I can't get Mensa Boy to do yoga, but I can get him to interfere with mine. I wasn't actually doing my routine this time. I was playing with the camera to get my 365 shot for today when he snuck up behind me. Cute, isn't he?
It was a pleasant Saturday all around. Jazzercise, a little light landscaping work (for me, anyway. MB caught the brunt of it...moving the old, used pine needles around the house to the trees for the winter), a nice nap while listening to "The Sound of Music." Tonight I think I'll watch the movie "Stripes." It's been a while, and buddy Sarah keeps saying "lighten up Frances" to me.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Adding a Garden, Reducing a Little Noise
Befuddling title, isn't it?
Yesterday I planted the garden. The entire thing. If the soil (pronounced "soul" here in the south) hadn't been so well-prepared and easy to work, it would have taken me 4 weeks instead of 4 hours. I'm not kidding. Each and every hole would have taken at least an hour to dig before. With all the red clay, fill dirt, rocks and roots, it usually takes quite a long time to gouge out a hole. And then the plants and bushes just couldn't seem to gain purchase.
But even though it was easy, I do still feel a bit like I was hit by a truck.
I shot several photos of the work yesterday, but not really any keepers...just a few. Here is one I took for my daily self-portrait. The original had a lot of digital noise, and I posted it that way. Noise, for those of you non-photogs, is what makes the photos look grainy and old-timey...like old newsprint. I've struggled with the grainy shots this camera seems to produce all the time. I haven't stressed about it too much for the newspaper shots because, after all, they are going to be printed on newsprint, but it's still worrisome and reduces my enjoyment of photography as a hobby.
A couple of online buddies have mentioned noise reduction software and so finally I took a few minutes to look into that further. On a user group for Canon PowerShot users I found reference to a free noise reduction software from a place called Imagenomic. It has done WONDERS for the photos I've tried. Here is the original photo:
Cool, huh?
And so now I go to the school to shoot an interactive play, armed with the hope that I might have enough photoshop skills and noise reduction techniques to produce useable stuff.
Yesterday I planted the garden. The entire thing. If the soil (pronounced "soul" here in the south) hadn't been so well-prepared and easy to work, it would have taken me 4 weeks instead of 4 hours. I'm not kidding. Each and every hole would have taken at least an hour to dig before. With all the red clay, fill dirt, rocks and roots, it usually takes quite a long time to gouge out a hole. And then the plants and bushes just couldn't seem to gain purchase.
But even though it was easy, I do still feel a bit like I was hit by a truck.
I shot several photos of the work yesterday, but not really any keepers...just a few. Here is one I took for my daily self-portrait. The original had a lot of digital noise, and I posted it that way. Noise, for those of you non-photogs, is what makes the photos look grainy and old-timey...like old newsprint. I've struggled with the grainy shots this camera seems to produce all the time. I haven't stressed about it too much for the newspaper shots because, after all, they are going to be printed on newsprint, but it's still worrisome and reduces my enjoyment of photography as a hobby.
A couple of online buddies have mentioned noise reduction software and so finally I took a few minutes to look into that further. On a user group for Canon PowerShot users I found reference to a free noise reduction software from a place called Imagenomic. It has done WONDERS for the photos I've tried. Here is the original photo:
Cool, huh?
And so now I go to the school to shoot an interactive play, armed with the hope that I might have enough photoshop skills and noise reduction techniques to produce useable stuff.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Work for the Freeze is Coming!
Can you guess which foot is mine? heh heh
What a day yesterday! I hit several grocery stores looking for items for my food story and then came home to start strategizing for the photos. Neighbor Mary laid out my garden for me, using the print-outs from the plant suppliers (there are photos on them), to get a feel for where everything should go. Today I will stick everything into the ground. I'm looking forward to that. I'm anxious to get them in there and rooting so that the cold weather won't bother them so much. It got to 31 last night and will again tonight.
One of my tiny little points of satisfaction is the fact that Mary said several times that my garden plot is excellent. Steve did a wonderful job preparing the spot, working in soil conditioner and sculpting the hillside down. He also raised up two sprinkler heads a little. She says my garden could end up being better than hers! I doubt that very much, but it did make me feel like spending the money to have Steve do all this will be very much worth it.
Last night I went to the school to do a quick photo shoot and my camera wouldn't turn on! I nearly had a meltdown on that one. Fortunately the teacher had a Kodak EasyShare in her desk, so I put my memory card in there, shot my photos, took the card back and was done for the night. This photo took place when we were fiddling with the controls.
What a day yesterday! I hit several grocery stores looking for items for my food story and then came home to start strategizing for the photos. Neighbor Mary laid out my garden for me, using the print-outs from the plant suppliers (there are photos on them), to get a feel for where everything should go. Today I will stick everything into the ground. I'm looking forward to that. I'm anxious to get them in there and rooting so that the cold weather won't bother them so much. It got to 31 last night and will again tonight.
