Lens Envy

I think I just picked up one of the most expensive start-up hobbies in the world. It's been less than a week and I already have lens envy. I really need a macro lens followed by a zoom lens. Oh, and a camera bag. Then I'll be done... right?

New Toy

I've come to the conclusion that the price of "toys" increases proportionately to age.

For almost a year now, I've had serious camera envy. I took a lot of pictures on my trip with friends to the Dominican Republic. Since I have a history of being really bad about documenting my vacations, I made a huge effort to do so on this trip. At the end of each day, back in my hotel room, I took the time to keep a very detailed diary of everything I did that day. I also took many, many pictures. The pictures were okay, that is to say, I think I captured the images I wanted, but I really began to wish I had a better camera.

I take a lot of pictures of my three whippets. For those of you who haven't met them, or aren't familiar with the breed, they are fast. Whippets can run up to 35 miles per hour. That's way too fast for my little point & shoot camera. While I love my little Fuji, and it's done pretty well, I just can't get good pics of the dogs.

A few months back, I met another whippet owner who was at the park taking scenic shots. While we chatted, he took some random shots of my kids as they were running around the park. The quality of his pictures far outweighed every picture I have ever taken of them. I was very envious.

So, after talking with many friends who are photo hobbyists and professionals, I started narrowing down my selection. Unfortunately, I started knowing nothing, and now know just a little more than I did then, but enough to realize that this was going to be a bigger investment than I initially thought. But after agonizing over it for a while, today I took the plunge. I've made my purchase. Now I wait for it to arrive - and the hard (but fun) part begins. Hopefully, I'll be able to improve my collection of photos to share.

Stay tuned...

Surprise Gardening

One of the things I like the best about gardening is being surprised. We spend a lot of time in our yard, looking things over, making plans, moving and trimming and just enjoying everything.

Moving here from the Oregon, gardening took on a whole new meaning. Everything grows differently in Florida. It took a few years to really notice the seasons, as most people complain about, but once you’ve lived here, you definitely see them. Things do slow down in the winter months, and we have many things that pop up in the spring.

Our typical weekend usually starts with the coffee crawl. I call it this because we usually start out with a cup of coffee in one hand as we wander the yard, but usually end up on my hands and knees pulling weeds or digging something up… thus, “the coffee crawl.”

As I mentioned, I like the surprises the most. It can be amazing sometimes to see the changes that happen during the week while we are away at work. Yesterday I happened to notice a bloom that wasn’t there last weekend. I hadn’t even noticed the bloom spike. We have had this Vanda for maybe 4-5 years now, and it’s never bloomed. I know it hasn’t gotten the care that it would like, and it’s not a particularly attractive shape. But when it was given to us, I thought it was supposed to be one of the (fairly) common blue-ish purple blooms. Well, it’s not, but I still really like it. I’m not sure what it’s called, but it’s attractive in it’s own way. Not a real showy bloom, and the spike is a little contorted, but I love the petals and the way they look like they’re trying to take flight.

As spring moves to summer, I’m looking forward to many more surprises.

A distantly familiar pain...

Friday I did something daring. Something I haven't done in a very long time. I decided to play tennis for the first time in 10 years.

Ouch.

Hopefully, next time, with newly wrapped racquet handles and appropriate shoes, I'll feel much better afterward.

:)

Moongaze Reunion

This past weekend we had a play date at the Ft. De Soto Paw Playground. I brought my three whippets, Savannah, Jackson and Raleigh, and we met up with Terri who brought  Trevor, Caper and three of Savannah's puppies (Raleigh's sisters), Margeaux, Heaven and Brecken.

We usually go to the park in the morning, when it's more likely to just be the "good" dog owners. In the afternoons it's a lot of people who are just headed to the beach and happened to bring their dogs. They aren't typically as good about watching their dogs, closing the gates or cleaning up after their dogs. I try not to get irritated, but it's hard sometimes. Especially when the double gates are left open. I'm not so forgiving about that.

In spite of all that, we still had a lot of fun. They were so excited to see the other whippets. I'm sure that they recognized and remembered each other by the way they acted. 

