A Bug Study (Part One)

1. This is a dead Lady Bug carcass which has been residing on a window sill for some time. I am unwilling to say how long.

2. I was going to vacuum “her” up today when it occurred to me that I might take a picture of her.

3. I am odd that way. No need to point it out.

4. This was taken with my 18-55mm kit lens from my OLD camera (the 7D doesn’t come with a kit lens, or at least I didn’t order it with one). This is a lens that sees very little use these days. He is a rather “light” lens, adequate but light. But he may see more action with the reversing ring.

5. I am hoping to take a picture of a dead stink bug. I killed two of them this weekend before it occurred to me that I should “harvest” one and let him peacefully freeze to death in the freezer so that I could photograph him.

6. See #3

7. I can predict that there will be a lot of laying out on the driveway and photographing things this summer. And also photographing things in the lawn.

8. If my neighbors don’t already think I am odd then they will for sure think that by the end of the summer. I better warn them about this when we all have dinner together this evening.

9. Using the reversing ring on the lens is harder than you might think. It requires patience….which I am occasionally lacking. It requires thinking outside the box, which I love. It requires a very steady hand unless you are using a tripod, which means that I do not do this right after I have had my morning gallon of coffee.

10. I can predict that there is an actual, honest to goodness macro lens somewhere in my future. I don’t know when, I just know it will happen.

11. I am having just too much fun.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 250)

Remember your Winter busting orders. When you are done breathing in the refreshing blather filled air that you have found here you need to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of my fast approaching spring fever, over to Conversion Diary.

If it snows any more I am going to beat Mother Nature senseless with a sack full of blather.

1.
Last Friday we were anticipating, and not with any great joy, another snow storm of “EPIC PROPORTIONS!”. At least that is what the weather persons were telling us. It was to arrive starting on Sunday night and stretching into Monday.

I am sure there was another run on bread and milk and ice cream at the stores.

And the storm never showed up. It went South, which is what we all are wishing that we could do.

I am so tired of the weather people getting their well paid panties in a big old wad at the thought that there might be another storm. Don’t do that. It causes panic. It causes pain. It makes my head want to explode. I makes important photo shoots get pushed back into April.

PantPantPantPantPant

I am better now.

2.
Another thing about the absolutely ghastly and awful and horrible weather that we have had this Winter.

It makes it difficult to walk outside.

Oh I can walk outside, even if it is very cold. Obviously my walking buddies and I did that for years. Rain, snow, sleet….we walked in it all. The problem here at Chez Knit is that the sidewalks along the main road are never shoveled between here and town. Or at least the first part of them aren’t. The city does a great job of plowing the streets, and the sidewalk closer in to town is sometimes shoveled, and the sidewalks IN town are always clear. But the stretch that is closest to us is never shoveled. People walk there to be sure, but it isn’t a very pleasant walk. I also do not care to walk in the street for that short stretch. WAY too much traffic for that. I can also get in my car and drive 1.5 miles to the MetroPark and walk there. But that seems to be just wrong to drive there only to walk.

I am waiting impatiently for the weather to warm up so I can do my morning walk OUTSIDE.

3.
Our little development has street lights. A LOT of them for such a small, one street development. I am sure that you are saying to yourself, “That is awesome!”

It is not. At least for us it isn’t. The street light bulbs are very bright. So bright at night that I feel like they are shouting at us.

WE ARE VERY BRIGHT!!!

The street light closest to our house, actually situated between our house and the house next door, shines right into our bedroom window at night. That really shouldn’t be a problem because we have a nice dark shade on the window…..but then there is that little half moon window that is ABOVE the regular window. A half moon window that has no shade on it and will never have a shade on it because it isn’t possible to put one up there.

HHBL and I like the room to be dark at night. D.A.R.K. It is not dark in there as long as that blankety blank street light shines like a beacon for alien life.

And then last week……

The bulb burned out.

Oh sweet darkness may you stay forever.

Which I know won’t happen because our next door neighbor LOVES that light shining all night. Of course HER bedroom is at the back of her house…..where it is nice and dark at night.

4.
I have finally come to the decision that I cannot read or use my iPad just before I go to sleep.

Because if I do……

I will not sleep. Or at least I will have trouble getting to sleep

The information out there on iPad usage causing sleep problems is contradictory to say the least. And I don’t think it matters for everyone. HHBL reads on his iPad while in bed and doesn’t feel that it affects his sleep at all.

Me on the other hand…..not so good.

