Cheezborger Cheezborger Cheezborger

 

 

Late night at Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern. Good times!

I've looked at Clouds from both sides now

These days, I'm up in the clouds. Internet clouds, that is. With both an iPad and iPhone, iCloud makes it easy to manage my apps, photographs, music and more on my iDevices. And with Adobe Creative Cloud, I can download and install as many Adobe software programs as I want without incurring additional fees. One monthly payment covers it all.

I have iCloud installed on my iPhone, iPad and my HP laptop. For me, iCloud takes away all the drudgery I used to endure with my old iPhone. No more plugging anything into my computer, no more synching. Yay! When I plug my iPhone or iPad in to charge, it does an automatic backup into my Cloud. As well, I can go in and direct it to do a backup to the Cloud at any time.

The Cloud proved particularly beneficial when I moved up to an iPhone 5 earlier this year. In the old days, I would have had to open up iTunes on my computer, then attach the phone to my computer with a USB cable, wait for iTunes to recognize the new phone, have it synch, etc. Instead, I just initialized iCloud on my new phone, logged in with my Apple ID, and I was basically good to go.

With iCloud, installing an app on my iPad means the app also appears on my iPhone, and vice versa (unless, obviously, it's an app that is not meant to be installed on either; there are many iPad-only apps, for example). If I don't want it on the second device, I can just go onto that device and locate the new addition, press down on the app's icon until it hovers, tap the X, and it's gone. Gone, but not forgotten. I can go into the iTunes app on my devices any ol' time to have a look at what I've purchased and then reinstall anything there I'd deleted, if I want.

A good example of a practical use of iCloud is the storage of large media files like movies, television episodes and music videos. Last February, for example, the captain and I bought the February 14th episode of The Big Bang Theory in iTunes, as we had missed it that night and wanted to watch it. So now, when I go into my iTunes account and look at TV Shows I've purchased, there it is. If I want, I can download it onto my iPad or iPhone and watch it again. But it's a large file that I don't want taking up permanent space, so I can just delete it off my device after I've watched it. Should I fancy another look, I can just go download it again. It's mine, I bought it; it lives in my Cloud. It can also live on my device too, but in my opinion that's a waste of storage space, unless it's something I want to watch over and over again.

Apple's iCloud doesn't seem to have generated much negative feedback that I can find, but not so with Adobe's new Cloud offering. Adobe's Creative Cloud has caused a lot of controversy among Photoshop users, who balk at the idea of paying a monthly fee rather than an outright purchase price. The topic became even more controversial when Adobe announced that CS6 would be the last version of Photoshop it would sell as a standalone product. Going down the road, users will have to sign up for the Cloud if they want to use a newer version of any of Adobe's professional products, or switch to the more friendly Photoshop Elements, which is still being sold (for now) and is not part of the Cloud.

As Joni Mitchell wrote and Judy Collins sang, I see this issue from both sides now. I signed up for the Cloud and am happy with it. But, full disclosure dictates that I let you know I got it for a reduced price, as NAPP members were offered a discount on the monthly charge. If I hadn't been able to get it for a lower monthly price, I don't know if I would have signed up, as $50/month is way too much money for just Photoshop. To be fair, that fifty bucks per month also allows for the downloading of all the other Adobe professional products too -- Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, Dreamweaver, Acrobat, etc. -- so it quickly can become a value. Just try adding up the purchase price of all those products and fifty bucks a month starts to look like a bargain!

For those who are definitely Photoshop-only users, a much lower monthly fee is available when subscribing to just one product, so folks who only want Photoshop can have it without shelling out a lot of money each month. Until July 31st, the Single App Plan can be had for existing CS users for as little as $9.99 US/month. That certainly seems fair to me and I think it shows that Adobe is listening to its existing user base and trying to accommodate the financial concerns of all its customers.

