991st Friday Blog Roundup

At some point, my Facebook header disappeared, though I don’t know when because you don’t often go onto your own page (vs. read your feed). That picture was from the Harry Potter set; it had been up there since the kids were eight. It’s still on my phone, but as I scrolled to get it, I passed a picture of myself talking to a raven named Branwen, and I decided to use it instead.

I was surprised by people’s reactions to the picture, and the only explanation I have is that we secretly all love birds.

The picture is part of a set of seven or so photos in which I am animatedly conversing with Branwen, inviting her to return to the US with us, where I promised her many Corvidae friends. She did not take us up on our offer. When we returned to the Tower of London a year later, she would not leave her sunny patch of grass on the other side of a barrier and say hello despite my best efforts to coax her into a second conversation.

A sad tale of unrequited bird love.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Plans Change, So Let Us Thrive” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

I loved this story from Finding a Different Path about what she found while clearing out her yard. “Where did these lovelies come from? And how did they end up in a very bizarre, hidden, out-of-the-way area? It was a moment where I was dumping detritus, and BOOM! Gorgeous hidden treasure.” Click over to see the gorgeous pictures.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ looks back on the early years, and muses on how remembering it is different from living it. She writes: “I can and do remember that without pain – which is, if you might recall, how I define ‘getting over it’.” Those moments never leave you, even if the pain itself changes from sensory to a memory.

The roundup to the Roundup: We are all secret bird lovers. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 7 – 14) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.