The Donut Palace

I'm back and have had a very peaceful weekend, catching up with Mark and other things around home. It's good to be home. After the long months of only occassionally traveling for a day or two to Dallas, an entire week away from home took a little adjustment. But I did have a wonderful time in Big D, learning all sorts of new things about work and meeting some very nice people.

Saturday morning I decided to pick up some treats from a popular place in town -- The Donut Palace. If you haven't been there, you should give it a try! They have awesome donuts as well as some savory options. Since we slept in, I decided a brunch might be nice since we had errands to run so I got fresh-baked glazed donuts, a cinnamon roll and two kolaches (with and without cheese). It was all fantastic!



Besides the food, you should try TDP because of the people who run it. They are so friendly and very hardworking. If you go, take cash or your checkbook because they do not accept any credit or debit cards. Friends at work have told me that they've gotten caught with no cash before but do you know what??? The folks at TDP just told them to bring the cash when they can. Can you believe that? Isn't that amazing to encounter such trust from a retailer? Very nice. It makes me feel good about people to know this so I thought I'd share it with you.

On the road

Hi folks. I'm up in Dallas this week. Wow, New Year's Day was a blur and now it's Wednesday already. Hope everyone's having a great week so far.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Today is a big day for many Asian people -- it's Lunar New Year and this year is Year of the Ox, one of twelve Chinese zodiac animals (sort of like Capricorn, Taurus, etc.). Though I had to take off for Dallas today, we took time to celebrate the new year together before Mark dropped me off at the airport. I had a wonderful weekend with my darling man -- even went to the Hong Kong Market in Houston for some goodies. These are persimmon cakes; I'll have to let you know how they taste as we haven't tried them yet.

Below is a shot of the flags we saw as ate lunch at Pho Saigon in Houston, on Bellaire. (BTW, the food there is FABULOUS!) I included the shot because I am so happy to be Vietnamese, American and Texan (and I'm still North Carolinian, though I'll never be a Tarheel -- those of you who know of the NC State/Chapel Hill rivalry understand where I'm coming from on this.). LOL

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a great new year. I love having the opportunity to celebrate two new year's days. And as my niece Clair said this evening, it's not every year we get to have two celebrations in one month! (Lunar New Year's day changes each year based on the moon phases.) Good thinking Clair!

Sky Watch Friday

Here's something we haven't seen in a while...gray skies! It's been sunny and beautiful lately in South Texas. BUT we do need rain around here so I wish it would get here. This is a shot from our front porch of the church across the way.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Be sure to check out the other Sky Watchers!

Vogue Shoes

Here's a shot of my favorite place to shop for shoes. Sure you could go to a huge department store, discount outlet megashop or some other impersonal place to buy shoes. But I prefer to be able to park right in front of the store (sometimes on the side if it's "crowded") and also to have nice conversations with people who live in the same community I do. The staff at the store is wonderful and caring. They don't just sell you shoes. They talk to you about the shoes and what you do and what's best for that and whatever else that might come up. It's fun! And it makes me feel good that they take the time to make sure I have what I need. Without smothering me.

On the last trip, I got Mark a new pair of cross-trainers for working out. And I eyed some shoes I am going to put on my birthday wish list. I love shoes! Oh, and when I went, there was a big sale so I got his shoes regular price, and a pair of black pumps for 1/2 price. Cool! :)

Lunch on the Square

Last week I met Mark for lunch downtown on the square at Amy & Kathy's. I posted about this little eatery already back in 2007. It's a great place -- sandwiches, soup, pasta salad, great desserts. I was sitting at our table and thought Mark's silhouette looked cool with the store front and square behind him. I enjoyed watching traffic and people go by as we ate. It sure was a nice break from work.

I remember it was a beautiful day; perfect weather for parking around the block and walking over. I thought, how nice it is to work near home so that I could meet my honey for lunch. It was one of the nicest days for me.

MLK Banquet

Saturday evening was a special night out for us. We attended the MLK Banquet at the coliseum and had a great time with friends there. Dinner, a few speeches and a fabulous musical presentation by the group Spiritual Voices. They performed a tribute to Dr. King and then they wrapped up with selections from Porgy and Bess. Very nice! We had such a fun time!

