Favourite Apps

Or more correctly, “Applications.”  I have an iPhone 3GS. Okay, so my favourites are as follows:

  • Maps (if you’ve read any of my blogs, you’ll know why this one is Number one–I get lost going to my own toilet)
  • Notes–I would die without this one–it’s Number 1a–got to capture all those thoughts and ideas that flit through my hummingbird brain, along with important information or some wise quote. For instance, my pond is 8 X 5 and 4 feet deep (I always forget when it comes to buying pumps), and this: “We worry only about exactly those things we can never do anything about. And then that very fact becomes something else we worry about. The cycle goes on and on until we let the mind give over to something larger–wiser–than itself.” ~ Pico Iyer.  At some point that must have spoken to me.
  • I used to like “Narrative“–it’s an excellent on-line literary magazine with fabulous writing–but I’m pissed at them right now because I didn’t win their Winter competition. To hell with them.
  • Fandango–movie locations and times. Not that I use it a lot, I’d like to, but I can’t seem to get away from my busy little life.
  • IMDB–International Movie Database. I use this one a lot.
  • Overdrive–when I can figure out the damn library site, definitely not user-friendly–I listen to books while I hike the hill.
  • Podcasts–this is a brilliant little app. I listen to the following free podcasts: The New Yorker Fiction, Selected Shorts from PRI, Litopia After Dark, The Moth, and Radio Lab.
  • What’s App–It’s a cross-platform (whatever that means) mobile messaging app. All I know is that’s how I communicate with my son in South Africa. Love it.

What I’d really like is an app that actually records my thoughts. Wouldn’t that be oh so splendid?

S is For Scrumpy

 Scrumpy – Strong apple cider as made in western England.

Finding this word (another one I’d never heard of) has allowed me to revisit the trip I made to England in April of last year where I reconnected with my two old chums, Donna and Joan, from Nkana, Zambia. That was my first experience with the A-Z Challenge and being the terrific planner I am, I didn’t have all the blogs already written, which had me scrambling to compose during my visit. Oh, and did I mention I’m a Taurus, so there was no way I was going to give it up. I think Joan got a kick out of being my sounding board for the posts. Here’s a photo of me sitting on the floor of her lounge (American translation=living room) composing into the night.

Me on computerSo back to scrumpy. I didn’t know that’s what we drank that night in the pub Joan and her ex used to own. The place looked like Inspector Morse or even the footman in the ragingly popular TV series Downton Abbey might have frequented. You can read all about it here.

Click here to read others’ A-Z blogs or to enter your link to join in the fun for the month of April.