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.

Samantha's Seattle Tour

February 27, 2009

An Auntie's tale

Day 1: Late in the afternoon we piled into the car and  headed downtown to the ferry terminal. We spent a lot of time in the car during this 3-day visit and Samantha and Mom Monica decided we lived 20-minutes from everywhere.

Voicemail? what voicemail? Grammy Kathy was all smiles after her cellphone was re-programmed.

A ferry ride to Bainbridge Island topped Samantha's activity list. The view from the sundeck was terrific, but the best entertainment came from watching the passengers.  A group of teens handfed french fries to the squadron of seagulls that maneuvered in tight formation  alongside the sun deck. 

Chocolate ice cream cones on the ferry were a big hit with Samantha - and her uncle.  

We spent some time exploring the toy store in town, checking out the stuffed animals, jigsaw puzzles and games. Grammy and Samantha selected a charm bracelet and the perfect first charm. The puzzle (below) was colorful but no challenge for this crew.

Day 2: Saturday Samantha introduced Uncle Ron to Special K with chocolate bits - he only managed one bowl while she ate 5! Then it was time to head to waterfront and the aquarium... another 20-minute drive from home.

Lots to see and do here, but the otter pool was everyone's favorite.

We grabbed a quick lunch at a University Village noodle bar and finished up the afternoon at the Woodland Park Zoo. Samantha used the zoo map to chart our course and kept us on the move. An animal charm was added to the bracelet.

Pizza at Pulcinella's for dinner (yum) was followed by a quiet evening at home. We introduced Samantha to Mexican Train, a domino game. Wow! this girl is good and plans strategy like a pro.

Day 3: Sunday morning Chef Samantha made Swedish pancakes from scratch, creating an interesting zoo of animal shapes on the griddle, and organizing her kitchen assistants like a master chef. 

We played more Mexican Train, and then headed out to ogle the Fremont Troll, cruise the floating bridge, browse Bellevue Square…stop! Time for a late lunch at PF Chang’s, Samantha's favorite restaurant, where we enjoyed crispy green beans and other tasty treats. Yum! Then it was home and time for more Mexican Train. Sammy and mom Monica win again! Late in the evening we toured Samantha’s online Webkinz house and met her pets - who knew this virtual world existed?!

Day 4: Sammy cajoled us into “just one more game” of Mexican Train, and once again she and her mom took top honors. Then it was off to the airport for the flight home.

Samantha, we miss you and your energy already!

My favorite quotes of the weekend were…

            “Is your house twenty minutes from everywhere?”  (pretty much)

            “Is he kidding me again?” 

City Snow

What is it about winter weather that turns the kitchen into a comfort food prep station? The snowy cold weather this week triggered non-stop simmering of soups, stews, chili and the like. Then the fragrance of homemade bread, and even (gasp!) a cake or two perfumed the air and prompted numerous taste tests.  Hmmm, good… still good… even better with drizzles of honey butter. While we enjoyed every bite, we don't need the extra pounds or padding that are part of the comfort food package. Perhaps we’ll just get fluffy, and sleek down again in early spring. It works for our local hummingbirds, just check out the difference shown below in the winter and spring photos!

My primary outdoor exercise this week has been trudging across the snowy kitchen deck to refill the bird feeders. Hummer nectar freezes, so the feeder overnights inside in the kitchen. At 6:30 a.m. one hummingbird is usually perched on a branch waiting for his breakfast. If I don’t arrive until 7:00 a.m. the impatient bird lets me know I am late, buzzing my head and scolding with loud chitters. Let me sleep in and delay until 7:30 and the bird lands on the feeder base while I hang it up. I don’t understand birdspeak but I suspect it is a rude complaint.

Snow fell Tuesday from 4:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. (maybe later but I went to bed), with fat, heavy flakes dropping a curtain over the distant landscape and filling the air like the steam in a shower. Mercer Island and Renton disappeared from view. Even the bird feeders disappeared. After repeated trips to clear the nectar bottle holes I rigged a towel shelter that deflected much of the snowfall. The wind flapped the towel a bit, but the motion did not discourage the hummers for long. They buzzed it, hovered above and below it, and finally ignored it to land on the feeder and to loiter on tree branches under it's shelter.

Two Anna’s hummingbirds are regulars - yearlong residents in the neighborhood and winter diners at my feeder. The dominant bird vigorously drives off his companion so they rarely feed together but last night at dusk four hummingbirds fed at the same time. One tiny bird kept his long bill inserted into a feeder hole for over three minutes… I was sure he was frozen to the base. A second bird dipped his bill in and out, sharing the same opening, but bird number one never moved. Eventually they all zoomed off to wherever they spend the night. 

   

A Walk in the Park

Any fall day without a rainstorm is an invitation to enjoy a walk. Not a power walk, certainly not a jog, but a move-it-along walk until something of interest stops us. We carried the cameras today so it took longer than usual to cover the length of Coulon Park... and wander back to the car again.

Fall's final colors, the yellows and golds, still hang on while the reds and oranges have fallen and now lay crinkled and scattered along the paths. What a visual treat, and such a temptation to kick up leaf piles like a kid. On sunny days the trees are cloaked in a haze of neon color. Today it was merely colorful, but who cared? it wasn't raining. 

Very few other walkers met us or passed by on the path today, so we enjoyed the company of a variety of birds. Canadian geese, mallards and mixed breed ducks, coots, mergansers, loons and seagulls cruised, dove and fed along the shoreline. My favorites? A small flock of crows clowning around in the trees. They challenged each other with calls and swooping mock aerial attacks. Their chatter and cawing only slowed a bit when I approached with my camera. Heads swiveling, beady eyes watchful, those corvids weren't bothered at all by advancing humans.