A Gift to Myself
Well, I made it. I turned 70 last month. 70. 51 years longer than “they” said I would. It’s not been easy, for sure. But, I got here. My body feels and acts like it’s much older, but my enthusiasm for life is still young. I mostly have the energy to do things, but my body limits me as to what I can do. And that’s frustrating at times. However….
Every year I buy something for myself for my birthday. I did before I got married and then have since being divorced. In the years when I had the money I would also take myself out for dinner, too; sometimes I would have company for that, but mostly alone. It’s not as bad as it seems.
This year I knew what I wanted for my birthday, if I could only get it. I wanted that first “special” digital camera that I loved so much – the Canon PowerShot Pro1 8 megapixels camera. I found one for sale on Adorama. I snatched that baby up, especially since it didn’t cost much. Granted, it didn’t have much with it, but that’s okay, I still wanted that little camera. And I got it! I needed to buy a few things for it, like a lens cap, and a CF card if I couldn’t find one that I had, but I had the other things that went with it [I’m not sure why I still had them but I’m glad I did!]. I took that camera out of the box and I was in heaven! But frustrated because I had no way to take any photos until the CF card arrived.
The second excitement came when the CF card came. And then it quickly dispersed because getting the card in and out of the camera, well, it’s not easy like it should be, but it is manageable, with a few words said silently. This CF card, however, is an adapter, so I can stick a micro SD card in it to expand the memory space. I think once I put it in and take it out a few times it will be easier to do.
Oh, what a gem this camera is, even at 8 megapixels. Now I just have to familiarize myself with all it’s functions again. No, it doesn’t take photos of the moon, but I did use it to take lightning photos one night very long ago. Those photos are tucked away somewhere on a CD, along with several thousand other photos that this camera took over the years.
Something I didn’t realize at the time I was using the Canon was that it was able to take other lenses that could screw on to the basic fixed lens. I just recently discovered that.
One of the neat things that I like about this camera is that I can look through the view finder without my glasses on and I can see the object clearly. I can’t do that with my other cameras. Of course, then I have the problem of “what to do with my glasses” when taking photos. Pulling them down on my nose just isn’t cool, never mind uncomfortable. But, it’s still a neat thing to be able to do. I wish I had contact lenses and just eliminate that whole problem to begin with.
So, I currently have 6 working cameras: a Pentax K-1000 35 mm film camera; a Canon PowerShot Pro1 8mp digital camera; a Nikon D3000 10mp digital camera; and a Nikon Coolpix P950 16mp digital camera. And, still hiding away somewhere in some box out on the porch, a Nikon Coolpix S220 10mp digital camera that was purchased on a cruise one year. It takes fantastic photos for a small palm sized “pocket” camera. If I knew where it was I would carry it around with me ‘just in case”. [I have the case for it, I just don’t know where the camera is, darn it!] And, of course, my phone camera.
I don’t know what makes the Canon PowerShot Pro1 so special – well, I kind of do – but there are a lot of us out there that still use or want this camera. The lens optics are just incredible!
As I have mentioned before, I don’t like taking people photos, but I really like this one that I took of my wife [now ex, but still very good friend]. It was taken with the Canon. I just like the way the shadows are on her face. And, for me, it turned out to be a very good photo. I also think she’s just plain pretty. ❤️😉
And then, here is a profile photo of Roby. Trying to get him to hold still to take a profile photo isn’t easy, but the Canon made it easy and I like the way it turned out. Neither of these photos have been adjusted by any software. They just are.
So, that’s my gift to myself. I was really sad the day my Pro1 died because it had been such a good, and fun, camera. I missed it. It’s rather like that one pair of shoes, or pants, or whatever, that you really liked that suddenly isn’t there any more and you can’t find a replacement that is satisfying enough, until one day…..
Posted in Personal Thoughts and tagged birthday, camera, canon powershot pro1, gift by Jason with no comments yet.
*I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and mild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1863)
*This is one of my favorite poems written by Longfellow, and it can be found in many hymnals, although it’s not a song that is often sung these days. You will notice the stanza that starts “Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South”. This stanza is commonly left out of the hymnals. Longfellow wrote this poem on Christmas Day 1863 during the Civil War.