So I will be reading bricks and mortar kinds of books while lounging in bed. Of course, those books are often on things like mountain climbing disasters on K2 or serial killers.

I love my light reading.

5.
I grew up in a religious tradition that looked suspiciously on the concept of “Lent” and those who celebrated and participated in the lenten tradition.

And when I say looked on with suspicion what I really mean is that if you celebrated Lent then your admission into heaven was a bit on the wobbly side. Of course, if you raised your hands in worship to the Lord then you were one of those “Pentecostal” people and also suspicious.

I would be in big trouble these days I am thinking. I am not Pentecostal but I do raise my hands in worship.

But I digress.

I have begun an in depth look at what Lent is, the tradition of Lent, why people celebrate Lent, is it correct, what does it mean.

I will let you know eventually what I think I find.

6.
Going through inboxes in my email accounts.

I think I can safely delete emails from 2007.

Of course, the minute I do that then I will need one of them.

I love to live dangerously.

7.
As has become my tradition, and because I always seem to run out of things to say by the time I get to #7, here are some of my Instagram photos for this past week. Come and find me over there. I am…..as you might guess @stopherknitting

Gonzo Macro And the Freedom To Break a Rule

I love the freedom of photography, the ability to bend the rules. Knowing that I can play and experiment and push the boundaries. As I was telling my Bible Study group on Tuesday, I am a Recovering Rigid Rule Keeper.

I have always been fascinated with small and intimate spaces. The minutiae of life and things. That is the sort of photography that interests me the most. Not the big open spaces of landscape photography, although I appreciate the beauty of it and the time and effort it takes to get the “perfect” big space photo. For me that isn’t what grabs me about photography. It is the interaction with the person or the intimate space or the object.

Maybe that is why I am drawn to bokeh and the effect it gives. And why I have always been fascinated by Macro photography, although I didn’t at first know what it was. Almost from the beginning of my journey I wanted to see how close I could get to a subject with my camera and lens and still be in focus. The stock kit lens that came with my first Canon Rebel was their standard 18-55mm lens. It isn’t anything earth shattering to be sure and I didn’t know enough about photography to understand why it wouldn’t give me the pictures I saw in my head as I got up really close. I wanted close up! Detail oriented! I didn’t understand why I wasn’t getting that fuzzy background thing, whatever it was called. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have a really close up picture.

WHY??

And then I learned about bokeh. And then I learned about macro lenses. And then I learned what macro lenses can cost. And then I decided that I might put that off for a bit as there were other lenses that were needed more.

On Monday my Reversing Ring came. The correct one this time, thankyouverymuch.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

This is going to be so much fun. I am sure that someday I will be able to justify to myself the purchase of a macro lens. But until then……..

These are the blackberries that I had for my snack this morning. The individual little bulbs of the blackberries, sprinkled with crystals of sugar.

And all by reversing my 50 mm lens and using it backwards.

Every time I detach my lens, screw on the reversing ring and reattach the lens backwards I feel like I am breaking a rule. Some cardinal rule of photography that says that you cannot use your lens that way.

Oh yes I can.

This is going to be fun.

Heffalumps and Woozles

I have made an absolutely fabulous discovery.

I can watch Winnie the Pooh via Netflix streaming.

How did I miss the fact that up in the left hand corner of the Netflix app screen there is a little button that says "Kids". I am sure that it has been there always and if you have small children you will know this. But I don't have small children...although there is the boyfriend. And it is because of the boyfriend that I discovered that I can watch Winnie the Pooh on the Netflix app.

My Babysitting Boyfriend, he who shall be refered to as MBB from now on, needed a bit of "wind down" time before setting off on his afternoon nap. I had my iPad in my lap, he wanted to look at something on it, I pulled up Netflix....and that is when I saw the "Kids" button up in the left hand corner. I figured that I could find something to look at for a few minutes.

Scroll.....scroll.....scroll....

Mulan is too long. Some of the other stuff I had never even heard of. And then I saw it.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Did the sun just come out and are those angels that I hear singing?

It isn't like I haven't watched this is the years since it first started showing up on TV. I am not even sure when was the first showing but I am sure that it was on The Wonderful World of Disney. Pilot Man and I used to watch that on Sunday nights, plunked down in front of the TV with a tray full of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. That is most likely why I feel that grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup are forever linked together, never to be separated. You cannot legitimately have one without the other. It just isn't right.

Where was I?

Oh yes, Winnie the Pooh. When the progeny were little we had all these Winnie the Pooh VHS tapes that they watched. All the time. I have an aversion to Sesame Street so that was not on the TV much. But we could fire up Winnie the Pooh whenever they wanted.

