Walking My Camera

I love autumn leaves

Typical behaviour pattern this September month:
I discovered a letter today that I really should have posted last week, and which my dad really really should have posted two weeks before that; only (besides the fact he has not been able to walk to the mailbox for a long time) he had not even opened and read the letter which the return form came in (when I visited him last weekend); and then I too had too many other things to deal with last week, so forgot about this piece of paper; and only re-found it today... (In the meantime, it is more than likely this delay may have resulted in more correspondence from the same authorities, which most likely will also not have got opened...)

Anyway! Realizing how it was, I decided to go post the letter immediately (better late than never). Then I remembered that this is the week they will be taking down some mailboxes around here, and changing the times for emptying the rest of them... So I might have to go further than usual to find somewhere to post the letter. But since it was an exceptionally bright and clear Autumn day, why not bring my camera along, too, and go for a bit of a walk.

Now, I'm beginning to know where that leads to! Last weekend when my brother and I went on that walk with his dog - a Cairn terrier named Harry - I discovered that for me, my Camera has become my Dog! Harry the terrier runs along happily at good pace, then suddenly stops to sniff at something close to the ground, for quite a long time. Walking with Brother and Dog, I disovered that my own behaviour, when attached to Camera, is very much like Harry's... Suddenly I see a mushroom (or butterfly, depending on the time of year), and I have to stoop down and get a macro close-up shot (although I'm really not very good at stooping down). Harry, by the way, got very curious about my behaviour - whenever I stopped and stooped, he did so, too, to be sure he hadn't missed anything...


Brother and Dog, last weekend

Anyway. Back to today... As I said, I'm beginning to know where it leads to, taking the camera for a walk. I intend it to be a brisk 20 minutes. The camera gets quite other ideas. It's a hunting camera, it will want little flowers, and sun shining through yellow and red autumn leaves, and mirror images in water, and whatnot... So besides the camera, I packed a small thermos of tea, and a banana, or I might faint before I got home again (it was getting close to lunch time).

After posting the letter (hooray, the mailbox closest to me had not been taken down yet! - I only hope they also still empty it...) I walked on to a park with a lake where they also have a bird sanctuary. I walked all around the lake. This took me a very long time, because my camera went wild chasing birds. More than usual of the unusual ones seemed to be outside the fence today...


Couple of Swans

Then something happened that really made today rise way above a "typical" camera walk. A couple of strangers (human, not birds) came up to me and promoted me to wedding photograper! They were newly-weds, coming straight from the ceremony it seemed, for a little romantic walk in the park... I took four shots of them with their camera, which I'm afraid I can't show you. But then I sneaked one shot of them from behind with my own, as they were walking away from me, hand in hand... It's a little blurry, because I forgot to put it back from macro-mode. But quite nice anyway, I think.


Couple of Humans

I got home eventually, after stopping to get a hotdog on the way (tea and banana wasn't quite enough). With about 110 new photos in my camera, all taken today. All in all, in the month of September alone, I've been taking somewhere around 600 photographs. I've gone absolutely Nuts!!! Is there a cure?

Quotation of the Week (40/09) - Cheshire Cat

"Cheshire-Puss,", she began rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. "Come, it's pleased so far," thought Alice, and she went on, "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where - " said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
" - so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

---

... and this time it [the Cat] vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Did you ever wonder where the rest of the Cheshire cat disappeared to? Yesterday, I walked long enough, and I found it!

Autumn Market Day

This weekend was Autumn Market, and I took a walk down town yesterday, bringing my camera. It was a grey day but at least it was not raining. There were a lot of people about already, on Friday before noon. I usually do not feel quite comfortable taking pictures of strangers on the street in my own town... But at events such as Market Day it is so crowded, and there are so many other things to look at, that no one really pays much attention to the camera. I think some of the shots came out quite good. I used Picasa 3 to edit these.

A few more market photos may be showing up at the other blogs in the week to come (i.e. Soaring through the world and my new blog DawnTreader's Picture Book).

Raven's Wordzzle Challenge #82

The Slumber Party Mystery
Chapter 30 – Interview with the General

Raven's Wordzzle #82

Tibetan sky, symbols, won’t you come home Bill Baily, shadow figures, brain cortex, practice makes perfect, life, start of school, lavender, chow down

mental hospital, falling leaves, apple cider, packing crates, clues


After leaving Dr Challenge's house, Skittles decided to go to the hospital to check how the Brigadier General was doing. He found the General sitting in his bed trying to chow down his breakfast. He did not seem to recognize Skittles. A young nurse was making up an empty bed next to him, while singing "Won't you come home Bill Baily". The sheets were the colour of lavender. She stopped singing when Skittles entered, and smiled at him while tucking in the last corner. "There, practice makes perfect!" she said. "Are you looking for someone?"

Skittles introduced himself and asked in a low voice if it would be all right if he talked a little to the General. The girl nodded towards a frosted window, behind which some shadow figures could be seen moving.

"You had better ask the head nurse first," she said. So Skittles went out into the corridor, and then into the nurse's office.

"Hm," said the head nurse. "Police, eh? I'm not sure the patient is up to being questioned. He has not been quite coherent. The doctor says the problem is probably in his brain cortex. But all right. You may try. No more than ten minutes, though!"

Skittles went back into the General's room and sat down on a chair beside the bed.

