A Week Without Facebook

I just returned home from a week in upstate New York visiting my brother and his family.   It was good to get away and good to see them again, since I hadn't been there for five years.  They kept telling me that the week I was there was the best they've had all year.  And then they accused me of taking it back with me, because it was reported they would have rain for about 4 days when I left.  They kept telling me how warm it was, and since I'm from Florida, I felt silly having long sleeves on.  They were in shorts and I was in jeans, but I was perfectly comfortable.

My brother has a computer and I checked my email a couple times a day and a few other things while I was there.  I decided I should stay away from Facebook and other sites where I waste too much time.  I didn't even play one game of Spider Solitaire, and I'm really addicted to that!  Instead, we spent quite a bit of time in the evening in front of the TV.  I still don't have a TV, I watch a few shows on my computer and that's the extent of my TV knowledge.  Amazing how many channels there are, how much stuff that I've never heard of.  And I probably don't want to ever see most of it again.

I really didn't have withdrawal symptoms from the lack of Facebook.  I'm sure I missed some fun pictures and funny little signs.  When I got back, I didn't have the impulse to scroll down for hours looking for things I had missed.  I was fine.   Of course, now that I'm back, I do spend time looking at postings from everyone and making a comment or hitting like.

If you know anyone who thinks they can't live without Facebook, Twitter, or other sites, let them know it really is possible to survive without it.  It's an interesting site and I enjoy it but it's not the end of the world if I don't keep up with what everyone is doing.  Try it, see how long you can last.

Betty Karl
http://amzn.com/B009RCO02G

Winter

Most people think of winter as cold.  People who live in the northern States have the idea that Florida is warm all the time.  This is to let them know that some people who live in Florida (and points further south) think that any temperature below 70 is cold.  That would be me. 

Today was an overcast day, high was about 55, about 10-15 mph winds and I was freezing!   Mostly, I stayed inside, with the heater on, still cold.  In the winter, I pretty much stay cold, and I'm sure that some of it psychological.   I know it's cold outside, so no matter how warm it is inside, I feel cold.  Did I just hear someone say something about a wimp?  Yes, that would be me.

I was raised in upstate New York, so I know what really cold is.  I lived in Florida for years and it's a damp cold as opposed to a drier cold up north.   Not to mention that my blood got really thinned out.   Then, I went cruising and spent years in the Caribbean, where I almost never got cold, except sometimes on night passages.  Especially in the winter, with the breeze and no sun - yes, the wimp got cold.  The picture above is from Union Island, by the way. 

After cruising, I moved back to Florida where the summers are nice and warm - actually they seem warmer than the Caribbean, except maybe Trinidad.  The winters here seem to have gotten colder than when I lived here before cruising, but it's probably me being a wimp again.

Yes, I am lucky I don't have snow to shovel.  I do have ice frozen on my car on some mornings when the dew has frozen and I have to turn on the car heater - I don't have an ice scraper.  I would never be able to live anywhere north of here.   I keep saying I need to move further south........

Betty Karl
http://amzn.com/B009RCO02G