Past, present, future

A picture a day

I'm doing a picture a day. Why? Because I don't think I pay enough attention to what happens daily in my life and what I'm thinking about. I want to try to keep track for a little while. Let's call it my digital scrapbook. Today we got the digital negatives of our wedding pictures.

Classes Start

Stone Arch Bridge, Westford MA

Dahlias in bloom

A few mornings ago Brian mentioned that our dahlias were blooming. I went out to photograph them and encountered a frog.

Butterflies

Edith says I have to start posting things on this blog now, like where we go on hikes and bikes. I'll get to that soon, but first, I'll talk about some photos that I recently uploaded.

When my parents were visiting us in July, we had an empty afternoon with nothing planned, so we went to the Butterfly Place in Westford. This is a big indoor garden/greenhouse type place, and they've stocked it with hundreds of butterflies. There is a path to wander around, and there are ample opportunities to take photographs. The butterflies are reasonably cooperative -- most sit pretty still and let you get pretty close -- but in some shots I still had some problems holding the camera steady enough to minimize motion blur. Part of the problem was that it was cloudy and rainy while we were there, so there wasn't as much light as there might be on a sunny day (meaning longer exposure times), but I also took many of the shots near the 300mm end of the 75-300mm zoom lens. Maybe I will bring a tripod next time.

Anyways, here is the gallery.

Free to a good home

Anybody want a bag? This is my second attempt at a grocery bag for myself, but I'm offering it free to a good home. It was made (mostly) according to this design (but lacks the stuff sack. If you want a stuff sack for it, I can make one.) It features nice cushioned handles (long enough to go over the shoulder) and a roomy lined interior. Why, you might ask, am I parting with this bag? Well, it turns out that I find it aesthetically displeasing. It might look fine to everyone else, but since it does not fit the image in my head, I am dissatisfied. The funny thing is, I think it looks better in the picture than it does in real life. Grrr. However, as I said, it does not lack in functionality. It is a perfectly baggy bag. The handles are on nice and tight (and the padding is a really nice touch). It doesn't stand up on its own and it isn't very deep (back to front) but it is quite wide and so, I suspect, you can cram it nice and full of good stuff. Plus you would get to be the proud owner of my second bag.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! I have decided that the bag is not so bad after all and will work perfectly well for sitting in my car waiting to intake groceries. So I'm not determined to give it away anymore. Although I'll still give it away if someone really wants it because I can always make another.