Posted in Holidays, Personal Thoughts and tagged Christmas, Poetry by Jason with no comments yet.
The Star Spangled Banner
We see it every day, the flag of our country. It’s displayed in yards across America, at schools, the Post Office, government buildings, hospitals, cemeteries, and other establishments. And it is always displayed at the White House and our military bases at home and around the world. It’s just there; it’s become a part of us, our every day life. But we probably notice it most often when the President orders the flags around the country to be flown at half staff, meaning half-way up [or down] the flag pole. And you will notice, too, that the flag is the background of this blog, a photograph that I took while visiting a National Cemetery.
We don’t know exactly who designed the first flag, although many historians think it was New Jersey Congressman Francis Hopkinson and sewn by Betsy Ross.1 We do know that it had thirteen stripes, alternating red and white, and thirteen white stars on a blue background; the stars signifying the new 13 states which before had been colonies. And the rest is history, as they say.
So, where did the song “The Star Spangled Banner” come from? It is from a poem that Francis Scott Key wrote in 1814 [the War of 1812], although its original title was “Defence of Fort M’Henry”, when seeing the flag still flying at dawn after a night of the British bombarding Fort McHenry. The poem was so popular that within a week it was suggested the words be sung to the tune of “Anacreon in Heaven”2, a popular song at the time and then becoming known as “The Star Spangled Banner”. In 1931 it was adopted as the national anthem of the United States of America3, 117 years after Francis Scott Key wrote the poem.
Over the course of history our flag has undergone many changes as the national flag, but always with thirteen stripes, and then white stars on a blue background. On August 3, 1949 President Harry S. Truman declared June 14th to be National Flag Day4.
But, as we all know, this is one of the hardest songs for the majority of us to sing. Those high notes….oh, those HIGH notes! Many people have suggested an alternative, any alternative, to The Star Spangled Banner, but would it evoke the same emotions as The Star Spangled Banner? I think not. Even if we can’t sing it, we become just a bit more proud of our country when we hear it, maybe even becoming a bit choked up and teary-eyed. The song and the flag together just symbolize to us the best free country in the world and, as in the founding of this country, we will defend that flag, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the freedoms it gives to us, until the end.
For me, probably the most definitive rendition of The Star Spangled Banner is when Whitney Houston sang a pre-recorded version of it in 1991, backed by the Florida Orchestra, for Super Bowl XXV. [Yes, she apparently did lip-sync it! but it’s still incredible!] While this is my choice, I’m sure that you will have your own favorite version, one that you might lip-sync to – just as I tend to do!
Yes, I know this has nothing to do with photography, but then, this is my blog and it doesn’t always have to deal with a camera and a subject. ? Unless, of course, you really enjoy taking photos of our flag!
“O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the Rockets’ red glare, the Bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our Flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled Banner yet wave,
O’er the Land of the free and the home of the brave?“
And forever in peace may it wave.
1
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/long-may-it-wave-the-evolution-of-the-american-flag/francis-hopkinsons-claim
2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
3
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/03/star-spangled-banner-becomes-us-national-anthem-march-3-1931-432140
4
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/proclamations/2841/flag-day-1949
Posted in Holidays, Personal Thoughts, Reflections by Jason with no comments yet.
Soaring Above Sights
In my last post I mentioned my friend Peter and his nature photos. I have been in awe of his abilities for a while now, and I’m also jealous of his equipment, but I’m not nearly as good as Peter is, so even with equipment like that I most likely wouldn’t get the excellent photos that he does. Plus, he just lives in one of the greatest areas of the country for getting the kind of photos that he does. I have watched him grow over the last year or so in his abilities and I have to say that I am proud of him for moving beyond what was comfortable for him and trying new things. And he’s doing great with it! So, I have added Peter’s Instagram account to my list of links you can find on the right side of this blog. I just feel the need to share his wonderful photos with more people.
In a recent conversation we had I mentioned to him another option he might be able to use to get his photos out there to the public and to be able to maybe sell some. jAlbum is terrific software to build online photo albums and can be used for personal use or for commercial use. I have used jAlbum in the past and have found it to be incredibly easy to build beautiful albums to show friends or potential buyers.
