Testing the new Netbook

I actually read the user’s manual. Well most of it anyway. Today returned to Prescott for the needed USB external dialup modem and got this sweet little thang working online. Have been exploring what software is available, without the 60 day trial. I usually write my posts up on Word before copy and paste to blogspot. That’s trial software. So am using Works. And it won’t let me paste. So now I’m trying Live Writer. I guess that’s what technology is all about, constant change. Now to figure out how to get Media Player to play the music I copied from my laptop via a flash drive. And need to test the WIFI.

17 more days til takeoff!

Going to South Africa

I’ve mentioned my upcoming trip to South Africa in recent posts and realize many of you may not have been around when I bought tickets back in June.

I’ve wanted to see the world all my adult life and this is my first trip off my own continent. I’ve been in western Canada a few times and traveled throughout a lot of eastern Mexico. Now’s My Time!

In fact blogging has a lot to do with my going specifically to South Africa, although it was already on “the list.” Not long after I started blogging, over a year ago, I found an amazing blog written by Joan at SouthAfricanPhotographs with many gorgeous and teasing photos of her country and wildlife, that’s Big and Small as she is really into bugs and such. We cultivated more than a “followers” friendship and she told me I could stay at her place if I came for a visit. That got my gears rolling and I started to research the possibility of following my dream. The cost of the flight wasn’t too bad and within my budget and the rate of exchange is around $1USD/$8Rand. The hardest thing was actually buying the ticket, 9 months in advance. I rarely plan anything more than 6 months ahead.

I started to research, something I truly enjoy. For me the “plan” is part of the journey. I discovered and joined CouchSurfers (CS) hosting a couple of times last summer at the North Rim Grand Canyon NP.
Since then I’ve made several contacts with people along my proposed route in South Africa and should find overnight accommodations in the comfort of a welcome home at many stops along the way interspersed with some camping.

I leave from Phoenix Monday morning, March 1, switch planes in Washington DC and arrive in Frankfurt, Germany Tuesday morning. A fellow CouchSurfer is going to show me around as I have an 11 hour layover and don’t need a Visa to leave the airport. Wednesday morning I land in Johannesburg, South Africa where Joan will pick me up. Then, hopefully, attend a lunch with two other SA bloggers, Just I and Myself and Thatchwick Cottage.

[The big 5 http://www.smartguide.co.za/]
Joan is taking a vacation and we’re going safari camping in the world renowned Kruger National Park. OMG, I can hardly believe I’m getting a chance at possibly seeing the “Big 5” of South Africa. Hopefully we’ll actually see some animals over all the talking we’re sure to do. ;-)

Thanks to blogger Jo at Memorable Meanders I will be backpacking 2-3 days in the Drakensberg Mountains with her son John and maybe wife Debbie. By then I’ll have rented a car and have to remember to drive on the “wrong” or left side of the road.

I want to see it all, but a month just isn’t long enough, so I made a long list and will do what I want/can. I hope to journey into KwaZulu-Natal, the Garden Route coast of the Eastern Cape, Little Karoo and the Western Cape where I fly out of Cape Town Monday, March 29.

I bought the Netbook to stay in touch. So hopefully I’ll find a little time to post. Otherwise, if I can ever label all the photos I’m sure to take, I should have enough posts to last.....

Am I Excited? You Better Believe It! 18 days and counting.

SWF - Goodnight to a Gooday

Sunset over the Weaver Mountains
On the way home from yesterday’s shopping spree (scroll down for that) the sky provided an ever changing show.

To view more skies from around the world, or to share your own, go to Sky Watch Friday by clicking here.

Can’t connect the Netbook to dialup without an USB external dialup modem. So back to BestBuy tomorrow. I may get this to work yet. Actually, will be easier to use as designed for on WIFI, which ain’t around here.

New and Used goods/Shopping in Prescott

I’m not a shopper on the best of days, unless it’s second hand. That’s a different story and I look for the deals. Yet with only 18 days left until I fly off to South Africa I’m whittling away at the final needed items. I’m really going to try not to over pack because each up to 50 pound piece of baggage costs $250.

Highway 89 north to Prescott, Arizona
My shopping list was way too long with many stops, Wal-Mart, Costco, Safeway, Gateway Mall, Best Buy and don’t forget the thrift stores. So Berta and went to Prescott, the town of plenty. The drive up sparkled with morning hoar frost on the junipers and pines. The Bradshaw Mountains showed a speckled green against the snow white background.

At Noah’s Thrift store, which supports local animal groups, I headed for the display case with jewelry and collectables and the first thing I saw was a pair of sterling silver (SS) earrings in the shape of Africa. If that’s not coincidence enough the volunteer lady behind the counter lived in Johannesburg, South Africa for two years and was elated about my upcoming adventure. We chatted excitedly about places I should see until I realized time was slipping by and I had more shopping to do. I left with the earrings, a SS ring set with something blue, and 5 articles of clothing for $5. Nice start.

I was on the hunt for several very specific items. Like a new purse, as the strap loop on my old favorite tooled-leather purse broke while leaving the airplane in Houston last week. It will be repaired sometime like I already did to the other side. The second stop at a consignment shop solved that problem with a medium-large multi-pocketed leather bag that actually has organized space for all the stuff I feel the need to shlep around. This consignment shop, sorry can’t remember the name, carried top quality clothing and accessories at reasonable prices, not thrift store cheap. I also bought a sensually soft cashmere cardigan, light weight and warm. And a snood.

Berta guided me safely through Gateway Mall for, things needed at a mall. I really dislike shopping malls and was thankful the place was almost deserted. Then we tackled Wal-Mart where I found a great travel bag and other items I need for the trip. We hit Costco for lunch and shopping, then Safeway for the rest of the groceries.

Yet my most exciting buy was an Asus Eee PC Netbook at BestBuy. It’s such a cute and light weight little thing weighing in at just under 3 pounds.

I’m still figuring it out. Needed an Ethernet cable which Mike picked up in town today to connect the Netbook to an external modem (yes it has WIFI but I don’t) so it will work here on dialup. What a waste. Maybe the next post will go out on it. So this will be my connection to the world while I’m in South Africa.

The drive home was superb. And thus ended a busy and fun day shopping.

MWT - A-piph-a-tree

Mike loves to landscape; I think it may be meditative. And so we have an A-piph-a-tree in the back yard.

It started with a fence followed by a pond and rock work. I believe this to be an ongoing project. Actually it started with the big Arizona White Oak in the untouched back yard.

This is a marvelously dreamy place to sit and think. And maybe have some inspiration, come to a realization, make a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, have an Epiphany.

Lately, I’ve had many epiphanies. Falling in love filled an empty part of my life I didn’t know I had.

Visiting my parents taught me to accept the things I cannot change. More on this later.

View from bench under A-piph-a-tree
The tree of life has always been a strong image for me. I am terrestrial and usually have my feet planted on the ground. Maybe not barefoot like in my youth as my feet have become soft and tender. My arm-like branches reach out to capture what energy I can from the universe. I grow, especially when watered with the journey of life. My roots reach down into the earth for needed nutrients like the words of a treasured friend. I listen and learn.

To visit more of the world, or to share a look into your own, visit My World Tuesday by clicking here.

My Word dictionary: an epiphany is a Christian festival marking the visit of the Magi to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth or, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the baptism of Jesus Christ. As a noun, an epiphany is the supposed manifestation of a divine being, the appearance of God.

Panning for gold, in the kitchen?

The wash next door brings rock from the Weaver Mountains, and there's gold in them thar hills.  Read more...