One of my tiny little points of satisfaction is the fact that Mary said several times that my garden plot is excellent. Steve did a wonderful job preparing the spot, working in soil conditioner and sculpting the hillside down. He also raised up two sprinkler heads a little. She says my garden could end up being better than hers! I doubt that very much, but it did make me feel like spending the money to have Steve do all this will be very much worth it.
Last night I went to the school to do a quick photo shoot and my camera wouldn't turn on! I nearly had a meltdown on that one. Fortunately the teacher had a Kodak EasyShare in her desk, so I put my memory card in there, shot my photos, took the card back and was done for the night. This photo took place when we were fiddling with the controls.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Tearing things up
This isn't much of a photo, but it was the only one I managed to shoot yesterday, what with the whole car episode. Friend Steve is plowing up the hillside for the new garden. Today he will work in soil conditioning mulch. Then we will decide if he should go ahead and bring the top mulch or wait until we get the little plants in. Tonight we are expecting a freeze, so I imagine we'll go ahead and put on the top mulch, just to help insulate. After tonight's freeze it's supposed to be a little balmier for a few days. So I think I'll bring the plants back inside the house for the night and maybe we'll plant them tomorrow. I'm anxious to get them into the ground and learn what I need to do to try to keep them alive over the winter.
Here is the list of plants I have:
Transplanting what I already have:
Rosemary-it's been living in my herb pot
Hibiscus-my brother & sister gave us this for our anniversary last May
Three Azaleas
Butterfly Bush
Three Rose bushes
New stuff:
Penstemon Red
Mini Hollyhock
Geraniums-this is what some of my friends from church are saying will not survive the winter. Apparently these are "hardy perennials."
Scabiosa
Asclepias Gay Butterfly Mix
Giant Chinese Lantern
Clematis
Astilbe
Gaillardia
Coreopsis
Now, a lot of these names are pretty meaningless. When I have a little time, I'll link the names to the photos on the gardening sites where I ordered them.
Today, though, it's all Christmas. I need to get some shopping done for my Christmas gift story.
Here is the list of plants I have:
Transplanting what I already have:
Rosemary-it's been living in my herb pot
Hibiscus-my brother & sister gave us this for our anniversary last May
Three Azaleas
Butterfly Bush
Three Rose bushes
New stuff:
Penstemon Red
Mini Hollyhock
Geraniums-this is what some of my friends from church are saying will not survive the winter. Apparently these are "hardy perennials."
Scabiosa
Asclepias Gay Butterfly Mix
Giant Chinese Lantern
Clematis
Astilbe
Gaillardia
Coreopsis
Now, a lot of these names are pretty meaningless. When I have a little time, I'll link the names to the photos on the gardening sites where I ordered them.
Today, though, it's all Christmas. I need to get some shopping done for my Christmas gift story.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Me in the Patrolman's Eyes
I know this rookie thought he'd really stumbled on to a nut job this morning when I asked if I could shoot my reflection in his sunglasses. He was pretty good-natured. In fact, considering how menopausal I am, I thought I was pretty good-natured about the fact that my neighbor backed into my beloved Dodge Caravan this morning, completely crunching the driver's side sliding door.
I was minding my own business, talking to the contractor that is doing some work in my back garden, when suddenly he exclaimed, "Oh. She just hit your car."
I looked up to see my poor neighbor pulling back into her driveway. We NEVER park our cars on the street, but I had made room for the contractor to pull his truck and trailer in.
So. She had gotten into her car with her three little boys and backed out without looking.
When this nice highway patrolman came, his patent leather shoes caught my eye. Trying not to stare down at them so as to appear like I had a shoe fetish, I glanced a few times, hesitated, and then said, "I'd really like to take a photo of my reflection in your shoes."
Taken aback but ever-friendly, he said. "Uh. Okay. But I doubt it would turn out very well. They are pretty dusty."
I explained the 365 project to him and while I was doing that I noticed how clean and unscratched his glasses were. Perfect reflections. So I asked if I could shoot that instead. After he agreed, I went into the house to get the camera.
The S3 really did not want to focus on the reflection. It really wanted to capture the lenses. I shot off about 6 in manual, program, and finally auto mode. Still felt sure I wouldn't get one.
But as we were saying goodbye, I quick whipped my camera up and just clicked the shutter. He chuckled and left.
I loaded the shots into Elements, lightened the shadows, and THERE WE WERE!
And that's all she wrote. Except that I am lamenting the fact that I could have really gotten a good one if I'd had the ability to focus manually. There is manual focus on the camera, but it's clunky and limited. I'm going to try to stop throwing off on this camera though. I need to just move on.
I was minding my own business, talking to the contractor that is doing some work in my back garden, when suddenly he exclaimed, "Oh. She just hit your car."
