#872. Monday Post (1 July 2019) – DearSusan summer facelift & Pareidolia challenge reminder.

I’ve just returned from a 10-day break with family in Brittany. For food, photography and hiking, my habitual vacation trifecta, that place is right up there. More info and photos to follow, but here are a few sprinkled throughout this return-to-school post.

   

Technically, this scene of Mont Saint Michel, isn’t really in Brittany, so let’s get that out of the way before getting into more serious (and unpleasant) stuff. But it’s close enough to Saint Malo to be included in my approximatively Breton route 😉

Now.

DS is broken. On its last legs. During my absence the email automation broke down, with the habitual responsibility-ping-pong game between theme author, hosting company, emailing company. And it’s still not functionnal as I write this, hoping that normal operations will resume ere long. Other stuff seems broken. Other still has been for a while (social sharing, e.g.)

   

Fact is, the version of DS you see today is almost prehistoric in website timelines. And an upgrade is needed.

It’s not just a facelift. There are several side projects, such as pwintshop, individual galleries and more personalised email subscriptions, that hinge on this technical nip and tuck.

I’ve been postponing it for months/years because this is a hobbyist website that makes no money and this rework is going to take both money and time. The very idea feels as pleasant as a vinegar clyster. But what choice is there ?

 

 

Shutter it all? To my shame, the thought did enter my mind and lingered there for a (long) while. Status quo? Nope, that would bug me even more.

So I’m working on finding a proper design/structure that will allow us to continue posting articles on this blog but also create (a) full blown tutorials and courses, (b) write articles (meaning we’ll have to figure out how to create stuff that’s actually helpful and not just rantastic, which is a whole other headbanger to look forward to when this rebuild is over 😀 ) and (c) post galleries.

All this to say (see, rantatorials is all we know 😀 ) that this summer could be pretty disrupted. We’re still huffing and puffing in the background, we still love you guys (and gals) and we still want to continue. But, on top of work, a 44°C heatwave that’s turned down my energy to zilch-ish levels, and other projects, your favourite dearsusan could occasionally look like it’s taking a prolonged nap.

 

 

Before this, though, let’s talk pareidolia.

That’s fancy talk for finding human-like patterns in everyday objects. Like this:

   

Or this:

   

Several of you have already sent me your photos. Thanks for that. Given the avalanche of emails that innundate my box (in spite of constant unsubscring from the unsollicited pests) I fully expect to screw up the recap post but will do my very best not to 😉

Others: there’s still time. So get out there and scan the walls, the letter boxes, the unexpected patterns in the clouds, … It’s a lot of fun, I promise you’ll giggle like a 3 year old. And it’s great practise for observational skills. Given the technical problems we are currently facing, let’s give this another 10 days. Send me your pics (and text, if you wish) at pascal dot jappy at gmail dot com. After that, we’ll publish the results 🙂

That’s it for now.

 

 

TLDR: Brittany is gorgeous, DS is seeing white light at the end of a dark tunnel but we’re holding her back, funthropomorphism rules.

Questions?

 

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