Scattered Thoughts . . .

We have germination! A week or so ago, I finished installing that stone pathway between the back door to the house and the outdoor grilling kitchen area we are in the process of building. Upon completion of laying the all the stone, I sprinkled down some grass seed so we could grow some nice grass between the stones (as opposed to weeds) like our other stone pathway going to the back door.  When I cut the lawn yesterday, I noticed that the grass seeds had germinated already! Before long, the stone path will look like it has been there forever. We still have plenty of big plans for the back yard but it already looks nothing like it did when I moved here. The landscaping, just like the house, has come a long way in a few relatively short years. The weather was nice this morning... sunny and not too warm... so I decided to make some more headway on the part of the project where I lay the patio blocks for the grilling kitchen area. Area cleared, leveled, tamped and ready

I put together some of my favorite photos from the past month and thought it would be nice to share them here and write a short blurb about each image. I've shot a couple of thousand photos in the past month so there were a lot of photos from which to choose... some are better images than the few included here but... as of tonight... at this moment only... these are some of my favorites... This first one is a beautiful photo of the house... illuminated by the golden glow of the setting sun reflecting off the lake...  I love the warmth and clarity of this image...  nice little sailboat on the lawn too!  (We just need a nice little wooden runabout tied to that dock...) I have to admit that I happen to have quite a few shots of Lukey in a pose just like this... the classic shoulders half turned and yet still set back with no slouching, great eye contact, chin pointing out, nice jaw-line... however, I am drawn to his eyes in this one... he is well lit and there are few distract

I am just now getting back into a groove at home which finds me making some progress in our home renovations. As everyone already knows, much of this is completely dependent upon my health. I only manage to get a little bit accomplished each month. Not only do I struggle with my spinal injuries when trying to accomplish things around the house, but I also struggle with Systemic Mastocytosis. Avoiding anaphylaxis is a top priority which means avoiding overdoing it, staying hydrated, staying medicated with a huge cocktail of medications, and trying not to overheat my body. There are many things which can cause my health to become unstable and ruin my week... or month... and any activity compounds this risk.  You can't really see it in this small photo but all that dirt between the stones is now seeded for grass.  This weekend, however, I managed to make some headway on our stone pathway that connects the house to the area where I intend to build an outdoor kitchen grilling ar

Back a few months ago, I picked up an older used camera to use for my long telephoto needs. The camera was dirt cheap so I figured it was worth taking a chance in the hope that I could improve my long telephoto photography... capturing photographs of birds, loons, ducks, and all wildlife. I even use long telephoto gear for shooting photos of the sailboat and kayaks when they are across the lake. I have to admit that the telephoto range is impressive... the camera and lens is relatively small (compared to dSLR's with monstrous lenses)... but I am still left feeling disappointed.  I did manage to capture my best loon and duck photos to date but it really was a 'hit or miss' proposition. Many of my photos were lacking the clarity and crispness I had hoped to capture. Perhaps the lens was the problem... perhaps the tiny body made it difficult to hold steady enough. I don't know. Maybe it was a combination of both problems. This Panasonic camera in the Micro Four Thirds

We had a small, quiet birthday celebration at home yesterday. Although small and quiet, I am still exhausted today and in need of a long nap. I think I am still recovering from our time at the lake house as well as being in need of some recovery time after overdoing it a week ago.  My birthday started with a very nicely written note and card from Sheila... then a nice letter from a friend at the lake informing us that two loon chicks were born that morning. The chicks were named Janice and Janet. I had been concerned about the seemingly low numbers of loons at the lake thus far so it was nice to hear we have two new young additions to the loon population at the lake... coincidentally born on my own birthdate. This was actually a nice birthday surprise. The grandchildren were with us for dinner and cake. They had some fun with the O gauge trains on the living room floor for most of the evening. We set up a diagonal oval of track across the living room floor that went around and

The moon... crisp, clear skies with no light pollution help in capturing some crisp crater detail. For the most part, the weather at the lake has been beautiful. Most of the clouds and rain have been at night. Getting the rainy weather only at night has been great and makes for a lot of beautiful, sunny days but it really puts a damper on any photography of the night skies. Fortunately, we did have a few nights of clear weather at night... very few. On one such night, I grabbed my tripod, my best camera, a couple of good lenses, and a wireless remote shutter release and headed outside to the dark and very buggy deck. One of the newer cameras I have been using is amazing for low-light work but I am still learning what it can do and trying to figure out how to do different things such as shooting night skies. The unique thing about shooting night skies is that each exposure requires a few minutes plus a couple of minutes of adjusting settings... over and over... until you get

UPDATE, 1 July: I received a letter this morning from one of our friends at Lake Groton which alleviates some of my concerns about seeing fewer loons thus far this year. I was a bit concerned that perhaps the population of loons was again dwindling. It turns out that there are a few more loons on the lake than I had counted, plus... Just this morning (coincidentally, my birthdate), two loons were born on the north end of the lake. These two loon chicks have been named Janice and Janet .  Since the wildlife at our home in Waterbury has also been slow to appear this spring/summer, I am going to assume that perhaps weather patterns account for the timing of the appearance of summertime wildlife being a bit slow this year around our neck of the woods. Now, I'll need to see if I can capture a photo of Janice and Janet as mom and dad acquaint them with life. Original Blog Entry, 29 June: Although the wildlife has been very quiet and elusive this year, I did manage to capt