Afterwards, we all came back to our house for a visit and ice cube treats. Raleigh was so proud of all his toys, Jackson took them on a tour of the house and s

howed them e

verything. Everyone was well behaved. Although Savannah was over it first, but still, she

 was good. 

After they all left, Savannah seemed relieved, Jackson was exhausted, but Raleigh wasn't happy about it. He followed me around the house whimpering and talking to me. "Aroo-roo-roo!" He didn't like that they left! LOL!  

If we had room - I'm sure we would have a house full of whippets all the time. 

Spring awakes...

DSCF0653, originally uploaded by callenstewart.

India Festival

Cosmic Reunion?

Well the first two months of 2009 are just about over, and it’s been an interesting year already. I’m not sure what has prompted this; maybe it’s age, maybe the planets have aligned, or some other weird cosmic dance is happening, but this seems to have started as the year of reunions.

I’ve had many friends come and go over the years. Circumstances and geography have separated some of us. Some were only meant to be for short periods of time. Some seem to skip in and out like stones on a pond – quickly touching as they go by. And others have stuck around for long periods of time.

I have some of the many social sites to thank for some of this; Friendster, MySpace, FaceBook, Blogger, Twitter, and even some of the more obscure sites like Gather, MyFolia, LibraryThing. And I think the photo-sharing sites like Webshots, Flickr and Picasa count too. Let’s not even start with the music sites.

So far this year, I’ve reconnected with eight friends – some I haven’t seen in almost a year, others whom I haven’t seen in over 25 years. Now I’m beginning to wonder who’s going to pop up next.

copied from the St. Pete Times...

Don't let St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker annex Tierra Verde

Paul P. Murray, guest columnist

Published Friday, February 6, 2009

---

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker's opinion piece (Annexation explanation, Jan. 15) ignores reality for the residents of Tierra Verde. We should not be surprised that politicians see the world differently than we do. Confronted with a politician's spin, who are we to attempt to respond? Anyway, this is how we see it.

For several decades, folks have been moving to Tierra Verde to enjoy life in a more laid-back island atmosphere. Almost the entire island was developed for residential use, and the few commercial properties served the needs of residents and visitors. Because the vast majority of residents like Tierra Verde the way it is, in 2007 they voted in support of Pinellas County adopting a Comprehensive Overlay Plan to maintain the current sense of place and quality of life that, among other things, limits the density and intensity of development.

Unfortunately, at the peak of the real estate market, two developers bought commercial properties at the gateway to Tierra Verde. They decided they needed to intensely redevelop these properties in order to maximize their profits. But intense development is not part of Tierra Verde's past or present and is not consistent with the Tierra Verde community's vision for the island's future or the state-approved Community Overlay Plan. The developers were unable to get the county to allow them to build what they wanted, so they turned to the city, which has more liberal rules and, of course, was eager to attain a foothold on the island.

Historically, the purpose of annexation was to allow a municipality to extend services like water, sewer treatment, or police and fire protection to an unincorporated area that did not have such services in return for an increased tax base. That is not the case in Tierra Verde, for we have all of these services, and the residents have demonstrated their satisfaction with being part of unincorporated Pinellas County at the ballot box.

Mayor Baker said that the city is not annexing, is not attempting to annex and, during his term has never planned to annex the homes of the residents of Tierra Verde. How does he explain the land-use section of St. Petersburg's Comprehensive Plan that states the city's goal is annexation of all of Tierra Verde for its tax base? The city filed three times last year for the annexation of our island, and the final application filing excised the docks from the Tierra Verde Resort and left them in unincorporated Tierra Verde. Why? Could it be that the people who live aboard their boats would force a vote of the residents for approval?

Mayor Baker doesn't have the right to spread his tax burden to us in Tierra Verde. We might have a lower millage rate, but that is more than offset by our highly appraised values.

In this budget-challenged environment in which we find ourselves, we hope the residents of St. Petersburg will track closely the hundreds of thousands of dollars the mayor plans to spend on litigating his annexation dream.

Paul P. Murray is president of the Tierra Verde Community Association.

