Scattered Thoughts . . .

The start to 2023 has been absolutely horrible and the next few months, at the very least, already promise to be just as stressful and rather miserable. Sheila's mom, known as Nan in many other blog entries here, has been struggling with Alzheimer's Disease for about four years now.  Over the past few months...  hmmm, I think it has been since summer...  she had dipped into end-stage Alzheimer's and is now in the hospital with a fractured spine and in the worst condition she has ever been in to date.   I'm not going to go into specifics here but this has been incredibly stressful for the rest of her family as one would expect.  She has been hospitalized for a couple of weeks at this point and I'd say she is just "surviving" now or "holding on"...  not "living" like we all try to do but just surviving one moment to the next. This is sort of like the body being on autopilot.  So, the past couple of months have been terribly rough for Shei

I 'm still familiarizing myself with my new-to-me Fuji X30 compact camera and thought I should write a bit more about this really amazing little camera and especially Fuji's Camera Remote app. Over the years, I've recommended this camera to quite a few people who were mostly beginners with very little photography experience.  This can be a great camera for those who know little about photography yet it produces some stunning images.  Unfortunately, I don't think anyone ever went ahead and purchased this camera after asking for my advice (I could write a book about all the times I was asked for advice and then they did not heed that advice instead often going for something I would never purchase for myself nor recommend under any circumstances) but, I can now say with complete honesty, that this recommendation of mine was a solid one.   Even today, nine years after this camera was first released, I would still recommend this camera to someone who wants a small, easy to u

I had written in a previous blog entry that Kenzie and I did a mini photo session this afternoon in our living room with one studio light.  The primary purpose was to do some shooting with film using her Fuji Evo Hybrid Instax camera and my Mint TL70 Instax camera so today was mostly about film cameras.    We also shot some photos with my new-to-me Fuji X30 digital camera since I'm still learning about that classic old digital camera.  I just picked up this little Fuji compact camera a few days ago but this was the first opportunity I had to shoot a few portraits.  I shot only these two photos below with the Fuji X30 and I think they turned out great.    For a compact camera with a relatively small sensor, this camera handles very well and produces some nice images.  I'm still learning how to best use this camera and its wide variety of features but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.  I think I can get even better images with this camera with a bit more practice and tw

K enzie and I did a short mini photo session this afternoon.  She did some shooting with her Fuji Evo Hybrid Instax camera while I shot a few photos with my Mint TL70 twin lens reflex (TLR) Instax camera.  It was nice to see the side-by-side comparisons.  This blog entry is really only about my Mint TL70 though. This Mint TL70 camera is closer to being a medium format camera than a typical instant camera.  Most instant cameras have a pinhole for an aperture (or close to a pinhole) but this camera has a pretty nice lens with a manual aperture ranging from f5.6 to f22.  It captures an image right on the film so it is comparable to medium format film.   This camera has a nice lens and a huge and fairly bright waist-level viewfinder that you look down into from above.  The tonal quality of the Instax prints is really quite nice although that is not really seen accurately in photographs.  I should find a better way to show those prints on my blog because my photos of these prints are not do

Kenzie and I played around with her Fuji Evo Hybrid Instax camera today and came away with a few nice prints.  We also learned a little more about her new Instax camera that she received this past Christmas. I set up one studio light for our little photo session this afternoon.  We started with her hybrid Instax camera.  It is a "hybrid" camera because it has both digital and film capabilities.  It captures photos and saves them to a memory card in the camera.  The photos can be viewed on the rear LCD screen like most other digital cameras.  What makes this camera different is that it has Instax instant film loaded inside it too.  If you want to print a particular photo to the Instax film, then you simply crank the "print" lever which is the same sort of lever used to advance the film on old film cameras.  The image is then developed onto the Instax instant film and the photo is ejected out the side of the camera just like on the old Polaroid cameras.   I actually s

W e had plans to head out of town to Saratoga this coming weekend...  actually, tomorrow through Monday.  Lukey has a hockey tournament in Saratoga so that was our primary reason for this trip.  We also enjoy trips to the Adirondack Mountains anyway and there is a nice inn in Saratoga that we like so we immediately made reservations when we learned of the hockey tournament.   Actually, back in October, we made reservations at this inn within minutes of learning of the hockey tournament! Unfortunately, earlier in the week, I had a lousy night as well as a pretty lousy following day.  I was having great difficulty breathing again.  This was followed by some time spent in the bathroom.  The good news is that my health didn't spiral down into anaphylaxis this time but my health was lousy enough to make me want/need to stick close to home. Needless to say, I simply do not trust my health to head out of town.  The three hour car ride would likely trigger dangerous health problems.  Then

A pproximately once a week for the past five or six years, I have been searching online specifically for a Fujifilm X30 camera.  I finally found one the other day and jumped on it within minutes of the ad being listed!  After years of weekly searching, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to purchase this lucky find. These cameras were produced in 2014 so they are quite long in the tooth for digital cameras but this camera is special.  Actually, now that I think about it, my Sony cameras are about this old too...  hmmm...  Anyway, this Fuji X30 compact camera is old with a rather old and relatively small sensor.  It is a larger sensor than most compact cameras had back in 2014 but it is relatively small by today's standards.  It does have some very appealing characteristics and specifications though which makes it a highly sought-after camera even in 2023.   Each production run of this camera sold out quickly and, within a few short years, the camera was discontinued by Fujifi

I awoke again this morning having difficulty breathing.  Yesterday was a pretty good day but the "good health" didn't last long...  only around 47 hours.   This morning's difficulty breathing wasn't what I would call a dire emergency nor did any other symptom(s) develop.  If one additional symptom had appeared, then it would have become an emergency.  My rescue inhaler seemed to help this morning so that is good.  I then took my usual morning medications and added an extra H1 Blocker into the mix.  So, that is two mornings approximately 48 hours apart that I awoke this way.  It is not the most pleasant way to be awoken.  I think this might be due to the long period of time through the night putting more time between doses of medications.  This would also be a sign that my mast cells aren't getting enough medications to stabilize them for longer periods.  Or, maybe a generic medication isn't strong enough compared to a brand-name medication.  Of course, my

I had another rather lousy day yesterday.  I awoke in the morning having difficulty breathing.  My breathing improved a bit after I got up and took my morning dose of medications but I continued having difficulty breathing off and on throughout the day.   At this point, I'm really at a loss for what might be causing this ongoing breathing problem...  generic medications as opposed to brand-name medications?...  a worsened mast cell condition?...  a new condition that is more acute?...  having COVID again but continued to test negative?...  I really have no idea and I'm thinking we won't have any idea until after my next bone marrow biopsy.  That is scheduled for early in March so I have one more month to wait.   Most of yesterday was spent on the couch but I did manage to spend some time at the computer editing a few landscape photos.   This first photo was shot in Burlington on Lake Champlain... The State Capitol in Montpelier...  the three people walking toward me in the

S ince we missed the big train show event a couple of weeks ago, I decided to do some eBay shopping to see if I could find one or two of the items I had planned to search for at the train show.  One of these items was a large scale street car.  I prefer finding these items at shows so I can inspect the item closely rather than just looking at a few photos on eBay.   It turns out that I found what I was looking for very quickly.  It was listed as being in "Excellent" condition and the price was appropriate for a used item in excellent condition so I purchased it.  There were less expensive street cars available but I chose to purchase this particular one because it was listed as "Excellent".  This street car was delivered yesterday.   The trolley was packaged well and it was delivered to me in about three days so that was good.  I appeared to be in very good condition so that was good too.   After unpacking it from its shipping box, I immediately placed it on my LGB