Guildenstern was in the middle of his kitty workout when when I went out to the sunroom the other morning — his cat-like routine on the treadmill doesn’t burn many calories, but he finds it to be very satisfying.
Tristan and David are in Madrid, Spain for a couple of weeks. You can follow their adventures at Margarine is Murder.
Rosencrantz was lounging at Laurie’s feet while she was sketching with her left hand. Diné was eyeing another kitty and Guildenstern took Laurie’s place when she got up, disturbing Rosencrantz’ lounging position.
I finally got to irrigate after 7 weeks, so the wet soil and mulch made for a cool evening for the kitties, bumblebees and damselflies to hangout in the clover. Laurie was sketching the yard, sans power poles, and Mama Manx was using her head to help Laurie hold up her sketchpad.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, roses and an oriental lily in black and white.
A happy dragon fly was flitting around this morning. We did a lot of yard work today. Can you find six differences between the 2nd and 3rd photos? Rosencrantz was sitting in the window by the front door wanting in, but I was on the deck. Instead of going through and letting him in, I photographed him through the glass in the door to the sunroom. He finally gave up and walked around the house to join us on the deck and lay on the table with Guildenstern.
We’re leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when we’ll be back again. Well, we’ll be back sometime. With being in the air for around 14 hours, I might actually end up missing a day on the blog — c’est la vie!
Every morning I have to extricate myself from a clowder of cats and this morning they were wanting me to stay in bed with them. I think they can sense that something is up with all our preparations to leave for France on Saturday, because they have been clinging to us a little more the past few days. Another glass got broken this morning, and it ended up looking pretty artsy. We really like the large stemware, but they have a way of making their way to the edges of counters and tables where we tend to brush by and knock them off.
Speaking of France, I have had several inquires about what photo equipment I’m taking to France. The last two photos show the lineup of bodies and lenses, sans my Fuji X-Pro1 which I used to take the photos. The two Canon 1Ds bodies, the 17-40mm ƒ/4 and 70-200mm ƒ/4 zoom lenses, the 50mm ƒ/1.4 and 40mm ƒ/2.8 lenses, plus extra batteries may seem like a lot to carry, but they are not, really. I’ve been carrying one body, either a 5D or a 1Ds, the two zoom lenses, the 50mm lens and an extra battery with me everyday for the past 6 months in my laptop/camera messenger bag (not shown). The last photo shows how the cameras and lenses all fit nicely into my Lowepro Passport Sling Camera bag that I’ve had for a couple of years now. The Lowepro Passport is a compact, yet roomy bag that is really comfortable to carry. The zoom lenses give me a range from super-wide angle to telephoto, and the 50mm gives me a “fast” normal lens. The 40mm lens is a compact lens, and while not a true macro lens, it focuses close enough to allow me to crop to near macro levels, allowing me to leave my much larger 100mm macro lens at home.
Guidenstern came up with a new kitty fashion for laying around on the deck — “Leaves and Filtered Light.” Kitty fashion is like sand painting — it only lasts one day.
The new tulips I planted last fall are coming up — big yellow, red/yellow and peachy-red tulips. I’ll have to wait and see if there were other colors in the mix, as I’ve forgotten what all I planted. Guildenstern was out rolling in the dirt, and wanted to be held, of course.
The “chemtrails” as some people call them, more commonly known as “contrails”, made quite interesting patterns crisscrossing under the sun this morning. As the temperatures continue to warm, I’m seeing a lot more bikers on the road. Laurie left the door open to the study so the cats could be in it with her the other night — Puck was very happy to lay in his favorite spots he missed since I put the door on the study.
Off Center & Not Even 