I rarely recommend any kind of software here but I thought this would be worth the mention, especially if you wanted to show off photos to family and friends because you’re given 10 GB of space for a Premium Account if you don’t have a website that you can use. And if you chose the Super Account you get a whopping 300 GB of space – no need for a domain, just good old space for sharing your photos! Premium, Power, or Super, you can’t beat the price anywhere for software that is this easy to use; within a few minutes you can be ready to upload your photo album for your family and friends to see.
FWIW, I do not get any kind of compensation for any recommendations.
So, check out my friend Peter’s Instagram page and enjoy the many photos of eagles and owls and other birds that he has posted there. You will be happy that you did. And maybe even a bit jealous!
Posted in Personal Thoughts by Jason with no comments yet.
Where did the time go?
Boy, I just realized how long ago it had been since I posted anything. Time sure gets past you when you’re busy.
There’s not been any major happening in my life. I have taken some photos, but nothing very spectacular and a lot of them I haven’t even taken the time to upload them to my laptop. And I have been using both my cameras for photos, so there is quite a few there. And really, I haven’t even taken the time to review them. That’s pretty sad, you know?
I did get a chance to spend two weeks in Florida at the end of April and the beginning of May. Most of that time, however, was spent visiting friends and my other two dogs. Our wee little Lexie Starbright has been ill for a while now with renal failure, but she is somehow managing to hang on and when she sees me she just perks up like there was nothing wrong with her. I guess it’s that “daddy” thing. I did take quite a few photos of her, but those are on my phone and I haven’t transferred them to my laptop yet [sound familiar?]. I also got photos of Sasha Bean, but again, on my phone. Those I do review often. I haven’t gotten the chance to see much of them over the years, but I love them so very much. I know both are getting to the age where time is limited and they will have to cross the Rainbow Bridge. For pet owners, that is a mixed feeling day; you know they are no longer suffering, but it is hard to let them go. And it will be very hard saying goodbye to them from a distance.
BUT….it is Summer time! Time for photo buffs to get outside and take those photos! Right now, though, here in Texas, not such a good time to do that because of the excessive heat we’ve been having the last few days. However, it won’t last and we’ll just go back to our regular hot days – the ones we complain about and wish we had cooler weather until we GET that cooler weather! But there’s still lots to take photos of regardless. Grab those cameras, or your cell phone, and snap away at the kids swimming in the pool [and maybe the dog in the pool with them!], or those flowers with the bees zipping from one to another, or maybe you can try to snap a humminbird getting a drink of nectar. I say try because it isn’t the easiest to do even for a professional photographer! My friend Peter lives in Idaho and a year ago he was taking macro photos of insects which were stunning to say the least. But then, with the encouragement from a friend, and a new lens for his camera, he moved on to our nation’s bird, the eagle, and he got some really spectacular photos! Lately, he’s been capturing owls, and let me tell you, I am j e a l o u s! Now I’m trying to get him to put a book together of some of his photos. We’ll see!
So, look around and see what there is to see, even if it’s buildings, or cars new and old, flags, signs, whatever is around you. I once took a photo of signs in my neighborhood that were a bit strange. When you first turned into the subdivision you were greeted with a sign that said Speed Limit 30 MPH, which in itself was really funny because the distance from turning in to the subdivision to the stop sign was about 30 feet. And then there was a sign about children playing, or something like that because there was an elementary school across the street along with a baseball diamond. THAT sign was across the street from the stop sign. Take photos like that and have fun with them.
The whole purpose though IS to have fun. If it’s not fun, obviously don’t do it!
In the meantime, here is a photo of my little guy Roby just before we left the dog park, one of his favorite places to go. It was taken just a couple of months ago. I hope that you enjoy it!
Roby Lincoln
A good job dog – who steals socks!
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Pets, Reflections by Jason with no comments yet.
Genealogy
We always tend to think of our photography as just taking photos of our kids, friends, landscapes, water sports, other sports, etc, but there is one area of photography that most people don’t think about. That is in the field of genealogy. Now, if you’re interested in genealogy you know that you cannot post your living relatives’ names or photos online; this is for security reasons. You can, however, post photos of your deceased relatives along with their name and birth and death date. And, you can post online their headstone.
