Hype
While I dove in Saudi, the Sony RX100 was touted as the best point and shoot underwater camera ever! Ok, a bit of hyperbole, but, it was well regarded. I did not pull the trigger and get one. I was committed to my investment in the Canon G7. I succumbed to the hype in 2018. The first pictures: new car; selfie; construction in progress; flower; cat; food. It is a great camera. I wish I had been able to use it diving. It is certainly more versatile than my iPhone. Punchline? I’d do it again.
Smile
Indulge me. I have forgotten this memory. Memory? I get my haircut by Emma. We drive to West Virginia. Yes, it’s a long drive. For a haircut? Yes. And, it is a long time between haircuts since the pandemic hit.
Why? Don’t ask. She’s my daughter in law and Colleen’s youngest. She’s good!
It’s always fun to visit. What other excuse do you need? I don’t know. It’s a 600 mile round trip. We don’t see Emma often enough. Oh! The guilt! And, right about now, I need another haircut! I got a question? Why was Emma riding on the center console? Yes, we always smile when we see Emma!
News of the day
My urban landscape now is traffic lights. I never realized that they can be confusing – especially when the lights outnumber the cars. My drive by? I drive by forsythia. I can even stop – on the road – to shoot them. it is sharp contrast to NYC where you are never alone. And, Ukraine remains on everyone’s mind. We were in the newspaper – local. There goes my WPP status. Yes, I’m a spin doctor now. BTW – the news journalist took our pic with my real camera. So, I posted a real shot back on April 10.
News that fits
No, hardly the NYT. I’d never pass proofreading. Nature. Remember the nature shows that brutally depicted lions taking down a poor animal and shredding it on camera for our initiation into “survival of the fittest?” This spider did brain surgery first. Logic or convenience? It ate the bee? Starting at the head. I got my initial shots and later on was amazed that there was very little left except for some disconnected bones. Nothing goes to waste. You need a lot of energy to spin a web.
Wooden thread spools? We got a jar…. somewhere, at some point, in the past. Why? Dunno. Colleen went through it looking for pink thread. She hates pink. She got sidetracked, as often she does, and looked up the names. Some of these spools date back to the 1800’s. Really?! Well, for sure they stopped making wooden spools a good 50 years ago. How’s that for useless information I did not know I needed. Antique wooden spools, imagine that?
Bad day: tell me, based on the damage and position of the vehicles, how this accident occurred. Did someone do a 180 or 360 circle? We passed this accident. The gray car was second along the road. No time to get a proper photo. I was not trying to hurt the feelings of those involved. They were already having a life changing moment and a very bad day. The damage was bad enough to stop both vehicles immediately. The position of the damage argues against head-on. Or, not? So?
Irish
This would the the “luck” of the Irish on Colleen’s side. We almost had a yard sale by the side of the highway in West Virginia in the absolute middle of nowhere. We had a low tire warning signal and the right rear tire was losing pressure at about a pound per mile. I made it to an exit off the highway with a gas station. And we got directions to a tire place about 7 miles down a twisty winding country road. I had just about lost faith in the directions when the tire shop came into view. Of course, it was “worst case scenario.” The nail hole at the tread rim was leaking enough that we could hear it. The tires need to be matched. That is – you need four matched tires on this particular model car. So, four new tires: they just happened to have our size. And, we were back on the road after about an hour’s delay. This would be considered way better than the alternative scenario. Irish! Colleen has Irish in her heritage. I feel so lucky! Coincidence? Colleen met a guy waiting for his car to be serviced. She and he knew common people all around the state. You just can’t seem to go anywhere without running into someone….
Library of
In the middle of the end of impeachment trial in congress… someone let their feelings be known. We live in a republican neighborhood. Trump signs are common. Good. It’s nice to see. Obtuse? You bet. I polled my only republican friend who’s not paying attention and doesn’t give a shit. So, I was as uninformed as before. … November’s coming. … and game of thrones has never been so apropos.
Doldrums
It’s leap year! Leap day!
How do you get out of a rut? Huh? I’ve been in the camera doldrums. Eh? I’ve been just doing the same old… We’re planning to travel again. Ah! Photo ops! But… Shake things up. I’m fortunate to be able to shop cameras. Anything new? Any new ideas? Ah! Well, I’m looking to lighten the load I carry. The big old DSLR is weighty – mighty! I’m ditching my big 80-400mm zoom on the next trip. …too much weight. Mirrorless – ILC (interchangeable lens camera) – lose weight. I’m not yet ready to give up a camera for the ubiquitous iPhone shot. That tiny iPhone lens can’t compete with a dedicated lens/real glass. So, I got one. It was $$ but not $$$ or $$$$.
And, I got a series of shots I would not have bothered to shoot a few days earlier. Yeah, fun again. It’s good to have fun.
I read (still). Ha! Photography! Still. And sometimes you learn something. After all these years… Simple. Pose. Those selfies….? Nah! Try turning your heads together. Wow! What rock have I been under? Yeah, yeah, someone needs a haircut.
Just for fun. It was a rare time when Colleen was driving. I was sleepy. That darned vintage car followed us right to our destination! … and parked in the driveway two houses down. It followed us home!
Long ride
Cross country – coast to coast – DE to CA – it’s a long ride! But how far? Most folks wouldn’t even think of it. It’s too long a drive. Boring! And you can fly and be there in hours. Well, TSA, airport parking, delayed flights, cancelled flights, baggage restrictions, and the new nickel and dime policies whereby you might even have to pay for seating and carry-on bags. No food or worse, terrible food. Yup, I love to fly. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a veteran flier by now. Drive? It’s long! And it’s boring, you go blind and fall asleep. Nope, there is the option of stopping when you want and doing side trips as you like. Besides, we are in no hurry. Meander. Stop on a whim. See things. Find things. Discover things you never saw before. Or, find yourselves in a place you’d rather not have found. Hey! It’s an adventure.
6000 miles at 61 mph for 101 hours. It’s doesn’t seem quite right. But that was the number. The speed was pretty good. It means all that stop and go in LA was balanced against 85mph in UT and AZ. And we have done more miles >8000 but we spent some time in other cars. By the way, this was a rental. I decided not too go overboard with my own car.
GPS – my/our norm
Ha ha to Dave. He had a laugh. He took a picture with his iPhone when he saw our dashboard. I have a GPS. Colleen has a GPS. And we have our iPhones. And at any given time, we have them running (all of them). Usually, Colleen will keep her GPS in her lap and reads email, news, whatever. The programs are all different, so, it is not uncommon to hear the devices arguing over which directions to follow. Colleen is the human! She is near tears when she can’t tell me where to go. Imagine that, a woman, and she can’t tell me where to go? Nah!
Caveat: You are never lost as long as you never put the car in reverse. Driving around in circles is okay within that definition.
No Joy in Mudville
Another rainy day. I admit it was windy. Bad luck. Someone was into and across the ditch. There was a lot of equipment out. I guess they don’t get a lot of calls. Good. And bad.
photobackstory 