Item 59: A computer version of Scrabble

I think this was a gift from Dave. We have the board game version of it. We used to play fairly regularly but we haven't played much in recent years. It's my fault we don't play anymore. I'm not competitive. I see the game as a diversion, a challenge to the mind and a way to spend time together. I don't care who wins and I don't have the patience to sit for minutes (that feel like hours)while others ponder a move. I have trouble sitting still.

Item 58: Another sign

This is the last sign. This one was a birthday gift from my parents quite a few years ago. This gift meant a lot to me because Mom and Dad had been sending gift cards as birthday gifts for quite a few years. I presume during a visit to our house she noticed my beach decor and all of my other beachy signs and when Mom saw this she thought of me and my room.

Item 57: A decorative wine rack

This is a wrought iron, decorative, hanging wine rack. It was a birthday gift from my older sister. At the time I received it we were in the process of making plans to remodel our kitchen. I put it away with the thought I'd hang it once construction was complete. The kitchen remodel was finished nearly four years ago. During that period of time I've scanned the kitchen and pondered a place to hang this. Having not found a place for it in the kitchen, I've thought about using it with pots as a planter of some sort outdoors near my herb garden.

Je ne sais pas quoi faire avec cette objet. I came up with that sentence in French on my own. No French/English dictionary was used. The grammar may not be correct but the vocabulary bubbled up to the surface of my brain so I put it to use. C'est magnifique!
(Translation of that first sentence in french: I don't know what to do with this object.)

Item 56: A portable makeup mirror

I don't remember buying this mirror. Maybe one of the girls bought it?

Do you see the image reflected in the mirror? That's one of the fishnet floats that belonged to my ex in-laws. The roping for it was gone; Meghan made the macrame holder so I could hang it. I'm putting the float in storage for Meghan.

Item 55: Detritus from the ocean

Detritus. That word makes me think of Flounder from The Little Mermaid.
Also, I just used our World Book Dictionary to double check my spelling of detritus. Confused? Re-read yesterday's post. :-)

I found these items on the beach: sinkers for a fishing line, a shell and a leather, beaded bracelet. They're all tangled together; perhaps the result of a fierce storm.

Item 54: A DVD for the Little Brown Handbook

I love language, research, writing and reading. I enjoy using books to check on facts. I have several old grammar textbooks one of which I found at the curb left over from a garage sale. It was free! It's a teacher's edition of a freshman english textbook from Lancaster Catholic High School. Copyright 1962.

Dave and I have an old (vintage 1980's) set of World Book Encyclopedias in the house which we still use. We have the internet at our fingertips. We could Google (conjugating to google: I google, you google, he/she it googles...)any topic and have answers within seconds. But we like books. Quite often, typically while we're preparing or eating a meal, our conversation takes a turn and a question arises. We need info so one of us walks into the family room, pulls a book off the shelf and finds the answer.

It's quite enjoyable to hold a book. To skim through it, catch a whiff of the aroma from the paper and find other tidbits of information as you look for the fact you need or want. I remember an old Andy Rooney essay on 60 minutes from long ago. The title of his piece was: 'Things I learned while looking up other things'. That resonates with me because I too have learned many things while looking up other things. I remember sprawling out on the floor in the stacks of the library, books spread around me, reading all sorts of interesting information about things that didn't have anything to do with my research. I'd get so engrossed in those other topics I'd have to remind myself to get back on track.

When you use Google or Wikipedia, you typically don't learn other things while looking up that one thing you need. If you type in a word, you're given the definition of that word. You don't stumble upon other interesting words while looking (in actuality waiting) for your word.

Kids these days (I love to say that) rely upon technology for everything. I think they're missing out on some of life's most simple pleasures. Using a book is one of them. If you have to conduct the research yourself, using your brain as the search engine, you're forced to use critical thinking skills. If someone or something else does the research for you, what have you learned?

I use search engines. I use computers everyday for work and for pleasure. I use podcasts to re-learn the beautiful French language I learned long ago. I have an eBook reader. Actually I have two: a Kindle and an iPad. But I still love books and paper. Hence the giving away of this DVD. I have the Little Brown Handbook in book form and am not interested in the digital version.

Item 53: The top to a wine bottle stopper.

This is the top of a wine bottle stopper. The bottom part came off and we tried multiple times to glue it back together but didn't have any luck. I saved it because it's pretty and it's glass and I thought we might eventually find a use for it.

Do you see all of the dust on that shelf? This book case is in my office so I rationalize that I am the only one who sees it so who cares if it's dusty? I care but obviously not enough to do something about it!

PS: I used to have many more items on this shelf but I've moved them to a new location or they're on the list of 100 in 100.

Item 52: A Picture frame

I used this frame to hold the Certificate I received for completing a series of Supervisory courses. There were three courses that I took on a self-study basis. The material was helpful to me in my job and I referred to it quite often.

I'm no longer in a supervisory position so I took the certificate down, took it out of the frame and I'm fairly certain I threw it away. Heaven help me if I'm ever in management again. It's not my cup of tea. The salary wasn't worth the extended hours (aka being a workaholic) necessary to perform well in the role.