Wednesday, June 20, 2007

More about e-books & stuffed animals

I have discovered something terrific with Adobe Reader! They have a wonderful full screen option. But it's hard to find. When you open the pdf file, look at the very bottom left hand corner. (Yes - LEFT - I made sure, lol.) Bottom. Small icon, looks like a TV screen. When you hover over it, it says 'Full Screen View'. Click on it, and the result is a GREAT page for reading e-books, similar to the microsoft reader page.
I'm amazed. I never noticed that before. That'll teach me to read directions.

I am packed. My suitcase, though small and complete with wheels, weighs a ton because of all the French soaps I'm bringing back with me. French soaps are really nice. But they're heavy.

My daughter's suitcase (a school bookbag with wheels) is packed too. She is bringing her stuffed bunny with her. The bunny has been travelling back and forth with her since she was six. My son Sebi has a small stuffed seal called Lightning. He still has it, (he's 21 and he got the seal when he was 3). He's carried the seal back and forth from France to the US, to Argentina, and England. Lightning was once forgotten in the stables, and a big white horse named Ajax 'took care of him'. (My son had left him in the horse's stall during a game of hide and seek when the grooms had taken all the horses out to exercise.) Sebi was always attached to his stuffed animals. He had a stuffed rabbit named 'Apple' and a sort of yellow monkey named 'Saucisson'. Apple, Lightning, and Saucisson went everywhere with us for years and years. And my son still has, like I said, Lightning the small seal. (And like the old rocking horse in the Velveteen Rabbit, his eyes are gone, his nose has been rubbed off, and his fur has gone bald in spots - but he's still perched next to my son's bed.)
My daughter's bunny 'Jumper' is rag-worn, shapeless, and his ears have been sewn back on twice. But she loves him. She loves him better than the plush, new stuffed animals she got for Christmas or her birthday last year. Like Sebi, who pushed away a brand new rabbit with howls of "I want my Old Bunny Back!" when Apple was lost, my daughter prefers her careworn creature.
She looks at Jumper through eyes of love.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're going to New York? Come visit! I'm only another 7 or 8 hours plane trip away!

John Nez said...

My boys wouldn't keep a 'stuffie' in their room if you paid them. It's a pity too... since they were like part of the family. They're still around... only forsaken, lost in a remembrance of those golden times past.

Have a great trip! The secret to sucess in traveling is lowered expectations, I think. Nothing ever works out the way one planned...

Unknown said...

A new object can not replace an old loved one (just ask any child with a favorite toy) We bought two of about 5 very favorite toys of Alyssa's and kept switiching them about so they woulc have the same degree of "worn-ness". Thus, if one was lost of truly messed up, we have a duplicate already to be loved.

Rosie said...

My 21 year old has "Et" which is his first prounounciation of elephant. It was bright pink with a lime green at the end of its snout. Et is carefully wrapped in tissue paper in Beanie's "save forever" tub. Of course Et is no longer pink, and quite threadbare, but treasured none the less.

Shmoo still has Perky his Beanie Baby penguin on his bookshelf. No one touches Perky for fear of losing a limb.

I take heart in the fact that they say boys who loved dolls and stuffed animals will be good fathers.

Bernita said...

These are treasures.

Sam said...

Proof that treasures are things we love, and not necissarily things of value.
:-)

Daisy Dexter Dobbs said...

Have a fabulous trip, Sam! I wish Oregon wasn't so far from NY. :-(

Bobbie (Sunny) Cole said...

Hope you're having fun already!

(and I'm just now catching up on posts - omg - that rugby man calendar *Sunny faints*)

Daisy Martin said...

Have a safe trip and don't talk to strangers on the plane.

You are so lucky your kids have a favorite stuffed animal. Jas loves the entire stuffed animal kingdom and actually packed one suitcase of nothing but stuffed animals. Another suitcase was nothing but shoes. What six year old kid needs 12 pairs of shoes to go on a beach vacation with? Just a pair of sandals should be fine. I only packed 5 pairs of shoes myself and I have a shoe addiction.

What was I talking about? oh yeah, have a safe trip. I'm looking forward to talking to you on this side of the pond. happy trails!

ORION said...

OMG!!!WHere are you in NYC?????