One of the biggest helps to genealogists are grave sites and cemeteries. Lots of people have taken their cameras and headed out to cemeteries and kindly photographed the headstones of the people buried there. They then upload them to this fantastic website, Find a Grave. Find a Grave has helped millions of people find their long lost deceased relatives, which has helped connect them to other relatives, basically “filling in” their own history. I am one of those people.
I had a sister born five years before myself who died at four months old. I didn’t know anything about her until I was in my early teens and I was upset that I had not been told about her. She was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, and there wasn’t a facility in our area able to take care of her, so my parents made the very difficult decision to send her across state where they took care of her for around 2 – 3 months and at the time she died. I have an older sister that told me that she only knew that she was buried somewhere across the state. [I can’t imagine my parents not bringing her home for burial, but they didn’t.] My older sister was only 2 at the time so she didn’t know a lot of the history, and I never really pursued the whole reason with my parents at the time I found out about her. It was a subject that just wasn’t discussed, most likely because of the pain my parents understandably felt.
But, over the years I felt so incomplete because I knew about my sister, but had no closure. Before Find a Grave I did a lot of searching online when genealogy sites started popping up, but there wasn’t any information about my sister. In 2013 I had major back surgery to fuse my spine and have rods and pins put on either side and in my hips; I was born with kyphoscoliois and with a partial C1. I spent four months in the hospital and rehab learning to walk again and how to take care of myself with my new limitations. And then….
In December 2014 I decided to check Find a Grave. Mind you, I had been to that website many times but looking for other relatives, but not my sister; and I did find quite a number of relatives burial sites. I put my sister’s name in their search engine along with the state I knew where she was buried. To my shock and to my surprise there was her headstone! But her first name was entered incorrectly, and I could understand why – the lettering on the stone did make it look the way it was entered. I contacted the photographer/person who uploaded the information and they kindly edited the information. But, I couldn’t believe it! I found my sister! I cried and I weeped and cried some more. For me, my family was now complete because of the woman that went out and took photos of a cemetery. And just in the last few days I was able to find her death certificate at Ancestry, making my information on her completed.
So, after this long discussion and personal information, you can see how your camera can be useful in other ways. Even if you’re not a genealogist, you can help other people by taking photos of headstones, especially if you have a relatively unknown cemetery in your town.
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Reflections and tagged Five a Grave, genealogy by Jason with no comments yet.
Remembering Lily
Lily. LilyCatherine. LilyCat. Kennel Cop.
Our little Independent dog born on the 4th of July.
Little Lily came to us as a rehome. We said we would find a new home for her, but we decided she would stay with us and be part of our family. I’m glad we did.
This cute, funny, charming little Yorkiepoo had a way of wrapping herself around your heart before you knew what was happening. Oh, how she loved to play “escape artist” and she was very good at it, too! And when she managed to escape she was so proud of herself she danced around in circles egging you on to chase her. You see, Lily had a very bad case of separation anxiety. It didn’t matter if you were standing on the other side of a gate and she could see you. Oh no! She wanted to be on the same side of the gate you were on. And there was one style of gate she figured out how to climb and get across. She was smart! The first night we had her we put her in a crate at bedtime, but she wasn’t having any of it, and next thing we knew she was up on the bed dancing around! Back into the crate little one. Nope! Didn’t take but 30 seconds and she was out again! The third time, though, was too much of a charm and darling Lily got her foot stuck in the door and I almost had to break her foot to get it out. After that Lily slept on the bed with the rest of the crew. And let me tell you, if she ever got out the front door it was next to impossible to catch her – she was quick on those little four feet!
As charming and sweet and lovable as she was, she also could swear a sailor down to a whimpering mess at her toes. I don’t know where she picked up that language, but boy could she swear! And she would tell you off in no uncertain terms, too. She would swear until she spit, sometimes. Honestly!
