The Wood Between the Worlds

As I sit here, the rain is tapping lightly on my window.  This is the first rainy day we've had in 2 or 3 weeks.  Before today, days have been full of sunshine and temperatures have been at or close to 60 degrees.  A few Sundays ago our family took a little walk at Elk Rock Garden after church.  It was a beautiful day...early February and already some flowers were blooming.  The air was warm, and the scent of spring wafted through the air!  And wouldn't you know it...my good old trusty camera chooses this gorgeous day to finally stop working.

Enter Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S75; 3.3 mega-pixels.  Trusty friend.  We bought this camera used from a camera upgrading Asian family at the University Village when Joshua was 15 months old (2003), at a very great savings.  Over the years, cameras have gotten more advanced; quicker at taking pictures.  I have yearned for a newer camera.  But this camera takes great shots.  And we try REALLY hard to 'use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without', especially when it comes to electronics.  So we waited...and waited...and waited for this camera to die.

BUT why did it have to die on this beautiful day?

Alas...it was only a few days before my birthday, so we decided to get a new camera for my birthday!  We researched and researched...and consulted facebook...and consulted with my bestest friend who is a professional photographer.  We considered getting an entry level SLR, since we really enjoy photographing nature and our kids.  But after discussing with my friend, I realized that having an SLR would mean buying a few extra lenses to get everything that we would want in a camera...and having to buy a separate video camera...on top of the price of the base SLR.  And what do I want and need in a camera?  I want one with a quality glass lens that can let in a lot of light.  I want one that can take quicker pictures.  I want one that can do video and zoom and do closeups and higher mega-pixels would be nice.  So we looked into the top of the line point and shoot cameras...and guess which is #1?

     This puppy has 20x zoom, it can take 10 frames per second, it has HD quality video, and it has...enough mega-pixels...along with many other features which I CANNOT wait to try out.  I am so, so, so excited!  And it is supposed to arrive tomorrow!

In the meanwhile, I have spent the past two and a half weeks of amazing spring time weather...in which the weatherman has confirmed that yes indeed 'spring temperatures and foliage have arrived exactly one month early this year'...without a camera.  Oh, how I have yearned  to take pictures of the pink blossoms and the crocuses and all the other springtime delights.  And now my camera will arrive tomorrow...and we are back to rain for the forecast.  Thankfully I was able to take some pictures with my friend's incredible professional SLR camera while we did pre-school at the garden...but I am pretty sure that I didn't know what I was doing with the settings, so probably none of them turned out.

Ah!  But now I have one more wonderful distraction in learning all of the bells and whistles of our new camera...to keep me occupied until this crazy year is over, and a new kind of crazy takes over our house.