Saturday, July 31, 2010

Dragons, Bloody PC, Balloons.

I am very sad to be nearing the end of my book by Robin Hobb. Part of her Rain Wilds series (trilogy? I’m not sure) it is called Dragon Haven. I have been enjoying Robin Hobb’s books for years and this one is no exception. As many of you may remember, I love dragons and reading about them. I often wonder where the idea of dragons came from, the Chinese have dragons in their mythology as do the Welsh not to mention that England’s St. George is supposed to have killed a dragon. Where did these dragons come from I wonder. I have always loved dragon books by Anne McCaffery too, different kind of dragon and ones that were bioengineered by man, but Dragondragons, nevertheless. When I am reading these stories I am so envious of people who speak to dragons, work with dragons, etc. etc. I just remembered Mercedes Lackey’s Joust books too. Another favourite author of mine.

I have been playing with my new PC for a while and trying to reload software I used to use, some without any success. In fact a couple of programmes I have been able to load onto the laptop as it has a 32 bit versions of Win 7 and my PC is 64 bit. I confess I don’t really know what the difference is. My phone fax system does NOT want to load at all, and the particular software I was using is no longer available and cannot get it to re-install. All the updates are fax programmes or fax and voice mail programmes and do not allow one to make phone calls from the system. Not what I want at all. I do so wish software manufacturers wouldn’t change things. A friend described her feeling for computers as a kind of love/hate relationship. I know just what she means. Aha, I have finally found a phone dialer system which I think will work for me. Hooray.

I was up pretty early for me and looked out of the 100_0482window to see a balloon floating by. I once again wondered what time the passengers had risen this morning to be up in the air so early. When I first saw it, the sun was glinting on the balloon although the dawn sky itself was not yet very bright. Even after 10 years of living here I still get somewhat excited to see them.

Here’s another recipe I picked up from Cooking.com today, a Pasta Salad again which includes another favourite of mine, shrimp. I think I would cut this recipe back somewhat and make it for less people but still use lots of shrimp.

Dilly Shrimp Salad

Contributed By: Karlene, MT

Yield: 10 servings

I got this recipe from a friend of mine who likes dill as much as I do. My husband loves it and it has become a family favorite and also a potluck favorite with friends.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

Dilly Shrimp Salad Recipe at Cooking.com

4 cups cooked small shells or penne pasta

1 lb. cooked large shrimp, deveined and cut into thirds

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup chopped green onions, including green tops

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

8 oz. plain yogurt

1 cup Mayonnaise

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp. snipped fresh dill

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl combine pasta, shrimp, peas, celery, onions and parsley. In a small bowl combine yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill salt and pepper. pour over pasta mixture and toss gently. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours.

Have a great weekend.

Jo

3 comments:

  1. It is not only software manufacturers who change their stuff all the time, and yes, it is maddening. I am in the process of replacing all my landline phones (I have a connection in each of my rooms so that I do not have to run to answer the phone) and I've bought them all in the last 8 or so years, but they already look old-fashioned and lack some smart things phones do today.

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  2. From Annalou: Jo, 64-bit computers work in a different way from 32-bit. You'll have to search for programs/software suitable for 64-bit -'backward compatibility' won't work in this instance. I often notice on software download pages that there are different links for 32-bit and 64-bit. If you go to downloads.com and enter 64-bit into the search field, it only gives a few results but does have links to 64-bit software.

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  3. Thanks Lou, It seems to be a pain in the butt. I will check out the sites you mentioned though.

    Marilyn, why don't you have a cordless phone, you can then carry the phone itself anywhere you go.

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