Move It Or Lose It – No More Google Reader

Woman Pulling Surfboard On A BicycleOn a recent trip to Wales, I snapped this photo of a woman who was clearly finding new ways to change her carbon footprint and get a good workout at the same time. We’d passed her earlier in our car when driving into Tenby and I had missed the shot so I was happy to have another chance to get a photo when we saw her later pulling her surfboard while cycling up the hill.

Woman Pulling Surfboard Behind BicycleI had to work quickly when I saw her right in front of me after walking out of a shop, plus I was using an unfamiliar camera that John had purchased a few days earlier after his fell into the toilet. My Canon G11 had died on me two days before and I was grateful he’d gone ahead with a purchase while we were traveling, not knowing I would need it later myself.

I miss my camera. After two and a half years, I knew what to expect when I wanted to take a photo and now I’m not sure which way to go. There’s a lot to choose from no matter how tight you make the parameters. Change is hard for me especially when it’s unexpected. I’m fine with sudden shifts if I initiate it, but I don’t like being forced to change direction.

For the last few months I have been getting notices from Google that Google reader, my preferred method of following the blogs I read will  be discontinued. It was there yesterday just like the few last weeks telling me that time was running out. Had I done the first thing about researching what to do with all my favorites so I might find them easily.

Nope!

Until yesterday I had done nothing other than grumble about it and the only reason I did something yesterday was because I thought it was the last day to make a change and save them. I don’t want you to think I always wait until the last minute, but I did think it was the end of the month and I was worried because I knew that as of July 1, they would no longer be available.

That said, let me tell you about the easy solution I discovered when I looked up ” changes to Google reader.”  I found several places to put the blogs I read with just a couple of clicks because evidently, I am not the only one who wasn’t sure what to do next and a lot of people have written posts about the process. The two choices I liked best were Feedly and Bloglovin.

For those of you who read GOTJ through Google reader, the end is nigh! Today is the last day to decide so you’d better get moving. Feedly was the easiest and took only a couple of seconds, but I’m glad I also used Bloglovin. I’m not sure which one I’ll prefer, but I like have options.

There are multiple ways to follow my blog, but the easiest might be to subscribe in the upper right corner and have my posts arrive in your inbox.

Going back to the woman and her surfboard, I don’t know why she chose the method she did, but I do admire her willingness to do things in a less conventional way. People like her remind me to look beyond the norm and be willing to try new options … after a bit of grumbling of course.

How do you follow your favorite blogs?

Is change easy or difficult for you?

Higgledy-Piggledy & My Shifting State Of Commotion

Smiling Ginger Pig & Me

Smiling Ginger Pig & Me

It’s been a bit busy around here the last 22 months or so and even longer if you include the 3.5 months I was in Atlanta in 2011 dealing with real estate issues. I’m happy to say that I made a few major changes recently, chief of which was quitting my part-time job and I am now ready to move on to other things.

Pet petting was on yesterday’s to-do list. Okay, maybe it wasn’t on the list, but when the opportunity presented I thought, I really want to pet that Ginger pig on the nose and I’m not going to let that electric fence stop me!

I’d never seen Ginger pigs before and it seems Tamworths, as they are actually known, have an interesting history. This delightfully written website will answer loads of questions about the breed and tell you much more than I could about these friendly pigs.

I can say that giving these little ones a couple of pats and ear scratches may well have put me off bacon.

Ginger Pig

Ginger Pig

IMG_9450 Who knew that some pigs had such long eyebrows and eyelashes. That’s going to put me off sausage too.

IMG_9456

Ginger Pig Nose