Afterword

The holiday was a success. I'll not go into my anti-Christmas feelings and just take a win this year. 

Cheers!

Sunrise, Monday, Mid-December

Holiday update: Finished shopping and decorating. The cooking/baking continues.

2019 in review

There are still a couple of weeks and anything could happen but here's a look back at a very eventful year. The most important of course was that I sold my house! It happened so quickly; I still can't believe that I packed up a house that I had lived in for forty years, in less than a month! 

I looked back at my post at the start of 2019.

Sadly, my cousin Cheryl passed away on Thanksgiving Day after battling cancer for several years. 

The rest of my hopes for the year mostly came true. 

Greenway

I made a quick visit to the Alice Close Springs Greenway this morning. It's mostly hiking/walking/running trails and my knees don't do hiking anymore. Or walking great distances either. But I found a pond and got a few shots.

"With life as short as a half-taken breath, don't plant anything but love. " ~Rumi

And an artsy filter because that's who I am.

My 100th shot with my X-T3

I should be merrier

December 4, unpacking more boxes. There are three storage units. I have a small one here in my apartment building and my son has two bigger units. Those are the public variety and are mostly filled with furniture that I can no longer use. But one still has boxes of stuff that I need to go through and decide whether to keep, donate, or trash. So yesterday I picked up six more boxes to bring home and deal with. 

A Thanksgiving Eve sunset.

And the tree is up.

Thanks & Grateful

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I had dinner at my son's home; he is a great cook, much better than I ever was. 

On Friday I got a call that one of my cousins had passed away. She lived in upstate New York so I hadn't seen her in years but it was still a shock. A reminder not to fret about trivial things, life can turn on a dime.

December 1st. I can't believe it has been eleven years since my husband died.  The world keeps turning.

A small beginning to holiday decorating: 

I think I'll tackle the tree tomorrow.

Wanted: More Parks

I miss the county parks in Georgia. I am in the 'search' phase here in NC. My favorite park was closed today so I followed the signs to a place called Copperhead Island. I had googled it previously to see whether it was worth a trip. It's mostly boat ramps but I was only looking for trees and water... so I figured I would see if I could squeeze a couple of pics from CI. Now, I was alone and weekdays are not busy days for parks so I was leery as I headed down a long, long road. If it felt unsafe when I got there, I'd just turn around. When I reached a dock/boat ramp area there was no one around. A truck with an empty boat trailer was the only other vehicle in the parking lot. Okay, a few quick pics and I'll be on my way home. I walked a short distance to the edge of the lake, grabbing a few leaf shots along the way.  Looked back towards the parking lot and noticed another car parked near the restrooms. I decided I had enough photos and the water wasn't pretty at all anyway so I started back up the hill to my car. 

Must find more parks nearby.

The Color of Morning

Touchscreen feature: Another new-to-me feature of the X-T3 is the touchscreen. I can envision using it to select a focus area, not sure about taking a shot. I've experimented with it so if a situation should arise where it would be easier than pressing the shutter button, I'll know how to do it.

Size Doesn't Matter

Until it does.

I didn't realize the X-T3 is bigger than the X-T1. This morning I removed the tripod baseplate from the X-T1 and... oops! It doesn't fit the X-T3. New one on order from Really Right Stuff. 

And then there was fog:

Printing to Instax

My nighttime reading lately is the PDF version of the X-T3 user manual. The ability to print to to an Instax printer caught my eye because I have one. It's a fun little printer, prints a small Polaroid-like prints. Not a serious printer by any standards and the option to print from the camera has nothing at all to do with the image quality capabilities of the X-T3.  All that being said, I thought I'd give it a try this morning. Fast forward to the list of stuff I haven't seen since moving and add any documentation for the Instax. I fumbled through the settings and eventually succeeded in producing a print. 

 And the grapefruit was delicious!

Clearer Skies

The morning skies have been cloudy and or foggy for several days. Finally, this morning - some color. I'm still in the learning phase with my new camera. There are enough differences between the X-T1 and X-T3 that I have to check settings, etc.

Note: I love having two card slots again (My Fuji S3 (S2?)  also had this feature). However, this morning I assumed my photos were on card 1, but they were on card 2 instead. Card 1 was empty so I'm not sure why the second was used.

Update: The other day, I had forgotten to put the card 1 back in the camera so card 2 was used (a good thing). My guess: card 2 remained as the primary.

Cornbread, Cookies, and

Look what Santa brought. Early. 😄

Wine O'clock

It's been a chilly, rainy Friday so I'm enjoying a glass of Boya Pinot Noir... from Chile. 😆 "A dusky dark ruby" is a good description.  Cheers! 

Hiatus

I've decided to take a break from posting photos on Facebook, Instagram and Pbase for the remainder of November. I feel like I'm posting just for the sake of posting something. But I'll still be snapping and may or may not post something here. 

Would you still take photos if you couldn't show them to anyone?

Rain Delay

Rainy morning, then temps falling to the 20s by morning. 

Meanwhile, although I have unpacked most boxes, I continue to search for miscellaneous 'things'. I predict this will never end. 

Dawn's Early Light

I'm a bit obsessed with capturing the sunrise. One of these days, I'll learn to just sit and watch.

A lesson in camera choice

I would not have believed there would be such a marked difference between my phone's camera and my Fuji . As I wrote that I realized how simple-minded it sounds. (I'm being kind to myself) I thought of my phone's camera as adequate. And it's certainly convenient as my phone is almost always within my reach. 

With the time change, sunrise has to be the first thing after I get out of bed. The first photo was taken with my phone. A few minutes later I looked out of the window and yowsa! I grabbed my Fuji and headed outside. 

I hope I've learned my lesson.

Sunrise in Two Parts

The clouds eventually gave way to the sun... mostly. I also realized that I haven't even begun to pull together photos for a calendar.  Oops. 

Sunday Evening

For so many years, Sunday evening found me at the airport, heading out for the week. As we flew across the country, I'd look down and see houses with the lights on; people gathering at home. It always made me feel a bit sad. I don't miss those days as a consultant. 

Do-over

McDowell Nature Preserve

Poet Wallace Stevens wrote, Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

Halloween

I don't celebrate Halloween, no parties, no costumes. I have a ceramic Jack o'lantern that I bring out of storage and that's it. But the end of October! How did this happen? The days and weeks are flying by too quickly.  Before you know it, it will be time for those pesky New Years resolutions. Ha!

After two days of warm temps and rain, Fall will return this weekend. Looking forward to taking the camera out, perhaps back to the nature preserve to get the pic-that-didn't-happen. 

Odd & Strange

As we were leaving the nature preserve on Saturday, I looked down as I was getting into the car. The parking lot was paved with a grid pattern and had gravel inside the grid work. Of course, leaves had fallen and made an interesting shot - at least I thought so. I aimed and clicked, the camera sounded like it was in continuous mode - click, click, click, etc. I didn't look at the lcd and got into the car thinking I had at least gotten some sort of shot. When I got home - nothing! Of course I will have to go back soon. Luckily it's not very far away.

Autumn stuff

Since I no longer have an acre of trees (not sad about that), I went in search of some autumnal scenery today. A short trip to Windy Hill Orchard in York, SC and the McDowell Nature Preserve in Lake Wiley, SC.