I looked up to see my poor neighbor pulling back into her driveway. We NEVER park our cars on the street, but I had made room for the contractor to pull his truck and trailer in.
So. She had gotten into her car with her three little boys and backed out without looking.
When this nice highway patrolman came, his patent leather shoes caught my eye. Trying not to stare down at them so as to appear like I had a shoe fetish, I glanced a few times, hesitated, and then said, "I'd really like to take a photo of my reflection in your shoes."
Taken aback but ever-friendly, he said. "Uh. Okay. But I doubt it would turn out very well. They are pretty dusty."
I explained the 365 project to him and while I was doing that I noticed how clean and unscratched his glasses were. Perfect reflections. So I asked if I could shoot that instead. After he agreed, I went into the house to get the camera.
The S3 really did not want to focus on the reflection. It really wanted to capture the lenses. I shot off about 6 in manual, program, and finally auto mode. Still felt sure I wouldn't get one.
But as we were saying goodbye, I quick whipped my camera up and just clicked the shutter. He chuckled and left.
I loaded the shots into Elements, lightened the shadows, and THERE WE WERE!
And that's all she wrote. Except that I am lamenting the fact that I could have really gotten a good one if I'd had the ability to focus manually. There is manual focus on the camera, but it's clunky and limited. I'm going to try to stop throwing off on this camera though. I need to just move on.
The new garden
My neighbor Mary, to the south of me, is helping me with my backyard garden. She's out of town now, but is scheduled to arrive home tomorrow sometime. In the meantime, the plants we ordered online have arrived and I have begun preparing the bed.
She has been nagging me for years to "curve out" the straight lines I have. So I've laid out the edging bricks with a couple of gentle, long curves. Mensa Boy grubbed out some azaleas, roses, and a butterfly bush I wanted to keep. I raked all the pine needles out and piled them up on the edge of the woods. Then I bought eight 50-foot soaker hoses and laid them out. I left them on from 2 p.m. yesterday until this morning in an attempt to soften the ground for tilling.
This morning my friend Steve is bringing his garden tractor and he'll try to gouge everything up and work it all loose. I think we're going to rake the needles back and work those in again. Then we'll add garden soil/mulch and work that in.
I'm just hoping the little plants all survive. It's been in the high 30's overnight. I've been bringing them in each night and putting them out in the morning. They weren't supposed to arrive until now, but I've had some for more than 10 days. We delayed ordering them as long as we dared, hoping for rain. At any rate, I have about $200 worth of plants to put in this week and they are so small and tender that I know I'm going to worry about them. I'll cover them at night as much as I can, for as long as I can. It will be good practice for teaching myself to think about the garden. Then next year, I'm hoping I'll be thinking about it enough to be mindful enough to keep it watered, fed, and cleaned out.
Here's a funny photo I took with my "human remote," Nate:
She has been nagging me for years to "curve out" the straight lines I have. So I've laid out the edging bricks with a couple of gentle, long curves. Mensa Boy grubbed out some azaleas, roses, and a butterfly bush I wanted to keep. I raked all the pine needles out and piled them up on the edge of the woods. Then I bought eight 50-foot soaker hoses and laid them out. I left them on from 2 p.m. yesterday until this morning in an attempt to soften the ground for tilling.
This morning my friend Steve is bringing his garden tractor and he'll try to gouge everything up and work it all loose. I think we're going to rake the needles back and work those in again. Then we'll add garden soil/mulch and work that in.
I'm just hoping the little plants all survive. It's been in the high 30's overnight. I've been bringing them in each night and putting them out in the morning. They weren't supposed to arrive until now, but I've had some for more than 10 days. We delayed ordering them as long as we dared, hoping for rain. At any rate, I have about $200 worth of plants to put in this week and they are so small and tender that I know I'm going to worry about them. I'll cover them at night as much as I can, for as long as I can. It will be good practice for teaching myself to think about the garden. Then next year, I'm hoping I'll be thinking about it enough to be mindful enough to keep it watered, fed, and cleaned out.
Here's a funny photo I took with my "human remote," Nate:
Friday, November 02, 2007
Don't want to Jinx It
But it looks like the bulk of my computer problems may be resolved this morning. $80 poorer, but many, many gigabytes richer (120GB, to be exact), the system seems to running much better. I was not out of storage space. I still had 10 gig or so left on the other disk, but the operating system had become so corrupted (most likely due to a particularly nasty Windows update a few weeks back), that I was faced with the prospect of reformatting my hard drive.
Now, I do keep pretty comprehensive back-ups. I have an 80 GB hard drive on the guy's computer that I like to put copies of stuff on. But still and all, one worries and worries that something will have been missed and never be recovered after a reformat. So I opted instead to buy a new drive, put that one in, slave the old one on to it, and now I have every single thing still available to me. And it never hurts to have more storage.