"Good morning, General," he said. "Do you remember me, Lieutenant Skittles? We met yesterday, in your garden, after your" – Skittles made a short pause – "accident."

The General looked sharply at him.

"I'm in a mental hospital, aren't I?" he asked. "Are you here to get me out, or to get me locked up for good?"

"No," said Skittles. "I mean… This is not a mental hospital, it is a regular hospital. You were in a kind of accident and probably had a bit of a shock yesterday. I just wanted to ask you if you remember what happened?"

The General seemed to be thinking hard.

"We were picking apples to make apple cider," he said. "After start of school, but before the falling leaves, you know. But then one of the packing crates fell on me."

Skittles did not know how to respond to this. This must refer to some much earlier event in the General's life.

"Eh… I'm afraid that cannot have been yesterday," he said.

"No?" said the General, looking surprised. "Let me think…" He leaned back on the pillows, and closed his eyes. Skittles was almost sure he had fallen asleep, when he suddenly looked up again.

"Tibetan sky burials!" said the General triumphantly. "I was reading about them, in that magazine with the strange symbols on the front cover."

Skittles sighed, and gave up hope of getting any real clues out of the Brigadier General as to what had really happened the day before.

The Invisible Are Visible Again!

Welcome back, Followers - I'm glad to be able to SEE you all again today!

I'm a little concerned, though, that yesterday's post may have been misunderstood by some who perhaps were not having the same problem that I had...

So I'd like to clarify that my complaints yesterday were all about a pure technicality: the Followers widget boxes kept showing up empty for a couple of days, without any avatars in them, both on my own blogs and on other people's that I visited, and whichever browser or computer I used...

I did not really think I had lost my followers, and I did not really feel all that "out of touch" with you; I was just irritated about wasting a lot of time trying to find the fault in my own computer (or head), while really it was with Blogger all the time. When I turned to the Help forum, I found lots of people having the same problem since two days back - and Blogger rather unhelpful, not even including it among "known issues", in spite of  lots of complaints about the same thing. Today, however, it seems the problem has been resolved (although Blogger still has not properly commented on it).

So that was really what it was all about; even if I might have happened to add a more philosophical undertone to it when writing my blog post yesterday... That was just meant to lighten up the mood of irritation with technology!


(click on image to be transported)

With the new Picture Book blog, I'm actually more than happy that some people have already found their way to it. After all, it has only been a day or two since I put up the first link! It would truly have been a miracle if anyone had found it before that. (Actually, I did not even particularly want anyone to find it before that, because I wanted to take my time figuring out what it was I wanted to do...)

I'm not saying there aren't days when I keep checking my email for comments, and wish there were more of them. And certainly there is room for a few more followers yet in my widget boxes. But I'm not complaining about those I already have - just so you know!!! I never expected everyone to read everything, or even less comment on everything... (I don't do that myself, so how could I expect it of others?)

If anything, I'm still truly fascinated that I've managed to connect with a number of people "out there" (in cyberspace) at all. When I wrote my first blog post back in January, I really had no idea I would be meeting so many interesting people. Now I'm talking especially to you who are sometimes commenting here, and who know that I sometimes read and comment on your blogs too: You're all amazing, you know! Each in his or her own unique way... I have learnt so much from you already, and I expect to learn more as we move on!

I'm glad I found you, or you found me (whichever came first). That's why I complain (to Blogger) when you disappear out of sight.

And So We All Went Missing

Click on image to be transported.
 Also see yesterday's post for more info.

I just spent a looooong time trying to figure out why Followers weren't showing up at my new blog.

Not that I expected a lot of them, yet - since I did not even tell anyone it existed until yesterday! - but I knew I was at least following myself... and when I first put the Followers gadget in place, I showed up. Now I don't. Not yesterday, and not today.

Then I went back to this blog and found that there was no one here, either. Then I went to Soaring Through the World, and the world was empty. Then I went looking for the people who used to hang around, and thankfully I find them all at home each at their own place; but no one seems to have any Followers any more.

Do you all feel as lost as I do?
(It seems from the Blogger Help forum that a lot of people are having the same problem. But no Explanation.)

Picture from our walk in the woods on Sunday afternoon,

compare Sunday and Monday posts. (We did not get lost.)

My Picture Book

I've been working quietly on a little side project for a couple of weeks.

Since I started using my camera a lot more than before (this summer) I've been thinking that in addition to my Island of the Voices (that's where you are right now, dear reader!), and the shared photo blog Soaring through the world, it might also be nice to have a photo blog of my own where I can experiment freely with some of my own pictures in larger format against black background. I did not want to change the layout of this blog, because I'm quite happy with it as it is. (I like black background for photos, but not so much for text.)

The result of these ponderings was the creation of DawnTreader's Picture Book, using a blog template called Simple II, without any sidebar. Some of the things you normally find in the margin, you will find at the bottom of the page instead. (Presentations, Blog Archive, Links, Followers etc.)

To begin with, my intention there is to roughly follow the seasons of the year. But I might be throwing other stuff in as well, if inspiration hits me...

This button - here and in my sidebar - will take you to the new blog. (If you wonder about the picture on the button, it is a white cyclamen flower that fell off its stem onto the kitchen sink. I thought that might be appropriate for a "spin-off" blog...)