Scattered Thoughts . . .

S ince my last two video experiments created by using only still images captured in a fast burst mode on the camera were successful and actually came out better than I expected, I decided that perhaps I should try to come up with a way to effectively mimic old Super 8 home movies too.   For this new experiment, I chose a short clip of our grandson, Lukey, playing tabletop shuffleboard at Agave Taco & Tequila Casa. ________________________________________________________ I should start with a disclaimer...  This particular video clip was perhaps the most challenging clip I could have chosen for this experiment.  I did this purposely just to see what I could do.  This video clip was a high contrast clip with deep blacks and dark shadows.  Additionally, it was a highly compressed video which minimizes any leeway in editing the file.  In the future, if I want to mimic old 8mm/Super 8 home movies, I'll use a more appropriate clip captured using more appropriate camera settings. ____

The day after our cruise on Lake Champlain, we did some typical tourist sightseeing around Waterbury with Lukey and Kenzie.  It was a quiet weekday morning so we beat the tourist crowd.   We started at Cold Hollow Cider Mill... Tasting the apple cider...   I found it to be a little bitter on this day but the taste does vary from season to season. After tasting the apple cider, we roamed around the store looking for things to purchase.  (We found plenty and went home with plenty.) Making the cider donuts... The kids and Gee had planned on getting some apple cider slushies but the slushie machine was being cleaned so they had no slushies available.  We did, however, get a dozen freshly made apple cider donuts instead of the slushies...  oh...  and quite a few other products that would have been purchased regardless of whether we got slushies or not. This is a view from out behind the cider mill looking toward the Worcester Range (and our house)... After the cider mill, we went to Lake Ch

L ukey and Kenzie were staying with us when we went on the cruise with the whole family so, a fter our cruise on Lake Champlain, we spent the evening in the backyard with Lukey and Kenzie.  Sheila and I haven't really had any time enjoying the backyard this summer due to the weather so it was nice to have suitable weather while Lukey and Kenzie were staying with us.  While Lukey started a fire in the firepit, Kenzie and Gee moved Kenzie's dollhouses to the deck so she could play... Since we had eaten well on the cruise and then stopped at The Longhorn for another meal on our way home, we weren't all that hungry for a full dinner so we opted for a weenie roast over the fire in the backyard.  I'm just about always up for a few hot dogs over a fire! After some hot dogs, the kids and Gee had a few S'mores too! As always, the sailboat got some attention... Playing soccer in the road...  not ideal footwear but she is a far better soccer player than she realizes... I'm

A s I mentioned in a few previous blog entries, we did a bit of shopping with Lukey and Kenzie while they were staying with us last week.  This will be the blog entry with the photos of us shopping. Liza was in the hospital giving birth to Sophia and would be tied up with Sophia for a while when they arrived home so we felt it was best to get Lukey and Kenzie some things that they will need in the coming weeks so Liza wouldn't have to do it herself. Here, below, is the usual shot of us heading up to the Burlington area... We went to Dick's mostly because Kenzie needed running shoes specifically for running and Lukey needed sneakers.  Of course, we did some looking in some other departments too and, as a result, we found some life preservers for Lukey and Kenzie.  They outgrew their old ones.   Kenzie, the jumping string bean...  this is usually a pretty good sign that she is happy... We found some running shoes for Kenzie.  It was time consuming though and we sort of had to set

O n our day of shopping up in the Williston/Burlington area with Lukey and Kenzie, we stopped at Agave for lunch.  By the time lunchtime rolled around, we were all starving.  We briefly tossed around the idea of going to a sandwich shop but the kids wanted to go to Agave and I have no problems with going out for Mexican food so we went to Agave!  Sheila and I like Agave but I was a bit surprised that the kids wanted to go there.   I think Lukey and Kenzie wanted to play Table Shuffleboard but I know they like a few of the dishes there too.  While Lukey tends to stick to Americanized (rather boring) ground beef tacos, I opt for more authentic tacos.   I had a Carnita taco with Mojo pork, slaw, pickled fresnos (which added a nice depth of flavor) and chimichuri (which added some nice heat).  I think they must have a new chef because this was the first time any of our food had some authentic Mexican spices and heat.  In the past, I found the food to be rather bland.  It always tasted good