Here is a photo of Bear sucking up to my buddy Don, he of the computer geek part of the human species:
And so, with new point & shoot camera in hand, a computer that appears to be pretty stable, I go into the wild world of Indian Land this weekend prepared to shoot many, many photos of events...barbecues, fall festivals, brunswick stews and attic sales. And after all that is said and done, I need to get going on my food story...Christmas gifts from and for the kitchen!
Now, I do keep pretty comprehensive back-ups. I have an 80 GB hard drive on the guy's computer that I like to put copies of stuff on. But still and all, one worries and worries that something will have been missed and never be recovered after a reformat. So I opted instead to buy a new drive, put that one in, slave the old one on to it, and now I have every single thing still available to me. And it never hurts to have more storage.
Here is a photo of Bear sucking up to my buddy Don, he of the computer geek part of the human species:
And so, with new point & shoot camera in hand, a computer that appears to be pretty stable, I go into the wild world of Indian Land this weekend prepared to shoot many, many photos of events...barbecues, fall festivals, brunswick stews and attic sales. And after all that is said and done, I need to get going on my food story...Christmas gifts from and for the kitchen!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Taylor Taylor Pumpkin Carver
No matter how much or how little Taylor participates in Halloween festivities, he always carves a pumpkin.
We had hundreds of kids come by last night. But not nearly as many as the other side of the 'hood. I'm glad. It was a complete zoo over there. Buddy Rena and I walked around our side stuffing flyers for her husband's handyman work in newspaper boxes. We also put out flyers for Jazzercise. It was a beautiful night for walking around.
Today I need to do some serious research for a food story. The annual Christmas Gift Guide. I always do a "Gifts from the Kitchen" story. I'm thinking about doing spice blends this year. And a basket or two of gifts for the cook. Maybe a complete meal in one and the other could be a gadget basket.
Hopefully I've finally settle on a reasonable point & shoot camera to use while the Nikon is in the shop. I bought a Canon PowerShot S3 IS from Amazon. The price is more than $150 less than it was when it first come out. Because there is a now an S5 for people to buy! It arrived yesterday as I was rolling down the driveway to go to the school to shoot a classroom event. It did a good job with zoom and lighting. Better lighting than I usually get in the schools. I was not able to get a handle on all the settings before shooting a haunted house last night, though. This one has Aperture Priority mode, but I couldn't figure out how to actually SET the aperture! So the photos are too dark. Hopefully the newspaper photog can use Photoshop to bring out the overly-dark guy in this scary lab shot:
I like how the lit-up lab stuff came out. And that stuff is clear and sharp, too. I think the image stabilization really helped me there. I don't have that on the D40. Hopefully this little camera will end up being a good compliment to my kit.
We had hundreds of kids come by last night. But not nearly as many as the other side of the 'hood. I'm glad. It was a complete zoo over there. Buddy Rena and I walked around our side stuffing flyers for her husband's handyman work in newspaper boxes. We also put out flyers for Jazzercise. It was a beautiful night for walking around.
Today I need to do some serious research for a food story. The annual Christmas Gift Guide. I always do a "Gifts from the Kitchen" story. I'm thinking about doing spice blends this year. And a basket or two of gifts for the cook. Maybe a complete meal in one and the other could be a gadget basket.
Hopefully I've finally settle on a reasonable point & shoot camera to use while the Nikon is in the shop. I bought a Canon PowerShot S3 IS from Amazon. The price is more than $150 less than it was when it first come out. Because there is a now an S5 for people to buy! It arrived yesterday as I was rolling down the driveway to go to the school to shoot a classroom event. It did a good job with zoom and lighting. Better lighting than I usually get in the schools. I was not able to get a handle on all the settings before shooting a haunted house last night, though. This one has Aperture Priority mode, but I couldn't figure out how to actually SET the aperture! So the photos are too dark. Hopefully the newspaper photog can use Photoshop to bring out the overly-dark guy in this scary lab shot:
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Chicken and Root Vegetable Potpie
This recipe was wonderful! I've used frozen puff pastry once or twice before, but this had to be by far the most impressive.
Potpie generally seems like a minor pain because you make a white sauce. But this recipe from September's Cooking Light magazine really made it a snap. Instead of making the bechamel, standing there and stirring and stirring, you simply pre-cook your veggies and chicken in stock, pull out the veggies and lay aside, and then stir in flour and milk that you've whisked together. 3 or 4 minutes of monitoring and minimal stirring and you have a wonderful sauce. Dump the veggies and chicken back into it, pour it all into a baking dish, and lay the pastry on top.
Simple as...well. You know.
Here's a link to the recipe: Chicken and Root Vegetable Potpie.
It's pictured on the cover, cooked in individual little crocks. Very cool.
