Wife on the Farm

iPhone Inside

I am salivating over the new iPhone 3GS.  I've owned an iPhone since October 2007 and am IN LOVE with all the apps and features and how it allows me to take my electronic life along with me just about wherever I go.  I've used my iPhone in Canada, New Zealand and Italy, and of course, all over the U.S. including Hawaii.

Here's an interesting article about the true costs of the new iPhone.  As expected, Apple is making its equipment sales profit based on volume and not on net profit per unit.  AT&T is picking up the slack, paying Apple a hefty fee to be the exclusive carrier in the U.S. and then passing on those costs to us in the form of two-year commitment contracts.

Oh well, it's a prison that AT&T and Apple have us in, but I'll cheerfully send them my payment each month and hack up $200 every two years for an upgraded model.  I couldn't imagine living without my iPhone and will ante up the bucks to upgrade from my first-gen iPhone to the new 3GS phone after my contract is fulfilled later this year.

Bloomerang!

Some people may think I've gone overboard, but that's okay. I just planted three new lilacs in our landscape. I already have five lilac bushes planted in our front and side flower beds, but I discovered a new variety that I couldn't resist buying.

They are called a Bloomerang Lilac and are sold by White Flower Farm in Connecticut. I found an article about them in Better Homes and Gardens and bought a set of three. This variety is supposed to bloom  again and again until frost. Although lilacs are my favorite blossom, they have a brief, marvelous blooming in early May that only lasts two or three weeks. Having a re-blooming variety is the most brilliant botanical idea I've ever heard of!

Two are planted right outside my home office window, and one is planted in our north flower bed along the driveway. Hopefully, in four or five years, I'll be posting a photo of all three of them, covered in glorious blooms.

I Love New Toys

I got a new toy today.  I just love new gadgets.  No, it's not a new iPhone - although I am anxiously awaiting the expected release of the third-generation iPhone rumor has it will be available this summer.  No, I bought myself a new camera.  I have a nice Canon Powershot S2 I2 that I bought three years ago that has a 12x optical zoom and a 48x digital zoom.  It's a great camera for long-distance shots.  I used it in Switzerland and New Zealand for photos of mountains and landscapes.  It's only drawbacks are that it's bulky and heavy and uses AA batteries like crazy.  I've wanted an ultra-compact camera that I could keep in my purse or travel bag.  One that I could pull out whenever and where ever.  I have a built-in camera in my cell phone, but it's only a 2 mp and the phone doesn't have a flash, so there are lots of photo ops that I miss because I don't have a small but powerful camera with me.

I did some research and settled on the Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS.  I was all set to buy the SD1100 IS, but Canon just released the 1200 and it has 10 mp, a 3x optical zoom, a 2.5 inch LCD screen, scene and face detection technology and an optical viewfinder (a must for an old fogey like me who just can't get used to the screen).  So I forked over the additional $50 and now have a camera that I plan to carry with me at all times.  Just in time for my vacation next month in Alaska.  Okay, I will likely take both cameras with me to Alaska, because I'm sure I'll need the larger zoom on my old camera for some of the glacier and scenery ohotos I expect to take.

And yes, my new toy is green.  Love it!

Italy

The farmer and I returned home from our annual vacation this week.  We spent nine days in Italy and I totally fell in love with the country, the food, the wine, the whole Italian experience.  Since I'm an unapologetic list-maker, here is my list of reasons to return to Italy some day:

Pasta.  Need I say more?

Venice is the most fascinating city in the world.  No cars.  Everything is done via the canals.  Even the ambulances are boats.

The churches in Italy are huge, filled with priceless art, overwhelming and totally magnificent.  I managed to drag the farmer into about 20 churches during our vacation.  St. Peter's in Rome would take days to thoroughly explore.  We spent a half-day there.

I love the piazzas.  It's so much fun to people-watch in the piazzas.  The locals, the tourists, they all pass through the piazzas and you can find people in them at almost any hour.

I love to listen to the Italians speak.  The Romance languages are, well, so romantic.

Vino.  We weren't even in Tuscany, but the wines were delicious.

It's really mind-boggling to realize that you're walking on cobblestone streets and walkways where the Caesars and the saints walked.  Such history in Italy!

Since we only spent time in Rome and Venice, I'd love to return and see Naples, Sicily, Pisa, the Amalfi Coast and many other wonderful spots that we missed.