Firstly, you would have heard that there have been issues with Blogger
embedded comments of late —
some visitors being unable to leave a comment. My son and I have a mix
of Apple, Microsoft, and Android devices and, we tested them all, and the
issue seems to only be a problem with the Apple devices. It must be a conflict
with the coding. So, as much as I love the embedded comments, I have switched
to the pop-up comments for now. Even with that option, our Apple devices had
to do their own thing — instead of a comment box popping up on the blog page
like it's supposed to, it opens the comment box in a separate browser
tab.
No offence to Apple lovers but I'm not an Apple fan at all. I'm definitely a
Microsoft/Android gal however my son is a steadfast Apple fan. I
don't even like my iPad and don't use it much at all. I can get quite
frustrated with it's limitations. I plan to send it packing in favour of a
Samsung tablet in the near future.
*****
On another topic, a couple of weeks ago, I snapped a pic of this cloud
formation as it was very clear to me that there was an adult bird coming down
to feed a young bird while a wolf (head only) looked on. Can you see them too?
Two days ago, Brad and I were at the local shopping centre and, as we were
leaving, I remembered that I had some coins to deposit in the ATM deposit
which was just outside. When we went to the machine, there on the coin belt
was a Welcome Swallow. Quite small at around 13 to 15cm (5" to 6") from head
to tail tip. The poor little thing lay there panting very fast. Luckily, I
always carry a spare fabric bag in my main bag so I gently picked her up and
placed her safely in the bag. She didn't even put up a fight.
I quickly deposited my coins and, when we got to the car, I transferred her
into a cardboard pet carry box that I always keep in the car,
among other animal rescue paraphernalia, for situations just like this. Such a pretty bird with gorgeous metallic
colours on her wings.
I took her to the closest vet. You may remember we had to do the same for a
baby dragon lizard a couple of months back. Vets here are obligated to take in
injured wildlife and, if rehabilitation is required, they pass them onto the
necessary wildlife carers in the area. They took the details of where I found
her so that, if she recovers, they can take her back there. They thought she
may have been stunned by flying into something. The vet was checking her over
when I left. I sure hope she survived.
*****
Now onto an art aid I made a few years ago and it still serves me well today.
I like to call it my handy-board and it's 56cm x 36cm (22" by 14").
I made it myself by duct-taping 3 layers of Corflute together — a corrugated
plastic board often used in sign-writing.
It was getting a little grotty so I gave it a clean up and a new pretty border
of duct tape — Owls.
Why did I make it? Well, I found I just didn't have enough workable space when
I had all my sketch and watercolour stuff on the desk. My tables form a right
angle and I saw a possibility of giving myself some extra surface space.
Before
And now with my handy-board in place. It fills in that corner perfectly, giving me extra surface space and
because I made it with 3 layers, it's nice and sturdy too — no bending.
Sitting on top of my handy-board is my location sketch board. I got
that idea from well known Urban Sketcher -
Liz Steel. I will do
another post soon to show you how that one works when in use. Very handy
indeed.
*****
On another note for your horror fans, just this week I signed up to receive a daily email from Dracula Daily. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is an epistolary novel made up of letters, diaries, telegrams, newspaper clippings, each of which has a date. The whole story happens between May 3 and November 10 and this guy has set it up so that we receive an email according to the timeline of the book. I signed up a little late but was able to catch up via the Archive. It's still early days. I used to love Dracula movies in my teens but I don't think I've ever read the book. It's been fun so far and I love that it's written in journal and letters etc. If you're interested in signing up for it, you can check it out HERE.
The rains have eased for now but it will be a short-lived break as they will
be back on Friday according to forecasts. I'm not looking forward to that.
They did forecast that we would be in for a warm and wet Autumn and they
weren't kidding.
I'll be back on Friday with some sketches so stay tuned...
Love, Light and Peace
So sweet of you to try to rescue the bird. Once I took an injured bird to wildlife but they had to put it down, think it was an injured wing.
ReplyDeleteFunny the blogger commenting works well on my old iphone 6 but not on my new iphone. For awhile the iphone 6 was working better than my windows computer for the comments. Who knows what they have been doing.