Moore Bees

This is one of the small bee yards that David Park has in Moore, Texas. So technically it's not Seguin but since some of the bees are here now, I thought you would not mind. It was so pretty out there. Moore is located south of San Antonio along Interstate Highway 35. David told us his dad also keeps bees in Devine (north of Moore) and his cousin in Moore also operatest an apiary. David is a FOURTH generation beekeeper! Isn't that cool? I thought so.

New Bees, New Home

I am happy to report that the bees are here! And now it's official. We are big time beekeepers now....twelve hives. :) Well, for us that's big time. We went from two in the backyard to an additional ten kept on an acquaintance's property out in the country. This is the spot Mark picked out and he worked last week to prepare the area for our new bees. I will share some more pictures this week but since they are not technically of Seguin, I may post them on my La China blog in case you want to read that one. Or, if you prefer photos only, you can check out my Flickr photo set of our beekeeping activities.

We picked the bees up on Sunday from a really awesome beekeeping in Moore, Texas. David Park owns Cold River Apiaries and he spent a lot of time with us; not just getting the bees ready for the move, but also just talking to us about beekeeping and also about his operation. We learned so much and had a really fantastic time! And he gave us a jar of the honey his bees produced....DELICIOUS! You can really taste the difference from Cold River Honey and the brand we get from HEB. Hopefully, our new bees will like it here in Seguin and start producing some honey for us. :)

Hope everyone's had a good week so far. I just got back from two days in Dallas at our corporate office. Had a blast, really! But glad to be home. And tired. I'm going to go read a few chapters of my James Patterson Cat & Mouse book and then roll on to bed. Good night.

400th Post - Woo hoo!

I finally made it to my 400th post! I was going to post earlier this week but I wanted my 400th one to be special and not just some rush job. Work was busy this week and tiring too, so saving this for Friday made it a special treat for me.

This is a shot of part of the Goodrich House, a property owned by Second Baptist Church. It's located on Goodrich Street, behind the church, and behind the house is Walnut Creek. We use the church for celebratory events and sometimes even for a youth sleepover. It's a nice old house with wood floors and lots of windows. And this wonderful chimney. I just love the brick work and the lines you see in the chimney and siding. It's one of my favorite photos.

I love red brick. I grew up in North Carolina and brick is used a lot there for building. I went to North Carolina State University (go Wolfpack!) and on campus, there must be millions of bricks used for buildings, walls, courtyards, etc. As a matter of fact, we have a beautiful area near the main campus library that is a hub for campus life. We called it the Brickyard. I love that place.

We were leaving the Goodrich House one day after an event and I remember the day was just beautiful. Crisp, chilly day with endless blue skies. And I remember looking up and seeing how beautiful the house looked against the sky. So I took out my camera and shot a ton of photographs. That's what blogging has taught me. How to really see all the wonderful, beautiful things around me. I have learned to better appreciate many things since I started this blog and I am really happy that I am still photographing and blogging.

Thank you everyone who has visited here. And for those of you who have left comments, for those who have seen me around town or at work and talked to me...thank you for letting me know you enjoy the blog and the photos. It was what kept me going. Just when I get lazy or tired of doing this or I start to wonder if anyone cares what I post, one of you tells me in some way that you like this. And that fuels me. So thanks! :)

Lippe Tire Company

No, the Camry is not back in the shop. This is a shot I snapped when we took it in for the Lipple Tire guys to check things out for us after I ran over a huge piece of tread on the highway one night. I love Lippe; they are really great (I've mentioned them recently). I have always been fascinated when I go to a shop and the car goes on the lift. It's so cool. Big, heavy car...lifted up high like it weighs nothing at all. Pretty neat.

Luckily, there was no bad damage that made it dangerous to drive but I did manage to do some harm to something that now flaps once in a while. Going to have to take it in to Shanafelt. Now there's another great business in Seguin. I'll snap a picture when we take the car in. They handle body work and do a great job. And they have a really neat business sign that I really like for some reason. It's very nicely done. And yes, even I think it's funny to like a sign so much. LOL.

