Wondering about birds.

Last week, it was almost spring like here. I heard some birds and felt the sun. This morning it is freezing and windy and I heard no birds. Maybe they are there but are being quiet. Then I realized, I have no idea how birds move. I know they fly. I can hear the whirring of wings sometimes. But, do they flap both wings together? Separately? Slowly? Quickly? Do they hold them straight out to the side or tilted? And when they land and walk, do they hop with both feet or move one at a time? Never really thought about this before. If anyone can enlighten me, I'd be most grateful.

The opticon

One of the first high tech machines I used was called an opticon. It was extremely expensive and lived in the library at the school for the blind where I was a student. I was eight years old. The opticon had a base unit. You put your hand inside and there was a small display with vibrating pins. There was a camera you held in your right hand and slid across lines of print. Raised print letters appeared under your fingers, vibrating. You could read print in this manner if you knew the shapes of print letters. Thanks to magnetic letters on our fridge, I did know the shapes of the capital letters anyway. Some people still use opticons and love them. I haven't used one for years. Tomorrow, more on my personal technology journey.

How technology has changed.

Whenever I think back to the earliest technology I used, I am amazed at how much it has changed. I learned to read braille first. With a huge, heavy, braille machine and enormous books. Each book was several volumes of braille. I learned to type on a regular typewriter but I was always unable to proof read documents. I also never knew when the ribon ran out. Gradually, we began hearing about paperless braille. I couldn't believe something like this would ever happen. Braille that appeared and disappeared and you didn't have to carry it around? But it has happened. tomorrow, descriptions of braille displays.

The feel of the dog is so familiar.

It must be similar for those people who can see. But, I was thinking about this this morning. First thing in the morning, my little black lab guide dog leaps off her dog bed and bounces over when she notices me stirring. She comes over wagging her whole self, eager to start a new and exciting day. I was patting her softest ever ears, her stocky body, her softish short lab fur. Feeling through mmy hands near her shoulders the wagging of her whole self. This is my dog. And then, it occurred to me that the first time I touched her, she seemed so strange. So much shorter than my golden guide before her. So much more stocky. Such short fur and so little of it. Before that, the dog I touched all of the time had long fur and lots of it. Curly under the neck and curly when she had a bath or got wet. A long slowly wagging thin, feathery tail, Taller, longer legs. The sounds too are familiar. Gia squeaked when she got excited. She had a high pitched bark. She made certain little noises when you patted her or when she settled down to sleep. Tulia snores. She makes different noises when you pat her. She moves differently. Her paws sliding and swishing on the floor. When I had both of them, I knew who was moving around, who was there, who was wagging to let me know where she was. Interesting how sounds and textures and shapes of dogs become so familiar so quickly.

A walk in the snow.

After some almost spring like days, we got a big fall of snow yesterday. As I walked home in it late yesterday afternoon, I loved the experience. The feel of the snow on my face. Very soft against my skin. Soft and almost fuzzy. I closed my eyes. I don't need them to travel anyway and felt the flakes against them. I could hear the flakes tick tick ticking as they fell. I felt my feet moving through swishing the snow. Moving it as it rustled. My feet also crunched and squeaked. My guide dog pranced along. We've been a team long enough that I trusted her to help if I got turned around. Traveling whille it is snowing actively like that and windy too can be a bit disorienting but I felt confident and so did Tulia. It wasn't a long walk but was an exhilarating one.

Thank you to all of you commenters. It was like christmas or opening gifts to read your remarks

I realized the other day, I had many comments waiting for approval or to be posted.
I had forgotten to check. I read through them all and just wanted to thank everyone for them. For these comments which are lovely and encouraging. For suggestions of things to include when blogging. Thank you for the facebook support. Thank you for twitter comments, in person encouragement, and e-mails too. I love reading them and am so glad you like the blog. I love blogging a great deal too.

Are GPS devices wirth while?

I always live in great hope that gps devices or aps will help me. I recently got an iphone and was eager to try out gps aps. Some of the ones I tried, work to some degree. I can while at home or standing still somehwere, check out what is around me. This is interesting and helpful. But, this morning, I tried using an ap while going to a familiar destination. It gave me wrong directions and told me I had reached my destination a block and a half before I really had done so. I put the phone away and just concentrated on walking with my amazingly smart and good looking guide dog and using my common sense and mobility skills. These aps are good for some things but as of yet, haven't found one that works well for me while traveling. I will say that I haven't yet tried the expensive aps and am not sure whether to or not.