Ditto That

The only photo I could find on the borrowed computer

So how do you like today's picture? After struggling with a borrowed computer and a smashed iPhone for a week, I'm leaving Louisiana today, having gleaned all that I could muster with borrowed equipment and a teeny brain.
You must remember, to me technology is an automatic washing machine. My mother thought she had it good with her electric wringer. I thought she was going to electrocute herself, or at least get her arm stuck in it.
My first attempt at publishing was smudgy sheets of typing paper, duplicated with the magic of carbon paper. When I transitioned to the "Ditto" machine in the late 1950's, everyone within six blocks was treated to my mimeographed news stories about the family. My dad loved it when I wrote about him heating his underwear over the furnace register before he put it on. We all had ways to deal with the Seattle chill.
The 70's brought me to the highest level of technology I could imagine: The copy machine. Now my Christmas newsletters could me mailed to dozens of people. I cut and pasted photos and "screened" them. Screening is a process that converted the images to tiny dots, like the ones in the newspapers, except I don't think newspapers even do that anymore.
I was so proud of my work, I even sent a copy of my Christmas Chronicle to Erma Bombeck one year. I received a note from her encouraging me to continue writing. Who knows? Perhaps she meant it was ok for me to write grocery lists and notes to school.
With the advent of the computer I became and remain addicted to writing and the thrill of duplication. I 'm egged on with only the slightest encouragement, like, "Hey Bernadette, I saw your blog once." I take that to mean, "Don't quit writing! Your humor and cheerfulness are all that are keeping me from destroying myself!"
Tomorrow's blog will originate in Madison Indiana. If I can't work out my technical issues, I'll be mimeographing purple sheets and distributing them door to door.