Incidentally, I shot this with the little Canon Powershot. I'm really going through withdrawal, missing my D40, but I discovered a very cool feature on this little camera that I don't think my big one has: I can set it to do multiple shots on the self-timer feature. I put the camera on a little tripod I have, set it to shoot 10 shots with a 3 second delay to start, and then started posing the food. The little camera just stood there and took shot after shot for me. I did that 3 times. Of course, only 3 of the 30 shots came out in focus, but hey...I got three shots! I've also noticed this one did a good job with natural light.
Potpie generally seems like a minor pain because you make a white sauce. But this recipe from September's Cooking Light magazine really made it a snap. Instead of making the bechamel, standing there and stirring and stirring, you simply pre-cook your veggies and chicken in stock, pull out the veggies and lay aside, and then stir in flour and milk that you've whisked together. 3 or 4 minutes of monitoring and minimal stirring and you have a wonderful sauce. Dump the veggies and chicken back into it, pour it all into a baking dish, and lay the pastry on top.
Simple as...well. You know.
Here's a link to the recipe: Chicken and Root Vegetable Potpie.
It's pictured on the cover, cooked in individual little crocks. Very cool.
Incidentally, I shot this with the little Canon Powershot. I'm really going through withdrawal, missing my D40, but I discovered a very cool feature on this little camera that I don't think my big one has: I can set it to do multiple shots on the self-timer feature. I put the camera on a little tripod I have, set it to shoot 10 shots with a 3 second delay to start, and then started posing the food. The little camera just stood there and took shot after shot for me. I did that 3 times. Of course, only 3 of the 30 shots came out in focus, but hey...I got three shots! I've also noticed this one did a good job with natural light.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The Halloween Table
On Halloween night kids of all ages (and many adults) go around from door to door, collecting enough sugary treats to rot out their teeth. Parents will beg them not to eat any of their booty until it’s been inspected carefully at the end of the evening. And truly most of the stuff will get home for the grand sort-out and trade-a-thon. But no one should ever think that a kid is going to resist eating at least a few pieces before the trudging and doorbell ringing is over. And if those few treats are consumed on an empty stomach, the prospect of sugar shock looms large and can threaten the trick-or-treater’s (and their parent’s) bedtime.
The solution? Well, maybe a partial solution anyway? Feed them a nice, healthy meal before they hit the streets. Yes, that seems like it could be hard when darkness falls just a few minutes after 6 o’clock, but with a little advanced preparation and a slow cooker, you could have a filling meal ready in just a few minutes. Dress it up in Halloween garb, and your kids might be willing to stick around for supper.
Beef stew has got to be one of the simplest and most common slow cooker meals. Simply toss the meat, any root vegetables you might like, and the liquids into the pot at the beginning of the day, turn it to low, and go off to work. When you arrive home, crank it up to high, drop in the softer veggies and you have a meal ready in less than 30 minutes. The recipe below can be easily adapted to a slow cooker. Just remember to keep out anything that might turn mushy with long cooking (in this case the zucchini, tomatoes and olives) and add them just before serving. Use your judgment about thickening the broth. If you like it runnier, leave it like it is. There’s more to mop up with your favorite crusty bread that way anyway.
Many folks like to do up Halloween proud and have a big party. Finger foods are the order of the day when you go with something like that. Here are a few ideas for party snacks:
• Hairball Salad with Saliva Dressing-recipe below. This seemed a little bland. You might want to consider making your favorite guacamole recipe and mashing the sprouts in with that.
• Fried Spiders-made with jalapeno poppers and onion rings, this tasty treat is easy to make, but very hard to keep the spiders intact. They tend to fall apart in the oven. Reassembling them on the serving plate, while yielding a rather flat bug, is still a fairly effective presentation.
• Punch-Green. It has to be green. Mountain Dew is a good choice for the main liquid. There is no other beverage that yields that special yellow-green glow. Float a frozen red hand in it. Beware, however, as the hand thaws fingers tend to fall off and one can not control which fingers will go first!
Whether you are talking about the last supper before trick-or-treating or a big, bang-up party for all your friends, Halloween food definitely needs to have two main components: quick & creepy. Search the internet, magazines (and newspapers) for ideas and start shopping!
The solution? Well, maybe a partial solution anyway? Feed them a nice, healthy meal before they hit the streets. Yes, that seems like it could be hard when darkness falls just a few minutes after 6 o’clock, but with a little advanced preparation and a slow cooker, you could have a filling meal ready in just a few minutes. Dress it up in Halloween garb, and your kids might be willing to stick around for supper.
Beef stew has got to be one of the simplest and most common slow cooker meals. Simply toss the meat, any root vegetables you might like, and the liquids into the pot at the beginning of the day, turn it to low, and go off to work. When you arrive home, crank it up to high, drop in the softer veggies and you have a meal ready in less than 30 minutes. The recipe below can be easily adapted to a slow cooker. Just remember to keep out anything that might turn mushy with long cooking (in this case the zucchini, tomatoes and olives) and add them just before serving. Use your judgment about thickening the broth. If you like it runnier, leave it like it is. There’s more to mop up with your favorite crusty bread that way anyway.
