Scattered Thoughts . . .

During my down time while struggling with poor health... and there has been a lot of this particular time in recent months... I've been trying to keep busy by improving my photography through continued education.  Photography is something I have always enjoyed since I was a child. I started photography by taking courses in school and was blessed with a grandfather who provided photography and darkroom gear for me. Way back then, much of photography time was spent in a darkroom. Most people don't realize it but even digital photography requires a lot of time in a 'digital' darkroom and this digital darkroom requires extensive and never-ending education and practice.  The learning curve for any darkroom, digital or otherwise, is steep. The terms are the same... the effects are the same... even the results are very similar... but the specific tools are different today. Today the darkroom tools are digital and manipulated with any digital input device such as a mouse,

On the rare occasions when I am asked by friends to shoot some studio photographs, Sheila becomes my default assistant. We often will need to reschedule these few shoots due to my health and then try to find a 'good' day in between bouts of poor health so scheduling a shoot is always a bit of a nightmare. I enjoy studio work though and wish I had better health to do this more often. (Actually, if I were healthy, I would probably own a photography studio... among a few other things... I've even sketched my own studio designs!)   Just a quick photo shoot requires a lot of prep work such as testing all gear, recharging batteries, creating a shooting plan, moving gear, setting up gear, etc.  The easiest part of a photo shoot is the actual shooting time with the model/client  but don't confuse this with being "easy" because a lot of things can go wrong, a lot of things can be done incorrectly and shooting photos requires technical, creative and artistic sk

...consequences in the form of exhaustion, bone pain, joint pain and spinal pain. Slowly, but surely, I seem to get things accomplished around the house since developing Systemic Mastocytosis but it is difficult for me and exhausting.. This illness wears me down all the time which requires a lot of extra rest and sleep. I do, however, manage to accomplish little things on my relatively good days. The frustrating thing is that after a period of lousy health, I end up with a long list of basic things which need to be accomplished such as laundry, straightening up the house, cutting the lawn...  all of which are enough to wear me out for a few days. So, when I find myself in this hole, it is extremely difficult to get out which can become exceedingly frustrating. I'm left feeling as though I am just desperately treading water and accomplishing nothing. That being said, this weekend was one of those relatively good times when I had health well enough to make some headway on some

As autumn begins, we are booking our schedules through January at this point! Which really is crazy considering I don't know what I'll be able to accomplish even tomorrow due to my health. Between Sheila and I, we have some medical appointments booked already... some medical procedures scheduled... and we have some pleasant events on our schedule as well. Sheila just finished reserving our block of rooms for the annual Amherst Railway Society's train show in January. We spend a few days at this show each year and we look forward to the extended weekend out of town and socializing (something I don't get to do all that often anymore due to my poor health) . We put a few social events on our schedule... some time with the grandkids is always on our schedule... and, although it is hard to believe, we are booking things into 2016 already. We also just remembered that Rutland has a small train show each year. Last year, we got to see some autumn colors on our drive

After a few hours at 'Shelburne Farms' the other day, we were all quite hungry so we headed to 'The Olive Garden' for lunch. After filling ourselves with chain-restaurant pasta, we surprised the kids by bringing them to one of our favorite stores, 'The Christmas Loft'. On this very hot September day, Christmas may very well have been the day farthest from their minds but, as we entered the darkened barn-like building, they were excited to be suddenly immersed in Christmas and a Christmas village. The center of this large store is a Christmas village... a church... shops... homes... a bridge... snowbanks... snowmen... sledding... snowflakes... snow... lamp posts and lanterns... animated figures... and the sounds of a Christmas village on Christmas night. I think Kenzie would have been happy to just sit on the bench in the middle of this village and just sit quietly in wonder! Surrounding this village is room after room of Christmas decorations. Each r

I've already posted a few of Lukey's photos from Shelburne Farms... I suppose I should share a few of my own photos from Shelburne Farms too. We rode the wagon on our way to the barn... Lukey was excited about being pulled by a tractor... Kenzie... well... not as much...  Before the tractor even started up, I jumped off the wagon to get a quick photo of the kids with Sheila sitting on the wagon... Kenzie was upset that I might get left behind and wouldn't calm down until I was back safely on the wagon... A nice shot of Lukey just as we arrived at the barn... (I'm relieved that this shot came out so nicely since this is the basic kit lens that came with the camera and one which I recently broke... I dropped it on a dock at the Burlington Boathouse a few weeks ago! You'd never know I broke this lens by looking at this shot though... that's a relief, for now!) This calf was named "Nellie"... she took a liking to Lukey and