"Say Cheese!"

Here I am "looking at you" through my birthday present from Woody!  Today I have played around trying out my new zoom lens...have stayed inside and shot through windows...or at mirrors as in the shot above.

I was checking out how powerful the zoom was by just taking pictures of our street sign at various settings (out our bedroom window) and this little blue bird all of a sudden was there.  I didn't get a chance to focus it real well before he flew off so I just used some of the special effects in my photography software to make a picture that isn't quite in focus interesting (perhaps).  This picture is shot across our front yard and across the street...so pretty far away.  This lens is by no means among the lightest of my lenses!  It is a bit hard to hold it steady...may have to resort to a tripod to get really steady shots!

 This afternoon I spotted birds of a different sort in the trees on the lot behind ours (what we call the Back Forty).  I took this not zoomed in so I could see both Joy and Elijah and then zoomed in and got them individually.  Again...not bad for taking through glass and being way far away from them.

And, they didn't have a clue that Grammy was taking their pictures!






When I was walking back through the house I decided to take a close up of a little bird that Cheryl gave me for my last birthday to see how the lens does on shots in available light inside.

I'm pleased with this one too.  I think that I will enjoy this lens very much and hopefully will be able to get even closer pictures of our outside birdie friends once it is warm enough for me to venture out on the front porch or out on a photo excursion.  The last picture I snapped was of this evening's sunset.

Woody has stayed busy today.  He made our weekly grocery run this morning going to three stores.  After he returned, I put away the groceries.  He has read, watched TV, worked crossword puzzles, etc. This afternoon he went on his daily four-mile walk.  I have sort of taken it easy inside today.  I don't seem much the worse for wear after my dental ordeal yesterday...a bit tired...so just took extra naps!  We are now settling in for another quiet evening in this Dorrell household.