My new purchase

Remember way back when I was getting an iPod (for those who have been following this blog since then)? That was in December 2009, which my blog helped me to remember by giving me a link to the post I wrote. It was the gateway drug for this new purchase:

Yep, I am now the proud owner of an iPad2! It's interesting to contemplate why I thought I needed one, since my iPod still functions perfectly well for what I use it for, mostly reading my email and the news while at the coffeeshop where I have free WiFi. I almost embarrassed to tell you I am writing this on my iMac desktop with a nice big screen and a real live keyboard. The virtual keyboard on the iPad2 is functional, and if I can remember not to rest my fingers on the glass, I can actually type pretty fast on it, and that's only after having it for a day. What it does have that the original iPad doesn't are two built-in cameras, one on the front and one on the back. It also shoots video, which I still haven't tried. Here's a picture taken with the camera.

This is my friend Leo, who waits for me to show up at the coffee shop every morning with either a book for me to read him, a slimy snake or scary spider, as in this picture. I have known him for most of his life and watched him learn to walk. Now I'm listening to him learn to use language. He knows the names of most of the people in the coffee shop. I downloaded a Winnie the Pooh book on my iPad so I could read to him out of it, and he just loved it. I am having a lot of fun with this new toy, but the very best part, and the real limitation I felt with the iPod, is being able to show people pictures from my iPhoto Library. On the iPod they are small and hard to see in all their glory, but on the iPad, they look fabulous! The iPad is actually just like an iPod on steroids, so learning how to use it was easy.

As you can see from this picture taken this morning at the front of our apartment complex (with my regular camera), spring has arrived here in Bellingham in all its glory. This cherry tree only has blossoms for about a week, and then they begin to drift to the ground as the leaves emerge. This is my favorite time of the year for pictures, especially when it's so beautiful outside. Our temperature is still cool (around 50 degrees F, 10 C) but after all the rain I am really enjoying the sunshine!

Tomorrow the clouds return and we have a 40% chance of rain for our Thursday hike, but it's amazing to me how much better I feel when I've got white puffy clouds to gaze at in a beautiful blue sky! My neck is all better, and I'll let tomorrow worry about itself, while I play with my new toy.
:-)