However, I still am uneasy with the idea that I don't "own" the actual products I download and should I choose to opt out of Adobe Creative Cloud, I've lost my programs completely, but I hope Adobe will address that sometime in the future. For now, I'm happy with the Cloud and plan to download Lightroom 5 soon and give it a spin. I've always been curious about it but never wanted to shell out the bucks to buy it. Now, I don't have to buy it; it's mine for the taking. Maybe not mine forever, but mine as long as I have my own Cloud.

Scenes from a Saturday

 

 

Our weekend: Revisiting a bakery we used to patronize years ago

(yes, the Eccles Cakes were delicious, as were the Danish pastries).....

 

 

Discovering a small Eastern European deli just steps from the bakery,

where I bought headcheese and ham (I love both, the Captain does not).....

 

 

 

And then there were the cars, too.

 

 

Spring flowers

Tulips ... snapped indoors.

The outdoors is not even close to being tulip-friendly.

Love Live Laugh

Back in February, the captain and I had an eventful afternoon in Orlando when we drove from our winter getaway into the city to visit the Central Florida Fair. We discovered upon our arrival at the front gates that the fair was closed, but since we try to treat our outings as adventures, we didn't let it spoil the day. Instead, I wandered around outside the fence, taking photographs of what I could -- thankful, for example, that the ferris wheel was located near the entrance.

I've shared some of those photos here on my blog, and here's another. You might think that this image took a lot of time to prepare, but it didn't. It took only a few clicks. Oops......not clicks. Taps. Yup, this is another iPhone creation.

WordFoto is the newest addition to my iPhone; the latest find in my never-ending quest to discover cool and fun iPhone apps. All I had to do to create this was open up the app and bring in the photo, then choose the words I wanted to use (more than 20 phrases are included in the app), then choose from among eight different styles (you can create custom styles as well). Done. There is an option to do a little fine-tuning, if I'd wanted.

It's that easy. Even better, WordFoto allows you to use whatever words you want, so I gave "eat write create" a try and came up with what you see below. Some images work better than others, depending on the styles you prefer, so a little experimentation should be expected. But it's fun and it creates something pretty nifty in just seconds. Give it a try!

It's an addiction

When I was in grade five, my father bought me Scrabble Junior for Christmas. I quickly moved up to the grown-up game -- the one with the wonderful wooden tiles -- and have had a passion for this board game ever since. I have so many different versions, even the fancy one with the rotating board. But perhaps the best yet is the newest one in my collection -- the Scrabble app for my iPhone. It's also available for the iPad, should you have one of those.

If I could describe this app with one word, I don't know if I would choose "addictive" or "excellent". How about addictively excellent? Leslie and I had been playing Words with Friends (another great app and one we're still playing) and now we typically have a Scrabble game constantly on-the-go as well.

You do have to like words to like Scrabble; if spelling and wordplay are not your thing, then you likely wouldn't enjoy Scrabble at all. I'm a word junkie, so Scrabble is most definitely my thing.

Freshly baked delights

Fancy some Hot Cross Buns for Easter?



How about some Roasted Onion and Walnut bread?

(Apologies to those who are either dieting or avoiding carbs.....)

No, I have not been baking. I photographed these yummy delights with my iPhone at a new bakery that's opened up mere steps from our favourite diner. What serendipity!

Cliffside Hearth Baking Company is the bakery's name and, after what I've tasted, I highly recommend them. I know I don't normally blog about where I shop, but I'm impressed with what I've tasted so far and wanted to share.

So far the captain and I have bought and enjoyed both their baguette and shortbread cookies and today we brought home the roasted onion and walnut bread you see above (I bought the one at the front of the basket). It was still hot from the oven and I could hardly stand the drive home, I wanted to tear into it so badly. It was worth the wait; it's absolutely delicious. Hot cross buns were also purchased today, but those have yet to be tasted. I have no doubt they too will be wonderful.

