Well Merry Christmas to Jim and me! I just bought a new lens for my SLR camera body (Canon Rebel T4i). It is a Tamron 18-400 mm, and replaces my very average Promaster lenses that came with the Canon package when I bought it years ago. The Tamron was on sale at the Camera Company in Madison, WI, and we got a good deal ($90 for my Promasters, free $150 polarizing filter, sale price on lens itself). I've taken some nice photos with the Promaster lenses, but wanted better resolution and faster focus. Of course, what I'd really like is a lens that costs thousands of dollars, but that's just not going to happen. The one we bought is a good value for the money, and until I win the lottery, I'm happy with it. Got great service and advice at the store too--I love buying local and being rewarded Read More
Archives for November 2018
Thanks Giving, 2018
I write almost daily in my journal about what I am grateful for, but I also like to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday by sending my gratitude out into the universe. I've listed just a few of the things that I am grateful for below. Please add your own list to mine; I will read them from top to bottom every single day this week. (So if yours is the first comment, I'll read it 7 times.) The big things that I am grateful for: I am alive. I have a home. I am safe. I have food. I have a loving husband and partner. I have a wonderful network of friends and family. I live in a beautiful part of the world. I have three dogs, two cats and a flock of sheep who bring me joy and happiness every day. I am relatively healthy for just turning 70, in spite of the fact that my face is drooping off Read More
70th Birthday. Oh My.
Jim and I were born on the same day of the same year. (Honest. Our marriage license application caused all kinds of trouble because they were sure we had made a mistake.) We celebrated our 70th birthday last week--feels like a big one. We are so lucky to be still here, and still relatively healthy. Lucky, lucky us. And lucky, lucky me to have found Jim. Love you, babe. Best thing that ever happened to me. Sorry for the fuzzy photo, was very dark in the restaurant. (But fuzzy might be a good thing really. . . Sort of like vaseline on the lens?) Read More
You Want Me To Pee Where?
Wait, you want me to pee outside? In the cold? On the gravel? Even if it's raining? Whaaaaaaa? So might say Tootsie, who was rescued by the good people at Lucky Star Cavalier Rescue, thanks to an amazing woman who pulled her, and a multitude of other dogs, from a northern Wisconsin puppy mill. Through a wonderful moment of serendipity, I've just learned the details of Tootsie's past. She was taken from a puppy mill with large numbers of dogs living in "horrendous conditions". Most of the dogs lived in a disgustingly filthy barn, but Tootsie was one of a group of Cavaliers who lived on the equally disgusting concrete pad of an old silo, pumping out puppies in spite of serious health concerns. She had to have 21 teeth extracted after she was rescued, because her mouth was a Read More
Lost in Translation? Facebook Livestream Thursday 6:30 CST
In For the Love of a Dog I wrote about how Luke's daughter and I grieved for him after his death for almost a year. Finally--- "Last night Lassie and I played her favorite game together. Again and again, I tossed her favorite toy across the rug. Each time she leaped after it, then came back to me with her face glowing, her eyes soft and luminous. Her neat little body seemed unable to contain her joy and her love of play. At some point in the middle of our game, I realized I was beaming, a huge smile plastered across my face. For that moment, I was truly and completely happy. In some ways, it's really that simple, isn't it? At their best, that is what dogs do: they make us happy. At our best, we make them happy, too. That can only be true because we share so very much with them, and Read More