Working on getting better at manual mode

And it's nice not to have to travel for interesting subjects.  I have dozens of shots of indian blankets taken with varying shutter speeds and varying apertures.  (With varying degrees of success.)

It seems to be the custom for the photographer to note the ISO, the shutter speed and the aperture, but in this case that might imply a level of professionalism that I am far from having achieved.  Anyway, if you care, you know how to find out.

Another sign of the times

 

Walmart, Friday afternoon. Not all the masks are on clearance, but the fancier ones like these are.

Say what?

So here are the statistics from the past week.  Looks a bit off to me.

Traditional Friday Cat Blogging from Tabby's Place: Bellamy

 

Bellamy

Nora has something on her mind

 What is it?  She's not telling.

At long last

I've owned a Canon T5i camera for five or six years, and in all that time I've never felt comfortable using it.  The manual was dry, and the books that claimed to make it easier never did.  I should have been referencing YouTube all along.  This afternoon, I found a video that made "focusing squares" make sense.  Press the outside round button at the top right of the camera body, use the wheel to select which square, and then press the inside round button to focus.  Now I get it.  Anything that will get me out of complete auto-mode will be a big help.  Now when the auto-focus insists on the twig in front of the subject I want, I know how to override it.

Red's Lasting Lesson

 

For some reason, the IFRAME link doesn't work with the link that contains the actual time the relevant portion begins, so it begins here at the 68-second mark.

In my days working in the business of entertainment, it helped to remember this bit from the Red Skelton shows when I was a kid.  A bit of wisdom at a young age in someone who didn't demonstrate much of it back then.  

He began his monologue with "I feel good tonight."  At age 12, I took it at face value.  Later in life, when preparing for my presentations, I understood that nobody feels that good all the time, and that what he said was probably partly for the audience and partly as a reminder to him.  

Years later, when leading conference calls, I'd answer the inevitable "How are you?" with "I'm having a good day."  Thanks, Red.

Moggie Monday with Kit Charlemagne

 

The view from my chair

 

Life in our back yard

 

NSFW?

I've had plenty of opportunities to take pictures of Kit Charlemagne in this position, but I don't remember ever seeing Nelson sprawled on his back.  He didn't stay in that position for long, either.

Growing Up

Taken a day or two ago in a local park. How does it know which way to grow?

A walk in the park, part 2

Philadelphia fleabane (I think), or maybe Daisy fleabane, not to be confused with the later-blooming aster.  Each flower is about the size of a dime.  One of them has an even smaller pollinator.

Quote:  "While the fleabanes (Erigeron spp.) are often dismissed as 'weeds' because of their ubiquitousness during the summer, they are actually rather attractive plants that are beneficial to many small insects that have important roles in the functioning of the ecological system."

Peeping at a bird

This is usually a small stream that flows through an area park, but it's dried up in several places.  It still leaves some puddles where birds can bathe and drink.

When I'm 64 no more

 And as the saying goes, I'll live to be 100, or die trying.

Yellow

 

Easy Like Sunday

 

Just a little way down the road from the house.

Who Needs Netflix?

Among today's entertainment, courtesy of YouTube Premium and YouTube Music:

Radio from the Hoover Administration; programming from 1930.  (1) Ninety-one years ago, (2) before my mother was born

The monologue from a 1966 Bob Hope special.  Didn't need to look up any references to get the jokes.  

The first 3 innings of Game 1 of the 1972 ALCS, the Detroit radio broadcast with Ernie Harwell, with a quick Marc Avery voiceover before the recorder cut off the commercial.  Of course I know Marc Avery's voice when I hear it.  I listened to him afternoons on WJR only... 49 years ago.

Some new recordings of "old" songs by Kate NV.  Plus Clairo, The Academic, and Kurt Vile.  (Keeping YouTube on its toes.  Don't pigeonhole me!)   

Satisfaction (and how I got some)

Got some things accomplished today.  No, I'm not talking about the Times Spelling Bee (although I did get the pangram).  At work, I had a tedious job involving a lot of manual sifting through files, and after a few days of that, I called on Google to see if there was an easier way.  There was - what was taking five minutes or more is now down to 30 seconds.  At this rate, the job should be done by the deadline of next Friday.

Of course, I won't be online doing that, since as usual I've taken vacation time for the week of my birthday and BB's.  But I'll log in briefly to show my backup how it's done.  She should appreciate that.

