22 August 2007

Limiting myself to six...

No, not six French fries or six glasses of wine. I'm talking about pictures. Ones taken with the new camera. The limit is not on taking just six, it means just posting just six. Today.

Yesterday we had a bright sunny afternoon. I took the dog out for a walk in the vineyard about 4:00 p.m.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them on your screen.

A dog's-eye view of a walk in the vineyard

Even in bright sunlight, using the LCD screen on the back of the camera to frame pictures is okay. It had better be, since the camera has no other viewfinder. Only once or twice did I have a hard time seeing what I was taking a picture of because of bright sun on the screen or too many reflections.

Grapes in autumn colors

Callie was bound to notice the grapes sooner or later. I keep stopping to take pictures of the beautiful clusters hanging off the grape vines. I don't want her to eat any. First of all, the grapes belong to somebody else and will be used to make Touraine wines. And secondly, grapes and raisins can make dogs very sick, according to what I've read.

Did I forget to mention that today is Callie's six-month birthday? She was born February 22.

"What are these things he keeps pointing that silver box at?"

I want you to know what a strict limit six pictures is. I spent about 45 minutes out in the vineyard with the dog and in that amount of time I took... this is embarrassing... 120 pictures. About 25 of those are ones I would consider posting on the blog. There are a lot of near-duplicates in the full batch, where I took extra shots from a slightly different angle or with slightly different camera settings. So it's not a bad as it seems. But still...

More autumn colors: a grape leaf

Obviously, the pictures I take with this camera have good color and clarity. And it is so light to carry around compared to the other camera I used to use on my walks in the vineyard.

When I got back to the house, I looked out the kitchen window and saw that Maryvonne across the street had company. They were sitting outside, enjoying the afternoon sun. I snapped this telephoto picture through the window. I don't think they noticed me taking their picture.

Catching the last rays of afternoon sun

I'm more than happy with the TZ3's zoom, and the macro seems to work well too. The TZ3 is the new Panasonic Lumix digital camera I got last week. It has a 10x zoom.

Our vegetable garden isn't doing great. The weather has been too damp and cold for tomatoes and aubergines. It was raining again during the night, and I think the forecast for today is not good. But we planted a pumpkin patch out back, on top of what used to be the compost pile. We had moved the pile to a different location, and wanted to plant something to fill in that spot.

Pumpkins

I think we are going to have a ton of pumpkins this year. That might seem obvious, since each pumpkin will weigh about a ton when it's fully grown. I see lots of pumpkin soup and pumpkin pies in our future.

Okay, that's it for today.

8 comments:

  1. As far as I'm concerned you can't put too many pics on your blog. Your new camera take fantastic pictures.

    We're having a lousy summer here in Bellingham, WA. Way too much rain. I'm calling it my green tomato year.....only the small ones are ripening up. The rest just hang there in all their green glory.

    Victoria, Bellingha, WA

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  2. Very nice photos! I think I used every feature of my camera when I first got it.... and haven't used many of them since. Hope you are enjoying your new camera. Looks like you are!

    Victoria, a friend of mine left the San Francisco bay area to move to Bellingham a few years ago. He hasn't regretted the move. I guess tomato weather was not high on his priority list. Try frying those green tomatoes in bacon grease!

    Cheryl

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  3. I am with Victoria! You cannot put too many photos on your blog. I love them. It looks like you're enjoying your new camera! I love that photo of a leaf. Just beautiful. Feels like the autumn is here before the summer, though.
    And the dog's eye view is remarkable.
    120 photos? You think you can surprise me with 120 photos? :))
    You know you can't ;)
    One can never take too many photos, at least with a digital camera.

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  4. I'm glad you live near a vineyard, Ken. I never tire of seeing grapes growing on the vine and the one you took with your new camera is beautiful.
    There's no need to limit yourself to six photos for me.

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  5. I vote for more than six, too. No need to limit yourself, Ken. Go for it! So glad your new camera is living up to your expectations.

    Our summer here in Oakland is pretty similar to Bellingham's. All but one of my tomatoes failed to set fruit, the pepper plant has exactly one pepper, and the cucumbers simply up and died. Luckily, there's an abundance of farmer's markets.

    ...Susan

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  6. Bonne anniversaire to Callie!!!!Love the autumn colors of the vines.Callie looks like she may want to try the grapes!!Ditto on the weather comments although the sun is out now....

    marsha

    Seattle wa

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  7. A critter-cam!

    The new camera and the old photographer are a great combo.

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  8. It could have been 360 pictures if you used the Auto Bracket feature :-). No, Candy and I haven't tried it (yet), but John Rogers likes it.

    John H.

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