I just spent a very enjoyable 30 minutes watching Winnie the Pooh and Tigger and Christopher Robin and Piglette and Owl. I sang the songs. I said all the dialogue. And I am going to admit that there might be a time in the not too distant future when you might find me watching this again.....without MBB even being around.

I love Winnie the Pooh that much.

And we won't even talk about the original stuffed Eyeore that might be residing at my house.

It is the little things in life.

 

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7 Quick Takes (Vol 249)

Greetings and salutations from a place where it is always Winter. Or at least it seems like it. When you are finished insulating yourself with a layer of cold busting blather you will need to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of my murderous intentions towards Mother Nature, over to Conversion Diary to see how others are coping.

Life is too short to deny yourself blather.

1.
I got on the scale on Wednesday evening, something that I try NEVER to do.

I restarted using the My Fitness Pal app on Thursday.

I bought a pedometer today and added 45 minutes on the treadmill to my daily routine.

Need I explain any further?

I wasn’t going to purchase a pedometer. Those things cost, you know, money. I found a free app for the iPhone and downloaded it on Thursday morning. And deleted it on Thursday night. Even if I dialed the sensitivity all the way down to the “numb” setting it still wanted to add steps to the count whenever I even thought about moving the iPhone.

I want to have as many steps daily as I can but the goal is not to lie to myself about anything, not what I put in my ever opening maw and not how many steps I do….or don’t…take.

So I went to Best Buy this morning and plunked down a small amount of money for a pedometer. Not a FitBit…the most basic of which would cost me $50….but something that is fairly basic but can still track my steps and/or mileage plus tell me how many calories I have expended.

Sigh.

2.
Remember I told you last week that I had ordered a Reversing Ring so that I could do some down and dirty macro photography without actually having to shell out $$ for a macro lens that I so do not need?

It arrived on Tuesday. Such excitement.

I opened the ridiculously big box to find a reversing ring in a small plastic bag. So far, so good.

I opened the package and screwed the ring onto my 50mm lens (for which it is intended). Excellent.

I start to screw the other end into Big Bertha (you know, that sounds slightly pornographic).

And….

It isn’t working!!

The ring is too small for the body. Oh this is so not good.

And as we all do, I looked at it and kept on trying to make it fit, as if doing this task more than once will give me a different result.

So I looked at the front of the ring……and saw that it was for a Nikon!! Did I order the wrong one??? Dang it! But then I looked at the packaging, which said quite clearly, that the ring was for an EOS system….which is Canon. Amazon, or more likely the factory in China from which this thing originated, doesn’t know their head from their whoowhoo hole.

So I have returned the ring, communicated with Amazon and told them that they need to have someone go and check the packaging, and the new ring will be coming on Monday.

3.
This is what I was greeted with when I went out this morning to take Max the Magnificent for his early morning “constitutional”.

Oh for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary! Obviously Max and I didn’t walk very far. And my mantra for the entire short jaunt was, “Hurry up! Do your business! Hurry up!”

A friend of mine asked me today what –6F feels like.

I would suggest that if you want to experience this go to your local grocery store. Stroll over to the freezer section. Open one of the freezer doors and stick your head in as far as it will go and take a deep breath through your nose. If your nose hairs freeze….you are just about there.

And just to make things “extra special”….we are predicted to get another 6-12 inches of snow Sunday night and into Monday.

Mother Nature had better not show up anywhere near me. I am going to beat her senseless.

4.
Did I mention that the refrigerator repair man was going to arrive at my house this past Tuesday?

The refrigerator is still making noise. Not as loud as the last time, when they had to put in a new compressor, but still not quiet.

He showed up…..2.5 hours late (I knew he would be late as he had called me)

He listened to the frig

He checked the compressor (which is working fine).

He checked the freezer fan.

And announced that yes, the freezer fan was a bit noisy but it was still working and he could guarantee me that HAS would not authorize it to be fixed at this time.

Then he told me about his family and why he had quit drinking all those years ago and what kind of truck that he drove.

And then I paid him $75 and showed him the door.

It is always something around here.

5.
I have seen exactly one of the pictures nominated for Best Picture for 2014.

That would be Captain Phillips.

It doesn’t really matter as I most likely will not be watching the Oscars this year….again.

I will watch something else that deservedly can be called a classic. Like Casablanca or perhaps The Philadelphia Story.

Stepping down off of soap box now.

