Scattered Thoughts . . .

The kids were excited to get out in the leaves this past weekend. The weather provided us with a perfect crisp autumn afternoon with mostly overcast skies. The crispness was actually bordering on feeling like we are in for some impending snowfall in the mountains surrounding us but it was still a beautiful autumn afternoon.  With all the excitement about the all the colorful leaves covering the lawn and having rakes within view and ready to be used, the kids put a nice dent in raking the lawn while trying to build the biggest pile of leaves possible for some autumn leafy fun! Someone did more throwing of leaves than actual raking though... ...and, some hula-hooping... Leaf diving...  "I'm going in..." "That's enough... I'm done raking... I'm going in!" Grandma Bear bent a tree down for baby Bear to reach some colorful leaves... After collecting a bunch of colorful autumn leaves, we all went

I'm taking it easy again today after another rather miserable night of poor health last night so I'm looking for things to do which won't worsen my health.  As I was looking at the photography gear on the shelves, I remembered that I wanted to try to use some extension tubes the next time I head outside with my camera... so, I evaluated the situation... I no longer felt miserable... the weather is nice although still slightly too warm for me for extended periods... and the camera gear was just sitting there doing nothing too. It was a good time to attempt to do some photography.  I grabbed a Sony camera body... a 70-200mm lens which wasn't long enough without the use of extension tubes the last time I attempted to shoot flowers with this lens... and I grabbed my extension tubes.  Every lens has a minimum distance you need to be from your subject in order for your lens to focus. If you get too close, it won't focus on your subject. I think the minimum distance

Plain and simple, this past week has been brutal. Whenever we have a busy weekend of activities, it affects my health for the next week... or month. Last weekend was exceptionally busy from Friday through Sunday. We had squeezed in about three activities and three different places each day... I skipped my daily two hour naps... I was on my feet throughout most of the weekend... and we were on the go all the time. This is a recipe for a long bout of miserable health in my foreseeable future. In preparation of the long, busy weekend, I rested up in the days leading up to the weekend (longer naps each day and did virtually nothing each day in an effort to preserve energy). I also squeezed in more medications in the days leading up to the weekend as well as all through the three day weekend. I can get away with this particular plan of attack if I don't do it too often. It allows for fairly decent health for a few days but there is a price to pay... the price is exceptionally

Yesterday, I attempted to shoot some photos out in the backyard but afterward I realized that my health was worse than I thought it was and it was interfering with getting crisp shots. I wasn't thinking clearly and my hands were shaky so most of my shots were terrible.  This morning, I am actually feeling even worse than yesterday... far worse, actually... but I decided to head outside anyway with my old camera in an attempt to correct the problems I had yesterday with motion blurring most of my shots.   What can I say? It was nagging at the perfectionist in me!  This old Olympus camera is a tough camera to shoot well  ( absurdly difficult... every time I pick up one of my Olympus cameras, I curse myself for buying any of them... I despise Olympus so much that it makes me sick to my stomach)   but, as I said, I wanted a challenge and I wanted to overcome that challenge. Here are a few photos from this morning's challenge...

The temperature was hovering around 90 degrees today and that is far too hot for my health. The nights have been beautiful with temperatures in the upper 40s to low 50s but it looks like this week will be a hot one when the sun is up! I had a fairly productive morning while it was still cool. I finished up another step in one of my model railroading projects. Then I decided to head outside with a camera in hand. I had decided to play with one of my oldest digital cameras... an Olympus digital SLR camera with a crisp, colorful, and contrasty Kodak sensor. Unfortunately, I needed to dig out a battery for it and that little bit of activity not only wore me down a little but it also raised my body temperature. At this point of the day, the temperature outdoors was in the upper 80s which isn't too good for me without extra medications... and I had not taken any extra medications... and now I raised my body temperature and wore myself out a little bit too. This is not a good combinat

As most of the east coast deals with a wet and windy tropical storm, we are experiencing beautiful, sunny and mild weather here in our neck of the woods which is really nice. There is definitely a feel of autumn in the air now. The past couple of times that I cut the lawn, I was mowing a leaf-covered lawn... mostly dry greenish leaves but definitely a sign of our approaching autumn season. I wandered outside yesterday morning with a camera in hand to see if anything was worth photographing in the backyard. I found a few things to photograph as the season changes... (I just remembered that I still have photos from earlier in the summer which I have not written about nor shared here... If my health continues to struggle and limit my activities, maybe I'll spend some time collecting some of those photos to share.)

...other than sharing very similar palettes. I shot each of these three photos a number of years ago. Two of them were actually shot with very old point-and-shoot cameras before I started buying used (but better quality) digital SLR cameras. I can see the flaws with these photos but I'm a perfectionist and most people probably can't see them. I thought these old photos were worth revisiting. I've never had any of these three photos printed but I think the first photo (the colorful springtime image) would make a nice print.   I shot the spring photo while out on a walk about five years ago almost to the day... it was May 6th, 2011... I can tell you it doesn't look anything like this out there this May! The lack of a normal winter and having continuous unseasonably warm weather has taken its toll, I do believe. I definitely prefer the bright, sometimes pastely colors of springtime over autumn foliage and this photo is a good example of springtime color...  Th

Let's face it... my lousy health keeps me at home more often than not so I don't get out much anymore. When I do get out, I try to make the most of it. This past Saturday was no exception as Sheila and I drove down to Rutland for a train show. The drive down there was the start of a very busy day for us beginning with the train show, followed by meeting friends at a local watering hole in town and then ending around a campfire with the grandchildren, Sheila's daughter and Sheila's parents. It was to be a busy day. This day out started with a drive through the mountains and the Green Mountain National Forest on our way to Rutland. What we saw was something I have not seen in ten years or so... absolutely amazing vibrant autumn colors! We first noticed the vibrancy of the colors when we were approaching the highest point on Interstate 89 around Randolph. At that highest point, the colors were bright and vibrant. I suspected this would just be a short preview of wh

I wandered from the living room early yesterday morning to take a look at our wildflower gardens as Autumn settles in and Summer slips away. Oddly enough, even though most of our plant life is turning brown and drying up, we do have a handful of new blooms here and there. I noticed one of these new blooms with a narrow beam of sunlight illuminating it from above and behind. I am always searching for good light and this was exceptionally good light. This beam of sunlight was lighting up only the yellow petals and green stem. I crouched down low in the perfect spot about 10 feet from this single flower. I set my exposure... I focused, inhaled and held my breath... I ever so gently pressed the shutter release being careful not to cause any camera shake... I exhaled slowly. After capturing a few extra frames, I noticed something change in the scene in my viewfinder...  A single bee entered the frame. Apparently, this bright yellow flower draped in sunlight caught his eye as well! I&#

Our house is on the other side of this stand of trees... to the right... The weather has been awesome this morning here in central Vermont.  The skies are clear, visibility is good and the temperature is in the 60's.  This is definitely my kind of weather! I have great difficulty in temperatures above 74 degrees. When it gets that warm, I must minimize my exposure or risk (and the probability is high) breathing problems, anaphylaxia, gastro-intestinal problems and a whole myriad of neurological problems depending upon which area of my body my mast cells decide to attack.  Fun stuff.  So, I try to minimize my exposure to temperatures above 74 degrees.  Today's temperatures, however, are just awesome for my health which allows me to get outside and be mildly active.  Fortunately, my health is cooperating along with the mild, beautiful weather! The leaves are getting a bit brighter in color now so I figured I need to take advantage of the beautiful morning and get outs