The Road Less Traveled

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The Road Less Traveled

The Girl and I got out fairly early this morning for a geocaching run. August is the “31 Days of Geocaching” event and the objective is to get a 31-day string of finds. This sounds like fun to me and I can do some easy finds during the work week and then work a little harder on the weekends. So, I picked out three geocaches I’ve been meaning to find for a while and loaded them into the GPSr for a morning run. We stopped at McD’s so I could get a biscuit and some coffee… and, well, three oatmeal cookies. I ate my biscuit outbound and then we paused at the staging area for me to finish my coffee and share my cookies.

Then I let the Girl out and I grabbed my gear. My gear comprises a Maxpedition Jumbo Versipack in which I carry my geocaching stuff and my small camera slingpack. I carry a quart of water as well. It’s a pretty good load, but manageable.

We humped it south 500 feet to get the first geocache, a Baily’s hide (always a challenge), found it, then turned around and headed north up the hill to the second geocache, then some more to get the third. I paused a few times on the climbout because the frickin’ road was steep. I can do it, I just have to give my legs a few minutes to dissipate the accumulated lactic acid.

On the way down from geocache White Tiger 3, the Girl and I paused for a few minutes under a tall old pine tree. I wanted a break before heading down the long hill and I wanted time to make a few images.

So, she did doggie things while I spent a few minutes with the water bottle, my thoughts, and my camera. It couldn’t be a much better day. It was warm in the sun, but the air temperature was only about 70F and there was a bit of a breeze at 6,000 ft. The shade of the pine was welcome.

I Know It's Up There!The Girl jumped a lizard as we rounded the tree. I love it! She posed for me while I made the image. Then she gave up and wandered off looking for another lizard to chase.

I rested for a few minutes before we headed off down the hill. The climb pretty well blew my quads and I hate the idea of slipping on the gravel. So we took it easy, pausing a couple of times for other tail users. I like to make the Girl sit and wait for them to pass. Some folks are spooky about dogs.

I wasn’t ready, but a pretty young woman was jogging up the hill. She looked fit and strong and greeted us as she passed. She even spoke to the Girl, who’s ears perked when spoken to. I should have had the camera out and ready to go. It was a missed opportunity. Oh well…

We paused at Kings Canyon Creek so the Girl could get a drink. I had picked up an empty water bottle someone discarded along the trail. The top was already cut out, so I filled it and gave her a drink. She drank two bottles full.

Borda Ranch OverviewThe view of the old Borda Ranch was also interesting. It was a big sheep ranch at one time. I drove through that field a few weeks ago on my way down the hill from the other side. I could see the trail I used from the path.

Anyway, we gathered three geocaches this morning. I got a great workout. The Girl got a good run and lots of mental stimulation. It was a good morning.

Hula-Hoop Dancers

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Hula Hoop Dancers

Last Saturday we wandered around the Controlled Burn event. The early part of the show featured a group of dancers working with hula-hoops. They made for some interesting images. I think the light was good enough that I was working within the sweet spot of the Sony 55-210mm zoom I had mounted on the NEX-5N. The images are decent, although not as sharp as I’d like. Still, it was a fun event and I’m glad I was there to witness it.

Next Steps

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I’m happy it’s Friday. I will finish something I’ve been working on most of the week today. I will end my week on a good thing. I like tidy.

I woke early this morning, as seems to be a habit now. I took my morning medications (really supplements) and a couple of acetaminophen for my teeth. I probably haven’t written about my dental work, but I lost my first adult tooth a few weeks ago and am in the middle of the crown process for a couple of adjacent teeth, which will culminate with a bridge to replace the lost tooth. I think I’m putting pressure on the temporary appliance and that’s causing me some discomfort. It will be something I discuss with my dentist next week when he finalizes the preparations.

While waiting for my analgesic to work, I read a little on the ‘net. One of the articles I read was about happiness and health. The article was just OK, probably written well enough but I thought some editing could tighten up the language quite a lot. Regardless, there were a couple of points that caught my intellectual interest. In particular, the distinction between hedonism and eudaimonism is articulated (to some degree) as being detectable in gene-expression tests.

