Ah! Windows update!
Monday morning with crisp air
Crows laughing outside
Blog
Sunday, December 27, 2020
sunset in Edmonds
cold wind blowing from the west
brilliant colors sing
A Few Thoughts On This Christmas Day
After a lovely day with my family where I got to feel joy and contentment, remembering happy moments at various times in my life, I received a reminder that not everyone reflects on their childhood with happiness. Surviving Childhood Trauma is a blog that, well, it’s title sums it nicely. And today’s post, Trauma & the Holidays serves as a reminder that not everyone’s memories are laden with love and joy. We need to honor our friends and neighbors who find the holidays to be times of horror, anguish, and pain. And, especially after the year that 2020 has been, many people are struggling with loss, sadness, despair, and loneliness. Those feelings should be honored, too. Such are the elements of grace.
May we all find peace, grace, and well-being this season. And here’s to a 2021 with less misery and more connection.
Featured Image by Olenka Sergienko from Pexels
Snow Upon Firs, Today’s Haiku
silence of midnight
celebrate tranquility
snow upon the firs
Tuesday Morning, December 22, 2020
morning darkness
unwanted wakefulness;
listening to the rain
A winter morning
raindrops sing
a melancholy tune
my tea cup cools
December 19, 2020: Rainy Day Haiku
this December day
under my feet cold ripples
keep moving forward
Cold, rainy day. Ripples in the puddles. For me, this means home. What about you?
Always in a Rush
always in a rush –
sunlight drifts across the trees
raindrops upon roofs
Wrote this one early this morning as part of Baffled’s Haiku Challenge (on Twitter). I appreciate his daily challenges, forcing me to stretch my mind. Also, these haiku are a great way to keep my Adobe skills sharp. I create most of my posts right now with Adobe Spark.
Today’s desire: capture the feeling of a cold, dark, winter’s morning in Seattle. Today was dreary and damp, hence the focus. I opted for the Playfair font. A unique font, with understated serifs.
A Bit Of Internet History: Microsoft FrontPage
Microsoft FrontPage: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
FrontPage was one of my early forays into web design. I started with cobbling together basic HTML, but my skills in the late 90s/early 2000s were pretty weak. I then discovered Netscape Navigator’s editor. I can’t remember if they stopped supporting the WYSIWYG tool, or if I outgrew it, but the next tool I used was FrontPage.
When I created the website for Christ Episcopal Church (in Seattle’s University District), this was the tool I used. One of our members was on staff at Microsoft, so was able to donate a copy to us. And so I was able to bring the church into the 21st century.
I knew enough HTML to edit the code that FrontPage crafted, and I remember tweaking things from time-to-time. But I don’t really remember much in the way of detail. Reading this article taught me several FrontPage features that I was oblivious to, key amongst them: tasks. It’s pretty cool how the tool was built with a project management focus.
The article goes into the acquisition of Vermeer (the creators of FrontPage), and ensuing issues with hyper-proprietary technology. (Side note: I had no idea that FrontPage was created outside of Microsoft and then brought in by acquisition). And also looks at the other WYSIWG competing editors, and what all of them lack.
It was fun looking back at this clunky tool. It was almost great. That, and a Starbucks gift card, will get you a cup of coffee.
Walking at Night: a Haiku
feet upon pavement
headlights move through the darkness
facelessly pass by
Walking last night, stepping over and around puddles, remembering so many other nights. An element of this Seattle life.