Staycation

That's our new word for the day. Naturally I didn't make it up but I wish I had. I read it in the Times and I'm adopting it because it's so clever. Don't you love it when people come up with these sayings. Actually I wonder where the word "vacation" originated. Bruce is looking for a little "staycation" this Monday. I didn't even realize it was already Labor Day....duh.

Our neighborhood is in mourning right now. Remember the tree that fell apart from last week? Take another look at the picture to get the scale in your mind--the owner is on the left. Yesterday while engrossed in taking the cheese pictures, I didn't hear the chain saws going. When we stepped outside to carry Blair's things to her truck, I saw the unthinkable. The magnificent oak is now completely gone, stump, and all. I imagine the inside of their house feels completely different now that they have loads of sunshine. Angela called to complain about how it completely changes the character of our street; used to be there was quite a canopy, not so much now.

Speaking of sunshine, believe me when I tell you, I'm tired of summer. This afternoon I was drenched with sweat while mowing the lawn. Thinking that the cloud cover would keep it from being so miserable was a mistake.

I tried my best to watch the convention last night, I fell short. Amazing how people can go out dressed like that isn't it? For the most part, political speeches seem so silly to me . They all begin with what our problems are, (as if we don't know), and then the remainder is empty promises. I suspect if you went back and listened to any president's campaign speech not much of what they swore they would do was accomplished. Wouldn't it be refreshing if someone actually said what was on their mind rather than what they think the crowd wants to hear?

I guess I was in a food photography state of mind yesterday--I call this one, "table for one." I'm looking forward to setting a "table for two" pretty soon. You may have read that computer glitches were responsible for Bruce's flight delay on Tuesday. Fortunately that's all fixed. Nonetheless, it takes him forever to get home from Erie, Pennsylvania because of connections. It's probably a sure bet I'll be sound asleep when he arrives after 10:30 tonight. That's one thing Ted Kennedy and I share...an early bedtime. I read that the late speech time slot he was given was a problem due to his need to be asleep by 9:30. I used to go to bed much later, these days I'm an early bird.

I know I should be thrilled with my Nikon, but the truth is, I'm not. Here's a few things I don't like: no histogram while composing (thus I've no idea if I need exposure compensation or not), the weight, no live view, and the flash constantly going off. I'm still working with it. I'm looking forward to Matt coming home in November for the wedding for many reasons, a hands on camera tutorial being one of them. I read today that Nikon has introduced the Nikon D90 with live view; they are discontinuing the Nikon D80. I remember when you could purchase something in good faith that a new model to replace it wouldn't be just around the corner. We've come to accept this instant obsolescence, however, it is not a good thing.