Happy Anniversary

This is deeply disturbing to some folks – on many levels. (our) Happiness is obvious. Some folks wish it weren’t the case. Life is always complicated. They have come to terms… or at least are holding peace forever more as the vows say. We are happy. Can you believe it? We married before the pandemic hit. That’s a lot of water under the bridge, a lot of history, and much to ponder. We are deeply thankful all of our loved ones are ok.

So much has changed. And, so much remains the same. I feel so fortunate. Just when you think everything is alright… So far so good. It’s all good, right? It has been that “best” dream ever, that you don’t ever want to wake from. I dream a lot. This have been the best. Ever!! Happy Anniversary, dear.

Who took this? Was it with my remote? Or, did one of our small group trip the shutter? No matter. The image conveys the sentiment of the moment. A camera set on ‘auto’ everything comes to our rescue and captures the moment. Just aim and fire.

Mistletoe

… you know, the stuff you steal a kiss from your beloved at Christmas. I have never seen it. We had some plastic stuff that masqueraded… But, no, it grows in trees. It is more obvious in the winter when the leaves of the tree are not obscuring our view. Colleen got this as I stopped by a busy roadside. Oh, the pressure! She did it. Nice job!

Depth of field

Maybe you don’t care for the technical terms. A picture is a picture. Leave the rest to the tech heads.

It matters. Layers. Think of it as layers in a picture. Everything is not all in focus here. The basket at the front is blurred. The wheel in the foreground is slightly blurred. The spinning wheel farthest back is focused. The rocking chair is slightly out of focus.

Ok, so you don’t care. It’s a nice layered look. Spinning stuff and the feel of antiqueness. I like the feel. And yes, everything is in use… except the rocker. It needs a new cane seat. I am working on that. I started but have not finished. Yes, I have talent beyond the operating room.

Rocky start

Mo mo a play on no mo’ had a rocky start. I got clawed and bit – bad. Blood was lost… my bad, I scared him as I tried to catch him and put him in the bathroom for his safety. He’s totally gentle and loving when he’s calm. Tille our other black cat was on double secret probation for a period. I was seriously thinking Mo was not going to catch on in our household. Then he climbed into my lap…

Shooting a convincing portrait of a cat is all about the eyes. You gotta have sharp focus. And the cat has to be looking at you, directly into the camera lens. Try it. Cats don’t follow instructions very well. And a new scared cat….? But the effort is worth the while… it comes down to try and try till you succeed.

Mo had his bio listed in the various places and even the local community newspaper without anyone taking any bit of interest. Imagine!? A cat this cute got no response? His picture is worth a proverbial thousand words. As I said, he climbed into my lap and purred….

Discontinued

I hate it! They discontinued Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits. My mother hit on the idea of making Chinese dumplings with them. I have been doing it for decades following her example. And now!???! They discontinued the product line. I found some at Walmart. So, this is the last batch. Somehow Walmart was carrying them as ‘store brand.’ I shall go to plan B. …except there is no plan B. Alas!

Food photography is tricky and easy. It’s all about lighting and focus. Of course we can’t taste with our eyes…

Inauspicious

January 23, adopted – Mozart. We toyed with a few names. Smoky the Bandit was the name on his crate in the pet store…. Mo for short, as in on mo’ please. Yes, I have a fractured sense of humor.

iPhone pic in the pet store by Terry the rescue cat lady. Nothing special here. Just another snap. First shot. …on the way to a new home. First pic, not much of a pic, but it is the new beginning….

In goes the bad air…

… out comes the good air. No No No. You got it backwards as Colleen would admonish… It was a line from the Little Rascals series. Ha ha.

Snap shot, beach, Canon G7. Point and shoot, grab shot. Not too good a shot by my own ready criticism. There will be a real sentence here, eventually. Beach replenishment. Shhhh!!! It is the biggest (secret) waste of money (millions)!!! The beach washes away with big Nor’easter storms that batter the coast. Technically, we are below sea level. The gov’t comes in and puts it back. How? They pump sand from a mile out to sea onto the beach again. We may lose 10 feet or more. That is right! More than 10 feet deep sand/beach washed out to sea only to have our dear gov’t put is all back. Nuts! Not only that, children are starving. Shhhh! I live at the beach. We want a beach. It is still nuts! “Catch 22.”

Ummm…

Sure as shootin,’ I don’t remember this shot. Ha ha. Bird feeder. But,  who are these little yellow guys? I do not remember ever seeing them at our feeder. And surely, I would have taken their picture had they been there to feed. Ha ha. And, I shot it with my trusty Canon G7 point and shoot. Wow! Sometimes I even surprise myself.

So this shot was made thru a window. For all I know the screen may have been there too. The screen would have cut down on the sharpness of the image. But you would still have a decent image. Lighting is key. It is bright sunlight. Therefore the image is just that much more sharp. The f stop is large and there is increase in sharpness thru the smaller aperture. And the shutter is automatically fast. I got lucky. I shot this? Well, I am better than I sometimes suppose. Shoot away. Otherwise there is/was nothing to talk about…

Choice

It started with a fiery dawn… And then I shot a big transport plane making a training landing – from the car as I drove down the highway. Don’t do this at home kids. Dead thing? The vulture had a go. There, choose your picture of the day.

Point and shoot. I mostly just let the camera do the settings. Yes, it ain’t professional. No control. Do I need it? I let fly. And even thru the car window. The others were thru the windows of my home. Ha ha. Every year Colleen has the window washer come. It pays to have clean windows.

My cat

We all … shhhhhh… got a favorite… Feather is in my lap as I type… She chose me, long ago, and I remain hers! No one argues. There’s no jealousy. It’s a fact. I guess. Colleen giggles all the time about it. Before we met, I had never “had” a cat. …Kids grow up, they move away… A faithful cat is so “calming” in your lap in the early morning hours as I await my darling wife to awake to greet the new day. A hug from Feather is perfect until then.

Focus, composition, timing, lessons? Really? Either you get a shot, or not. When you do… so, to focus, get the eyes. After that, all follows. Ha ha, Feather? I recognize her by the white fur on her paw(s). Otherwise she is identical to Spice. But, I “belong” to Feather.