Monday, April 28, 2014

midlife monday: a woman's lot ...



Doesn't this vending machine just sum it up about what it really means to be a woman? Pain. Menstruation. Sex appeal. IMO, the first two are relevant but climax control lotion? An exotic condom? Srsly? ... and what the heck is an oriental exciter? Even google is no help on that one.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Mission accomplished


Mission accomplished, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

Mission accomplished

Sunday, April 20, 2014

i made stuff!



http://ift.tt/PkSgH8

Friday, April 18, 2014

the daily pussy: golden child #catsofinstagram


http://ift.tt/1haoSu9

For dinner rain, a photograph of my cat lying in the sun has been reported to blogger ...

The original, here on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/m8RKh1kla8/?igshid=MDM4ZDc5MmU= 

And here's the screenshot.....



Thursday, April 17, 2014

spt17apr14



Has anyone noticed? It's getting more and more difficult to post anything substantial in a blog these days. At least it is in my experience. And I'm talking mainly about touchscreen or mobile posting.
Previously, the majority of my blogging was thru Flickr but it has disabled its support for blogger, saying that most uploads now go to tumblr. The beauty of the feature was that you could create post content directly in Flickr that would upload only to Blogger and not add to the image description. The blog by email function is still available so I guess I need to make more of that, except that my entire post is uploaded below my image.
The android app for Flickr has suddenly removed its tagging feature. This means that my IFTTT recipe doesn't kick in for photo uploads as I upload them. This adds another step in the process.
I can blog from Instagram, just not much text beyond a title.
I'm still grieving for Posterous.
I haven't been blogging as much in terms of writing longer posts as apposed to just throwing around pictures. My internet use has changed - leisure browsing is done mostly on mobile devices; I use my desktop for paid writing work now. There is a sharp distinction in my keyboard habits and usage that's affecting my blogging. At the end of a working day I don't really want to write any more sitting at my desk.
So what I suppose I'm saying is that my blogging needs to evolve. What do I want to write about? What do I want to share? What do I need to say on the interwebs? Currently I don't feel the "blogging as therapy" need as strongly as I once did (yay me!) but I still value the daily/weekly creative exercise.
I don't want to just post pictures or one-liners.
Substantial posts take time to research and write. I don't have that much time these days.
What should I post?
Work in progress - stay tuned.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

wordless wednesday: surge

surge

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Sunday Sunshine


Sunday Sunshine, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

The only way to tackle jetlag is to get out and about in the sunshine so we headed off to Cypress for some cross country skiing at Hollyburn.
I sincerely hope that we avoid the 3am awakenings tonight.

relax - nothing is under control

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So we're home once more.
Back at home base.
Back to normality.
School ... work ... domestic matters.
Venice, Amsterdam, Scotland ... so long ago?
Back to life, back to reality.
Plotting anew once the credit cards are paid off.

Friday, April 11, 2014

friday forte: so long and thanks for all the fish



The holiday is almost over. Today we played a giant game of chess on the top of the science museum. We had lunch at the library, dining out on its rooftop deck in the sunshine. Afterwards, we walked through old Amsterdam to the Van Gogh museum where we said hello again to the irises and meet a new sunset picture. Now were eating pizza, bags packed, just round the corner from our Plantage hotel. Tomorrow Schiphol, airplane, home. School for the Wee Guy. Back to work for mr ebb. Back to the keyboard for me. We'll be back.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

spt10apr14: still managing some daily pussy

the daily pussy: on reflection

Today's itinerary = Amsterdam, by canal.
Still on holiday and still managing to snatch some daily pussy while out and about. Like this fine specimen captured above - another fuzzball for my growing collection.

Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Amsterdon't again

lion fish

Yes - we're back, and this time it's the whole family. We're spending a few days in Amsterdam before heading back to Canada.
Yesterday we left Venice, coped with a delayed flight, made our way into Amsterdam without resorting to the hotel shuttle and found somewhere decent to eat a meal.
Wee Guy and I are back in the same hotel that we stayed in almost three years ago but this time mr ebb is with us. We're exploring Amsterdam as a family this time.
Today we explored Artis Zoo, experiencing the vulture feeding session, a bigger baby elephant, getting through minor melt-downs, and a whole tankful of lionfish. It was fun.
Then I successfully navigated us into the rest of Amsterdam, Red Light District and all (colourful silicon novelties and underwear-clad gals) before finding my way back to the same cafe Wee guy and I ate in on our last night back in September 2011.
Tomorrow?