I am at a point in life where I can have just about any thing [sic] I want. However, there are not a lot of things I want. What I really want I cannot have. So, as one of my favorite David Wilcox songs says, You can get what’s second best // but it’s hard to get enough. At this time, I don’t even know what second-best might be. For the protagonist of the song, it was velocity. In the end, that proved fatal… although I doubt the protagonist really cared given her state of mind.

But I digress… The string of words in the referenced article that caught my attention was associated with eudaimonism. It resonated with something else I read a few days ago about purpose. As a new widower, my purpose in life (or at least my perceived purpose) is turned upside down. As a husband and father, the husbandry of my family has been a driving purpose most of my life. I’ve been the principal provider and leader for about 40 years.

My wife is gone. My children are mostly independent, or will be soon. I’m in the process of being released from the role that’s been mine for the bulk of my adult life. This is an uncomfortable place to be. It means that I’m in the middle of a compass-reset.

So, as I ruminated on the words from the article (and for once the discussion contained some interesting words), I enumerated a few things that are meaningful to me. They are:

  • Music, both listening and making,
  • Photography, both observing images and making them,
  • Teaching (and learning), and
  • Helping others in a variety of ways.

The list is not complete. It will require a bit more work to ferret out some of the other things from deep inside. I’m OK with that and don’t mind doing the work. I especially don’t mind doing the work if it results in the compass-reset I’m looking for. This list is a start and I have to start somewhere.

One thing I know. I am not a hedonist, at least not in the pure sense of the word. I won’t find fulfillment in the pursuit of pleasure.

First of August

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Flower Bloom

One of the “interesting” things from Saturday evening was this fire sculpture. As I approached the Controlled Burn event from the south (I had to park a few blocks away), I noticed the flames. As we got closer, I hear one of the blossoms “bloom.” The sound was quite pronounced.

As we passed, the Girl moved to my side opposite the flowers. When the bloom bloomed, she shied away. She didn’t like the sound and maybe didn’t like the feel of the heat. It was both funny and pitiful.

The sculpture fascinated me and I came back once I found Jimmy. We spent a few minutes trying to capture the bloom. I came away with a few frames, of which this is one of the better. I probably had the wrong lens on my NEX at the time, but I was too lazy to spend the time changing it.

July is gone and now we are into August. The year is passing quickly. This is the beginning of 31 Days of Geocaching, and I think I’m going to see if I can do the streak. I’ll want to pick relatively easy finds for work days, but can spend a little more time on the weekends looking for some of the more challenging finds. Plus, Older Son and DiL will be here for ten days in August and I’m spending some of my leave to be with them. They like to find geocaches, so it will be fun.

Gear Drop

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Gear Drop

Last Saturday I was in Reno to have coffee with Jimmy and we walked the river area in downtown Reno. On warm weekends, there are always plenty of people about and some of them make interesting subjects for photography. The play of light on this young woman and her bright orange bag caught my attention.

Dessert

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Strawberries and Ice Cream

This afternoon I stopped by the Farmer’s Market before heading home. Tuesday evening is FM day in Minden. I bought some fresh peaches, some fresh strawberries, and a couple of ears of fresh corn. After supper I worked up the strawberries while watching the last bit of XWP.

Now I have dessert. It doesn’t get much better than this. Mom’s strawberry pie might be better and I’d drive a thousand miles to have some. But this is pretty-damned-good.

The lens is a new-to-me Konica Hexanon 57mm f1.2 shot wide open under my desk lamp. It’s not bad for a 50-year old lens.

Crissy Field

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Wife and Pier at Crissy FieldLast fall Wife completed the first phase of her stem cell transplant. She was released from the medical facility the evening of 31 October 2012. I picked her up that evening, not expecting her to be released until the following morning. Because I had reserved the hotel room for a couple of nights, we elected to stay in San Francisco for her to recover and to spend a little time in the city.

