Times they are a-changing

DJan and Leo at the coffee shop

I am simply amazed at how big Leo is getting. I had a friend take this picture with my new iPad Air. With pictures this good, I'm wondering if one of these days cameras separate from our cellphones and tablets will exist in the future. There are also tons of editing options available, but this is right out of the tablet. Leo and I will both be having birthdays next month. He will turn six and I will be a little older than that.

My gift to myself will be to get an iPhone6. I debated about whether or not to upgrade from my iPhone4S to a 5S, but once I saw how good the camera is in the 6, I was sold. (The new iPad and the iPhone6 have the same camera.)

Today is Veteran's Day here in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada. It also marks Armistice Day in Europe, the day when World War I ended and an armistice with Germany was signed: the 11th month of the 11th day at the 11th hour. I forgot to notice the moment at 11:00; I was standing in the cold wind waiting for the bus to arrive and completely forgot about it until I began to write this post. When I was a young woman, I thought that maybe I would live to see the end of war. Now I know better, but still one could hope for that someday. Emily Dickinson wrote this poem about hope:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all, 

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm. 

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Thank you, one and all.