Today is graduation day here. After what has felt like weeks of rain we have a lovely, sunny day. I'm so happy for the graduates and their families (a substantial portion of the events are held out doors, rain or shine).Graduation day always makes me rather nostalgic and reflective.
Last night I had dinner with a good friend. Before dinner I toured her lovely garden. The rain stopped just long enough for us to take a short stroll around. It was breezy so most of the flowers were moving too much for photos, but I was able to capture these lovely roses.
Dinner with friends is always fun. We talked about everything--embroidery, family, food and recipes, and life in general. It was a good evening.
My work doesn't get a break with graduation--next week I'm running a conference here and I've been pelted with fiscal-year-end deadlines. Yesterday, however, I had a very productive meeting that cleared a huge mound of financial paperwork off of my desk. Now, if the other parties do their thing in a timely manner, it will all be cleared up for good. Yay!
Right now, I have a number of friends going through difficult times either due to the economy, health issues or, sadly, both. Boy, do I feel helpless. All I can do is listen and send good thoughts their way.
As of today, we don't have broadcast TV any longer. That may change, but for now we decided not to go digital. We've been watching friends and family who have and have found the "boxes" are often junk and fail within a few months, the signal strength is lower so even with the converter box and a new antenna, people are getting many fewer stations. And we don't want cable and the bills that go along with it.
We did buy a new TV a while back--and almost immediately returned it. The warranty was void unless 90% of the programming viewed was wide screen. Since very little of what we watch is in that format, we decided to forgo the new TV. (Plus, we're rather annoyed that rather than lasting 10 to 20+ years like older televisions, the new ones have a life span of about five years. We're not fans of this type of planned obsolescence both in terms of the environment and our pocketbooks.)
So, we begin the experiment. When I lived alone before marriage, I happily did not have a TV. My DH, however, has always watched it a lot, although he's cut back greatly over the years. But, over those same years, I've gotten in the habit of watching while I embroider. (I like Nascar for that, with it's replays of anything interesting I may have missed while taking a stitch.) We have a huge pile of video and dvds, so we won't be without the boob-tube completely. I'm hoping this will be a good change for us.
