Your Home, Garden and Travel

With nice weather, I won't be inside chained to my computer! It is time to be out and about in the garden, around town and on day trips around North Carolina.

I have the Apple iPod Touch, 2nd Generation. Operating like a tiny wireless laptop, iTunes player and an organizer, I'm finding many convenient uses for the iPod. Owners of an iPhone have these capabilities, too.

When I am in a wireless hotspot, I can check my email, surf the web and respond to comments on my blog.

I am getting my iPod ready for our upcoming vacation to France, too. When I'm offline, I can read ebooks using Amazon Kindle for iPhone. I just purchased and downloaded Rick Steve's Paris 2009. I won't have to carry a large print book with me to Paris this spring. I can easily access the table of contents and click to the chapter that I want to reference while walking around Paris. As a traveler who likes to travel light, this is a real benefit to me.

I have also downloaded a French language reference ($0.99) that provides audio so that I can hear the translation. This is quite important since I speak (a little) French with a lot of Southern drawl!

Using Safari on my MacBook, I can save a web page to be read offline, too. To store the page on my iPod, I use Airsharing software ($4.99) that I purchased from the iTunes online store. This software allows me to copy documents from my MacBook to my iPod. I store pdf, MS Word and Excel documents that I need for my travel and day-to-day activities.

Gardeners can carry their plant lists around without any problem! I also store map images and directions to public gardens. I really like having a copy of the web pages to reference while visiting a garden. I can make notes on my iPod about a plant and look it up on the web when a wireless connection is available.

Thin and light, I carry the iPod Touch in my pocket while out in the garden. I can make notes on the spot (including blog story ideas).

I guess you can say that I use my green thumb for typing, too!

Story and photo by Freda Cameron. All products mentioned are owned by their respective companies.