How different the world is with a smart phone.

I have been putting off the smart phone transition everyone else has done for years because of the costs which seemed much higher than a land line and less reliable during emergencies. I recall that during the events of Sept. 11, 2001 here in Washington DC that the news reported that people trying to use their smart cell phones overloaded the system towers and couldn't get through to anyone. I thought that was a great reason not to buy into the expensive programs that I didn't understand. The pushy advertising also turned me off to the trend. Eventually however I got a "pay as you go" phone to carry in an emergency with me in the car or walking around.

Pay Phone on the metro platform 2010. 

It became clear that people no longer would stop on the side of the road if you broke down to offer help or a ride to a pay phone and public pay phones were disappearing or broken everywhere. Since I drive an older car, the thought of being stuck was what got me to buy into the Star Trek style flip phone. With this fairly inexpensive toy-phone I enjoyed having a way to contact people when I was meeting them out in the city and felt confidant I could and did get help from AAA when I needed. Over the years Verizon landline division (they are separate companies now) jacked the price of land line service up higher and higher without adding any new features, only over taxing my meager income, while the Verizon wireless offered so many things including constant access to the Internet and everything that comes with it so the big stumbling block was to take the leap to the new device and to have enough money to buy the first phone. This past Christmas when asked what I wanted I decided it was time to be an iPhone 6 user and asked for that as my favored gift of the season. So the culture shift came for me when the new year began...

I sketch on metro rides to and from downtown and at some point in the last 15 years we began to notice people were using these smart cell phones everywhere all the time. Checking out of the boring ride home or downtown they sit with all their attention directed at the hand held device. They made easy targets for sketches as they didn't move much and they didn't look up at what I was doing. That was kind of fun but often the hands moved a lot making illustrating them more challenging. I still prefer a rider with a book or a newspaper or just sleeping.

 I grew more interested in these smart phones when social media began pulling bloggers away from their blog posts and over to platforms of image sharing that did not admit old fashioned users of desktop or laptop computers to see nor post images. I was stuck writing my blog posts to share stories and images in a more thoughtful way which might be considered literate next to the new ways.
That opened up eventually and now you can look at Instagram images and posts via those vintage household devices but it's not as immediate as having it all in the palm of your hand. Clearly smart phones also have a camera now which makes sharing experiences instantly very simple, almost de rigueur but from the other side of the metro car it isn't clear what all the excitement is about and how it holds on to the rider's interest so completely.

 Sometimes I see people just holding their smart phones not using them for anything but clutching it like a pair of gloves that one doesn't want to misplace when facing cold weather...

 Others zone out while listening to music, pod casts and the new books on "tape" that are read to you out loud by some skilled actor; great for us dyslexics.

 Often people are just flipping through this and that, emails, song choices or even talking to people while they are on the go. This can be very disruptive on a quiet metro car or walking down the street its queer to hear someone talking and not know if they are addressing you or some unseen person over their private airwaves.

 They use them standing up and seated and walking around even while driving cars and buses or in some sad cases we have seen on the news while driving trains... This fellow all suited up held his in his groin covering up his device but equally focused on the text or what ever he was connecting with on his smart cell phone.

Children have them too filling time rather than looking around at the world they daydream in other places. This year research has been presented and more is being done on the impact of so much time looking at a screen and the lack of downtime or what we called being bored. It seems that being bored is a valuable time for your brain to be creative! So the researchers suggested turning those ever present devices of entertainment and distraction off once in a while and just daydreaming the old fashioned way to fill time. 

Anyway Keith and I joined the 21st century now that the cost is less for more but I am trying to be mindful of how I use the new smart phone. Lots of pictures to share and lots of new applications to learn to use and connect up with others. The world is different with all these connections and some are great others like instant news of a beheading and murderous world unrest and misery less so but it's the new world we live in. I suppose if there is a disaster that I can use text messaging to contact my dear ones. Email worked from my desktop in 2001 when the cell telephones did not; we just have to keep a hard wire connection to some communication device at home now to feel safe. 

Now sadly I do less sketching on metro trips but I was brave enough to snap a random person's portrait while riding downtown last week. I adore this lady and her funny hat which was actually about as funny as my own. If I had a sketch book and pen I would have drawn her without a doubt... maybe I still can from the iPhone photograph.  

selfie on the metro platform wearing my funny fur hat and coat. 

