Sian

Today, I am toasting marshmallows over the kitchen range.  There's no real reason for this decision, apart from the fact that I'm bored, and I happened to walk past a package of marshmallows in the store.  Thank God I did, because I could be toasting mushrooms at this very moment.  So, there you have it... the only element of camping that I ever liked brought into the air-conditioning.

I'm unspeakably accident prone.  When I go camping, I'm mixing this with water and fire.  You can imagine the results.

My mother called me to ask about computers, this morning.  Somehow, I've become the family authority on these things.  The question today--the one that was worth waking me up about--was whether or not she could go in a chat-room to talk about plants.  Yes, mother.  Fine.  Yes.  Fine.  Just remember you don't really know these people.  No.  You don't.  No.  Not even if they have rhododendrons.  No.   (Not, of course, that I envision a bunch of plant people coming to get her, but I always push caution, because she's my mother.)  No.  Not all chatrooms.  Some chat-rooms are about rhododendrons, and not about raping and murdering small children.  Yes.. Uh huh.  Just use your common sense. 

And then I tried to explain the difference between a chat-room and a bulletin board for her. 

And then, we started to do the crossword puzzle.  (I have a great long-distance plan.)

The truth is, I probably talk to her more, now that I'm living five states away than I did when I was just down the street. 

She's a product of that in-between-generation.  They had computers, when she was in school... in fact her university had one.  It was a great source of pride.  At the senior center, she's the one all the other people ask, if they have questions about what they 're doing.  If she doesn't know, she asks me.

She says there are two reasons for this.  She feels bad asking (family computer geek's name here) because he does it for a living, and he won't take any money from her, and that's just not right.  and I'm just so good at explaining these things.

posted by: SianNorah at 16:07 | link | comments (1)

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