Yesterday was the last of the Tampa Bay Downs photo shoots of the season, which ends right after the Kentucky Derby. Except for one weekend in July it will start up again in the fall. It was going to be HOT, and I wasn’t too enthused about going at all until Bernie said that he’d like to shoot from the grandstand and that sounded like an excellent idea. Standing trackside doesn’t give me a good angle to shoot, but the grandstand makes for a better angle and has huge fans to keep you cool. Walking out onto the balcony is still shaded and is a good option too.
I had my eyes open for shots of the people that were there also, but I think this kid would have caught my eye even if I hadn’t thought about it ahead of time. My son always toted a toy with him wherever we went and I thought for a second that this kid had brought a toy horse with him. Maybe this dinosaur goes everywhere with him. Note the horse ‘tattoo’ on his arm.I thought that the babies in this group might make cute photos, and then the trainer brought over #8 to say hello.I had already noticed the gray horse as they led the horses out for this first race of the day. I kind of wanted the gray one to win, but if not him then maybe #8 who had stopped to see the kids.I wasn’t at the perfect spot to get a shot of the photo finish which had the horse in the center nosing out the other two horses. #4 was third.I thought I could cheat and tell you that the gray horse won after all, but those with sharp eyes would probably notice all the dirt in the air and catch me in a fib.When they moved the gates into position for the next race I thought it would be interesting to get a few shots of them loading up the horses. Number 6 was having no parts of getting into the gate however. AI got rid of a huge, bright red tractor that was center stage in the shot.I always have to try to get the horses as they come right at you out of the last turn and into the home stretch. #6 is on the left, and, sadly, he didn’t win the race either.The third race was a turf race so we like to get a shot of them coming down the chute. When I looked at the pictures in the computer I saw that a sea gull appeared to be racing with them, but they were gaining on him.
Thank goodness pollen season is nearly over, or so said the ophthalmologist the other day. My eyes were itchy and dripping so we left after this race. Lately we have been the only ones from the photo group who have shown up for the once a month trip to the races. I went to one just after I joined the group in 2017, and I was surprised to meet another member who also had grown up in Brockton, MA. Life happened in the meantime, and we are now the 5th couple who have met by joining the group. Funny how life turns out sometimes.
Teeth? As Christmas ornaments? I made a lot of them and they adorned a little Christmas tree that sat on the desk in the waiting room the last few years we worked. Charley was horrified, asking me if I was really putting them on the tree, but the patients loved them. The last Christmas before we closed shop I told the patients to take one, but I kept a couple for myself.
This one has lost its macaroni alphabet letters that spelled Heather. I don’t love it any less though. From 1st grade I think.One of the ornaments my BFF has made me, there are many and I’ve kept them all.
I had fun making these paper-pieced Santas one year.
The FIMO year. Actually I had made a salt dough ornament years before, one had my son as a little kid with our cockapoo Barney, but it deteriorated over the years. So not only did I redo that one, but I made one of our bulldog Gleason, and also the two sweet rag doll kitties that retired to Florida with us.
I started writing this post with warm, fuzzy feelings about the holidays, but that was before WordPress stopped letting me create a post the same way I’ve been doing for the past 1600+ posts. So I’m posting it as is, and from the phone, before I lose my mind on this rainy day. Ho, ho, ho.
There is nothing spectacular about the feature photo, I just caught the cardinal at a funny moment before he either landed on the caged feeder, or just after he hopped away. That I was out back with the big lens on the camera waiting for birds to show up was an experiment of sorts. To see how well my left arm would do supporting the camera before I try to take on more than I can manage. I might not have been questioning that if I had actually gone to the dermatologist after one of the many times over the years that it crossed my mind that I should probably do that. Because it did cross my mind from time to time. But that thought didn’t stick, like the cardinal didn’t stick.
It was a hop, a skip, and he was off…
My mind flitted off somewhere else, as if thinking that I ought to do the responsible thing was enough. I have never been a sun worshipper, never sat out trying to get a tan, at least not for more than a few minutes when I’d either get too bored or too hot, and I’d seek out some shade. Besides, thought I, my Italian heritage means I’m not exactly fair skinned. Since I didn’t intend to sit in the sun I also didn’t bother with sunscreen. And now I am lucky enough that even though I did go to the dermatologist and get bad news, there was good news also in that my melanoma was a stage one with it’s 99% cure rate. But this isn’t something I wanted to deal with, not ever, and certainly not after 75 years and becoming wiser (?) in all those years. The chunk that is now missing from my arm, with its lovely scar, didn’t have to be there. My face is still bandaged and what scar is there is yet to be revealed. This was avoidable, and I am sharing this in hopes that younger people who may read this might not wait 75 years to do the responsible thing. And if you are my age and in my boat don’t wait any longer.