We were in on the weekend for their Grand Opening, but today when we stopped by it was much quieter. I chatted briefly with Camelia Proulx, one of the owners, who advised the best way to store these freshly baked delights is to put what you don't eat on the first day inside a freezer bag and freeze until you want more, then defrost on the counter and -- the secret to perfection -- reheat in a very hot oven for only a minute or so. The bread will taste freshly baked, she told me. Fresh bread without preservatives goes stale so fast, so this is a wonderful thing to know.



The interior of the bakery is small and charming, with warm brick walls and numerous wicker baskets of bread as well as loaves artfully displayed on wooden shelves. Camilia and her partner, David Aplin, do all the baking on the premises. They have sweet offerings, such as the hot cross buns and cookies, but the focus is definitely on bread. Do pop in for a look if you're in the neighbourhood. (I'd say to tell them Lennie sent you, but since they don't have a clue who I am, that would be pretty useless!)

Cliffside Hearth Bread Company

(in Cliffcrest Plaza)

3047 Kingston Road

Toronto (Scarborough), ON

Strolling along St. Clair

Looks like some sort of digital collage, doesn't it? It isn't. It's an iPhone shot I took today (edited with the Lo-Mob app to give it the grungy edge), shooting from the sidewalk into a beauty salon. It was a very pleasant sight -- there were spring flowers planted in window boxes outside the shop's window, along with other plantings, a very cool aqua bicycle just inside the shop, and the sun shining in caused the french text lettered on the salon's window to reflect on the apple-green sofa in front of the bike.

More iPhone shots from today's stroll on St. Clair Avenue West:

An APPetite

No surfboards for us today. It is snowing in Toronto. Heavily. The weather report a couple of days ago claimed we would get light snow today, that wouldn't stick. Hah! It looks like Christmas outside......which is why I'm staying inside.

Since returning from our winter getaway, I've been checking out new apps for my iPhone. And, surprise surprise, they are not all photographic ones -- although my favourite new app is Instagram. And it's free! One of Instagram's features is the ability to share photos, but that's not why I like it; I love the filters it lets you apply to your shots. The above image was created using Instagram, as was the one below. If you love your iPhone's camera, this is a must-have app.





By the way, that's a Frownie. It's green in honour of St. Patrick's Day, and was mint-flavoured, but normally a Frownie features chocolate icing. King's Family Restaurants is, I believe, a small chain of restaurants in Pennsylvania and that's where we stopped for lunch early this month, just south of Pittsburgh, when we were on our journey home from Florida; Frownies are their specialty. It was delicious.

Back to the apps. MapQuest 4 Mobile is another new favourite of mine, similar to the MapQuest web site I'm sure you've used many times. This app lets you find gas stations, restaurants, lodging etc., but I downloaded it for its ability to provide both driving and walking directions for any routes you want; it will even tell you where to go, just like the GPS you use in your car. Pretty valuable for a free app, wouldn't you say?

Speaking of free apps, and I do mean speaking, don't miss Merriam-Webster Dictionary. This freebie features a dictionary that not only gives you definitions but also provides synonyms, just like a thesaurus. And my favourite feature? You can speak your word rather than type it, which is perfect when you're not sure of a word's spelling. It also has a voice feature giving you a word's proper pronunciation. Neat.

Instant Heart Rate is another free app I've been using. For me, it's ideal, as I have a terrible time finding my own pulse. With this app, you cover the iPhone's camera lens with the tip of your finger and it picks up your pulse from that. There is a paid version with more features, but the freebie suits me just fine.

Finally, an app that's not thrilling me. Sleep Pillow Ambiance is a free app that claims to be a white noise machine. This interested me as I've determined that one of the reasons I sleep so well when we're in Florida is the constant sound of the ocean waves hitting the shore. White noise machines are expensive so I downloaded this app to try and, well, it's a good thing it's free. To me, the app's ocean waves sound doesn't remind me of the ocean at all; it sounds just like water in a bathtub. It certainly doesn't make me sleepy!

Any new iPhone apps that are your favourites? I'd love to hear about them.

