Monday, February 29, 2016

The Moon and I

Never was able to take a picture of a full moon before, without the image horribly over-exposing. My "old" camera just couldn't do it. This image was taken with the "new" camera, a Sony DSC H400. And no tripod.

Not yet, anyway. I love the ZOOM on this new camera, but wow, I have to seriously lean on something and hold my breath to use it. When the moon was full last week, I leaned against the back of the house, held up the camera ... I did not know until then that the camera will focus even if you're not touching the shoot button.

I'm a little intimidated by a camera that's smarter than I am.


Thursday, February 18, 2016

Goodbye, Mike

The illustration is one I did for the Piker Press story "The Health Club Gallery Tour" by Michael Price. He really got a kick out of it, and we planned on re-releasing the story when I got around to doing more illustrations for him.

Mike wrote stories for the Press for the last four years ... well, he wrote for the sake of writing, and the Press benefited from his work. The last one that got published was "Zucchini Bread: The Recipe" and this morning, I looked at the comments pending approval and found an ominous one:

"My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike."


My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf
My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf
My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf
My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf
My taste buds loved many slices of Mike's zucchini bread over the years, and I will save this recipe since, unfortunately, Mike made his last loaves this past month. RIP, Mike. - See more at: http://www.pikerpress.com/article.php?aID=6186#sthash.QETTDymd.dpuf

What a horrible joke someone has made, I thought, and then Googled Mike's name and town to see if there was an obituary. I couldn't find one, so I emailed the commenter directly and asked for an explanation. And got the worst possible one.

Mike died last Friday night.

Mike was more than a Piker Press contributor. He and I shared a great interest in NFL football; he was always ready to hear my latest rant about unsportsmanlike conduct or unbelievable plays. Our last correspondence was about this year's Superbowl and how we hoped (grudgingly) that Denver would win so that Cam Newton would SHUT UP.

We discovered we were both gardeners, too, (something to do in Off-Season) raising tomatoes and zucchini and whatnot, comparing varieties and techniques and the climates of Minnesota and California.

This past June, Mike submitted a piece to the Press called "Lest We Forget," about a -- letter? speech? -- to his deceased father, with a quote near the end of it:



"Hell, now I might as well just wait and deliver [this] in person.
Shouldn't be long now, Dad."

Ah, Mike, I wish you hadn't been right, and I'm going to miss you a lot, my friend.


Tuesday, February 09, 2016

New Stuff

This mockingbird was still a bit fluffed-up and grumpy-looking when I poked my head out the kitchen door and snapped this photo. It's not the greatest subject matter, the composition is ... meh. The big thing about the picture is that it is one of the first ones on my new camera.

I stayed with Sony, as my old ("old") camera has lasted for nine years. The new creature is another Cyber-shot, a Sony DSC H400. There's a lot more camera there, with a 63x zoom, and a host of features I have yet to explore.

People who know digital cameras well tend to sneer at the "Point and Shoot" cameras, but I think that this new toy is going to do everything I need it to do and then some, and I didn't have to spend a thousand dollars on it. The salesman at Best Buy was introducing me to a camera that -- in order to do what my old camera could -- would require me to buy two lenses in addition. Uh, no.

Looking forward to lots of new ways to shoot pics.