Someone's having her very first birthday today!  

Happy birthday, Hannah Alyse! 

And awaaaaay she goes.... 

Some friends and I are playing an online game of Mastermind, which is a really frustrating game wherein participants attempt to guess a  pre-selected five or six letter word (though I suppose it could have any number of letters) by suggesting their own, and the one who started the game (IOW, the one with the answer) uses X's to denote letters contained within the answer that are in the correct position, and O's to denote letters that are contained within the answer but are out of place.

I tried to be the one starting the game, and mercy Maud, I'm sorry I did, a regret shared with the poor schnooks valiantly attempting to play.  Unfortunately I've a real knack for overlooking letters, or not realizing they're in the right place, etc.  Twice I've had to sheepishly amend my response.

It's embarrassing.

Finally the notion came to me to create an Excel spreadsheet and put the answer there, then the various guesses beneath it, highlighting the correct letters....red for being in the right position, green if it's used but not in that particular spot.

So....anyone wanna have a crack at it?  ISTM it ought to be staring everyone in the face:

If anyone cares to, map yourself on my Frappr....link's over there on the left. 

And a Happy Birthday to Jessica Marie!  

Who unfortunately has to work today. 

And though he's not here to read it . . .

Happy Birthday to Seaman Recruit Ivy, who turns 19 years old today!      

On the other hand, maybe He does.   Want  me to skate, that is.

Y'all will not believe
this!  This afternoon an email arrives from a friend of mine...a
lovely lady who attends our church and adopted a darling little girl
from Russia.

Turns out had I managed to get to where the adult class was meeting, I'd have found her as the instructor! 

Laura's graciously offered to provide me with a lesson or two, gratis, to see if she can get me at least to "group class" level, isn't that sweet of her? 

Dmitry, BTW, could only be described as relieved by my giving up (at least for the moment) on the ice skating.  Yesterday as I was driving him home from school he brought it up again, bluntly stating he's afraid I'm going to fall and hit my head.

Unfortunately it appears the film clip during the pairs' competition of one of the skaters having fallen on her head and suffered a concussion lives on in Dmitry's memory.

As I called out "Dmitry!  I'm going now!" when leaving the house he came charging out of his bedroom.  "Mom!  Mom!"  "What?" 

"Good luck!" 

Awww....isn't he sweet? 

"And BE CAREFUL!!!!"   

Once I got home, gloomily explaining what happened, he gingerly pointed out, "Mom, maybe the LORD just doesn't want you to ice skate, you ever think about that?" 

Also a possibility not to be discounted, I suppose. 

I believe I can safely deem the group ice skating idea a dismal failure.  

Arrived at the ice rink and managed to get myself laced into a pair of
skates.  This took a goodish while, as the first pair were too
large, and in any case I've never been able to figure out how to get
them laced up tightly.  Soon's you let go of the tautened strings
they loosen.  However, eventually I realized this was as good as
they were gonna get and awkwardly made my way to an entrance to the
rink itself, a couple of minutes past the lesson's start time.

Hmmm.....which of the groups of older-looking people ("older" being a
relative term, as mostly there were children on the ice) might be the
class?  After another few minutes I snagged a woman holding a
clipboard, who cheerfully pointed out several young ladies gathered
together on the opposite side of the rink. 

She kindly advised me, before skating off to take her own class, to
take small steps, hold onto the rail, and if I feel myself falling,
lean forward and grab my knees.  She also mentioned all the other
adult class members had skated before.

After three minutes I wasn't even a quarter of the way around the rink,
and the spot where the class was looked as distant as the moon.

Nothing like having to swim to one's first swimming class! 

I fear Sister Bernadette Marie was correctomundo all those years ago at
Nolan, and I have no persistance, for I gave the whole thing up as
being hopeless.  The other class members  weren't terrific,
but hey, they could at least skate forward, and one or two could even
manage backwards.  Then there was me, hanging onto the rail like
grim death, unable to arrive at the class at all.

Naturally I was told to get a refund would require talking to the manager on Monday....he doesn't work on the weekends. 

Trouble is, I'd still like to skate.  Wonder if the refund could
be applied to private lessons instead?  Those are also offered, I
noticed.  Maybe take private lessons first, then switch to group?   

Drat.  Double drat!  

Got the lens for my camera today.  I'd purchased a wide-angle lens and a 2X telephoto lens for my Kodak 7630.

I wanted them for Charles' graduation two weeks from today.  Unfortunately, since the lenses extend out so far, they block the flash. 

Here's a photo shot without the telephoto lens, with flash:

Here's the same shot with the telephoto lens and flash:

Wow.  

The wide-angle creates a ring around the edges:

Though so long's it's outside, it does work:

The telephoto works alright outside, but what good is that going to do me for Charles' graduation, or the granddaughters' dance recitals, etc.?  

Plus there's a set of three thin rings I've no idea what to do with at all.   They obviously can be attached to the camera, but for what purpose, I've no idea. 

Should have just popped for a camera with a better telephoto lens capability and had done with it, but no-o-o-o....I decided to show fiscal prudence by simply buying lens attachments.  Pfui, as Nero Wolfe would say. 

Old computers and their various components starting to pile up?  Well, take heart!  There is something that can be done with them: