black swan and cygnets1, Floriade, Canberra 2008

black swan and cygnets1, Floriade, Canberra 2008, originally uploaded by cecilia.au.

black swan and cygnets2, Floriade, Canberra 2008

black swan and cygnets2, Floriade, Canberra 2008, originally uploaded by cecilia.au.

Enjoyed an all-too-brief visit to Canberra last weekend, visiting my daughters and spending a few hours at Floriade, the annual flower and garden festival. Spotted a pair of black swans with a clutch of plush cygnets.

This tawny frogmouth has taken up residence in a tree near my office.

In winter, even Alphasmart Dana likes a cat nap by the heater

I have recently invested in an Alphasmart Wireless Dana, in the unending quest for effective organisation of information and time across different workplaces.

I have previously enthused about the Alphasmart Neo word processor (see earlier posts in this blog). The Alphasmart Wireless Dana is rather like my beloved Neo on steroids.

The Dana has a larger screen, with PDA functionality (including touchscreen), running on Palm OS version 4. The wireless model has the ability to connect to email and internet. The Dana, with or without internet capability, can run a huge range of Palm applications, in addition to the excellent Alphaword word processor package it shares with Neo. The touchscreen allows data entry with a stylus, and Dana offers the Palm Graffiti system for handwritten entries.

If you need a PDA but are tired of the small screen and thumb board you are currently using, try Dana's wide screen and full sized keyboard! All that extra functionality - including 16MB hard drive, plus two SD slots for up to 2G of additional memory - and Dana is still a lightweight compared to a standard laptop. Like its cousin, the Alphasmart Neo, an Alphasmart Dana weighs approximately 2 pounds.

For more information on Alphasmart Dana and Neo, go to

http://www.alphasmart.com/index.html

In Australasia, go to

http://www.batterypoweredcomputers.com/

http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/

It's great to see my mother and sisters again, after two years absence! We are catching up, drinking a lot of tea and watching my tiny niece playing in my mother's garden. There are eighteen years between my niece and my younger daughter, the nearest cousin in her maternal family. She's an unexpected gift for us all! At 86, my mother delights in her three year old grand-daughter. Today, Annabelle has gone to the seaside, to play with a bucket and spade :-)

The view from our caravan park cabin, while we were away from home during the renovations.