This time last year we were excitedly preparing our gear for a month long trip to stare at this wonderful mountain. Didn't get bored 😄
Mt Fitz Roy (Cerro Chaltén) in Patagonia
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I love autumn sunsets here in the Alpujarra.
Arko, our mad husky has just discovered some new noises to make after dinner, when he settles down on the sofa to watch TV.
And even when you let sleeping dogs lie, there is always a beady eye looking at you 😄
Rita lies on her side on a black sofa. Pointy alert ears and one eye is open. She knows she is being photographed
Cerveza Artesana. Making beer the old way. Shows crushing and mixing of malts through to ready for first fermentation.
Sometimes it's nice to do something a bit different. Last weekend I went on a days "Artisan Beer Making Course". Started at 9am and by 2pm we had got the first fermentation going. Although I enjoy a cold beer after a hike I'm not really a big beer drinker, but I found it really interesting and it will probably will inspire me to have a go at some point.
I'm particularly interested to see if I could create an non gassy, "tostada" tasting IPA. Also good to support local initiatives.
I've always been interested in reading about Antarctic #expeditions, especially in the early days. Shackleton's expedition in 1915 in particular is a remarkable account of an extraordinary hardy group of people. Enjoyed reading this article therefore, about how playing football (soccer) helped the morale of the team, stranded in the Antarctic.
Makes one compare these tough and resilient folk with the footballers of today who seem to go rolling around, faking injury, whist earning vast sums of money for kicking a ball around 😄
https://theblizzard.co.uk/football-on-antarctic-expeditions/writing/
I found it a very scary task to migrate servers today from Mastodon to a self hosted #LittleFedi server now running on a Pi in my home. Since 2022 I have built up some very valued relationships with people on the #Fediverse. My sincere hope was that the migration would not lose any of these relationships. This was my only reservation about self hosting.
Happy to report that the migration seems to have gone well and those contacts seemed to have been moved across successfully. I hope it hasn't caused you any inconvenience either. I can now breathe a sign of relief.
Thanks all for being here.
Stunning sunset tonight. Bad weather arriving soon for the next few days
Sunday Morning Moonset
The Xteink X3 Ebook Reader. For a week now I've been using this little, credit card sized, gadget for daytime reading. Reletively cheap (€69 from AliExpress), a long lasting battery and weighing in at only 56 grams, this is the perfect small device to carry around with you. The reading experience is pretty good too. The supplied UI software from Xteink is very basic so for a better experience I installed the Crosspoint UI from https://crosspointreader.com/ (easy 1 click install). Much better. All my books were loaded directly onto it's SD card from Calibre
Cons? There are issues. There is no backlight, so no nighttime reading without a lamp/headtorch. Also the lack of an easy way to sync with my main ebook reader (Kobo Libra) meant a bit of faffing around to match reading places. No sync with Amazon/Apple neither.
That aside, I'm glad I've got this to hand to while away the hours reading a good book, rather than doom scrolling through my phone. I await the backlit version, that surely must arrive at some point.
Yesterdays hike alongside the Rio Verde was tougher than I thought, but the stunning scenery & cooling waters helped. 1st time in 20+ years I have done this popular hike.
Marked by meeting helpful & caring fellow hikers eager to assist some of our less mobile members over difficult sections. This contrasted with others that only cared about themselves & their own progress at the expense of others. Sometimes I just despair of humanity!
Local Canyoning guides here seem to be the worst. They think they own the place and we are supposed to clear a path for them, the supposed experts. Arrogant and superior.
I've had numerous run-ins with alpine guides too who are, unsurprisingly, traveling faster with 2 on a rope, than me with 3. They frequently crossed and trod over our ropes in their haste for upwards progress. One even celebrated on reaching a belay faster than me, leaving me hanging around on 2 axes. Mountain fellowship goes by the wayside with these people. Speed and making money takes precedence.
More photos
For 9 months I have been using RapidRaw as part of my RAW image processing workflow. So much so that Rawtherapee and Lightroom have fallen by the wayside.
Described perfectly as "A beautiful, non-destructive, and GPU-accelerated RAW image editor built with performance in mind." I have seen the improvements and enhancements over the past months and the developer, Timon Käch, deserves much praise.
It's free software so if you find this useful please consider contributing to the work.
Why Personal Websites Are Coming Back!
I guess, throughout all the twists and turmoils of the internet and Big Tech's shenanigans over the years, the only thing that has remained constant and totally under my control has been my website. And, nobody can take that away from me. I actually think the small web will regenerate as more people decide to take back control
https://deadparrotbbs.com/why-personal-websites-are-coming-back/
Getting interested in becoming more proficient in using terminal based apps and editors such as Helix (text editor), Newsboat (RSS reader) and Browser (Lynx). Decided that I will never buy another smartphone, so this could be useful when my Mecha Comet Linux handheld arrives back end of the year.
Yesterday a hike up Cerro Buenavista 1665m in the Sierra de Huetor. Beautiful views, as the name suggests, but it's probably still too hot to be walking around at these mid level altitudes and the heat certainly affected the group. We were all glad to get back to an air condiitoned bar and a cold beer!
Think my daughter is trying to tell me something
A short hike along the delightful aerial walkway of the Pavilla at Niguelas
Cooling, tranquil & serene. River hiking (Rio Bacal, Jayena) in Andalucia, Spain