Something New (AI), Something Old (Shaker boxes)

 This afternoon after lunch I went to sit in on the Men's Round Table presentation by Winona IT, the company that oversees Grace Village's computers and network. The topic was AI (artificial intelligence). They had opened the talk to other than those eating the lunch. 

I didn't learn very much. It was sort of a general talk about AI using Chat GPT as the example. I did ask if Copilot that had appeared on my computer in a beta form from Google is AI. He said yes it is. I have had no interest in playing around with Copilot. 

Yesterday I walked into my living room just as the sun was shining through the skylight on the Shaker boxes my husband had made. It looked like a spotlight. At first, I didn't like these boxes finished with milk paint as well as the ones left natural, but I have grown rather fond of them. I see from the photo that I probably need to get on a ladder to get rid of cobwebs. LOL.

I like being retired and at home during the day to enjoy the play of light in my condo as the day progresses. 

I just started Madeleine L'Engel's book Circle of Quiet on my tablet. It was mentioned in an ebook by Emily P. Freeman. I do use some "modern" modes of information. Not too sure I will ever embrace AI though.

Front Porch Flowers 2024

 We ate lunch sitting on the front porch today. It is warm with a light breeze. It is the first time to eat there since last fall. 

I bought a pot of geraniums and a hanging pot of wax begonias this year. 

We are on the roller coaster spring weather of northern Indiana. Tomorrow might only be a high of 60. Today 80. Yesterday the area to the north of us, including Michigan, had tornados, high winds, hail. But there should be more porch sitting days coming.

Spring Blooms 2024

 

Saturday afternoon I walked around my neighborhood a bit to see what is blooming. The phlox around the Grace Village sign on Sunset Drive is still pretty.

One of my neighbors has irises blooming. My irises will probably open in 10-12 days. The peonies are developing well, may open earlier than June this year.

I noticed that she also has bleeding hearts. The Grace Village condos used to have some of these, but I think they got too much sun. I know mine did and lasted one year. Hers were in the shade of a tree.

This evening I was surprised by a visit from one of the ladies in my Bible study group who dropped off a vase of her snowball hydrangeas. The said her bush was overflowing so she was delivering some flowers to all of the ladies in the group.

Something else that sprouted up this spring were orange flags in our back lawn. We thought they had something to do with the sprinkler system, but they have been there about a month with no activity. Glad we are not the ones having to mow around them.

Today I bought some potted flowers for my front porch. I will try to get some photos in the next few days when the light is better so I can share. Tomorrow is to be a very rainy gloomy day. 

Among all of this floral beauty, I had the pleasure tonight of eating Blue Bell Moo-llenium Crunch ice cream. It finally showed up at Meijer. I think the last time I saw it was last autumn. On sale and with an additional dollar-off coupon, I couldn't resist. We became fond of Blue Bell ice cream when we lived in Texas. Do you have a favorite brand or flavor?

Arts, Crafts, More

 

When my husband came home Friday after eating breakfast with a friend, he said "Did you see the new resident out front?"

The gardener had removed the spent tulips and planted a rose bush in their place. It is already full of blooms. It makes my heart happy to know I will once again have roses to put in my bud vases.

Today Grace Village hosted an Arts and Crafts fair to celebrate its 50th anniversary. There were about 40 vendors set up in the parking lot in front of the healthcare entrance. 

We walked over as many parking spots were now unavailable. I purchased a pair of blue earrings. The vendor put them into a net bag ready to give as a gift. I bought them for myself, however.

My husband and I had split up to peruse the booths. He bought a lasered tealight holder.

Around noon he returned to the fair to buy 2 pulled pork sandwiches stuffed full. Only $5 per sandwich. He brought them home to eat.

I had purchased a monster cookie earlier at the fair so we finished our meal by splitting that. I put the spoon next to it so you can see how big it is.

We are having a lovely spring day.