Today was another busy, busy day at work but I am enjoying my new role tremendously. All of a sudden, we have projects coming out the ear. I felt so exhilerated, overwhelmed and totally exhausted all at once most of the day. It certainly makes my day fly by fast. And I actually forgot to eat breakfast again (a yogurt at work). Well, I remembered once my stomach started growling at me around 10:30 or so.

Big Bird

Lately I have seen plenty of big birds around Seguin, including a variety of hawks but also many vulptures and buzzards. I don't know all their names so I won't try but if you want to share with me what this bird is, that'd be nice. We saw him out in the country on a ride out to one of the bee sites. He was so regal out there. Mark turned around so I could snap some shots from the car but I wish we could have gotten even closer.

Yesterday I wrote it was 83F degrees. Today it said 48F on the way home from church. Cloudy and windy. I'm not complaining! I love it!!!! :) Tomorrow's suppose to be pretty cold and possibly rainy, which we really need around here. I hope everyone has a great week.

A little beekeeping in the new year

Here we are in January and it reached 83F degrees today; can you believe that? Amazing. It's not that I don't like warm weather. I just like a little seasonal weather. Anyway, I know a friend of mine up in Indiana wrote that she sort of missed the warm Texas weather so sometimes maybe we just want what we don't have at the moment. The cedar and juniper levels are high so it's still giving plenty of us fits with the sneezing, congestion, drippy noses and stuffy heads.

So what do you do in such warm weather? You work on frames for the bees! :) Mark is getting things ready for more bees. We've decided to add ten more hives but we won't be keeping them in our yard with the other two hives we have. Mark's found two locations out in the country on land owned by people we know or have met through another friend. It's very exciting and I'm so thrilled that Mark's decided to increase his beekeeping activities. It's nice to see him doing things he enjoys so much.

He's gotten some boxes prepared and lately he's been putting these frames together with the wax sheets. The frames go inside the boxes and then the bees will continue to build upon the sheets once they are in their new homes. There is another beekeeper nearby who we will buy the bees from soon. I can't wait to visit his place and see what kind of operation he has!

Yep, that's my feet. It was warm enough to walk around bare feet today.

Happy 2009 Everyone!

I am still not sure how 2008 managed to get by me so quickly but here we are again at the beginning of a brand new year. It's exciting to think of what is ahead for me and for Mark; but I am also overwhelmed by all that happened in the year past. And I am so grateful.

Mark's home now and we get to see each other and actually spend quality time together more than when we both worked in San Antonio, him at such a demanding job. He's pursuing his research and writing, beekeeping, a workshop-building project and other interests that had to take a back seat for work. I had a fabulous year at CMC and still L-O-V-E it. I have learned so much about so much! LOL. I have developed friendships and laughed so much and enjoyed it all...sometimes it makes me wonder how I deserved all these rewards. I will share something with you now that means more change and more learning for me in 2009. Today, I officially become the Global IT Training Manager for our company and I am so thrilled to have a chance to contribute in a leadership role. I will have a mentor who is pretty amazing so I know I will learn much from her. I'll keep you posted on where this new job takes me. I'm a little nervous but in a good way; it'll keep me on my toes. And so will Mark. Thanks, honey, for your loving support!

A final word on how we rang in the new year last night. Our church, Second Baptist, has a Watch Night service that starts at 10:30 p.m. We were joined by Wesley Harper Methodist Church friends and we sang and gave thanks for all the blessings we received in 2008. The singing was fantastic, the fellowship was awesome and warmed my soul and then the food we enjoyed filled our bellies and when we got home around 2:00 a.m., we were all ready for bed. It was so nice to see all our friends. I have not been to church for a couple of weeks since I have been under the weather and I really missed seeing everyone. When I was with them all last night, I felt warm, as if I was wrapped in the arms of everyone there. If you haven't ever been to a service at Second Baptist, I invite you to come as my guest. The people are amazing. Mark and I were hooked by our second visit! Pastor Flakes is an awesome man and the youth ministry is really doing amazing things for the kids of our church. I think 2009 is going to be a great year for all of us. I hope it will be for you also!

