I feel like I have spent half my life making a DVD of our trip to Scotland using this new program on my laptop. It’s called Live Movie Maker and for 6 weeks now, I have carefully put in my 1081 best photos (pretty good considering I took over 18,000) and oh-so-carefully added captions to them, picked out music to fit them and start and end at the appropriate places, then pressed the pan & zoom feature, only to have all the music jump around everywhere and the captions to totally disappear! All 1081 of them!
I tried adding the items in different orders and breaking it up into smaller pieces. But no matter what I did, I had to reenter the captions so many times that I think I was doing it in my sleep. Nothing worked until I saved parts as different chapters and then burned them to the DVD one after the other. After 6 weeks of working I-can’t-tell-you-how-many hours on this, it is finally done. Whew!
Just in time to take advantage of Shutterfly’s huge discount on photo books, for which I got the total number of pictures for that project down to just over 300.
So today was going to be an easy day—all that other stuff behind me. We planned to go get our drivers licenses, register the cars, and register to vote. Now in Florida, the cost to do this was outrageous, but it was super easy to do it all in one step and in one place.
Here, things are not as expensive, but,,,,,well, I found out this morning that new residents to the state of North Carolina have to take the written driver’s test on top of the vision and road sign recognition test! The “written” test is 25 questions long on the computer and you have to get 20 correct. So, since Ray refused to study, I sent him off to take the test cold and I spent a few hours studying the manual online.
Ray came back having missed one question and said that some of the questions were tricky. Well, shoot. But I didn’t want to spend all evening worried about the test—just the word “test” drives me crazy—so I went on over & took it. I skipped 6 of the questions to come back to them later as they were worded in ways that made all of the answers possible. I always try to read too much into every question. I secretly hoped there would be a glitch in the computer and I would get all new questions at the end instead of the ones I skipped.
Then…After I got 18 correct, my computer GLITCHED! The message came up that there had been a server error and for me to be patient! I really didn’t hope to have that bad of a glitch! As it turned out, the computer came back up and I started again right where I had left off, WITH MY ORIGINAL SKIPPED QUESTIONS! Okay, so I missed one question on the “points system” about how many points and how long the revocation or suspension of your drivers license is—didn’t remember reading that in the manual. Anyway, then I got the next 2 correct and I was done! I guess I am officially a North Carolinian! Ray called me a Tarheel, but I don’t like that term. Is it a football term? I’ll have to find out. I am still a Georgia Bulldog no matter where I live.
Forgot to mention the fog—the other morning, I went out to do some errands & got to within 50 feet of the Target before I could actually see it! It seems that the fog likes to move into the valley here and settle in for a rest. It is beautiful & is the reason for the name “Smoky Mountains,” but driving in it can be quite tricky.
Oh, and when you see the pictures for today, you will see a bonsai tree. No, I haven’t decided to inflict myself upon a poor little defenseless bonsai tree—it is fake, but is a very good one, in my opinion, and soothes my need for a real one. (Bonsai trees can breathe easier for a while yet!)
The leaves are turning here in Asheville—maples, hickory, and scarlet oaks--and I am still amazed every time we go out and I see the mountains surrounding us. It is so gorgeous. I am so happy to be living in such a wonderful place.
Pictures from top: view out my office window; beautiful tree at our front door; my lovely bonsai tree.
