Nature's way
It's been a while since I've been able to work on and post some photos on flickr, what with TAKING so many photos and the time it takes to filter through them before even getting to work on them. But, I was finally able to post the first of many photos I captured of the yellow crowned night heron, a rather elusive bird (at least for me lol) that is currently sojourning by the campus stream--and just blogged about this. I've been especially excited about finding and taking photos of him this year because I have a better camera and I've also been experimenting with an extender lens (Raynox 2020) that allows me to get even better closeups of the heron with my advanced point and shoot (canon powershot G9). (Of course, I'm really lusting after a DSLR with a 70-300 mm zoom lens, but that's a different story!) It's amazing what a good piece of glass can do--my previous experiences with extender lenses were less than optimal. So, more heron photos to come!
It's also just been crazy here the past few days. My house flooded Thursday night because the drain outside the basement door, which lies at the bottom of a stairwell carved into the yard, clogged up. By the time we discovered this at 11:45 p.m., the water had risen to nearly three feet outside the basement door and was driving the flood in over the sill. It was just a miracle that my sister was there that night and rushed to bail and then set up a water diversion system to keep the water from piling in to the stairwell. (She told me later that she had an "Indiana Jones" moment when she jumped into the water in the stairwell, as her first thought (due to some recent experiences) was "SNAKES!") We were up until dawn bailing, mopping, and moving stuff out of the basement between downpours. It's amazing how devastating a flood can be, and how exhausted and powerless the relentless force of nature can make you feel. But I feel really, really lucky: Not twenty five miles away, people lost their homes in a tornado that night. In the greater world, thousands have died due to a cyclone, and thousands more may die due to their goverment's intransigence. Keeping perspective is really, really important.
This experience also had broader implications for me, as I decided it was time to downsize the amount of "stuff" I've accumulated over the years.
flirtaciousjhelped me take a bunch of stuff over to Amvets to start the process. I'd like to start traveling light--which is a bit difficult because I have many works of art and hand made crafts, my own and others, that I cherish. And millions of books. So, I think my goal can only be "lighter." :-)
It's also just been crazy here the past few days. My house flooded Thursday night because the drain outside the basement door, which lies at the bottom of a stairwell carved into the yard, clogged up. By the time we discovered this at 11:45 p.m., the water had risen to nearly three feet outside the basement door and was driving the flood in over the sill. It was just a miracle that my sister was there that night and rushed to bail and then set up a water diversion system to keep the water from piling in to the stairwell. (She told me later that she had an "Indiana Jones" moment when she jumped into the water in the stairwell, as her first thought (due to some recent experiences) was "SNAKES!") We were up until dawn bailing, mopping, and moving stuff out of the basement between downpours. It's amazing how devastating a flood can be, and how exhausted and powerless the relentless force of nature can make you feel. But I feel really, really lucky: Not twenty five miles away, people lost their homes in a tornado that night. In the greater world, thousands have died due to a cyclone, and thousands more may die due to their goverment's intransigence. Keeping perspective is really, really important.
This experience also had broader implications for me, as I decided it was time to downsize the amount of "stuff" I've accumulated over the years.
flirtaciousjhelped me take a bunch of stuff over to Amvets to start the process. I'd like to start traveling light--which is a bit difficult because I have many works of art and hand made crafts, my own and others, that I cherish. And millions of books. So, I think my goal can only be "lighter." :-)