Scattered Thoughts . . .

Whenever I have a rough night because of my health, the following day is always a quiet down day. On these down days and perhaps needless to say, I crave some comfort food... Today, my comfort food was some country fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch. It was delicious but I ate more than my not-so-healthy stomach can handle right now. Nevertheless, it was quite satisfying and delicious!  

I haven't written much about my illness lately and since today is a day of recovery for me, I thought I should write a few words today.  Seeing some of these symptoms in writing might give some important insight to some other patients as well as provide some insight to those in my life who may be wondering how and why I need a "down day" when I use this term. Yesterday morning, I felt fairly good considering my overall health. I classified it as a good day when I awoke and had a long list of things I had hoped to accomplish throughout the morning. I took care of a little bit of laundry and I did my daily physical therapy (mostly for my extensive spinal injuries but this also helps with my Systemic Mastocytosis). I made lunch. Then I was out of energy and needed to lay down to nap for a few hours. This is a typical, run-of-the-mill good day with a debilitating chronic illness. I get quickly and easily worn out just from a few mundane light activities.  When I awoke fro

I go through spurts of trying to get nice crisp shots of the moon and I think I'm nearing the end of one such spurt. (Which means I will soon spare everyone of these rather boring moon photos!) Full moons are the toughest to shoot because the light is so bright and yet flat. By flat, I mean that the sun is shining on the moon so straight-on that there are very few shadows being cast by all the large features on the moon's surface. It is this lack of shadow that makes for a very 'flat' image. For instance, if I hold a tennis ball out in front of me with one hand and hold a flashlight next to my ear shining on that tennis ball, we won't see any shadows on that tennis ball. If we don't see shadows, we don't see depth.  If I hold the flashlight out in front of me, next to the tennis ball which is also in front of me, we will see a big shadow around one side of the ball as well as little shadows showing the texture of the fuzzy tennis ball. There is much mo

I just thought I would add another shot of the moon here... I had been outside the other night digging my car out of the snow so I could work on it yesterday. It was cold and crisp that night and our snowy landscape was eerily illuminated by the bright, almost-full moon in the sky.  When I finished digging out the car, I went inside and grabbed my camera... swapped lenses for the appropriate lens... and headed back out into the cold. Physically demanding activities like shoveling snow really do a number on me nowadays... obviously, it affects my spinal injuries but it also affects my mast cell disease in various ways which rate from just annoying to dangerous. When I emerged from the house with my camera in my hands, I quickly realized that I had tremors in my hands and couldn't keep the camera as steady as I would like. This is one of the annoying symptoms which can really drag down my photography. Regardless of the shaky hands,  I felt the need to take advantage of the h

Loading up the cars on another final night at the lake house... Every year, we always dread one particular night. As this night approaches, we would prefer that time stands still so this night could never come to be. This dreaded night is our last night at the lake house until the following year.  Putting aside all the work that must be accomplished in packing, cleaning up and securing boats, loading up cars, and cleaning the house, it is always a bit depressing knowing that it is our last night at the lake and we will be headed back to civilization and the real world in the morning. This is now the time of year when we start planning for the upcoming summer at the lake house. As I begin thinking about all that must be accomplished in getting ready for this year at the lake, I can't help but remember our last night at the lake.  Two things always stand out in my mind about this dreaded night... The first image which seems to be etched into my mind is one of the cars being

For years and especially the past few weeks, I've been agonizing over getting my hands on the best telephoto lens I can afford on a very limited budget. Our time at the lake house is quickly approaching and this is where I use both my widest lenses and my longest lenses... wide for full-view landscapes and long for zooming into wildlife. I have the wide end covered but the long end has always been a problem. There are great lenses out there but spending as much for a lens as I would need to spend to purchase a good car is not an option.  That leaves me with only a few low cost options... Rather than spend more money I don't have to spend, I decided to do a quick and very unscientific test this morning with four camera bodies using the best lens paired for that body. I have to say that the results were a bit surprising in some areas.  This unscientific test was shot in quite poor light as it was snowing.  My target was the little airplane on a mileage sign in our driveway

The first of seven shots... deer in headlights look... I'm really not much of a 'cat' person but, for the past few years, I've had one of our neighbor's cats follow me around like my shadow.  This cat is definitely not one of the more friendly cats in the neighborhood but whenever my health fails, this feline is right there peering in the window at me... for hours... It doesn't matter which room I am in, this cat will be there right outside that particular room at the nearest window peering in at me.  Whenever I do some work outdoors, this cat follows me around and, at times, has been known to leave me little gifts at my car door (mice).   Adam tried many times to get a photo of our resident shadow but never really had much luck. Today, as I was playing around with my oldest remaining digital camera (Edit:  I checked camera release dates and it turns out that I do have a digital camera much older than this one which happens to be one of my all-time fav

If you want to do something well, you must put in the time and effort. However, it can't just be 'putting in time'. This time and effort must also be effective time. There must be effective practice as opposed to ineffective practice which reinforces poor techniques.  If you are simply going through the motions like treading water to keep your head above the water, you are probably only participating (halfheartedly participating) in ineffective practice. Ineffective practice is a complete waste of time and energy and, oftentimes, only results in picking up poor techniques and bad habits. I don't know about you, but I do not like wasting my time and effort. Considering my lack of energy because of my poor health, this is even more important to me today than ever before. When you mindlessly go through the motions, lacking true effort, you are wasting your time and energy. This is not for me! Lately, I've been focusing on photography techniques (no pun intend

After my usual morning physical therapy and exercise session this morning, I was ready for lunch... well... I was in the mood for brunch today rather than my usual dinner-like lunch.  For those who don't know, lunch is typically my big meal of the day. Since I wasn't in the mood for my usual heavy dinner-like lunch, I looked for something else to make today... So, I chose to make some hash browns, hickory smoked bacon, french toast and coffee. That really hit the spot! Now, let me get back to my coffee...

Every year, when we attend the annual Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show, we always set aside Saturday evening for a group night out on the town for dinner. The past few years, the place we have chosen for this group night has been a rather unique and lively little restaurant called The Munich Haus ... fashioned after a German festhaus albeit smaller and a bit more personal. We have chosen this restaurant consistently over the past few years for a number of reasons including it is unique, it is cultural, it is something we cannot experience near home, the food is quite good, the desserts are outstanding and it has that happy German festhaus atmosphere and vibe with live music, singing, clapping and, of course, tasty beers! This little yet always crowded restaurant has a large selection of draft beers from Germany... a vast selection of schnitzels... a long list of different types of sausages... chicken dishes... beef dishes... fish and seafood dishes... vegetaria