos to this new version of Blogger. I don't like change of any kind and that, combined with my palaeolithic technical abilities, mean that any change to my usual way of doing things on the computer sends me into meltdown. Consequently, you may or may not have any images attached to this post. If you do, it's only because I have walked away from my laptop and plan to try again tomorrow morning when, hopefully, both my computer and I are somewhat cooler! Even reverting to the old version doesn't help; when I try to add photos, all I get is a load of text and no image. If people are going to mess with something, they might take the time to make sure that what they're replacing it with actually works. Googling the problem, it seems I'm not the only one having trouble. Blogger tech team - if you're reading this - you suck!

Not much has happened around here. R is still working from home, E is still valiantly trying to finish her MPhil, despite closed libraries and archives, and I am now thoroughly fed up with this whole Coronavirus nonsense and just want everything to go back to the way it was. The only bright spot is that L and her boyfriend, J, have just completed on their first flat in London. They picked up the keys yesterday and have a month to do a bit of decorating before the lease on their current rental place expires. She gave us a virtual tour last night and it looks beautiful; all white walls, wooden floorboards and a roof terrace with lovely views. We're driving up at the weekend to see it in person and to help move some bits and pieces across. I'm desperately trying not to dwell on how much it all cost - London prices, phew! At least they are benefiting from the stamp duty changes at the moment.

Apart from that, there has been a bit of knitting, a lot of veg eating (I'm struggling to keep up with the courgettes and patty pan squash) and more walks than you can shake a stick at. I froze my gym membership for August and then had to get in touch with them this morning when we discovered that, despite sending an email confirming my frozen membership, they had still deducted the money from the account. I'm beginning to wonder whether anyone is capable of doing their job properly! Sorry, I'm in a bad mood. :O(

Here then (hopefully!) are some photos from the last month:

Rose City Roller socks made with Tencel yarn from the bark of the eucalyptus tree. These are for E who is more of a hard line vegan than the rest of us. I can't say that I enjoyed knitting these very much. They seemed quite open weave and I should probably have decreased my usual needle size.

Anniversary flowers from R, along with some Booja Booja truffles!
Fawley Church in the North Wessex Downs. Fawley was the home of Thomas Hardy's grandmother. He based the village Marygreen in 'Jude the Obscure' on Fawley and gave Jude the surname Fawley too.



Burrushi!
Meeting L and J for a picnic on Clapham Common:
The lake on the common:
I can recommend the Covent Garden courgette and tarragon soup recipe for those with a glut!
Painting the old Wendy house on a hot day. It took 3 coats, but I was plugged into Audible and it was bliss!
Headless bird! :O)
Present from J and B for cat sitting:
Watching a socially distant outdoor screening of the film '1917' at Shaw House. We took a picnic and it was very cosy under the umbrella when it started to rain!
The harvest is bountiful!
Mason bees taking up residence in the bee hostel that L made for our 2nd hand/homemade Christmas last year:
A walk around the grounds of Ashdown House:
Winding yarn for the 'Weekender Sweater' by Andrea Mowry:
Blocking my 'Nurmilintu Shawl'. The yarn was a present from my friend, W. I'm glad that I put a lifeline in before each lace section as it appears that I don't have the concentration to follow a pattern properly!

Well, that's it for this month. Tonight we are taking Rishi up on his offer to 'Eat Out to Help Out', so I don't have to worry about what to cook for dinner - result! I hope you are well, my friends. I'm just off for a calming cup of tea to recover from the trauma of uploading photos!  Enjoy the sunny weather whilst it lasts - they have promised me thunderstorms for this afternoon; I can't wait!

Toodle pip for now. x

6 comments:

  1. Well done on the successful photo upload. I’m using google photo to upload and it seems ok so far. I’m still on the old version of blogger as I prefer it. Hopefully they won’t remove it. I’m definitely a legacy type of person. I’ve copied your courgette recipe and look forward to making it. Still swamped with courgettes here. Congrats on the flat for your daughter. Hope the move goes well.
    I know what you mean about this COVID world of ours. Time to move on I feel, I’ve had enough too. Hopefully you’re feeling more cheerful now. B x

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    1. It's the same with Ravelry - I have reverted to the old version. I hear that a lot of people are having issues with the new one. With a lot of things, new people take over and feel they have to make their mark. Whether it's an improvement or not seems irrelevant. xx

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  2. I’m with you, if something’s working ok why change it. Using an iPad I’m having difficulty with the new blogger. Certainly not publishing as I’d like but at least we are both managing to produce something, result.

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  3. Yeah, I see photos! So funny you mentioned New Blogger. I have just spent a couple of hours acquainting myself with it. I realised I couldn't keep reverting to the old version as they will be getting rid of it soon. Lovely pics. The shorn sheep look all summery :) I make courgette soup too. It's delicious!

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  4. I see pictures! Yay! I'm with you re any techie changes being an utter technophobe!I go into utter meltdown too. I had the same problems with wordpress editor...I hadn't a clue how to navigate it.
    Great news re the flat! Good luck to them both.Oh....I'm sick and tired of how inefficient some people are, especially of late. I'm loving your hard line vegan daughter, that yarn does look lovely.
    Your outings sound fab, I haven't eaten out yet, it's just the pub so far. Oooooh....that courgette soup sounds good, I've never tried them in a soup, that's tomorrow's food sorted! Lovely catch up, I've missed you.xxx

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  5. I too have found the updated version of Blogger quite frustrating. I found that it had deleted parts of a couple of old posts but have no idea how! Enjoy your courgettes - courgette and lime cake is yummy! xx

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