Another Sleepless Night

It's 6:26a and I've been fully awake since 4a so I thought I would take this time to finally do some catching up on my online activities. Prior to 4a, I spent more time coughing or trying not to cough than sleeping. And when I did sleep, I had to sit and sleep b/c once I went horizontal, my throat starts to tickle and then the coughing ensues. :( I really, really am tired of being sick. Usually I am not down for too long but Mark and I have been under the weather since Christmas Eve. Enough already.

So the nice thing about being awake is that I have time to do things. Like notice how pretty the Christmas lights look, reflecting on our old wood floor in the living room. So I fixed up my digicam to my new SLR-size Gorrilapod and practiced some shots.

Things that are happening right at this moment:

1. It's raining! Yes. Really raining. With lighting and rumbling thunder, too! It's been wonderful to hear it and to see the water collecting. We've gone without rain for too long so this is a real blessing.
2. Mark put on a pot of beans in the slow cooker last night and now it smells delicious. And makes me want to eat.
3. I'm listening to some of my favorite, favorite jazz. Stan Getz, Diana Krall, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Charles Mingus, and many others. Very nice.
4. I am checking out all the pictures that my Flickr friends have added. Wow, I've been slacking on that; there are tons of photos to see.
5. I am thinking I should also post something on my La China blog. Haven't done that in a while.
6. I am also thinking I have not made a single earring since my little vacation started and I had said I would definitely do that. Yikes. Only got today to live up to my word on that point.

Okay, I am done drinking another cup of Theraflu so I'm going to try and close my eyes and see if sleep comes my way. I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday! :)

Gift wrapping trappings

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Well, I finally finished all my wrapping! Hooray! And I made a little time to finish off my David Balacci book I've been reading for about a month. The Whole Truth, it's awesome. I hope everyone is ready for Christmas and enjoying time with family and friends.

This is a gift tag that was on a gift from my sister's family to our daughter Melissa. I L-O-V-E beautifully crafted things such as this and it's always hard to decide if I will keep things or not. I have about 7 or 8 hatboxes of old letters, cards and other mementos that I have received and I love going through them once in a while. I may put this in a box. ;)

I am so blessed with all that I have in my life. I lack for nothing materially; I have a career I am passionate about at a company I have grown to love as if I've been there 20 years. And most importantly, I have a wonderful man with whom I share it all. I could not ask for any more or for a better person to be my partner. I just want to give thanks for all I have.

I love chicken!

Is this my idea of Christmas cheer?!? You bet! :) We had a gift exchange so the team at work decided to do it during lunch at Clear Springs, which is a restaurant I'm sure I have mentioned before here. It's on Highway 46, between Seguin and New Braunfels. Their mountainous plate of onion rings draws the crowds, along with all the other great food they have. I just can't eat like this too often; that's for sure.

So this is a regular order of the chicken tenders plate. It was divine! I got garlic mashed potatoes and the corn to go with it. I ate three pieces and took the rest home for dinner...for BOTH me AND Mark. LOL. It was still finger-licking-good.

I have been wrapping Christmas gifts but we are mostly done. Except I have four boxes for Mark that are awaiting me...they've been sitting on the couch...I don't think he realizes they are HIS! Better go wrap 'em up before he reads this. I'm off work the rest of the week so I hope to have many photography opportunities. I hope you are all doing well and that you are not too stressed this week. HAVE FUN!!!

Kitty, Kitty

It's been so busy! Here's a pretty kitty I met while visiting Mark's brother. That's one of the nicest things about the holidays -- seeing relatives you just don't get to visit with during the rest of the year. Life just gets you busy and then before you know it, it's been a year again. We had a great time with them, however.

Gifts for family have been bought, wrapped and shipped as of today. What a relief. I was just so unmotivated this year but not because I didn't want to find something special for each person. At any rate, it's done. Now I can take some time to enjoy pulling together some small things here and there for Mark and some local friends. I love looking for just the right thing. It's so fun!

Christmas Activities

Well, I finally got into the spirit. Normally, I am all about Christmas but this year was a bit different. So, I am behind in terms of shopping, wrapping and decorating. Mark boosted me along last week by bringing down all the Christmas boxes and we got started sorting through things.

