Ann Seeber

My local library is a member of the Ramapo/Catskill Library System which has 50 participating libraries in the Hudson Valley. I've done Libby but get annoyed with the wait for an e-book! I can't understand why a download would be limited. I usually use Book Bub which markets low-priced e-books. The most expensive is around $5.00 or less. I saw Carole's softcover priced at $40 whereas the Kindle I bought was $9.99. There's usually a dramatic difference between paper and digital. My Kindle collection is running to nearly 1000 books and I'm so glad I don't have to shelve them at home! Most cost less than $5.00 each. I shop the bargain bins!

'

I have several novels going at the same time: the main one on my Kindle and then I also buy Chirp audiobooks for when I'm in the car and use the Kindle app on my iPhone when I need to wait for something away from home. The only thing I could never do was read while a passenger in the car - it makes me carsick! 

4 hours ago, Rene Marker said:

I got my newest Kindle. It has a 6" screen and weighs 6 oz. It is small and light with a long battery life. Since it isn't color, the pages look more like books.

Rene, that sounds like the one Debbie has which is called the Kindle Paperwhite. I looked into it and it seemed quite expensive considering there were no "bells & whistles" such as color or an internet browser. She loves hers, also, mainly because it is small enough to tuck away. Personally, I'll stick with my Fire.

I too use a Kindle Fire which is equivalent to an iPad in usefulness, at about 1/3 the price. My grandson, Tyler, got a new Kindle Fire and took it with him on vacation to Bali, Indonesia. He had a very long flight so he could use it to play video games and watch movies in full living color. The color resolution on a Kindle is awesome! I started reading Carole's new book yesterday on my Kindle, and the first thing I liked is the table of contents is interactive so I can jump around in the book just by touching the screen on the chapter/topic that I want to see. No scrolling necessary, and, in fact, with a Kindle, you don't scroll, you swipe left to turn a page. I also have the Kindle app on my iPhone and find it useful for reading in doctor's waiting rooms, etc., instead of lugging around the full Kindle. My Kindle is the 7-inch version which I find comfortable. My fingers are arthritic, and I have difficulty with larger books. Amazon has its own version of an app store and the link is there on the Kindle screen. It is android based, like the Samsung phones. Here is an illustration of mine in its VanGogh case, though mine is the green and pink cherry orchard design.

18 minutes ago, Cassel said:

I hope it was an enjoyable duo!

It certainly is! It will be an ongoing thing, for sure!

6 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

What?...no prizes.   Don't we all get a gold star just for showing up?

🌟

Mine was waiting for me when I got up this morning, Kindle and Coffee!

3 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

Possibly the late '70's or early 80's.  This is a really nice layout.

Love it, Michele! I'm going to guess 1975? (What prize did I win?!?) 😉

54 minutes ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

WOW Ann you did this rather late in your live and it shows we are never to old to learn something new! Did you take this for your work with your family's open air movie theater?

Thank you, Corrie. I had always wanted to go to college but didn't get there until we sold the drive-in theaters. The degree was for advertising and publishing which was my first love. I'm still working those skills with the marketing and advertising for the theater to this day.

I reworked the Corel graduation freebie to show my graduation back in 2000 from SUNY. Art is from their website. 

R = river rock

I'm in! 

Got distracted with Carole's new slipped-in freebie and had a nice new photo of Logan & Jonah so I worked this up using a Marisa Lerin kit called Wandering Road. The title is an alpha from Sheila Reid Alpha Mix. I had to create my own punctuation. 

1 hour ago, Michele said:

Is anyone else old enough to remember Patti Playpal? She was about three feet tall and was the perfect companion for a little girl.

I used Cass's photo corners script that I won; I love it! The journaling font is Billy Signature and the title font is Lovely Honey. I made the background paper.

 

Wow, Michele, this is really bringing back memories for me. I never had a Patti Playpal but I made up for it by buying my daughters Johnny, the anatomically correct boy baby doll that sort of initiated "woke" sensibilities. Also, I'm happy to see that it sure looks like you are feeling more like yourself. Welcome back! ❤️

49 minutes ago, Cassel said:

Yes, this is a bug in 2023. It was reported but not fixed yet.

First it has happened to me, and I've been exclusively using 2023 and bounding boxes all the time. Bummer...

I've been meaning to do a full layout for the Red Sled which I put in P52 in February. It really belongs to All About Me - Toys. I had a problem with the text on the tag. I used a bounding box and when I duplicated it, the text ran out in a single line. Couldn't keep vector and raster. So I just rasterized it. Never had that glitch before. The template is from Lady 22, the materials are from my Iceland Mega Kit, the title font is Children Funny, and the journaling is Arial. 

34 minutes ago, Mary Solaas said:

Finally - Z is for Zoo.  This is almost the completion for the 2022 Alphabet Challenge.  My theme was alphabet soup since it was random choice for each letter.

@Ann Seeber I'd appreciate your proofreading skills on this one. 

This looks great, Mary! If you have pix from the Aquarium side you could use them for this month's challenge. I do see one small typo - giraffes needs an "e" before the "s," otherwise, great job! I've been reading about Africa and the audiobook pronounces zebra as if it rhymes with Debra. I understand that is the British version.

Debbie, Laurey and I took a trip to New Paltz, in Ulster County, NY, to explore our roots. Here's a photo of a book that was available in the Historic Huguenot Street Gift Shop. We have been doing this kind of exploring a lot lately and this was our first chance to bring Debbie along on one of our trips. 

I found these photos on Facebook that were posted by Social Island Farm. I do love the black dirt fields of Pine Island/Goshen, NY. This is announcing a festival for this weekend. I used Carole's Hanging Photos script. The font is Cambria with a stroke. The background is part of one of the photos enlarged to full size and with 57% reduced opacity.

L = Lamprey eel

3 minutes ago, Susan Ewart said:

Funny, you mention that. I was just thinking if there was a separate screenshot program available.  thank you for the info.  I have bookmarked it and will look at it when I get home from work.  or tomorrow since it will be midnight or after when i get home.  It's smokin' hot here (35 celcius) I will be a wilted flower and might not want to turn on the computer.

I have always used MS Office One Note for snippets or screenshots or whatever. It generates png's and it's got such a loose filing system I can just close it up and whatever I'm doing is still there tomorrow. 

@Cassel  is the new tablet any different than the old one? Any new features that are interesting?

25 minutes ago, Susan Ewart said:

This is cool.  I like reading the prompts, they are more interesting than the results.  You need to be good with words I can see.  I did find the Copilot Designer but see I need a MS account. 

Mine are a take-off from Anja, she seems to have a flair for them. Also, I don't think I have an MS account though I do use the Edge browser. And my OS is Win10. Mostly I use Google for gmail and stuff and MS Edge, Firefox and Duck Duck Go for browsing. I'm pleased with that birthday graphic for Corey. 🙂

I tried out Copilot/Dal-E for my song: "I can see clearly now..." by Johnny Nash. I did one in the manner of Van Gogh and another in Impasto style. This is lots of fun but be careful of eyeballs and text. They can get weird! 

8 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

Wow, this is great.  What is Copilot?  I know what Bing is.  How do you get to it.

Here you go Microsoft Copilot in Bing