Two surprise visitors

Those of you following along with Linda's gardening exploits know that she has spucked a bazillion bulbs into the ground. (Yes that's a real word, a highly technical and exact gardening term.) There were a few volunteer crocuses, so she put them where they'd get pretty good light. She said they were fall crocus and might bloom, but I have to admit to being dubious. And yet, here they are today, perking up and sending out a cheerful hello.

In other news, I had an adventure earlier this year with my 70-200 mm lens. After a repair it seemed to work fine, until the trip with Sean to Elk Lakes, where part way I noticed it had stopped focussing right. Back at home I did some more tests and determined that while it would focus for close up objects, it wouldn't focus to infinity, not even close. The estimated repair costs were probably at least half the value of the lens itself, kinda sorta, and what with shipping and insurance added in could well be more than what it was worth in full working order. Or, about half the cost of the new version of that lens, giving me better optics, and better image stabilization, in what I think is a lighter lens. Plus a 6 year warranty.

The old one was the workhorse of my lens collection, with about 80K images put through it, and the motor making focus adjustments for almost everyone one of them, back and forth. Plus zooming from 70 to 200 and back again a lot. No real surprise it's tired.

What made me anxious is that we've got a trip to Churchill to visit the polar bears coming up soon, and that was the planned lens to take. I ordered the new version, and crossed fingers it would arrive in time, and put a rental lens on hold, just in case.

They called last night to say it was in, and I went to get it in evening rush hour. Holy Doodle! I'm not even out of the neighbourhood, stopping at a red light near the old Husky site, and the guy in the next lane hits the gas to speed through not just the red light, but the cross light had turned green and the waiting car was moving into the intersection. Good thing that driver was paying attention. During the rest of the drive, it seemed like the traffic lights were merely a guideline, not rules. I watched several people blowing through red lights, pedestrians walking across busy streets in random places, cyclists pretending they were a car and riding very slowly down the middle of the lane, and an outright road rage thing happening with a delivery driver trying to cut off another driver who wasn't having any of it.

Sigh. Yet I made it home in one piece. Of course I popped the lens on the camera right away, and here's the first photo.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film

There's a story here. The owner of the AirBnB in Chance cove gave us a small framed version of this photo as a thank you. You can see more of her work here. That view is a nice walk from the house and I was hoping to get a film version for myself. When we got there, that boat was just coming into the little cove to the left of the rock. They went back and forth totally screwing up the lovely reflections. I waited, wanting to take a break from the steep parts of the path. They puttered about, and I waited. Then they went around the rock, and I was waiting for the ripples to die down. Then they reappeared near where you see the boat now. I waited more. Then they tossed out the anchor and broke out the fishing rods. I gave up and clicked the shutter. It was about a 20 minute walk back to the house, and damned if I didn't see the same boat heading back into the harbour. If I'd waited the 10 minutes, they never would have left. I thought about going back, but instead I cracked into a bottle of wine. Such is the life of a photographer.

Linda

In New Zealand in 2020.

Newfoundland

The boat we did the Western Brook Pond tour in Gros Morne Park.

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

Actually, I'm quite sure I have published it already, but it's totally an example of good luck pressing the shutter button at exactly the right time.