Monday, April 07, 2014

next leg?



this part of the holiday is almost over. as i write this, our bags are packed and the apartment is set to as it was when we arrived. checked in and transfer tickets to hand. sad to leave but excited for the next adventure. planning our return.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

full steam ahead for a new day

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This little chap, running full steam into a new day's adventure, has wanted to visit Venice ever since he learned about it. The idea of an entire city built around a maze of canals, with foundations rising out of the seabed, fascinated him.
Our last trip back to the UK then onwards though London, Paris, Madrid, Mojaca and returning home via Amsterdam just fed his wanderlust with Venice at its epicentre.
He seems pleased to be here at last.
We've burnt a lot of shoe leather since arriving.
Today we experienced the crushes on the vaporetto routes through the Grand Canal, past the amazing palaces and tantalising views into the smaller waterways of Dorsoduro.
I think he's pleased to be experiencing the city at first hand.
Unfortunately, his anxiety levels are maxed out. No - it's not pleasant.
Venice is a bewildering maze of a city to navigate around. Getting slightly lost is a normal part of the day's adventuring.
When he's anxious about life he lashes out. He doesn't trust us. He whines. He acts up. He shouts at us, wherever we are.
Yes - we're the parents with the whining ungrateful kid who is acting like a spoiled brat and doesn't deserve the trip of a lifetime to Venice. We're also the parents who in absolute exasperation have pointed out to him that if he can do a better job of navigating his way home, to go right ahead. We've also sent him to sit outside the cafe when his whines have increased to patron-upsetting decibel levels, and have just plain ignored him. And yes - we've also told him to shut up.
All in public.
Worst parents ever.
I think we're all still having the holiday of a lifetime.
All three of us.

Saturday, April 05, 2014

saturday sur mer (excuse the french)

Full pelt - outside the basilica on Torcello

Saturday - I'd like to present our Saturday.
After a lazy start (yet again) we set out, buying 12h vaporetto tickets to get us out to Murano and islands further north. We managed to make sense of the ACTV waterbus lines and our first stop was Murano, the glass island. The glass is amazing but, a little like the gold souks of Dubai, enough is enough eventually.
Next stop - Torcello for the beautiful Byzantine friezes in the basilica (sadly, no bell towerclimb), then on to Burano and Mazzarbo, the island of cats. No cats, but plenty of artichokes.
Cats aplenty on Burano. Captured a few daily pussies for flickr.
Then back home via a meal out.
Zzzzs for all.

How the heck to I manage a trip here to stay for a month?

Friday, April 04, 2014

keeping social media in the family

IMG_20140404_163626

This sight gladdens a mother's heart. It's my Wee Guy, taking photos of the waves breaking on the venetian shoreline on his iPod before posting them to Instagram, using my WiFi as a tethered signal.

Now - I have been accused of wasting my time on social media, "Haven't you got anything better to do?" The enquirer didn't understand twitter or Facebook or Flickr or blogger or any firm of engaging with others online, so no surprise I suppose.

The Wee Guy though has recently discovered Instagram, and the friends on there, and the huge Minecraft community who comment on the blocky screen grabs. Right now, he's instagramming his way around Scotland and Venice, sharing his travel finds with a growing online network of friends.

I'm sure that some readers will consider him too young for this, bewailing a childhood wasted in front of a screen and open to every cyberpredator under the sun. Rest assured - we don't drop the parenting when he's online. As with parents in the past, were trying to do our very best for him. And this includes getting him prepared for an online future and digital presence, the extent of which families have not had to cope with before now.

While we are well aware of the screaming edicts of limiting screen time and not rotting our kids' brains with pixels, we're also preparing him for a digital future that will most likely involve electronic social interaction and virtual relationship reputation management.

We're not planning on sending him out there as a newbie.
The best learning is done early and at home.

Thursday, April 03, 2014

spt 3apr14: tourist Venice omg :)



http://ift.tt/1mCR39W

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

is flickr still working?

Testing testing testing.Is flickr still uploading images via email to the blog I wonder?

is flickr still working?

Testing testing testing.Is flickr still uploading images via email to the blog I wonder?

ebb and flo by pomo mama design click to shop pomo mama design online!