Some time last week was the final straw: No washing machine could possibly suck this much. If you remember, the program selector dial was completely rubbed clean of any numbers on it, so I had to “reverse engineer” the dial way back in August to try to figure out what was what. It turns out I did it 100% correctly but then as usual blew it some other way. In this case, when I found the start of the normal program and ran it, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that it was a requirement to run the washing machine for a minimum of 110 minutes. So … I messed around a little and came up with a program which ran just 35 or 40 minutes. I thought, Cool, that’s about how long it took in our US washing machine, this must be a nice, simple program. Unfortunately, that was a mistake.
Armed with a flashlight this time (because I didn’t have one last time) I was able to spot 2 numbers around the dial, and piece together the whole thing. The result is we run the washer for 110 minutes, I actually see soap suds in the washing machine now, and the clothes are coming wonderfully clean (you know, they just get pretty much clean, like you’re used to). So 110 minutes in the washer followed by 105 minutes in the dryer, and we can pretty much get one or two loads a day done if we have to. Ouch.
Since my last post Battlestar Galactica has been released on iTunes. So we’re all up to date except for the most recent episode. Life is good. Actually, now we are all caught up (a day later, you see). The last episode was … something else … I have no complaints. Good stuff.
Here are a couple of landscape shots I took of the Heath the other day when Sue and I decided to go for a walk. If you have an opinion please let me know. I’ll write my own opinion about each picture below.
Boring …
Nice … but boring.
Exciting but bad camera positioning: too low due to really short tri-pod. I needed to raise it to get more of the water behind the … whatever those flower things are.
Sue and I were reminiscing about the time we were climbing a big hill in Vancouver (I think) and we saw people coming down the mountain in a hurry and only then did we notice the clouds coming in. It was very windy, suddenly quite cold, and if you must know, I was feeling rather anxious about the whole thing. Then the cloud finished blowing by and it was nice and sunny again. Anyway, this is a little different but it reminded me of it just the same:
It’s blue sky on the left, dark clouds coming from the right. By the time we got down off the heath it was starting to rain in earnest. Just before the walk I scorned Sue for asking if we needed to worry about the rain. There was little not a single cloud in the sky. The weather changes very quickly around here, on a daily basis it seems. Very quickly. They say the weather in New England changes quickly. I don’t think so.
I am growing a beard for the first time in 18 years. If I ended up looking like Obi-wan Kenobi I will keep it, but currently I am heading more towards Count Dooku, and I am not comfortable with that.
Jason finally lost his first tooth. He has been waiting and waiting and waiting. He was very happy. Here’s what he scored on this, his first visit by the tooth fairy:
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday this year. Thursday the kids were in school, of course, because what do the Brits have to be thankful for? This is the most expensive turkey you Yankees will probably ever see:
How expensive? £44 for 10 pounds. Ouch. We thought it was going to be £28 which is still ridiculous, but it was more and we didn’t bother to figure out why. Sadly I was too full to take pictures of the kids being upset and not enjoying thanksgiving dinner with us (because turkey and stuffing do not float their boat - of course, they sank my boat but that’s another story).
We got a beautiful Christmas tree going this weekend as well. Here we are decorating it:
It’s so straight and symmetrical, it’s almost as if … as if … Yup - it is:
Our first fake Christmas tree! I love it but I am kinda disappointed that it seems to drop crap all over the floor just like a real ones!
I hate how I look in those pictures. Next time Sue takes pictures of me “au natural” I am going to smile foolishly and make it seem like I am as happy on the outside as I am on the inside.
The kids look great, however. My new lens takes nice, sharp pictures. That is re-assuring:
We got a new bed in time for my Mom to come for a visit. The piano is now in the office with Sue and me. The house is getting full.
The sun is so pathetically low in the sky, AND, we’re still 23 days from the shortest day of the year. On that day I estimate the sun will be at a maximum of 20 degrees high in the sky. In other words, we’ll be lucky if we even see it! For all you Seattelites who think you’re so tough, you’re only 47.5 degrees north. We Londoners are 51.5 degrees north. That’s something like 240 miles further. Na na na na na. 51+22 = 73 degrees. I am not sure the sun should even bother trying to make an appearence during Christmas time …
Time to go. Cheers!
Congrats on finally breaking down and getting a tripod. It’ll do wonders for your photography. Once you get used to that, you can move on to off-camera flash. :-)
You asked for comments…
Yep, the first one is boring. The second is boring too, but the exposure on the sky is much nicer than the first.
I like the third, including the camera position, except for the distracting stalk in the lower left and the blown-out sky in the upper right, and the slight leftward tilt. Still, it’s a clear favorite of this set.
With a little post-processing on the fourth, I’m sure you can increase the contrast in the sky and the saturation in the path and leaves.
This is a shot that really feels like it has potential, though if the sky on the left is truly blown out than it might be tough. You’ve got so much sky there, and the incoming storm makes it dramatic, at least if it had more contrast. For the trees, try bumping up the saturation in the reds and yellows.
For shots like these, may I suggest a polarizing filter on the lens and a bubble level in the hot shoe?
Mark