Many folks like to do up Halloween proud and have a big party. Finger foods are the order of the day when you go with something like that. Here are a few ideas for party snacks:
• Hairball Salad with Saliva Dressing-recipe below. This seemed a little bland. You might want to consider making your favorite guacamole recipe and mashing the sprouts in with that.
• Fried Spiders-made with jalapeno poppers and onion rings, this tasty treat is easy to make, but very hard to keep the spiders intact. They tend to fall apart in the oven. Reassembling them on the serving plate, while yielding a rather flat bug, is still a fairly effective presentation.
• Punch-Green. It has to be green. Mountain Dew is a good choice for the main liquid. There is no other beverage that yields that special yellow-green glow. Float a frozen red hand in it. Beware, however, as the hand thaws fingers tend to fall off and one can not control which fingers will go first!
Whether you are talking about the last supper before trick-or-treating or a big, bang-up party for all your friends, Halloween food definitely needs to have two main components: quick & creepy. Search the internet, magazines (and newspapers) for ideas and start shopping!
Friday, October 26, 2007
My Favorite So Far
This self-portrait project can be fun and stressful. There are days when I get a scathingly brilliant idea and manage to pull it off, and then other days that are terribly uninspired.
I'm particularly proud of this photo I took several days ago. I had the idea in my head for a few days, and really puzzled over how to do it without getting the camera in the photo. But once I scrapped that notion, I had a good time with it.
It's RAINING!!! Woo Hoo! It's been raining pretty much solid since Wednesday afternoon and we've gotten a little over an inch. Of course we could really use 38 more days and nights of it. I ordered around $200 worth of plants for the back garden the other day and they are on their way. I sure do hope we don't go to stage 4 water restrictions, which would mean no watering of any kind.
I had to take my camera to the shop yesterday for cleaning and repair. I have a service contract on it, which permits 2 cleanings per year, but the prospect of having it gone for 6-8 weeks seemed daunting. Then the other day the little latch that holds the on-board flash broke. It's particularly ironic because I don't really use that flash. I bet I've only used it 2 dozen times. I rarely use a flash at all. I think this photo was the first time in 4 or 5 months that I had the speedlight on.
Anyway, I took the camera, kit lens, and zoom up to Wolf Camera and dropped it off for that. Then I talked to them about a small point & shoot. I'm coming into the busiest season for writing and photography, and I can't be without a camera. I had picked up an HP Photosmart camera at Best Buy on Wednesday and it REALLY BITES! What a hideous little camera! It has NO user controls whatsoever...just scene modes and auto, and any little thing you set it up for goes back to default when you turn it on.
So I ended up buying a Canon PowerShot A560 for about the same price I paid for the HP. I'll run the HP back today. I'll have to spend some time with this one to see how to use it best, but I think it'll be okay. I still miss my Fuji Finepix F10.
Today I work hard and heavy at insurance work in the morning, and then this afternoon it's all domestic chores.
I'm particularly proud of this photo I took several days ago. I had the idea in my head for a few days, and really puzzled over how to do it without getting the camera in the photo. But once I scrapped that notion, I had a good time with it.
It's RAINING!!! Woo Hoo! It's been raining pretty much solid since Wednesday afternoon and we've gotten a little over an inch. Of course we could really use 38 more days and nights of it. I ordered around $200 worth of plants for the back garden the other day and they are on their way. I sure do hope we don't go to stage 4 water restrictions, which would mean no watering of any kind.
I had to take my camera to the shop yesterday for cleaning and repair. I have a service contract on it, which permits 2 cleanings per year, but the prospect of having it gone for 6-8 weeks seemed daunting. Then the other day the little latch that holds the on-board flash broke. It's particularly ironic because I don't really use that flash. I bet I've only used it 2 dozen times. I rarely use a flash at all. I think this photo was the first time in 4 or 5 months that I had the speedlight on.
Anyway, I took the camera, kit lens, and zoom up to Wolf Camera and dropped it off for that. Then I talked to them about a small point & shoot. I'm coming into the busiest season for writing and photography, and I can't be without a camera. I had picked up an HP Photosmart camera at Best Buy on Wednesday and it REALLY BITES! What a hideous little camera! It has NO user controls whatsoever...just scene modes and auto, and any little thing you set it up for goes back to default when you turn it on.
So I ended up buying a Canon PowerShot A560 for about the same price I paid for the HP. I'll run the HP back today. I'll have to spend some time with this one to see how to use it best, but I think it'll be okay. I still miss my Fuji Finepix F10.
Today I work hard and heavy at insurance work in the morning, and then this afternoon it's all domestic chores.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Canine Communications
I think my puppy is into instant messaging.
