New rules about apple picture storage meant I started looking for alternatives. I do not want to pay for cloud storage. Period the end.
So I downloaded Amazon pics app yesterday. An Amazon prime account offers unlimited free picture storage (but not unlimited video). I set it to automatically download my images but then wondered, if I exceed the free video storage amount are they gonna automatically subscribe me to one of the paid plans, thereby ruining my cloud work around? So I interrupted it.
Started looking through them. Lots of videos of the dog. And Lila, Billy’s dog.
Mostly though, it’s those collage slideshows that I’m sure you’ve seen. They’re important to me. Even though unsophisticated (I use only a free app and my phone to create them) they provide a record: what I was thinking about, what I was feeling. Attending to the repeated imagery reveals some themes: racial inequity, trauma, the overturning of Roe v Wade, trump’s destruction (ongoing).
I thought of posting a bunch of videos here and then deleting them from my phone but then wondered, what happens when I run out of the space offered by WordPress business (which is decidedly NOT free but which I kind of had to upgrade to after I ran out of the space afforded by the free WordPress platform)?
I’m not adept at this crap and I do wonder why $12.00 a year for the cloud (or whatever) is provoking this penurious response.
Are we allowed our inconsistencies? I spent $250 on annuals yesterday. Boom. And it wasn’t a first trip.
The fact that I get a wholesaler discount and saved $100 does not make the total a penny cheaper, but somehow it feels better? A tad victorious, even, which is a good thing when I am feeling defeated by so much else.
Where am I going with this post?
To the garden.
Garden notes:
** Almost all filling-in around the new patio was achieved with divisions. ** My new copper bird bath has yet to see any action (that I’ve observed), so I keep moving it. ** When I run out of steam, I put divisions on the curb and they are always taken. ** The feeders attract: blue jays, purple finches, nuthatches, sparrows and wrens, cardinals, woodpeckers. Yesterday I saw my first red-winged blackbird.
For those of you with more tech savvy, feel free to educate me. My husband and older son are blasé about this upcoming change. Maybe it only applies to “recent uploads” (1,000 pix) which apple used to automatically upload to cloud so they’d be available across devices — a feature that has never mattered to me because I don’t use my iPad for picture stuff and my laptop is not a Mac. Oy.
So the real limit I need to worry about is the storage in my phone. I guess.
we just keep on paying and paying
I have an ipad, bought just a year ago and have opted not to buy extra Icloud storage as my images are in my googlecloud (or whatever it’s called) and I’m paying for that which is fair as I consider my google-account a service, but I am not prepared to pay double, which is what it feels like, grrrrr these virtual spaces sure cost a lot and a couple of billionaires get to rule the world
sorry for minor rant
I love seeing images of your garden and Hurray for birds visiting, they bring such joy and delight!
Saskia…I like your rant and agree!
Your yard/garden is so lovely…pretty, peaceful and inviting to all (birds included!)
Yes…”we ARE allowed our inconsistencies”!! Spending only makes sense to the spender, I learned years ago (but I still remind myself not to judge. haha). I too refuse to pay for cloud storage. I’ve got my old computer filled with a few movies and Thousands of photos (which we haven’t looked at in eons) and my new/current computer with another 3500 pics. Too many duplicates and ones that don’t matter all that much, but are left undeleted because I MAY have put them on my blog and they would disappear from there too, so I do nothing. How many cruddy moon pics do I need? How many pics of my beloved Big Sur coastline are needed to tell that story? How many close-up shots of cloth would be loved in the future? Perhaps one day I’ll go on another purging binge…and it won’t really matter if the disappear from anywhere. That’s where I’ve landed with all of this. I don’t have friends or family (and maybe not even me!) who would have time or interest to look back at all of my photos and blog posts…and it mostly matters only to me (and some to J. – but he lives in the moment mostly). Just another kind of clutter to my way of thinking.
Well, you got my brain going!! I think I’ll look at your garden again and breathe 🙂
A very full catalog of pics IS clutter. You nailed that on the head. On the other hand, it’s also my palette for double exposure play.
I fought the fee for a long time by downloading overages on a large backup drive. They cost $50 or so. But it’s a pita. It worked for a while, then I got lazy and just paid. It’s a small fee considering I pay a bundle for Netflix Prime HBO max etc. I haven’t gotten a subscription for photoshop since I left CCNY, that fee kills me!
That said the yard looks fantastic! I’m sure the birdies and having a ball.
Well we pay for all those platforms too. As I said it’s not rational. I’ll probably get there. I don’t love the idea of Amazon having all my images. But couldn’t they see them in the cloud anyway?
Ha Ginny’s comment reminded me that when I got my new computer, 2021 or 2022? I could not just add “Word” by paying once, but must now have a monthly subscription. I said nope. Leaves a lot of old things of mine unavailable, but that’s okay.
Also, I could see if I wanted a “palette for double exposure play” I might feel different 🙂
I hated it when Microsoft made that change. We refused too.
I use and toss images. they are on the blog. Even when I delete them in my files.
the Cloud..not going there ever….nothing needs to live forever….even ME,
I like the freedom in your attitude.
our two year cable “promotional rate” just expired, doubling the cost … I hate (HATE) having to go to Spectrum to renegotiate … so irritating … bleah
love seeing the impatiens, hostas and ferns … which would surely croak in the triple digit Texas heat … thank goodness for the breeze, but it’s not enough to save the tomatoes, which are quite literally cooking on the vine …
It’s all so frustrating but it feels like a loosing battle unless we can hang our hats on Joanne’s belief. I could probably delete half of what’s on my phone. But I get your frustration totally cuz it’s your art which is way more than just pictures. Your garden is beautiful .. I’d totally be pulling up to your curb if I saw free plants heck I’d probably pull over just to get a closer look at all your plants. Maybe even get out of the car to introduce myself and thank you for all the time and energy you put into creating such a peaceful place. Maybe you’d invite me to sit .. have a cup of tea and together we’d get to enjoy the bird songs together.
I would definitely invite you in for tea. We’d have a lot to talk about!