Chesapeake bay house autumn artists retreat

cirrus clouds blew in to view for a week of perfect weather 

first arrangement of wild and garden flowers Keith built upon arrival

view from the bay window at dawn one morning 

sun rise on the bay

Kudzu grows up and over trees in the little valley by the red house 

Unknown bug in the field

the boats docked in Chesapeake Beach by the railway trail 

green heron at the edge of the water hunting tiny fish thousands of them were visible from above on the boadwalk

one of many great blue herons stalking

beautiful cirrus clouds and crisp autumn air make for perfect walking weather by the bay

Mallard ducks on the waterway below the board walk trail

wild magenta purple morning glory on a barbed wire fence; ample seeds collected to add to our garden next season

King fisher perched on a pole along the waterway squawked  and fled a closer perch when we passed on the boardwalk 

white snowy egrets on that distant pier and in the shallow water's edge

on the ride home we pass in a Nature Conservancy's preserve and there was a flock of 9 wild turkey's strolling in a field at the edge of the forest.

Here the turkey's are marching off into the shadows aware of us but not panicked by it... still the photo from the car seat wasn't the best. 

beginning to notice some color in the eastern clouds as they approach the bay from the west.

we rushed over to the lake to get the best views of the sunset looking west

Rain had been in the forecast all day but not until sunset did we see any clouds 

by the time we made it to the lake (10 minute quick hike from the house) we began to see not only clouds and colorful sunset but what looked like rain falling

We headed back to the house as it began to get darker since we didn't bring a flashlight

from the bridge where we talked to a few of the fishermen who showed us their catch the white of the clay cliffs by our house are visible across the bay

We had a really great time staying in the Ruppert's red house by the Chesapeake bay this past week. Keith and I packed up everything we would need, including food and linens as well as tools and supplies to make our respective artist projects and drove only 40 miles from our apartment to the bay house Molly and her family offered us to use as an artist's retreat last week. We spent a day getting unpacked, setting up the studios we needed and then rains came and we were ready to work inside. Once the rains passed we were ready for a good long walk and there is always plenty to see and enjoy. I left my Internet and TV at home which allowed me to be very focused on my quilting projects and resting in between with good food and company. We took turns cooking, I made breakfast and lunch then worked while Keith made dinner and our late night egg white & bran galette with fruit, a routine we began while dieting that we keep because we love it so much. We went one day to Chesapeake Beach to the great little thrift shop. I got an armload of quilting fabrics and sheets plus two hand knitted wash cloths two dress shirts two pair of pants and two ceramic vases for a grand total of $7.50. Astounding to walk out with so much for so little. Then we took an ambitious walk on the boardwalk and trail along the old railway path. Nature abounds there with tidal marsh and flowing waterways that empty into the bay. Forest and fields... birds everywhere and a few wild flowers for the careful observer were a delight. I took a limited number of photos for the whole week. Total came to 46 in the end many of those of the amazing sunset and storm that passed over Fairhaven Cliffs the last evening we were there. We got drenched on the warm walk home but it was worth the wet spell to see the beautiful sunset and get a record to end our week with a dramatic show of colors. It is such a blessing to have an occasional retreat from the city where we saw wild turkeys, bald eagles, king fisher, blue herons, crows, ground hogs,deer and more creatures to many to list. Keith heard owls several times very late in the night but I slept through the concerts of hooting on this visit. We enjoyed a night of star gazing on the deck a few times and walks on the beach to collect drift wood and cuttings for Keith's work. I tried my hand at reed cutting (bamboo) to make some pens to draw with like Vincent Van Gogh used. I did only one drawing this time but now I have a collection of bamboo to cut as needed for more this winter. For me completing the Rose-star quilt basting was a major accomplishment for my week but I am going to post later on the quilting accomplishments when I get a few more photos to show.

Williamsburg II

There was a first day on our visit to Willamsburg when we toured the gardens and just enjoyed the beautiful light on all the old and reconstructed buildings. I get a kick out of looking and making photos of all these patterns colors textures and compositions.

Pomegranates ripe and ready

pomegranate flowering in a pot

tomaotes

beauty berry a native to Virginia 

cool porch design in a back yard view

lady in red riding sidesaddle 

gate with a hedge overhead 

fancy backyard 

Lady riding in a towncar

handsome out house 

another white mulberry leans over the street 

passing colonials 

lady with a hen

hen on a leash was with the lady in red

Orange leaves against the red wall

kitchen garden and out houses for smoking meats and keeping milk cold 

hen house 

Sheep 

Tavern kitchen garden 

white mulberry tree trunk cut back but not down

unusual fence design framing the lovely hedge and yellow leaves 

Love that blue sky against the red and orange 

The old courthouse under the cotton puff clouds