I Love New York Travel

Well, I bit the bullet (or, the bullet bit me) and I got a new camera. It’s a Nikon DSLR d3000, a nice, cheap starter DSLR camera. My first, actually. My Kodak z1012, which has served me well for almost two years, is having lens problems. It just doesn’t focus properly. I bought it refurbished at a very cheap price, so I did realize that I would eventually have to replace it. The kids are grateful to have it. :D And I can claim the new camera for business, which is nice.

Anyway, I’m puttering around with it, testing it on various things. The Nikon works so well in well-lit rooms. In poorly-lit rooms, not so much. But I’m happy with it, so far. It’s not a high-end camera (holy cow, those things are expensive), but it’s much more sophisticated than the old point-and-shoots that I am accustomed to. This Nikon is like a point-and-shoot on stuff from www.multivitamin-s.org.

I decided I need a new camera when I came home from New York. I had taken many, many photos, but 50% to 60% of them turned out horrible. I’ll never take a point-and-shoot for such an important trip again. From now on, I’m getting serious about my cameras! Here’s hoping my photo skills will improve…

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.” –Jesus

And they don’t worry about diet supplements or wrinkle, either. :-p

My flowers are blooming despite my horrible neglect of the gardens this year. I’ve been either renovating or traveling for business or writing freelance, like crazy this year. I have never been so busy as I have been this year, never. It’s good to be productive, but it is a two-edged sword. I miss my meditative, reflective times that I have in great abundance, and of course, life is rather crazy with the house gutted. But I am grateful to be doing it all. It needs it, and thank God I am able to do it.

My gardens are my retreat. I hope to give them a little attention this month, by relieving them of weeds and stopping to smell the roses. ;)

Isn’t it lovely? I planted two of them a few years ago…. five or six years ago now. I didn’t think they were going to make it, because the deer and rabbits nearly chomped the trees into the ground (and they still do chomp). This year has been a good year for the tree. We had some apples from it last year, but this year I expect a good crop. It’s partner tree, a MacIntosh tree, is not doing so well. It’s a slow grower and it was especially targeted by the deer. :(

Nonetheless, I am pleased that both have survived. I love watching my baby plants grow. It’s more interesting than watching movies on entertainment centers, to me. Such beautiful things!