David Copperfield and the Magic of Amazon WhisperSync

I’m currently reading the classic David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 📚 for the first time. I’m reading it on my Kindle with an add-on $3 splurge of the Audible audiobook. I experimented with WhisperSync many years ago when it was first released and found it buggy. For such a low fee, I thought I would give it another try. I went from reading last night on my Kindle to listening this morning in the car, to reading again in a waiting room, to listening once more as I did chores.

Continue reading →

Currently reading: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 📚

Finished reading: The Death of Grass by John Christopher 📚

A short 1950s SciFi novel about a virus that kills grasses. Starvation and violence breaks out. Governments fall. Civilization crumbles. Except for the very dated portrayal of women, the story felt current. ★★★★☆

Finished reading: The Reformation by Will Durant 📚

Currently reading: The Death of Grass by John Christopher 📚

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 30: Hometown

Vashon Island will always be my hometown.

Country road on Vashon Island, Washington

Finished reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 📚

An absolute masterpiece. Totally gutted by the end. I can’t believe it took me this long to read it. ★★★★★

Finished reading: Sibley’s Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley 📚

Ah, the inevitable slide into birdwatching. Great introductory guide to help me get started. ★★★★☆

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 29: Drift

Walker Bay Tender - Sucia Island, Washington State

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 28: Community

Of all the communities I’ve been a part of - industry leader, islander, 55+ retirement living - liveaboard boat life was the most incredible. We all had a little extra salt water in our veins that compelled us to a life afloat. Good times.

Celebrating with friends aboard MV Indiscretion at Shilshole Marina, Seattle

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 27: Surprise

My all-time favorite Surprise. In fact, all twenty volumes of this Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian are wonderful. I am perpetually rereading them. I think I’m on my fourth circumnavigation after my first voyage some 20 years ago.

Photo of the Folio Society edition of HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 26: Critters

Seals in Liberty Bay, Washington

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 25: Spine

The spine of this tattered old book tells a story of how loved it is. I must have read these stories a dozen times over the past thirty years. Scribbles and underlines and exclamation marks scattered throughout. A life in marginalia.

Photo of The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 24: Light

Is there anything more mesmerizing than the shifting light and shapes of a campfire under a blanket of stars?

Campfire

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 23: Dreamy

Boston Terrier Asleep in the Library

Currently reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 📚

Finished reading: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 📚

Characters who love books and reading, lots of fun literary references, a bookstore set on an island … this one could have been written just for me. ★★★★☆

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 22: Blue

Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a clear, calm day.

Strait of Juan de Fuca on a clear, calm day

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 21: Mountain

Mount Rainier while under sail in Commencement Bay (2006).

Mount Rainier from the water

📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 20: Ice

The winter before we moved full time to Arizona.