Scattered Thoughts . . .

For the past few years, my mast cell episodes have mostly revolved around critical breathing difficulties, bone pain, joint pain and anaphylaxis.  These episodes have been so severe that it landed me in the hospital a couple of times. These past few years were a change from much of the previous 20 years though.  I still had the breathing difficulties in those first 20 years but they were not nearly as drastic nor as persistent as the past few years.  I also had anaphylaxis a couple of times a month but my body always seemed to rebound quickly to help fight the anaphylaxis.  Those first 20 years of episodes always seemed to involve severe, painful, nauseating gastro-intestinal problems too but these seemed mostly under control over the past few years.  I still had enough gastro problems to keep me near a bathroom often enough but the severe cramping and nausea seemed to be under control.   My first bout of COVID in 2020 seemed to change my 20 year patte...

A s I was taking my first of four doses of medications this morning, I was scrolling through Facebook to see if anything was new with my friends.  As usual, I saw nothing from my friends but I did come across an image from a guy in one of my photography groups that caught my eye.   This image that caught my eye was shot in infrared.  There is nothing unusual about an infrared image...  I shoot them often with a camera I had converted to infrared...  but this photo on Facebook was captured using a cellphone which is very unusual. He wrote that he shot this image using his iPhone with an R72 filter and it was an image of kids walking to school.  What I found interesting and what immediately caught my eye was the fact that using an R72 filter will normally require very long shutter speeds which would blur kids walking to school.  Cameras typically would block infrared light (more on that below).  This image in infrared, however, was sharp. ...

W e had another rainy and rather cool day today so I stayed indoors.  We even got some snow today!  Typically, what I do on days like today is start at the piano, then do my daily physical therapy, then do some sort of photography or art project, make something for lunch and then nap in the afternoon.  I mostly did that today too but I don't think I had any time at the piano.   Instead of my usual time at the piano, I chose to review whatever photos I've shot over the past month or so to see if there was anything worth sharing.  I came up with a few. These first two photos were shot out the moving car passenger window using my little Fuji X30 compact camera.  This first one is Mt Mansfield from our road.  I like the snow-capped Mt Mansfield starkly contrasting with the trees and grass in the foreground... This next one is perhaps my least favorite mountain anywhere in the world...  Camel's Hump.  There is just something about this mounta...