Here's one of my favorite things to do this time of year...fixing stockings for family members. I love finding little goodies to put in there! We kicked off gift-giving yesterday by spending time with my stepdaughter with dinner and a gift exchange. She will be headed up north for a few weeks so we did an early Christmas and had a really, really nice time with her.

Sky Watch Friday

I shot this one a couple of weeks ago on the way to work on Alt 90 right past Texas Lutheran University. It was one of the most unusual skies I had ever seen and I tried in vain to capture the full effect of the rolls of clouds. It was fascinating.

Check out other sky watchers for more cool photographs of our great skies.

Moon Over Seguin

Nothing takes your mind off being blue or feeling overwhelmed like staring a the big, beautiful moon. Before I go dig through more decorations boxes and then head to bed, I want to post a shot of tonight's moon. I would have missed this opportunity to see its beauty if a friend from work had not taken the time to call me to let me know that tonight would be a great night to get a few shots. Thank you, Alison!

Thanks to my wonderful man for fixing my tripod for me! I couldn't have gotten these shots without it honey. You rock!

Shopping

I saw this on one of my few shopping excursions this year. At first my sister and I just liked that it was a "Tini" toy, since my step-kids and close friends call me that. But then I see the dog is kind of over the top. Toys these day sure make our stuff look tame. LOL

Off to a Spurs game. Go Spurs!

Fall Along the Guadalupe River

We love to drive along the river, especially next to the golf course at Max Starcke Park. My eyes were so drawn to the colors and I would have walked along except for my fear of allergies. LOL. It's no fun to have to think about pains such as that when the view is so wonderful. We've been staying out of the great outdoors until Cedar Fever season is way past. That stuff is so fun for sure!

Guava-Mango Pop Tarts in Seguin

Who would have thought it. Not only is there an exotic fruit flavor of Pop Tarts, but it's right here in our local HEB! HEB stands for H.E. Butt Grocery Store, a huge chain here in Texas. If you want, you can read a history of the store on their website.

So last week, Mark and I were cruising through the frozen foods section when I spied this unusual sight in the clearance carts. I like mango and I like guava but I don't know what to think about both flavors in a Pop Tart. I didn't try it. Has anyone out there tried it? I was just surprised to see it in little ol' Seguin. :)

Pecan Trees in Fall

In contrast to the recent big, blue skies, we did have some cool dark days here and there. On the day I shot this, it was a cool gray in a dozen shades. I really liked it. Though I can't capture it really in a photograph, the pecan trees looked crisp and oddly golden and alive against the sky. Speaking of trees, the leaves are falling and piling up nicely everywhere. My plan is to wait until all leaves are off before raking. If I rake now, they'll be back! And with some wind action, maybe there won't be much to worry about later. ;)

I'm off to do more online Christmas shopping. Yesterday Mark and I did THREE stores in 1.5 hours at the Quarry in SA and we were tired. LOL. I used to be quite the in-store shopper but not today. We had a good laugh about it and went on to Big Kahuna where we had some really wonderful Vietnamese food. If you want to see and read on that, visit my La China blog.

Golden Fall Color

This redbud is next to the red Crepe Myrtle from the previous post. If you look at both trees and they are aligned with one another so that you see a great mix of gold, green and red, it's just really breathtaking. I can see this mix when I see at our kitchen table because I have a direct line of sight out our front door. And when I see our fall colors, it makes me happy and very appreciative of the beauty around us in the world.

Some Signs of Fall

We don't get fall colors here in Seguin like I knew in North Carolina, but we do have a splash here and there this year. I love this red color of the crepe myrtle in our front yard.

Still trying to play with the camera and I'm really enjoying it immensely. I love the zoom (15x) and the Smart Feature. Most of the time, I turn it on and really just point and shoot. Literally. It handles almost all my settings just right. That firmware update also made all processing super fast. I love it.

