Camera Crazy

You've probably guessed by now that I am NOT the planner in this family, preferring to wing most things; good thing I'm married to one! It is what makes Bruce such a superior construction project manager. You always hear horror stories about projects that never come in on time, however, if memory serves me right (a dubious claim from me!), he has a perfect track record. Which brings us to the camping trip.

While flying to Boston on Wednesday morning Bruce worked on a check list for the trip. It is so handy with all the necessary supplies listed along with menus for each day. He is so excited he can barely wait; he loves this stuff!

While he was flying, I was driving to both WalMart, and BigLots for stuff. Here is a little pile of what I purchased. Bruce already had a sleeping pad, now I have one too. I'm hoping this will help my slender body not be too uncomfortable sleeping without benefit of a mattress. Perusing the vinyl tablecloths for $3.30 at BigLots, I chose the mor…

If you've ever taken Baxter for a walk you know that it can be a terrific pain in the neck. Not only is he stubborn about going where you want him to go, he stops to mark nearly every mailbox, light pole and fire hydrant he comes across, making for a pretty much stop and go process. Inadvertently I've found a new way for him to get his exercise; I've begun taking him to Cypress Grove Park, letting him run free in the big open fields.

Right now, with the glorious weather we've been having, it is just great. When we arrive he literally jumps out of the Element taking off like a little rabbit. Of course I go in the early morning when there are few people about with no chance for him to get too far away. This morning it occurred to me that it was like when my children were young--I preferred to let them run a bit free, watching from the sidelines, knowing they would come back when they realized they had gone just a little too far. They, of course, will probably dispute what…

For a while now I've been thinking about getting a "prime lens." Every now and then on a blog called Camera Crazy one must talk camera talk. For almost a year now I've been trying to get better with my Nikon camera,however the learning curve has been steep. The lenses that come with the camera are pretty mediocre; neither lens is as fast as the one on my Panasonic cameras. Nikon just came out with a 35mm f 1.8 lens for the Nikon D60 with auto focus. As you know I never spend any of the money I make except to buy new inventory, so it seemed about time to do so. I went to Colonial Photo and Hobby ready to spend the $200 only to find out that they are not only out of it but it has been on back order for a month. For some idiotic reason I decided to go ahead and buy the version without auto focus although I think I probably should have waited. I've had it for two days now and let me tell you it is a challenge. On occasion I use manual focus already but yikes, having …

Bruce's flight was later than usual and as such he was just leaving the house around 8:30 or so. I was finally getting around to finishing breakfast, ready to jump in the shower to get ready for the museum, when he called saying he had a problem. Actually my heart sunk when he said it, but I calmly asked what was the problem. Turns out his drivers' license was still in the pocket of the shirt he came home in on Thursday night. Huge bummer for him. I threw on a dress, quick like, called Karen saying I wouldn't make it in, and jumped in the car to meet him at the departing flights area. Time was of the essence! Fortunately the traffic cooperated with the impending storm holding off until I saw his somewhat worried face on the sidewalk. Although he has a "Clear" card to board planes with ease in Orlando, that is not the case everywhere. I was happy to save the day!

On the way home I stopped by Lowes to look for a new hanging basket--they sure are charging a lot for t…

Today we begin our post with a collage I made with Picasa. It occured to me that what I was going to write today might fit the same mold. All sorts of stuff to follow.

While cooking this afternoon I had on "All Things Considered" and heard this story:
New Canterbury Tales. The broadcast began with an actor reading the original language version of The Canterbury Tales of which I could understand little. It definitely made me even more impressed with Matt's reading of The Faerie Queen, an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser written in 1590. Unthinkable--a poem and archaic language--a double whammy. Did I mention it is huge, but I guess you knew that by my description. Of course nothing Matt does surprises me, but still....

Back to the program--a man is walking the same path as the pilgrims in the book and documenting the changes to both the landscape and the culture. He's only outside London as of today's installment.

How much do I hate long fingernails on men? A lot. …

Not likely. I expect the picture of him in the life jacket will be hard to beat. This is just another pretty flower from the master gardener's yard:
Before I forget, I neglected to tell you that I cleaned out both of my closets as well as my drawers last week. Years ago my sister Nancy organized everything, but as time has passed I began mixing it all up. She'd taken everything out, and started over. Because I've not changed sizes ever I tend to keep things a while, but it was clearly time to repeat the sorting. Everything now is hanging by not only color, but by sleeve length. I use Bill and Dave's old closet for my dresses as well as purses. Dare I use that term anymore? That closet looks much better.

Anyway I gave away a ton of things, one of which was a bit hard to do. I'm thinking I bought these black capris pants at least five years ago on a shopping trip with Matt. I remember they were very expensive, however you know me well enough by now to know I got them a…

Need I say more?

The show this weekend would have been perfect except that there were almost no, and I mean no, spectators. Because we'd left the car mostly packed, there was little to do on Friday to get ready. I drove out to Windermere, arriving around 4, and pulled my Element right up to my booth space, situated among stately palms. So far, so good. I unloaded the majority of our stuff, leaving the heavy stuff for the big gun. He arrived a bit later, somewhat stressed from a long and hard day, but of course did not complain one second. The weather was perfect, no direct sun, and no stifling heat. The bathrooms were quite close, spacious and clean, as was a water fountain. Finally we were done, everything hanging, level, and ready for sale. We were feeling good.

Saturday morning, after dressing for success, off I went for the 9:00 show start time. After opening the booth, finding everything as we'd left it, I hung the price tags and began the waiting process for people to come. We waited, and…

Yesterday morning I woke up to another dreary day. Not knowing just what to do with myself I wasn't doing much of anything. I do know I was going to write about my $40 vacuum cleaner bags, but that's old news now. After walking Baxter I returned to my computer to find this:

Just before I went to bed Monday night I saw a notice on the Times asking for reader's photographs picturing the recession. The last trip I made to Vero Beach with Bruce I saw these young man after dropping him off at the job site. I was on my way over to the ocean and couldn't get a picture at that time. Sadly, two hours later on my return they were still there. Proving once again that while driving it always helps to have the camera on the front seat, I took this shot through my open window. At the time I thought it was very creative on their part and just wanted to document what I saw. When I saw the notice in the Times I thought it might be perfect. I assumed they would email a person or somethin…

By now you know I'm not much for pranks--way too practical and serious for that sort of thing. People always used to get such a kick out of the fact that I had twins on April Fool's Day thirty years ago today; I didn't see it that way. It seems as if the ambivalence Bruce and I share about birthdays has been passed onto Bill and Dave. I spoke with both of them this morning, neither of them were impressed. Just another day is how David put it. That's my boy.

Actually it occurred to me that on Matthew's 30th birthday I was in the hospital. I can't even recall for certain if I spoke with him, but I do know dire news regarding my mortality was being batted around at the time. Shows you what doctors know.

Moving on....
One thing I am is a hamburger lover. I rarely go to fast food places, yet today the billboard advertising Burger King's "burger shots" seduced me into a BK, which if you shared my ignorance on the subject, was founded in 1954. Who knew? Her…