I do see what you see in the clouds. Isn't it fun trying to imagine what they can be. And they change so quickly into something else....or nothing. Good for you helping the bird.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. Apple may be a culprit but my pc has the same trouble. I have to change browsers to leave comments at some blogs. I can't even leave a comment on my own blog. I have to change browsers. Glad you were the one to find the bird. I love your art so much. Have a great day toay.
ReplyDeleteLorraine - I'm glad you were able to see it too. Yes, they change so quickly so I dashed for the camera the minute I saw it.
ReplyDeleteNicole - Well, now you've thrown a spanner in the works. Is your PC an older or newer one? I use Firefox on all my Microsoft/Samsung devices and have not had any trouble with embedded comments. I haven't thought to test it on other browsers because I've had no issues. With my son, he tried other browsers on his Apple devices with no luck because those browsers still use the 'engine' of the Apple system.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that there could be several factors involved now. An issue I don't think we'll solve. It might be time for a new blog platform.
Christine - Thanks. I have a full kit in my car specifically to rescue injured animals, wildlife or domestic. It's a possibility they may have put down the little swallow too if they felt it wouldn't recover. At least it wouldn't have suffered. I'm glad you helped an injured bird too.
ReplyDeleteThe older iPhone 6 may not have all the extra coding that the newer phones/devices have so that may be the reason you didn't have issues.
My son has had trouble trying to comment on blogs for ages on any of his Apple devices. As soon as I changed to pop-up comments, he was able to comment. Whereas I haven't had any issues commenting via my Microsoft/Samsung devices. It's all quite odd. lol
I changed to pop up for comments, too, but somebody said they still had trouble leaving a comment. Awk! So frustrating. Not much else one can do.
ReplyDeleteGad you rescued the swallow. Poor thing.
I like your set up with the art board. Nice!
Not interested in Dracula, but it does sound like an unusual offering.
Enjoy your dry days!! :) :)
I was surprised to learn about the requirements for the wildlife. Wish that were the case in the states. I'm glad that beautiful bird now stands a chance.
ReplyDeleteI've had a few problems with leaving comments. I also use Firefox, but I am NOT a windows person. I use Linux. One of my requirements when I had my computer built was NO Apple, NO Windows. Hope all goes well from now on.
I really like that board. A clever extension and gives much needed space.
Thanks for taking such good care of the Welcome Swallow. I hope it survives. Sometimes birds that crash into objects suffer internal injuries from the impact and although they appear to recover, succumb later. I am always glad to know people who cherish wildlife and even carry cloth bags in the car! Bravo, Serena. As a total aside, I have always thought, on my two visits to Australia that Welcome Swallow was the loveliest of names. All the best. David
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Mum! Yes, it is very frustrating how the comments situation seems to happen in different browsers. I think the reason comments open in a different tab on iOS and iPadOS is because they're not really proper windowed apps that can be minimised or resized. On macOS, in both Safari and Firefox, it opens in a pop-up window above the page. I don't know if we'll ever get to the bottom of this issue. I'm actually commenting using Safari on macOS with your blog post showing under.
ReplyDeleteLove the pic of the clouds! I love making out cloud formations too. Hopefully the Welcome Swallow survived, it looks very beautiful going by the pic. Sad that we found it in that condition.
I love how you made your handy-board. It looks great with the border of owls, and it's great that you can use it as an extra part of the desk to make more room! Good that it doesn't bend too. Your location sketch board also is a great idea.
Sounds great that you've signed up to read the Dracula story in the form of daily emails! Interesting that it's told in the form of letters, diaries and other things. Hope you enjoy the rest of it and glad you're enjoying it so far!
I've been enjoying the temporary break in the rain, I'm not looking forward to it returning either.
Looking forward to your next post! Love Brad xoxo
I hope the little swallow makes it also. It is always so sad when birds fly into windows and don't make it. If you like Dracula you may enjoy this book: Dracul by Dacre Stoker. It is about Bram Stocker as a child, but is fiction, not really a biography. And what a smart idea to fix up your handy board. It does look handy! I hope you have a wonderful week Serena. Hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteErika - Thanks! I hope the little swallow survived too. I will check out the Dracul book. The handy-board truly is very handy for me.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Serena x
It's frustrating how different things work better with different devices. Anyway, I hope the bird survived.
ReplyDelete