The end of an era

We always said we would drive it until it died. Well, we did. Because it did.

The captain was downtown on Tuesday afternoon and, about two blocks from his destination, our Big Blue Beast (also known as our Astro van) ground to a halt. Literally. First there was a grinding noise, I was told, and then the car just lost all power. It was towed to our mechanic and then we awaited the news.

It wasn't good. Our Big Blue Beast's heart had finally ceased to beat. Or, in less romantic terms, the engine died.

We've experienced a lot with our BBBeast. It was absolute perfection for a road trip, with lots of room inside. It's taken us all over Ontario, down to Buffalo more times than I could ever possibly count, down to Indiana to visit family many times, and safely transported us to Florida and back five times. It's helped our son move out, then back in, then back out again. Terra loved riding in it; Tippi would always eagerly jump in too. It's enabled me to go to everything from yard sales to Ikea without worrying about how I would schlep something home. It sat high and proud on the road and, for a drive-by shooter like myself, enabled wonderful views of all the passing scenery.

This was an aging beauty; it had begun to rust, quite badly in spots, and the upholstery was really showing its age. We bought it, used, back in June, 2000. It's a '93 and I really was hoping it would make 20 years on the road, but that was not to be. Its final mileage: 322,147.3 kilometres. That's something!

Parts of our BBBeast will live on, as an organ donor if you will. Our mechanic also drives an Astro and so has bought ours, to salvage what parts he can, for use with his own vehicle. The captain pried the logo (what you see, above) out of the dash before turning the keys over to the mechanic, to bring home to me. He knew I wanted it.

So now we are back to being a one-car family. Sure, this will save us money on gas and insurance, but I really wish my BBBeast was still in the driveway. Rest In Peace; you were a great vehicle.

It's Christmas Eve

It seems I left everything to the last minute this holiday season. Putting up the tree, decorating the house, shopping, wrapping -- all accomplished, but later in the month than I intended.

But it's Christmas Eve and everything has finally been crossed off my to-do list with one sole exception: baking shortbread cookies. That'll happen later today and it's a process I always enjoy.

So, tonight I'll be able to munch on freshly baked cookies and sip something delicious -- and take the time to sit back and relax. I wish the same for all of you ... that you'll be able to take the time to sit back and enjoy the holiday!

Although it's been said

Many times, many ways

Merry Christmas to you

The Vintage Scene app

Here we go again...time to let my fellow iPhone users know about a new app I've discovered.

Vintage Scene has quickly become a favourite of mine. It includes many different options to apply age and/or grunge to a photograph. You get to monkey around with a lot of the settings and when you come across a particular combination you really like, you get to save it as a new preset with a name of your choosing. For example, the photo above, of the angelic wall decoration inside Buffalo's fantastic Parkside candy store (a must-visit, if you've never been there -- don't forget your camera and don't forget to buy some sponge candy), uses the same combination of effects as this photo below, of the store's exterior:

My only quibble with this app is that it seems to take a very long time to save the edited photos. But the time spent waiting is well worth it, in my opinion. I just love the end results.

As always, click on each photo for a larger view.

The Lake Effect Diner

This blog is named eat write create, but you'd be correct in assuming the focus on "eat" has been somewhat missing. Let's correct that now. The captain and I ate at a wonderful diner yesterday, one definitely worth a shout-out.

Do you ever watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network? The captain and I are regular viewers and have been to a few of the places featured in the show. And now we can add another one to the list.

When I saw the episode featuring The Lake Effect Diner in Buffalo, NY, I recognized it immediately -- we had driven by it before and I'd always wanted to give it a try. Yesterday morning, while we were driving down the highway headed for a day trip in Buffalo, we discussed where we would go for a late breakfast and the Lake Effect came up in the conversation. So, after crossing over into the U.S., we headed straight there.

Unfortunately, I took no pictures of the food, but I did capture some iPhone photos both inside and outside. It's a very cool old diner car that is extremely photogenic.

