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I can not believe I went two whole months without a laptop.  It was painful but also allowed me to become intimately familiar with my other devices.  I borrowed an iPad and used my iPhone as a back up – but posting via an iPad to my blog was challenging. Sometimes the iPad screen would not display correctly or the typing on the screen’s keyboard was cumbersome – I’m much faster on a regular old keyboard. The iPad would be slow at times – for whatever reason, I could not figure out.  And the iPhone, it is small and difficult on the eyes. Handy as it may be, I can’t use it to post content easily.  It would take F–O–R-evvvv-errr.  It was hard to bold my text, add links, insert photos, or fix spelling errors.  And, although these irritations happened when I used either device, I still opted to post to my blog – and not completely give up, because I like to blog. I’m actually somewhat addicted to it.  But, I started to feel like a dolphin.

“Blogging without a Laptop was like being Stuck in an Aquarium”

Poor guy – bet he wishes he had full connectivity to the outside world

I felt stuck like a dolphin in an aquarium tank.  I could make do and adjusted, making the best of it — but it didn’t feel free or easy to enjoy my surroundings. I started to swim along within my confines.  Trying to live without “full” technology was difficult, but also allowed some freedom too.  It gave me a break, from sitting in my office and being tied to a laptop screen, and sometimes, when we take a break from technology, we pay more attention to the live things around us. That is why when I took a long weekend away to a place with no connectivity, it actually felt good.  I started to get comfortable living without it – for the short term that is.  Living without it forever, well, that is just plain impossible these days.  So much of what we do is online, sad but true.

A Land without Connectivity?  Here it is…

Our Cabin – JK

When I went on a long weekend with my siblings this year, we stayed in cabins up north, way up north, as in like 10 miles from the Canadian border.  And our lodging had no connectivity, as you can see why above. Just Kidding. This was a house down the street from our cozy cabins.  It was an old home that one must stop to take photos of. The funny part of this story – stopping for photos that is – is there was a small garden to the right of the house that was in good shape – as in someone was tending to it.  But who? We wondered.  We didn’t stick around to find out.  Just took a quick snap with the iPad and took off quickly.

Anyhow, back to our lodging (cabins).  We spent three nights at a place where we could not text or check our twitter tweets, email accounts, or post to anything.  And in this case, this situation was a good thing.  It gave us a chance to enjoy the view of lakes in front of our cabins without distractions, and “pay attention” when special things happened.  Like when my niece ran up to show us the fish she caught.  Our noses weren’t stuck to our iPhones (me being the most guilty of this of my family members), but focused on our real surroundings, fresh air, and in person opportunities. And how convenient!  My hand was also free to hold other good things, like my wine glass (rather than my iPhone).

“Catch of The Day – A Fish and Wine”

One of us finally caught a fish!

However, I must admit I did take my iPhone along with me when kayaking on this weekend trip which I promptly dropped in the water at one point as I was entering my kayak, but by some miracle, it did not malfunction or die after getting wet briefly. I dove my hand into that water faster than a loon dives after a fish in a lake.  I dried it on a boulder and it started functioning again, then I quietly snuck up in my kayak to a loon sitting on a platform. She was NOT HAPPY and squawked at me loudly, and I almost dropped my iPhone again, but fortunately did not.  This again freed up my hands for more important things, like paddling away before that loon attacked me. She started to jump into the water and approach my kayak, and at that point, I was the one squawking.

“My Close Up Shot of a Loon in North Country”

Loon Lady sitting on her egg. She did not like me!

After kayaking a while, and returning to our cabins, I started to realize I wasn’t reaching for my iPhone anymore for anything other than capturing photos of the beauty surrounding us, but without connectivity, it was hard to share until I was back online again.  And sharing is what I like to do.  And now with a new laptop to replace the one that finally broke permanently, I can get to fixing my errors and updating my blog.  First to be updated was updates to my schedule of events.  See Cathy T’s Classes to learn about the next two classes in the fall and winter.  And next was a new page called SOCIAL, because it can’t be helped, but should be paused from time to time.

In the meantime, bare with me as I learn the new technology of my brandy new laptop.  Thanks for your patience.

Written by Cathy Testa

View without connectivity, but taken with my iPad