Pretty much, if he yips at you, you'd better get him outside. NOW. Or else. Tootsie rolls on the carpet.
Pretty much, if he yips at you, you'd better get him outside. NOW. Or else. Tootsie rolls on the carpet.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Wednesday, October 17 was a big day for our community. That afternoon I went to the bid opening for our new library. We were very pleased with the results: 11 bidders came in and the lowest was only $9,000 over our cost projections from a year ago! Amazing when you consider inflation, gas prices, etc. And it was a local contractor, to boot. A nice bonus. I always like to do business locally.
Thursday and Friday I pretty much spent working on my continuing computer problems. The short story is, consider carefully before upgrading to Office 2007. My computer has been restarting unexpectedly since installing the suite. And I'm still not sure I can run MS Access at all. I had quite a few photos to run through and some writing to do, so it did make things rather slow going. But thanks to "autosave" I never lost anything.
On Saturday afternoon we had a picnic at Landsford Canal State Park. It was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment thing. It turns out that our guys don't mind hiking at all, so that morning after Jazz I proposed we go. We did some work around the house and then found out the park closes at 6. So we put together a quick burger picnic at Food Lion and headed out.
It was a beautiful afternoon! And fun! I have been wanting to shoot a family photo for Christmas cards, so I set up the tripod and we played around:
Yup. He threw up on my leg. Paulsons reading this will remember the time Nate threw up on my head at a family reunion. If someone is going to throw up on me, I guess I'd prefer the leg.
Thursday and Friday I pretty much spent working on my continuing computer problems. The short story is, consider carefully before upgrading to Office 2007. My computer has been restarting unexpectedly since installing the suite. And I'm still not sure I can run MS Access at all. I had quite a few photos to run through and some writing to do, so it did make things rather slow going. But thanks to "autosave" I never lost anything.
On Saturday afternoon we had a picnic at Landsford Canal State Park. It was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment thing. It turns out that our guys don't mind hiking at all, so that morning after Jazz I proposed we go. We did some work around the house and then found out the park closes at 6. So we put together a quick burger picnic at Food Lion and headed out.
It was a beautiful afternoon! And fun! I have been wanting to shoot a family photo for Christmas cards, so I set up the tripod and we played around:
Yup. He threw up on my leg. Paulsons reading this will remember the time Nate threw up on my head at a family reunion. If someone is going to throw up on me, I guess I'd prefer the leg.
Monday, October 22, 2007
What a Week!
The classes were a big hit, garner attention of the downtown lunch crowd. Some folks stopped to watch, others just steamed on full ahead with their lunch plans.
After that was all over, the three of us hit lunch at Baxter's Liu Liu's, a chinese restaurant that has a very nice outdoor covered patio. And a decent wine list. I had an Italian Pinot Grigio I wasn't that crazy about, but it was okay.
That afternoon I hit the last home meet for our high school's cross country team. As I rolled up and was prepping my equipment, the newspaper's staff photographer appeared at my elbow. Neither of us knew the other was coming, of course. Since I am the reporter for the team, I've been shooting them whenever I can, but I hadn't told my editor I was going to be at that one. She sent Aaron up. I was so pleased with my jazz photos from the morning, that I decided to stay and practice shooting some more. Aaron graciously hung by me and we talked photography, me peppering him with questions, and he offering me some sage advice. Since another county high school was in the meet, I felt fairly certain that the editor would be willing to use a photo or two of mine for our team and then use Aaron's photos for the other. I'll find out on Wednesday when the paper comes out. Anyway, here is a photo I shot of what I consider to be the most inspirational runner on our team:
On Wednesday I shot a flower and some shoes. I wrote about the shoes and posted one photo. But I really feel the need to share this one:
Thursday, October 18, 2007
I Shot the Shoes
Originally uploaded by mary.mcclane
Yes. 113 pair of shoes.
I did not shoot them all individually. I shot about a dozen individually. And did a couple of collection shots...goofy collection shots.
Mary, bless her heart (and I do say that in the "southern" sense of the word), is under the notion that if she exposes me to her shoe fetish often enough I will become a shoe collector myself.
But it did make for some fun shooting.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
How's the Self-Portrait Project Going?
Not bad. Of course, some of our suppers have suffered. I'll be doing some prep work and suddenly think: "Hey! Self-portrait!"
Took me half an hour to chop one package of mushes for supper. I also shot me flipping them in the skillet (A flippin' skill I have that my MOTHER does not! ha!).
I like this one, but it's a bit orange. I need to work on color management. But the natives were getting quite restless about supper so that lesson will have be learned another day.
I had a very good photo day yesterday. I shot some wonderful photos of the jazzercisers doing their thing downtown yesterday. Here's a link to the TV story about it. (it's Cam Man for Tuesday. Hit "Play." I doubt it will be up after tonight's news.) In the late afternoon I hit the Cross Country team at their last home meet. I haven't reviewed those shots yet. But I learned a TON about shooting action photos, and understanding the metering on my camera.
