Thursday, April 12, 2007

I JUST HAD TO....


... have a first Modica Bassa ice cream of the year to celebrate spring when I was down there this morning. So I stopped off at Bar Ciacera and congratulated the pleasant owner on her memory, for she recalled that amarena [black cherry] is my favourite flavour. Here it is mixed with some stracciatella [chocolate flake ice cream]. Oh, it is good to sit on the terrace of a café on a sunny day in a Mediterranean country and remind myself that I don't have to go back next week, or the week after that, or even next month!

I had two reasons for being in Modica Bassa this morning: one was to collect a supply of doggie treats for Simi [the supermarkets stock dog food but are not very good for biscuits, etc] from the nice pet shop where I always get a couple of extra packs thrown in as a gift and the other was to at last pick up my new glasses. I say "at last" not because of any delay on the part of the optician but because I didn't get around to going for the test earlier. Italy, for all its apparent slowness, can sometimes surprise you because these spectacles were ready in 3 days. OK, there are no "your glasses ready in one hour" stores here but that was still quicker than my Cardiff optician would have been. I have given up on frameless specs, stylish though they are; I find them difficult to keep clean and they used to bounce around like Zebedee in The Magic Roundabout every time I put them down. Now that I can actually see what I am doing here again, I notice that when I upload photos I get a message saying I am using 20 MB of my 1040 MB, or something. Can anybody please explain it and am I supposed to do anything? Do I need to make the photos smaller? What happens when I use all the MB up?

19 comments:

Shades said...

Yum. I'll just go and get a Nobbly Bobbly out of the freezer...

Liz Hinds said...

Oh, delicious-looking ice cream! And she remembers your favourite?! (How often do you go there?!!)

I think that when your allocation is used up, you have to buy some more. If you want. Or you can use an alternative host for your photos. I believe. But I wouldn't take my word for it!

James Higham said...

Oh, i thought you were going to write that you'd been buying a new pair of shoes. Everyone seems to be doing this and all I bought was a new drinking water system.

Lee said...

Duh! I'm useless at answering questions like that, Welsh!

I'll just stick to drooling over the pic, instead! ;)

jmb said...

Hi WCLC,
Yummy ice cream, sitting on the terrace eating this would be heaven indeed.
I don't understand the photo thing, is there a limit to the photo hosting and do you only get a message if you are getting near the limit? I've never seen one yet.
Regards
jmb

Whispering Walls said...

Cherry's my favourite too...

Sally said...

Life's simple pleasures.............I'm with you on the amareno and must confess for a sneaking lust for coco, and then the granite, it's just something the Brits don't really know about. There are good producers here, like Hill Station, but what's totally lacking outside major cities are gelaterie, and how we miss them when the living's easy. I could also use one of the squishy bags in your top photo - makes me smile to look at them.

Anonymous said...

WL -

The amount of file space you've used so far is nothing to worry too much about. You've so far used less that 1/50th of your allowance, or about 2%.

The text portion of your posts takes very little space; it's the pictures that are the killers. When you eventually hit the limit you'll simply need to remove some of the older files.

Clicking on a picture one of your posts takes one to the full-sized image. They are very large - certainly larger than they need be. If you were to resize your photos before uploading them you would delay the inevitable day when you hit the file size buffers.

If you would like further guidance on how to resize your images I will be only too happy to assist.

Anonymous said...

The ice looks delecious. Wish I had one at the moment.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Delicolor, what's a Nobbly Bobbly? I'm getting really out of touch! Hi, Liz. Well, I go there about once a fortnight in summer. Thanks for the info. Hi, James. No, no new shoes yet. Tell us about your drinking water system. Are you going to post about it? It seems a very important thing to have bought! You and me both, Lee! I don't know, jmb but Ludlingtonian does! WW, Sally, we have similar tastes then! I like squishy bags too, Sally! Ludlingtonian, you are wonderful! Thank you for the information. If I use blogger's "small" picture size option when uploading, is that sufficient or do I need to resize the photos anyway frist? [I've used this option on my post tonight.] You are very kind.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Steve, I'm hoping you and your wife will visit one day and taste the ice cream!

Anonymous said...

WL -

If you load up your blog in your browser and check this evening's post, you'll see the picture of your draining board is quite small. The 'Small Picture' option simply makes the picture in the main post slightly smaller. Click on it, though, and you will see the underlying full image. That full image is so large that I have to scroll down and over to see it all. That's what is (unnecessarily) using up your file space.

I don't know what software you have to edit your camera's pictures, so I'm afraid I can't give you specifics. Whatever it is you're using, however, look in the menu bar for a "Resize" option. The absolute maximum you need is 640 x 480. Speaking personally, I'd plump for picture half that size.

Perhaps the best approach would be to play around after you've make a new post. Choose the "View Blog" option and see what the post looks like. Click on a picture to see the full-sized image. It needn't take up the full screen. It needs be only large enough to be clear. You can always resize the pic on your pic and reload it to your new post if your first attempt isn't to your satisfaction.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Ludlingtonian, thank you for replying so quickly and for your clear explanation. I understand now! I'm using HP Image Zone. I will do as you say and "play around." Thank you again for your kindness. May I ask you for advice if I get stuck? I am not at all technical, as you will have gathered!

Anonymous said...

May I ask you for advice if I get stuck?

But of course. It's no more than a fair trade for all the wonderful foodie posts that I so enjoy. :-)

Shades said...

Welshhcakes, I have a picture of a Nobbly Boobbly up at the Shades.

Ian

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Thank you again, dear Ludlingtonian.
Delicolor, I am on my way over!

Ballpoint Wren said...

It looks like you uploaded a 446.55 kb photograph that was 904 pixels wide and 1286 pixels high. (You see the original size when you click on the photograph.)

Blogger resized it for you on your page so it only 17.42 kb and 225 pixels wide and 320 pixels high. (You can see this photo embedded within your post.) Note that the smaller, lighter photo is fine--unless you want people to see the larger one with all its detail.

If you were to resize the photo before you uploaded it, you'd be saving quite a bit of bandwidth and memory. The uploading process would go much more quickly.

Oops--it looks like the Ludingtonian beat me to this answer! Ah, well.

At any rate, I always try to keep my photos under 30kb.

jmb said...

Well I also thank Ludingtonian and ballpoint wren. I've copied their comments and pasted them into a word file so I can study them later. Because right now I don't know exactly what they mean.

I thought I was so clever just managing to put my photos up on my blog. Every day you learn a new thing.
Regards
jmb

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Bonnie. Thanks for the info. Jmb, I'm going to paste all these tips too - I never knew there was more to it, either!

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