The next morning I took her to one of my favorite diners in San Francisco, Rocco’s. We enjoyed our breakfast (although finding parking was a bitch), then puttered around there enjoying this huge mural on the side of one of the buildings.

We drove down toward China Basin and then north along the bay, enjoying the sights and the cool morning air. When we came up on the old Army Air Base, Crissy Field, we stopped to putter around there a bit. Wife didn’t have much strength or stamina, but she was determined to enjoy her freedom. She told me she felt like she had just been released from prison. I can certainly understand that after spending a month in the hematology unit at UCSF. She went through a lot to get to the point she was and it showed.

She wasn’t strong enough to wander as far as I wanted. So, she sat on the bulkhead next to the pier, posing for an image before I walked on down a ways to see what there was to see. I returned a few minutes later, retrieved her, and we moved along. She wanted to see and was determined to make the best of her time.

We ended up in the Warming House, which now houses a coffee bar and gift shop. She loved gift shops and I have a few things she collected in the Warming House of Crissy Field.

She was tired, so I packed her into the car and we left on our driving tour of San Francisco. We landed at several other locations about the city that day. Perhaps I’ll tell those stories as well… and share some of the images. Portions of the story were told on my old weblog and I’m going to do my best to get those in here as well.

I miss you, Girl, a lot. Life will never be the same.

Jimmy’s Camera

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Jimmy's Camera

I recently read a weblog post (on 500px) about contemplative photography. Much of my photography would be classified as contemplative photography simply because my eyes are drawn to certain types of subjects.

While sharing a late afternoon with a friend (and the Girl, of course), he went into the coffee haus for a few minutes for drink refills. He left his camera on the table. The Konica Hexanon 35-70/3.5 that was mounted on my Sony NEX-5N has a “macro” setting. (N.B. it seems every lens has a “macro setting” anymore, whether they are truly macro lenses or not.) I slipped the lens into what I would call close-focusing model and framed the shot.

If what I read in Kimberly’s weblog entry applies, I would call what I do contemplative photography. I allowed my eyes to wander about the scene until something caught my attention. The camera, such a big part of my life, was the catcher. So, I made the image.

Later, thinking on what transpired, I realized that the camera and Jimmy’s friendship, have become a central feature of my life. In my old weblog (which I hope to archive here on this host eventually) I wrote about meeting Jimmy when I responded to a Craigslist listing about vintage lenses. I had just bought my Sony NEX-5N and had learned about the adapters that would permit mounting manual focus lenses on a digital camera. This was something new to me and something I found interesting for multiple reasons.

I emailed and we struck up a conversation that grew into a deep friendship. Wife was in the middle of her treatment and I needed an outlet. My Girl, my camera, and my friendship with Jimmy became that outlet.

Now I test lenses for Jimmy and buy a few interesting things from him. It’s part of his business to buy and sell vintage glass. I’m totally OK with that and have no problem doing business with a friend. I love to play with lenses and my NEX and I learn something nearly every time I try something different. I learn something nearly every time Jimmy and I meet for coffee. Plus I find going to Reno a couple of times a month is good for me. I am enjoying the river area of town and all the different folks I see there.

Pierced OneThat gives me opportunity to practice street photography. I love to watch people (Wife’s favorite pass time was people-watching), only I prefer to watch them with a camera. The informal portrait is one of my favorite shots. I especially love to catch people when they reveal something of themselves in an expression, or a pose, or an elocution when they are talking about something. These things fascinate me about our non-verbal communication and the images, when I do it right, say something.

Two-years ago I thought I was done with photography. I had a Canon PowerShot G11 that I used to capture snapshots. I was not using my Nikon D100 and all that expensive glass. It was just too much to carry around without purpose. So, I sold it all and tried to make do with the G11. Even with some auxiliary glass of good quality, I just couldn’t get the image quality I like.

I started using my iPhone more and more. The image quality from my iPhone, while not quite as good as the G11, was good enough and I always have my iPhone with me. I was about done with cameras.