All Lily wanted was to be loved. And she was definitely loved by everyone she met. That was the charming side of her. It was hard to not love her; the moment you saw her, you were hooked. But she was really conservative with her kisses, unless she wanted something. Of course, she would never tell you what she wanted, so you would have to guess. It was her game! I guessed a lot! I figured out her favorite treat was teeny Greenies. Perfect sized for her little mouth. She had a prominent underbite but she could chew things with the best of them!
I have to say that sleeping with her, once we were on our own, was a hit and miss thing. I kept a bed pillow next to me where she would sleep sometimes, but it was always special to wake up and find her little head resting on my shoulder and hearing her little “congested” snoring sound in my ear. Those were the times I hated having to get up because I didn’t want to ruin that special moment with her.
In the beginning we used to take “chair naps” where she would lay on a pillow on my lap for a couple of hours. And oh, how I heard about it when I would put another dog on my lap for one of those naps. After a while I got to where I would just hold one in my arms while the other slept on the pillow. It beat the cussing out!
As much as she liked to escape, she did not like going for walks. I hate to say, but I called her “slow as a slug”. It wasn’t that she wanted to take in all of the smells. Nope! She just didn’t want to go for a walk, either by herself, with Bentley, or with Bentley and a friend. Those walks were basically “carries”. She loved being out, just not out on a leash going for a walk. The best part of a walk with her was her getting back home. But, she did like one thing being outside …..sunbathing. And she really loved doing that, even in the heat of the Summer. I could be melting, but she was just happy sitting in the sunshine – until Daddy nearly would faint.
Kennel Kop. The vet learned early on that Lily was an escape artist and had to take extra measures to block her cage door so that she couldn’t open it. Nothing like looking around and finding a little Yorkie at your feet when you were sure she was in a cage a minute ago! I never saw it for myself, but the vet’s told me that Lily would “direct traffic” so to speak when she was there. It was probably more like demanding that she be paid attention to and wanted petting. Oh, she could be annoying, but heartwarming at the same time. It was hard to ignore her! She wasn’t tiny, she was small, but she had a very large presence in everyone’s life.
Shortly before Bentley crossed the Rainbow Bridge Lily was diagnosed with diabetes, and that meant that she had to have shots of insulin. Oh lucky me, because I tend to feel faint around needles. It did not get any easier for me giving her the shots, either. It had to be done, but it was not easy, even using the pen. Eventually I had to go to using syringes for her, but that was hard on both of us. She took it like the trooper she was, though. Especially since she knew a treat would follow. God bless her, she always held so still for me, making it just a wee bit better for both of us.
But, after Bentley crossed, a little bit of Lily went with him. Because I wanted to spend some time alone with him, Lily was at the vet at the time he crashed and had to be put down [remember, he had lymphoma of the spleen]. After he was gone we brought her in to smell him so that she would know he was gone. She was 12 at the time. And for her it was a slow decline afterward. So, while she had diabetes, her thyroid also decided to give up, so we added medication for that. And six months after Bentley left, her eyesight began to go, a result of cataracts, but she wasn’t a candidate for surgery, so over time she she became nearly blind as well.
I knew she was lonely, so six months after Bentley’s crossing I started looking for another dog, mostly as a companion for her, but for me as well. I thought I had found a Schnauzer at a rescue group and Lily felt very comfortable around him, even laying next to him while his foster mother and I talked. It wasn’t to be, though, I suppose because I live in an apartment. I felt so sorry for her because she had never got close to another dog like she did with him. So, I kept looking, and several months later Roby fell into my lap.
I think that getting a puppy wasn’t a good thing for her, but it was a very good thing for me. Roby, like any puppy, wanted so much to play with her, and I think she would have loved to have played with him if she could have seen him, but he was more of a burden to her instead. Even with two days a week at the “vet spa”, she just couldn’t really cope with him and I couldn’t get him to stop pulling her ears and tugging her around like a mop. Lily finally decided it was time to go find Bentley.
So, a year ago, our precious little Yorkipoo that looked like a Yorkie crossed the Rainbow Bridge leaving behind lots of tears and broken hearts. Oh, I have missed her so. I still look for her, and tear up when I think of her or see photos I took of her. A little dog that was bigger than life that only wanted to be loved. And I love her still.
Posted in Personal Thoughts, Perspectives, Pets, Reflections by Jason with no comments yet.