How I see the world

I thought you may like to see images of the technology that lets me read and be able to communicate with the world.

This is my computer with the 30 inch screen which has a very high definition.  I can change the colours on t he screen, but for reading text I usually have yellow text on a brown background.  The keyboard is a special one to go with the software and when I want to look at photos I can press a button and the screen has normal colours.  Photos do look rather strange in the colour scheme above!  There is a very convenient wheel on the left side of the keyboard which allows me to magnify or decrease the size of what I am viewing.  There are also lots of other buttons to change bits around which I have never really learned how to use - probably because I am comfortable with what I am doing.  You learn what you need, then get lazy!  I have learned to do  a lot of scrolling however as what you are seeing in the screenshot above is only half the page.  Bill goes crazy trying to whiz across the page but I have got quite used to it.  Fortunately I was always a fast reader.

This next gadget is my wonderful portable scanner called a Zoomax.  It fits in my handbag so I can take it to the library and continue with my voluntary work in the history room there.  As well as magnifying the tesxt you can change the background colour to the yellow which is showing here, or reverse the background - white text on black background.

I don't often use this facility, but I can plug the Zoomax into the AV on the TV so it really magnifies then.  I can also take a snapshot  to capture a piece of information like a phone number which I have looked up in the directory and I can save till I have dialled the number.

Lastly, here is the scanner which sits on my kitchen table and which I use every day.  So far I only use pretty basic operations on it, but there are all sorts of different operations available if my eyesight deteriorates.  I do the crossword each morning while having breakfast and that is an interesting exercise.  I am reading a vertical surface while writing on the horizontal surface below - sometimes takes a few seconds to locate where I should be writing!  I also never see a whole crossword so I need to remember a bit more - and my brain is not always working as well as I would like it to.  They do say that mental activity keeps the brain working, but perhaps I am not doing enough some days!
Thank goodness for modern technology.
I had hoped to post some photos of an excursion planned for the Friends of the Gardens.  We should have visited a local beach last Saturday to see some interesting plants but the weather was against us - cold, wet and windy!  At least we received some useful rain - 19 mm on Saturday and 21 mm on Sunday. We have rescheduled for next Saturday so are hoping for fine weather then.  I am rather doubtful as the temperature is far too warm.  I am writin this dressed in a T shirt and shorts - and this is mid June!!!