Paris is in my future

I am starting to get excited. Even though I don't have tickets yet, I am going to visit Paris this spring - probably in April, maybe March. It hasn't seemed real to me before now. I can't really afford to go but I can't afford to miss this opportunity.

I have a friend who visited there a couple of years ago and she is almost as excited as me. Every now and then she calls me to tell me what the temperature is there! I am going to start deciding what I want to see and where I want to photograph.

My older son is happily settled there. It is such a kick to talk to him online at night - he says good night and I say have a good day. He heads to class as I am heading to bed. He knows a hotel near his school that is cheap and clean. I think I can handle the Latin Quarter.

Dreaming....

carrying on.....

What a relief ... I am so glad to be beyond the holidays. For some reason, everything seemed like WORK this year. Trying to balance an overload of work with some home repairs put me WAY behind schedule. One night during the week before Christmas, I found myself cutting floor tiles so that I would have enough in place for the plumbers who were coming to replace two toilets. I couldn't put it off because I was giving my room with attached bath to my Dad and I had REMOVED the old toilet weeks ago in anticipation of a new tile floor and a new toilet. Pulling a all-nighter to put in ceramic tile is not my idea of fun! And let me say that I still haven't finished the floor although the bathroom is fully functional.

My younger son returned to Boulder for the start of spring semester tomorrow so FINALLY I can start to put things back in order (or even get into order for the first time) I am committed to getting rid of clutter and am making progress although YOU might not be able to see it.

The last few days have had a slightly different priority. My new camera, lens and tripod arrived Thursday. It is a great joy. I took it out the first day for some beautiful late afternoon/sunset clouds.

And I am slowly learning the buttons and menu. It is surprisingly different from my old camera. The new tripod is more wonderful than imagined. I should have paid this much for one right from the start. It simply takes the frustration out of getting the camera into position. Now I can direct that frustration at my lack of knowledge of my camera!! But that is a problem that is solved with education and experience. A cheap, poorly designed tripod is a dead-end.


My younger son took my old camera along with my older son's low-end lens. (my older son and I are both spoiled by the better quality!) He is looking forward to learning how to take nice photos. For him it will be a step up from his camera phone :) I asked him to please take care of it. It was surprisingly hard to part with. In fact, I consider it a loan!

The winds are blowing like crazy right now:
from the National Weather Service, a short term forecast:

.NOW...
WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS AROUND 55 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED IN WIND PRONE AREAS IN AND NEAR THE FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. THIS INCLUDES LOCATIONS ALONG THE PEAK TO PEAK HIGHWAY...CARTER LAKE...AND HIGHWAY 93 BETWEEN BOULDER AND GOLDEN. SOME LOCATIONS ALONG HIGHWAY 93 WILL SEE
GUSTS NEAR 65 MPH...MAINLY NEAR ROCKY FLATS AREA. THE GUSTY WINDS WILL ALSO AFFECT THE GREATER DENVER METRO AREA...BUT PEAK WIND GUSTS WILL BE CLOSER TO 30 MPH THERE.

Hopefully, they will die down and I will not be posting images of the damage taken with my new camera!

continuing the coffee theme into 2009 .....

I'm feeling smarter already! Thanks, Claire for the gift of coffee - this IS really good!

It has been a long and difficult fall. I have been buried under a heavy workload which will continue at least through January. I enjoy everything that I am doing but it is frustrating to have to compromise on things due to time constraints. Ah well, that is life. I am in good spirits and look forward to this new year as a time to pursue bigger and better things.

I have been a bad girl - even though I can't afford it, I have just ordered a new camera, lens and tripod. I love my camera but I decided to give my one good lens to my son who is living in Paris. As he said, he will put it to good use! We share a love of photography so we both know the value of a good lens. I am seriously not into equipment - I can look anytime on flickr and see hundreds of wonderful photos taken with lowly point-and-shoot cameras. But .... you can do so much more with better equipment. I have lost patience with cheap tripods. I have gone through 4 of them now and the latest deserves to be thrown into traffic and run over with malice! I often shoot with a tripod even in good light situations - maybe because I drink too much coffee! So the new equipment is a commitment to stepping up my skill as a photographer. It already brings me a ton of enjoyment - this is one resolution that will be a pleasure to pursue. Does that make it cheating?? Aren't resolutions supposed to be things we hate?