6.
I have decided for the next little while to be a monogamous knitter.

I am currently obsessed with knitting on the Never Ending Mitered Square blanket. It is one of those things that I think to myself, “I will just do one more square” and I look up and it is an hour later and I have done about 5 squares.

But I am having so much fun doing them that I am not going to start any other projects for a while and just work on this one.

Well, I am going to start the next pair of socks but that is because I will be traveling in a few weeks and I always start a pair of socks when the plane pulls away from the gate.

Just my thing.

But other than that it is mitered squares all the time.

I lead a very boring, if fingering weight sock yarn filled, life.

7.
Here are a few Instagram pictures from this past week. I was going to put them into a collage again but that is just a big pain in my bahookie so….I am not going to do it.

Warning. Rant Ahead.

This has been the longest winter.

LONG.

LongLongLongLongLongLongLong.

On a normal day, with the sun coming up and the birds tweeting, this is what my little town looks like.

A quiet little place. A happy place.

But not always.

This was what I was greeted with today when I had to walk Max the Magnificent.

SNOWMAGEDDEON!

Somewhere along the line I seemed to have missed the memo that said something about heavy bands of snow moving through the area today.

Mother Nature, if you were standing in front of me right now I would beat you bloody with a blunt instrument.

But Alpha, how can you not like all this lovely snow. Stick your nose out into it and breathe deep.

A Legacy List

Today would have been my father’s 76th birthday. Because I knew this day was coming up on the calendar I have been thinking about his legacy to me.

Legacies, at least in my mind, are a very personal thing.

A legacy, as defined in the about 8 million different online dictionaries that I looked at, is

Something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past.

My father left a lasting legacy, at least for me. I think if you asked all who knew him they would say that he was a larger than life person who lived life to the fullest. I would hope that when my time comes to go home to my savior that others will say the same of me.

I was going to write a wordy post (is there any other sort??) about my dad’s legacy but I think a list will do the job nicely. I have searched all over my blog posts thinking that I had already written out this list for you but I cannot find it. If I did and I posted it…..I blame the menopause brain.

* Christ is all.

* If you are going to do a job you need to do it to the best of your abilities. Don’t waste your time doing a half way job that will have to be redone because you didn’t do it right the first time around.

* Ice cream is always a good idea. Well, all except for that one time when he had the bright idea to have a scoop of Bubble Gum ice cream and a scoop of Black Licorice ice cream. That is the only time that I ever remember him NOT finishing an ice cream cone.

* When braking in your car, let up on the brake pedal just a bit as you come to a stop and you will never have a “herky jerky” stop.

* Organ music is the music of the angels. And if you throw in a bit of Bluegrass that is even better.

* You can never take too many pictures.

* A good glass of wine is an excellent thing.

* If I, as the Chief of the OBGYN department, have written orders on a patient. And you, as a lowly resident, have said to ignore MY orders and written your own…..it will not go well with you my son.

* Hard work is a good thing.

* If you need to, ask for help.

* Yes, we are stopping at this vacation spot. No, you may not stay in the car and read your book.

* There is no need to yell. Intimidation Expressing your displeasure with a quiet voice is MUCH more effective (ask the progeny).

* Take the time to put your tools, whatever they may be, back where you got them. That way you always know where they are.

* Think through the problem before acting on it.

*You can never have too many flashlights……or pens…..or combs…..or nail clippers…..or baseball caps….or tools….or books…or batteries.

*You can never have too many pads of paper.

*Think ahead. It will save your bacon later on.

* Do not stick your hand under a running lawn mower. The consequences can be….not so great…especially if you are a surgeon.

* A clean car interior is the sign of an organized mind. (I might have a problem there).

* There is no reason why you cannot take 4 showers a day…as long as each of those showers lasts no more that 4 minutes.

* Keep good records.

* Go the extra mile for others without expecting anything in return.

* Raccoons, opossums and groundhogs must be eradicated.

* It is not acceptable to chew Green Apple bubble gum in a closed car. And NO you may not blow bubbles with it.

* A well written letter (or email) of complaint can go a long way.

* Be careful when lighting the gas grill. Your eyebrows might suffer a “mighty singe” otherwise.

* Measure twice. Cut once.

* If I have asked you to do something, I expect that you will get up and do it now.

* All work and no relaxation makes for a very grumpy person.

* Do your research.

* Read a book. Expand your brain.

Thanks Dad for the legacy that you have left for me. I long for the day when I will see you again. Until then……

I think I will go and read a book.