The birds weren’t exactly cooperating with me yesterday, but my arm did okay, so that was more good news.
The feature photo is something I saw while waiting for a traffic light the other day. It caught my eye because the day before I had dithered over buying this;
Eventually I said “Yes way to the rose”. Don’t take that as a recommendation, it was just okay.I’ve been through several boxes of this after my friend Rita introduced me to it when I visited her. Nice and light. Summery. And the rose version isn’t bad either.Happened into Sam’s in time for a wine tasting yesterday. This was so good, fruity, I’d have never looked at the bottle twice. I drank the last glass of the open bottle of ‘Yes way’ last night while I let this chill. While my guy perused the beer isle at Total Wine I went outside and took pictures of the crazy clouds, then I wandered through Home Goods, and when I checked to see if he was done he was right where I left him in the beer aisle. So I wandered a bit and spotted this, but didn’t buy it.
In this particular case it’s technology that’s driven me to drink. I discovered that my camera will let you take a ‘precapture’. So you focus on a bird and when the action happens you take the shot and half the time you get this;
If you use this new feature you half-press the shutter button while you find your shot, then when to do push the shutter button all the way it takes the photos from a half second before you pressed the shutter. Great, right? So I took a ton of pictures that way the other day. but my software doesn’t want to open them. So this morning I upgraded the software, upgraded the camera firmware, and added a new editing program. And everything fought me as I worked on it. It’s been a long morning and I still haven’t successfully created even one picture. I have wasted half the day, but certainly it must be close to 5 o’clock somewhere…
My complaint, when I returned to Wild Birds Unlimited, was that the cardinals had taken over the Bird Buddy. I never imagined that I wouldn’t be thrilled to see cardinals anywhere, but I was getting essentially the same photos and videos every day. So the advice they gave me was to add a little cup feeder and fill it with dried mealworms. I’d attract lots of other backyard birds, they said. But what I got was crows! They announce themselves loudly, knock the little cup feeder onto the ground where the squirrels enjoy a treat, and all the other birds lay low when they are around. Even the cardinals. These pictures were taken through the (dirty) sliding glass door and the screening on the lanai. But you get the idea.
He was making a racket out there.I didn’t realize he was also sampling the gourmet bird seed in the Bird Buddy. Which didn’t take his picture.Mealworms do seem to be his preferred food however. And I’ll keep using them until I run out, but that’ll be the end of that.
I do need more bird seed, but I’m asking myself if I need another pole? To hold another feeder or two? With some other bird seed mix? Hmmm…
I usually try to stay under the radar, for the most part. The fact that I write this blog is something that I’d have bet money against myself ever doing, if anyone had suggested it when I was young. I suppose the fact that I can write in the dark and quiet of a morning while I drink coffee is what makes it feel anonymous, and therefore allowable. So imagine my surprise to discover that my household has been the talk of the neighborhood lately. There has been some comings and goings at my house for the last week while I had a minor bathroom remodeling done at my house. While the handy men worked on the bathroom I unloaded various and sundry items that have resided in my shed since I bought the house, making room for my trike so it doesn’t have to live in my car all the time. Twice a week trash pick up was a blessing. It took both pick ups last week to get rid of all that I put out, and then sweated out whether they’d take it and if they didn’t then what was I going to do. Only they were terrific, they took everything, including the toilet that has driven me crazy ever since I bought the place.
Have you shopped for a toilet lately? You have so many choices these days. Round bowl or elongated? Slightly higher seat, or not? Able to make an entire bucket of golf balls disappear in a single flush? Or if that’s too much you might choose the one that will send 6 billiard balls into the sewer system. I would think that either of those last two options might have a tendency to backfire on you, but that’s just me. I now have a nice, level floor with fake marble tile on it, plus a toilet that flushes just what’s necessary and no balls of any kind. I am a happy camper.
So while I was home I got myself out for some sunset and sunrise pictures, taken with my camera and also my iPhone. But since I didn’t have my computer with me I never looked at the photos from my camera until today, and I had already posted iPhone pictures from those outings. But I found a couple I could use, as I get myself and my camera ready for the next adventure.
A foggy morning at Bayport, taken as an HDR in the camera and it couldn’t be worked on until I got back to the computer.There was a nice moon out that morning so I took a picture of that too. Since the camera was set for HDR it took the three shots even though I have never had Lightroom actually process a photo of the moon into HDR before. I’ve tried many times. It usually says it can’t be done, the images aren’t identical or something. But this time it worked.
The neighborhood news was that it was suspected that I was having my house worked on because I was going to sell it. I hope they weren’t looking forward to getting rid of me because I’m not selling. I might even think about working on the kitchen, I’ve always wanted to ‘do’ a kitchen…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 