Big Mac Attack

Well I finally did it. After many years of friends looking aghast when I tell them that I'm still in PC world, I drank the kool-aid. Okay, if I'm going to be realistic, I guess I did a canonball into the deep end of the kool-aid. It started a couple years ago when I started playing around with iTunes. I liked the look. I liked that it was easy, I liked being able to search for just about any artist and find them. So a year later, I bought an iPod. It became an instant old friend, traveling with me to work every day, replacing the stacks of CDs. Then this past summer came the iPhone. Not to replace my iPod, but really because it was time for a new phone. I like my iPhone, but there are a few things I miss about my regular old cell phone - mostly the easy phone functions that I haven't become adept at yet on the new one (including good voice dialing, video recorder). Then last month I took a giant bite of the apple and bought a MacBook. And I'm in love.


At first, I was scared. I opened the box and couldn't find the stack of set-up manuals, user guides and extraneous software that usually comes with a new PC. I thought for sure something was missing when all I could find was this tiny booklet of information. But that seems typical of the other Apple products I've purchased. But as soon as I powered it up, I was in awe. So bright and clean as the keyboard literally shines up at me. It's like I hear the angels sing every time I open the lid. Again, I had some anxiety at first because I couldn't find all the stuff I had to install and set up and the plethora of Welcome screens that you have to fight your way through. Everything was pre-installed, with the exception of email. I had a little trouble setting that up, which seems to be typical with my ISP. But finally I tried something that I thought for SURE wouldn't work because it was just too easy, and voila. I'm in. It took a couple days for that nervousness to fade away and accept the zen-like tranquility of this new technology.


Since then I've added a few new programs on my own, and I have to say the ease of the drag-and-drop installations nearly makes me teary-eyed. It's never been this easy before. I've so quickly adapted that there have been a few times that I have become frustrated at work because it feels so cumbersome.


The only really scary part of this experience has been the cost. Apple's not cheap by any means. But my hope and expectation is that it's worth it and will be for a long time. I think the only thing I'm unhappy with is that I chose to purchase a corded mouse instead of spending the extra for the bluetooth mouse. The cord is a little short, but I just find myself using the pad more often. Not such a bad thing.


I will admit that there is a certain social stigma that comes with Apple. But I don't care. I'm hooked. I'm so in awe that I have to keep my enthusiasm in check - I've been been accused a few times of trying to convert my friends and co-workers to the cult of Mac. But I don't care. I'm a happy convert.

Prop 8

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

New Neighborhood Tradition

Yesterday we got together with a few of our neighbors and went to the beach to toast the sunset. It's so easy to forget to slow down and enjoy the everyday things around you. We're going to try to get as many of the neighbors to join in once a month. It was great fun. We took some things to snack on - we had two kinds of shrimp, grapes, cheeses, bread, and a little bit of wine. We all took chairs and blankets, but we just stood around visiting and enjoying the scenery. It was a great way to unwind after such a long week.

Tonight we are off to one of our other neighbor's annual Christmas party. We'll be sure to spread the word about next month's Sunset Toast.

Tough day...

Today was not a good day. We had to lay off over 1oo people at work. I had to lose one of my employees in this. While it seems like this is such a small number in the face of the thousands that other companies are laying off, it still doesn't make it easier to know others have it harder. I've never had to have a conversation like that before. I hope I never have to again either.

c

Hello all...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I've fallen out of the blogosphere for a while. The world has been a crazy place - globally, nationally, locally and even personally. But I hope we're on the upswing... or will be soon.

We're heading out to Orlando to see some friends and spend the holiday. It will be a nice change of scenery. And of course good to see friends. I hadn't thought of it before this year, but I think that Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. One of my favorite things to do is to hang out with good friends, with good food, maybe a little wine, and just enjoy each other's company. It's a little harder now with even more friends moved out of the area. So I'm glad we're traveling. Don't get me wrong, I love the friends we have here. It just seems that everyone goes their own way this time of year, and it makes me really miss those friends I have who are far away from me.

