So, There's Been a Little Hitch

My desktop on which most of my life lives, died. Weeks ago now. It hummed on, then without warning, the screen turned blood red. And that was the moment my computer, with 10 years’ worth of files on it (only some of wh were backed up) died. (The blood red thing should have told me unequivocally, but I live in hope). My tech guy, Alex, took out the hard drive in an attempt to preserve everything so I could have it cloned, moved, whatever to the next incarnation of technology. (His quietly adding as he handed it to me: ‘You got a lot more years out of yours than other people have with this one’ only slightly mollified the frugal Scot in me, otherwise, is was mostly all downside).

I now have a new technological incarnation and the use of SOME of the files, passwords, etc. etc., on it. It’s been rather like having a non-fatal accident and having to go thru a slow rehab. It’s still a question whether I will manage to bring everything back up and running as before. (It still won’t play with my printer, wh is REALLY annoying despite hours of trying thru various means. Sigh. SO, it’s why I haven’t posted anything here for a while, and why I neglected to mention the presentation I gave on A Love Like No Other: Abigail and John Adams at the invitation of the Talbot County Public Library run St Michaels, MD for Valentine’s Day.

Attended by 35 or so smart, engaged, and wonderfully informed and informative people, I was glad to be there, even tho public speaking ain’t my favorite. But I thank them all, especially Director Shauna Beulah, and old friend, John Jelich, who I had a chance to catch up with a bit as he manned the library desk. After the presentation (for wh I cobbled together a PowerPoint), I forgot to urge people to buy a copy of A Love Like No Other (one did, and thank you!) or any of the other books I’ve written and brought with me (tho another bought a copy of Woman in The Wheelhouse (thank you!). AND one attendee, whose name escapes me as most names do these days, not only quoted a wonderful passage from the play 1776 during the talk, but also informed me that she had gotten a 50-ton US Coast Guard license as a result of having read Woman in The Wheelhouse (originally published in 1985), and had worked for 30 years for DNR. Go Girl! So, despite my usual butterflies and feeling as tho I had made if not a complete at least a partial fool of myself, it was a lovely day!