On a lark and having seen the Sony display at the local Best Buy, I decided to try one more time. I bought a Sony NEX-5N with the kit zoom and added the 55-210/(slow) telephoto zoom. As I learned more about the Sony mirrorless design, I realized that I had had a serendipity. The combination of APS-C sensor size and focus-peaking came together for me and I got the IQ I wanted, especially when I returned to my love of prime lenses.

The zooms are just alright. They aren’t anything special, but they work reasonably well in good light. Where this camera shines is with the better primes (I only have a couple of the good primes) and vintage glass. The IQ of the sensor is very good at ISO 800 and quite usable at 1600. I’ll have a lot more to write about this, but that’s another story.

My family, my work and the social support there, my dog, my friend Jimmy, photography, and music were orchestrated by God to see me through the dark times of 2012 and 2013. I can see some of that now, in hindsight. I could not see it then.

The real story here is all about Jimmy’s Camera. I believe this is one of God’s small acts where a gentle nudge (a serendipity) put me in a place to revisit one of the things I love to do — photography. It was that “chance” encounter on Craigslist that led me to a revisitation of something I thought was lost and a to a good friend at a time when I needed both.

Saturday Geocaching

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Rocky HillThe Girl and I rose early Saturday morning, although I didn’t sleep very well Friday night. I was up several times, woken by my dreams. They weren’t nightmares, but they were evidence I’m still processing my life changes.

Regardless, I woke early and fed my Girl. Then I gathered up a few things and we headed out. I stopped at McD’s for a couple of breakfast burritos, a coffee, and three of their oatmeal cookies. Wife got me started on these. They are fresh-baked, soft, and quite good — especially with coffee. We drove to the east side of Carson City and I ran the 4Runner part way up the hill, found a wide spot in the trail, and stopped to enjoy the morning light and my breakfast.

The Girl was anxious to get out of the 4Runner and do doggie things. She ran from bush to bush, peed, pooped, and chased lizards while I fixed my burritos and ate them. The morning light was gorgeous and the overlook of Carson City was really fun. Although a half-mile away, I could hear the clank of steel plates as the inmates at the prison worked out.

I finished my burritos and put the Girl back in the car and we proceeded up the trail another quarter mile. The trail is only moderately rough, requiring me to work my way through a few rocks but nothing too challenging. Along the way I saw a couple of dogs running, then a hiker. I stopped to let them pass. One of the dogs approached the 4Runner and put a paw on the Girl’s door.

She barked and growled. “Leave it!” I commanded… she whirled about and jumped to the back seat, her hackles raised but obedient. The dogs and hiker passed.

We were able to drive to within about 500 feet of the first geocache. I parked the 4Runner and got out. The Girl hopped out and started sniffing about, looking for the marks of the other dogs. I got out my gear and we started off in the direction the GPSr pointed.

The cache was easy to find. There’s not much danger of it being muggled at this location. I signed the log and poked about to see if there was anything interesting in the loot. There wasn’t. So I restored the cache to its (nearly nonexistent) hide and sat on the rocks. I pulled my camera out and kept an eye on the Girl to be sure she didn’t range out too far.

The morning light made for a few interesting images of Carson City. I sat on the rocks enjoying the morning light and air, listening as the Girl ranged around. After a bit she joined me on the rocks, over-watching the surrounding area.

Satisfied, we made our way back to the car to share the cookies. The Girl likes oatmeal cookies too, although I save the raisins for myself.

After the cookies, we headed back down the trail. I drove out to the Carson Armory to stop in and see my friends there, but we were too early. So we stopped at a nearby historical marker, logged the geocache hidden there, and returned home.

I had time to take care of the front yard and spray the locust sprouts in the backyard before lunch. I also managed to get my bills paid and make a mail run before my friend from Reno called.

The Girl and I had a bit of a nap, then headed for Reno for a late afternoon coffee/tea with our friend. Later we found ourselves at A Controlled Burn, one of the events leading up to Burning Man, but that’s another story for another time. We’ll see if I have time to tell it.