Took me half an hour to chop one package of mushes for supper. I also shot me flipping them in the skillet (A flippin' skill I have that my MOTHER does not! ha!).
I like this one, but it's a bit orange. I need to work on color management. But the natives were getting quite restless about supper so that lesson will have be learned another day.
I had a very good photo day yesterday. I shot some wonderful photos of the jazzercisers doing their thing downtown yesterday. Here's a link to the TV story about it. (it's Cam Man for Tuesday. Hit "Play." I doubt it will be up after tonight's news.) In the late afternoon I hit the Cross Country team at their last home meet. I haven't reviewed those shots yet. But I learned a TON about shooting action photos, and understanding the metering on my camera.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Well, At Least it's a Sports Injury
An inflamed Subscapularis. Who'd a thunk it? Me. A sports-related injury. Doesn't matter how I got it. It still hurts! The directions are to stay off it for a week at least. Well, it is the shoulder. So I guess I'll have to give up all that shoulder walking I do.
Today I go downtown with buddy Sarah to a promo event put on by the Charlotte Checkers hockey team. They are having a game Saturday where a lot of the proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House. Today the Checkers are putting on a lot of stuff downtown to promote the game. They will be at the corner of Trade & Tryon. Jazzercise of the Carolinas is doing a floor show during the game Saturday, so today they are doing two half-hour classes on a street corner as part of the promo. Since I have a SPORTS INJURY (argh) I'm not participating in the classes. I'm going along to photograph it. It'll be fun. And less sweaty for me.
I watched a good movie this weekend. "Shooter." Mark Wahlberg is an ex-sniper that is coaxed into coming out of seclusion to help foil a plot to kill the President. But he's double-crossed and ends up having to be on the run and defend himself. It was a great movie!
Today I go downtown with buddy Sarah to a promo event put on by the Charlotte Checkers hockey team. They are having a game Saturday where a lot of the proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House. Today the Checkers are putting on a lot of stuff downtown to promote the game. They will be at the corner of Trade & Tryon. Jazzercise of the Carolinas is doing a floor show during the game Saturday, so today they are doing two half-hour classes on a street corner as part of the promo. Since I have a SPORTS INJURY (argh) I'm not participating in the classes. I'm going along to photograph it. It'll be fun. And less sweaty for me.
I watched a good movie this weekend. "Shooter." Mark Wahlberg is an ex-sniper that is coaxed into coming out of seclusion to help foil a plot to kill the President. But he's double-crossed and ends up having to be on the run and defend himself. It was a great movie!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Our Weekend
We napped while Mensa Boy screwed down a metal strip on the family room carpet where it connects to the kitchen floor tile. Why was he doing that? Because SOMEONE found an errant thread sticking up from the carpet edge and managed to parlay it into a 2-inch wide HOLE before he was caught!
So that was our Sunday.
We worked hard to get to Sunday this weekend. We began Friday afternoon by piling into the car. Nate forgot something, so had to go back into the house to get it. I saw no reason to make it easy for him:
We stopped at a BBQ place called Westwood sometime around 6 p.m. and had a wonderful supper. And then proceeded into Darlington.
Where the transmission on my car started to act funky. Not shifting over 45 mph. Check engine light came on. After an hour in the company of a local gentleman named Charles Parker, who led us to two different auto parts stores, where we were able to hook up to a handy-dandy device that told us the engine light was on because of a "transmission control sensor," we decided it might be best to head back home rather than on to the beach. (take a breath after that long sentence. I don't plan to edit it) One of the deciding factors was when buddy Tambri said she'd be happy to come rescue us if we were stuck somewhere between Darlington and home. But there was a silence on the line when the idea of proceeding to Myrtle Beach came up. Apparently her friendship only goes so far! (wink wink)
And so we were home by 9:30, and the next day mused to our friends that we had driven to Darlington for some good 'Que the night before.
Saturday was a pretty usual day, ending with a sad farewell to buddy Chris and her family. Late at night, wine and chocolate involved. It was a bit teary, but we'll all get through it.
Oh! I finally saw some cotton up close! Every time we travel to the beach in the fall I wonder why I don't stop and shoot some. Natives don't understand the Yankee fascination with cotton, but it's there. We grow up hearing about this extremely important crop (that and tobacco) and all the prosperity and heartache involved. And marvel at how our clothes are made from a plant. To see it up close is just...cool. So before the transmission deal, I had stopped at a field to shoot some up close:
Friday, October 12, 2007
IL Posse
Back left: Chris, Rena, Tambri, Cassie
Front Left: Chris' daughter Samantha, me, Nannette
"Tied together by stuff too difficult to explain to someone new"
Front Left: Chris' daughter Samantha, me, Nannette
"Tied together by stuff too difficult to explain to someone new"
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