Bingo

If you get nothing else out of this blog, you should benefit from the following advice I received today. When your computer gives you a message saying it no longer recognizes the device (your digital camera), it is (past) time to think about giving your camera’s memory card a good wash. Now, many of you might be chuckling to yourselves, thinking what kind of numbskull is she that she never formatted her memory card. But I am willing to bet my rusty nail collection that there are several friends who, like me, had no idea this was something I should have been tending to periodically. So, after buying a card reader that allowed us to move the photos from the card to the computer, we were ready to start fixing the card. Here is how it worked on mine; perhaps it will help you. Turn on camera. Set to “picture taking mode.” Choose “menu,” then “tools.” Scroll down till you see the option to “format.” Then do it! I was given the analogy that even though we remove pictures from the camera each time we download, there is still the layer of images, like chalk dust on an erased blackboard. By formatting, we are giving the board, or card, a hose down. That’ll be fifty cents, please. These camera pros were so helpful, that upon commenting on some great wildlife shots on display, we followed their directions to nearby wetlands. There we enjoyed a great bike ride complete with gators (I won the “who ever sees one first is the winner” contest), otter, ospreys, and ibises, gallinules and herons galore. ps-Despite the smiling face, I have NOT won a single cent at bingo yet!