And as David Byrne might have put it, "I'm taking pictures!  I'm taking pictures again!"  Well, yes, I've been doing snapshots all along, but after several years, I pulled out the DSLR and am refamiliarizing myself with it.  YouTube videos work so much better for me than owner's manuals or even Dummies guides.   

Wonderful Town, Fascinating Mystery

A copy of the kinescope from the November 30, 1958 broadcast of "Wonderful Town."  Rosalind Russell starred, with Jackie McKeever playing her sister Eileen, a role originally played by Edie Adams.  

I liked McKeever's performance, and wondered what happened to her.  After some searching, the only thing I know for certain is that she had a few roles after that, then disappeared, before dying in 2007 at age 76 in her home town of Catasauqua, PA.  

The obituary in the local newspaper devoted just two lines to her; that she had died "suddenly" in her home and that the services would be private.  Nothing about her career.  Nothing even about survivors.  There's a story there, but it's just about guaranteed it would be a painful one to hear.  

Sign o' the Times

At PetsMart this evening, a few customers were still wearing masks, but at the register there was a display of masks, marked down to $1.00.

Less Grass with Les Nessman

 

I remember watching this ballgame.  Following the Tigers in their wire-to-wire title and World Series, this was a sign of the domination to come.  Jack Morris walked six but allowed no runs or hits against the White Sox in a game called by Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola.

But the reason this is here is the commercial that preceded the game.  For Honda Lawnmowers, here's Richard Sanders a couple of years after WKRP ended its first run.

Phlox

 

More life

 

Life in our back yard

 The oregano is flowering now.

Back in time

Wikipedia says, "By the 1920s, the Marx Brothers had become one of America's favorite theatrical acts, with their sharp and bizarre sense of humor."  That didn't necessarily extend to London, however, as the above clipping from Variety of July 1922 will attest.  Maybe it was an off night, or perhaps something was lost in translation.  

But by a couple of weeks later, they had ditched "On The Balcony" for a tried and true script, and were back on top again.

 

Signs of age

 Admission of guilt:  the mention of Brigitte Bardot did not interest me as much as the mention of rabbits.

Doing something

Should be writing and taking pictures again soon.  Lets me do something useful for someone else, something creative, and gets me out of the house for a few hours.  And it's that elusive "something to look forward to."

Heartened

Finding out that Moss Hart had a journal during a fallow period in the early 1950's, and learning that he had begun his autobiography at about the same time.  The autobiography (according to the New Yorker reviewer in November 1959) was full of gushing platitudes about the people he worked with, while the journal (which was kept under lock and key until both he and Kitty Carlisle Hart had passed) contained mostly observations of those people, viewed in the worst possible light.  Nearly everyone appeared pathetic to him at that time, and knowing his state of mind makes it possible to forgive the man's sourness.  Of course that's how he saw them, just like he saw himself as used up and useless.

Right now I'm wishing I had something going on that would get me as fired up as I was when creating a video of BB's mother; when discovering the wonders of the web; when writing and posting true little stories about a few Good Cats (illustrated with my amateur cartoons) for nine years; when I learned about Tabby's Place; when I began volunteering at the library; even when I was the King of the Easy Bill.  Things have worked out so far.  They probably will again.  Let me see what I can do about it.

Cats on landings

 

End of day

Did just about nothing today.  The stuff from the drywall repair is still in the hallway, but at least it's organized in a couple of boxes and ready to take back to the basement.  

A friend from college is turning 65 and retiring.  I should say *another* friend is retiring.  They're calling it a career, but not me, not yet.  

I still turn on the light over the deck before going upstairs to bed.  Be safe, little black pooshka, wherever you are.

Finished watching Rio Bravo.  Read nothing on the iPad (neither Tarbell nor Pyle).  Played games, listened to WWII news and a 1971 Dodger game with Vin Scully.  And that's basically it for the day.  

On the other hand, another day of health, both for me and BB.  We're intending to drive down to Trader Joe's tomorrow.

 

Saturday Evening Post

The day:

Picked up a prescription for BB at Walmart

Watched the first 40 minutes of Mank

Made peach muffins

Made pizza for supper

Took a lap around the development while listening to the latest episode of Cocaine and Rhinestones

Saw four rabbits along the way

Saw one more rabbit in the back yard 

Can't get excited about doing anything creative, and it's only worth doing when there's capital-I Inspiration...

Daffodils after a rain shower