A New Year's Walk in the Park

2011 began with a series of cold, clear days. This weather felt like a gift; no one in Seattle takes January sunshine for granted. I appreciated the timing too, having recently added walking to my PT exercises for a new knee. We usually walk in the neighborhood or at a local park. The recent sunshine prompted a drive to Coulon Park at the south end of Lake Washington, a favorite, scenic location. (see previous post)


We had a lot of company on Sunday. The park was full of people out jogging, strolling, biking, heading for the shoreside restaurants, taking photos, sailing model boats or just enjoying the sunshine. Our intended 30-minute walk turned into a full hour of walking plus 30 more minutes for photography. Brrrrr, it was chilly but a terrific way to begin the year. Check out a few of the sights...


How's this for a blue-sky view?

At first I focused on the sailboat fleet, winterized and idle until late Spring...

...and then gazed through the rigging and marveled at the peaks to the north.

This small, radio-controlled sailboat looked like he would crash into the dock...

...but the man with the controller box maneuvered it away just in time, again and again. That sailboat really flew over the water!

The shoreline always hold something of interest...

...like this fallen tree. Would the wind knock down just one tree?

No, not the wind, this looks like the work of a beaver. He was ambitious to tackle a tree of this size/length.

The park has a no-feeding policy for the ever-present birds, ducks and geese. They all look healthy and well-fed from natural sources. I'll bet the occasional  slice of bread or restaurant French Fry finds it's way into the water too.

The End. Corny, I know, I know, but I just couldn't resist.

Cool New Canon Powershot

Oh yes! I'm doing the happy dance over this new digital camera. The old Panasonic Lumix was a terrific little pocket-sized number with great color and adequate zoom and clarity... right up until the day it went floating in the salt water puddle (in the dinghy, no less!). RL soaked the Lumix in fresh water, dried it out in the engine room, and voila! the little devil worked, but now sports a black blob in all photos.

It would have been easy to replace the old unit with a new Lumix. In fact, that almost happened, right up to the hands-on demo at a local camera store. The Canon PowerShot SX-20 IS feels SO good in the hand, the zoom is an amazing 35 mm equivalent of 28mm-560mm range, and the online reviews are very positive.

Now I'm back to feeling like a novice, trying to familiarize myself with all of the very different buttons, dials, menus, etc. in time for an Amtrak adventure next week. The manual comes on a CD, which is totally frustrating to access when you're out shooting, so today was the day to print out all 180 pages. No problem, except for the three ink cartridges that needed replacing at different times during this exercise..., and the time it took to print, change ink, print, change ink..., and the fun of 3-hole punching all 180 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper with a flimsy hole punch..., and now I have a 3-ring binder for a manual instead of a small pamphlet that might fit in a camera bag or backpack. RL spoiled me and saved the day by plowing through the manual and presetting a lot of the basic items for me. Thanks honey.

All that's left is for me to take scores of photos each day until it feels comfortable and natural. Wish me luck.