I haven’t been to Ocracoke for almost two years now and I miss it so much. I wish I could sit out on the beach on a warm winter day like today and just clear my head.

This was Jack’s first Christmas with us and he loved eating the wrapping paper.

Going through some old images that I overlooked. I always liked this image but never really paid it much attention. It’s a group of Hmong women near the village of Sapa in north Vietnam. They love color and so do I.  Today is its day.

In 1986, Dan Harrison (see picture above) was on holiday in Kenya  after graduating from Northwestern University .  On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan approached it very carefully.  He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.   As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.   The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments.  Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.   Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son.  As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr. were standing.   The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn’t help wondering if this was the same elephant.   Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan’s legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn’t the same elephant.

:)

I just got back from a quick trip down to Florida this weekend and I tried out a new pocket camera while I was down there. I bought the Olympus Stylus 850SW to mostly take on paddling trips so I wouldn’t have to worry about a wet bag. The camera is supposedly waterproof to 10 feet, but I haven’t tested that yet. I was at a party Saturday night while there and someone there told me they had one and it took on water within three months.Maybe mine will last a little longer than that!

Aside from any water bonus, this is really the worst pocket camera I have ever had. I read a review AFTER I had bought it and I would have to agree with about everything they said. Throw in the fact that it requires a special memory card from Olympus and I wonder how they ever sell them. Must be the waterproof feature which is what attracted me. If you have just the right lighting conditions, the camera will produce an acceptable photo. Flash??? Forget it, the worst I’ve ever seen despite the review saying that indoor flash was its only strong point. I had to use exposure comensation on almost every lighting condition and focus is hit and miss for sure. Battery life? Pathetic.

Here were a few that I thought made the grade. Otherwise, Olympus Stylus 850 SW gets a BIG FAT “F”.

Incidentally, I can say that I give the Casio cameras a good grade. I’ve had two, both of which bit the dust by accident, and they had pretty stellar performance. The battery charge on one lasted  an entire three week trip to Asia and that was even after using it as a flashlight one night.  I also hear that the new little Nikons are pretty sweet.

I think Jack looks like a Whoville Pup here. Not the one that pulled the Grinch’s sleigh, but perhaps if Jack lived in Whoville, he would look like this.

I like this composition. That’s all that matters.

There’s lots of ways you could crop this image. I liked this way best. It says a lot about how I feel about winter.

There were so many nice things about this wedding, and I think they are all obvious so there is no need to detail them here. It was truly a family celebration right in the bride’s parent’s front yard with a spectacular view.

This is one of my favorite kids shots of the year. This little fellow was a happy spirit if there was ever one and clearly adored by all, yet he he was required to sit out the ceremony inside the house. I was heading to the back to take the shot above when I looked over and saw him standing in the sidelight windows of the front door looking out to the ceremony. Despite his somewhat pitiful look, he really did have a bird’s eye view down the center aisle.