So to all my friends out there, near and far... I love you all.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Gettin' things done

This a good day to get things done. I took the day off, so today I voted, bought a guitar tuner, went grocery shopping, bought a yoga DVD I've been thinking about, and finally took pics of our new vegetable garden.

Voting wasn't bad. Our precinct isn't too big, so I think I only waited for about 2 or 3 minutes. On the way out running my errands, hundreds of Obama signs seem to have sprouted overnight. It was kinda cool to see that display in my mostly republican neighborhood.

I found my way to a local music store and bought a guitar tuner. Someone at work told me about them. I never knew such a thing existed. I'm gonna go try it out today. While there, I saw a flyer about classes starting in January. $89 for eight weeks! Sounds like a bargain to me. I'm seriously thinking about checking that out.

I picked up the "A.M. Yoga" DVD too. It has five twenty-minute sessions. Monday night I go to a class, and it's something I look forward to all week. So I may try to do this a couple mornings a week too. Still not great at it, but I think I hit a milestone this week. A lot of the poses that I struggled with seemed to have clicked this week. Love it.

About three weeks ago, we built a small raised bed for vegetables on the south side of our house. We planted grape and cherry tomatoes, zuchini, summer squash, basil, radishes, mixed lettus greens, jalepenos, and yellow and red bell peppers. Next we're going to build a trellis and plant some beans and/or maybe snowpeas. The tomatoes are doing really well - lots of little blooms already.

We've also been talking about extending the fence on the north side of the house closer to the street. That will give us a place to put a couple rain barrels and a compost pile. We haven't had a place for a compost pile in a few years. And with all the yard debris we produce, it's just a good idea. BTW - did you hear that the recycling company in Pinellas county is going to stop accepting glass for recycling for the next year?! Bad timing - since St. Pete is JUST starting their curbside recycling program. Apparently there is a real glut in recycled glass. Yet recycled glass items are still exhorbitantly expensive. Go figure.

Inside the Big Picture...

One of the things I like the most about taking pictures is when you get to see the details you would otherwise miss. There's just something about peering into a small world to see the strange but beautiful things...

Fort De Soto Paw Playground

All is well.

About three months ago, I wrote about my personal health crisis. It wasn’t pretty. But, I’m happy to say that after my follow-up appointment with my doctor this week, everything that should be normal is normal again.

It was a lot of work – diet and exercise. And 20 pounds later, I feel better, and I’m on the right track. (Not to mention the “new” wardrobe I’m finding in my closet!) I still have a way to go – another 30 to reach my goal weight. And maybe more if I can, but that would put me in a happy place for sure.

I‘ve been somewhat regular at the gym – still going to the yoga class on Mondays. And then three more gym visits for the week. Two weeks ago, I went kayaking for the first time in a year. I had a great time. I didn’t have the shoulder issue I had before. So I went out again last week. I was out for two hours when I decided I should come back in, even though I was having such a good time. I felt pretty good that day. But the next day I felt like someone had beaten me with a bat! But it was that good, hard exercised pain.

I still refuse to say I’m “dieting” because that sounds so temporary. I really have to make permanent changes. Still eating my veggies, which was never a problem. Eating a LOT more fruit to compensate for the lack of sugar intake. And switched to whole grain whenever I have a choice (the Barilla Whole Grain Pasta is actually really good). I’m still limiting carbs, but not in a torturous Atkins way. But pasta and rice has gone from a 3-4 nights a week meal, to a 3-4 times a month meal.

All that being said, shopping habits have had to change too. It’s been a challenge, and it’s been enlightening. I’m eating more organic, but not completely. But I seem to have developed this new (loose) rule that if I look at the ingredients and it has more than a dozen or so listed, it’s probably not good to eat. Especially if after the first few ingredients, it starts listing a bunch of chemicals and additives that I can’t even pronounce. It (usually) get’s left on the shelf.

Today starts the new season of St. Pete Saturday Market. I’ve been looking forward to going down and finding some fresh produce. So, after our morning trip to the dog park, I think I’m going to throw myself into the crowd to do some open-air shopping.

Keep sending good thoughts my way.

Desparation.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_10_02_Virgin_Mary_story/srvc=home&position=also