As for the food, it was wonderful. The captain ordered a seemingly standard breakfast item, bacon and eggs. But -- oh! -- that bacon. The captain generously shared some with me and I can report it was thick and meaty, with a slight hint of maple. Delicious. As for me, I ordered the eggs benedict. Homemade hollandaise, perfect peameal. Yum!

The menu covers breakfast, lunch and dinner and the desserts sound wickedly good. Apparently, they make a banana split with deep-fried bananas. We will have to return soon to try that!

Photo ops

My neighbour has bought himself a wonderful old Mercury truck.Costco has the most gorgeous roses.What could I do but capture it all with my iPhone?





(As always, click on each photo to see a larger version.)

Red Velvet

How appropriate that this is my 400th blog post (!) as it's about something near and dear. Red Velvet! No, not the fabric....the cake. It's one of my most favourite things.

And it certainly seems to be red velvet time right now. Last week the captain and I had dinner at Massey's in Pickering, where we learned they have cupcakes for dessert, including red velvet. Of course that's what I ordered; I took an iPhone snap (above, using the Hipstamatic app) of the yummy treat before I devoured it. If you have a peek at Leslie's blog, she makes mention of Red Velvet cupcakes in today's post, Ina does it again. Finally, a wonderful discovery at Loblaws today: red velvet cheesecake. Guess what we had for dessert tonight?

Finding time for my iPhone

It's been some time since I've shared a few iPhone photos. So, without further ado, here are some of my recent shots. In case you were wondering, Tippi discovered this piece of fence post (first picture, below) somewhere on our property and it is now her pride-and-joy. As you can see, she is slowly but surely demolishing it.

And thanks to Leslie for modelling her beautiful hand!

These are all straight out of my iPhone, first edited with some app or another (my usual suspects, like Toy Camera and Lo-Mob). I brought them into Photoshop only to apply the watermark. (If you click on each, they'll be a bit bigger.)

Oh, about that alien vegetable above ... I wish I had taken a photo of the sign but I think it was called a Peanut Pumpkin. Or a Peanut Squash. Very creepy.

Seasons

Summer lay sprawled on its deathbed,

defiantly ignoring the inevitable.

All the while, the labour pains of autumn have begun.

==ldl==



(iPhone photo taken today, edited with the LoMob app)

News on the iPhone front

If you've plugged your iPhone into your computer recently, you've likely been prompted to upgrade your software to version 4.0 (it's actually a software and firmware update, so it isn't a fast process). While I constantly take photos with my iPhone, I have unbelievably not downloaded any of them onto my hard drive in almost a month. Wanting to rectify that, I hooked up my iPhone (3GS) this afternoon and was met with the upgrade option. And so, I upgraded.

Yowzers! It's like a full makeover. I can now set one photo to be the wallpaper when I turn the phone on, and a different image can be the wallpaper behind all the app icons. You can now make folders too, keeping all your puzzle games together, for example. I imagine that feature will be quite a space-saver. And the coolest thing I've discovered? My camera now has a 5x digital zoom! I took the picture of Tippi using the zoom feature this afternoon, then opened up the image in Photoshop's Camera Raw interface (just following my Digital Magic class instructions!) to fix it up a touch.

One odd thing did happen to my computer during the upgrade, but for the life of me I cannot fathom why it happened. All my Favorites in Internet Explorer defaulted to alphabetical order. Drove me crazy, having to rearrange them to return to my preferred order. Why my iPhone software/firmware upgrade, done through iTunes, would affect Internet Explorer is a puzzle.

All the images below have been taken since I returned from Art and Soul and are untouched out of my iPhone, except for adding the watermark. Every image below was shot using the Hipstamatic app, with the exception of the crayons, which was shot with the ShakeItPhoto app.

If you upgrade to 4.0, please let me know what new features you find!

(Montana's Cookhouse restaurant; my garden; paint splatter on the sidewalk; Nancy's car)