Currently it's about 42F degrees, but feels like 34F. Nice. I love this cold weather. And the Spurs are ACTUALLY 20 points up on the Nuggets at halftime. Also nice, considering the way we've been playing lately. :)

I'm a lucky girl

Thanks for the picture Laurie! Now I know how you guys must feel with me pointing a camera at you all the time! :)

There I am with a flat at work. These very nice CMC men came by to provide assistance by putting air in my tire so I could drive it to a shop, though my good buddy Tod did offer to change it for me and Mark even said he'd come to the mill to change it. Gosh, so many options! It all made me really appreciate my husband and my friends. Thank you for makiing me laugh about it all! It was the most stress-free flat I've ever had. Mark even headed over to Lippe Tires to make sure they knew I was swinging by there so they stayed opened and fixed me up in about ten minutes!

By the way, if you have never been to Lippe, I highly recommend them. Their staff and service have been great over the years for us and the pricing on tires are pretty good also.

December is almost here!

Sorry! I'm being bad about blogging...I know it. I'll try and get back into it soon. We've had a great four-day weekend! I don't know the last time I had so many days off. I have enjoyed seeing family and friends, watching a ton of college and pro football and basketball (despite losing to the Rockets last night....badly), exercising, reading (Baldacci's The Whole Truth), talking photography and digicams with my best friend Sonia (I hope you get the Z1015 too!) and preparing for Christmas. Fun stuff.

And nothing like a little pressure. The bags of gifts have been sitting in our office, right by my desk since JUNE!!! My sisters are so industrious, they get together during the summer in FL and do their Christmas shopping (most of it) and then they even wrap 'em up. We happened to be visiting last June so Mai sent the gifts back with us. Can you imagine? June. Sigh. I am still working on figuring out some gifts for several family members. LOL

Prepping Dessert

Tonight we are baking our first pecan pie together. It's fun! And it smells delicious; I can't wait to try it tomorrow. I'm sure there are many ovens heating up this week as we all prepare for the big feast tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with family and friends time, good eats, fun football and great weather (whether that be snow, ice, hot, humid....whatever!). And a nice nap. At least that's my plan. :)

Welcome back, Sterling Silver Dancers!

Remember the Seguin ladies who were invited to dance at the Spurs games last season? Well, they are back by popular demand. :) It was nice to see them perform at the game so early in the season. I understand they will appear once a month. You ladies looked great and most importantly, you looked like you had fun! Cheers to you for getting out there. We loved seeing you and cheering for you. Go Spurs!

Moon over Seguin

Last week we were driving home and I saw a gorgeous moon hovering over Seguin -- so low to the horizon that it looked absolutely enormous. I couldn't believe I didn't have my digicam (I didn't think I'd need it going to the gym, lol.) so we raced home so I could pick it up and Mark went searching with me for a good shot. We found a spot and I set up the tripod to practice on the new digicam and liked some of the shots but I still need to learn more about all the settings. This one wasn't so bad so I thought I'd share it. I didn't touch it up besides cropping some of the dark sky out of it. It was chilly that night!

Still Blooming

The weather has been gorgeous lately but the allergens are still bothering lots of people. Plus I think there is some bug going around b/c several people I know are sort of down with a slight fever, stomach aches, general aches, sore throat, etc. I slept most of yesterday since I just felt wiped out. Today I'm much better but Mark's kind of sickly. Poor thing.

So, despite the cold nights, we still have a few blooms hanging around including the mystery purple flower on the vine. I can't remember what the name of it is. We bought it hoping it would climb along our fence in order to block out the neighbor's big ol' trash bin. It's still trying to spread itself out so maybe by next year. We also have a few yellow blooms left on the Esperanza as well.



I'm enjoying the camera a great deal and am learning how to use it better with more manual controls. I updated the firmware (1.03) and it fixed the processing problem so that is no longer an issue. If anything, it really revved up the processing, uploading, and general operation of the camera. I am glad b/c I had decided if the firmware didn't fix that problem, the camera would probably need to go back. I took the cam to the Spurs game last Friday against the Rockets (yay, we actually won!) and then I also practiced some moon shots (still need some more practice). I'll try and post some this week.

Sky Watch Friday

One more of the tower. I just loved the way this one turned out.

Check out this week's sky watchers for some great shots. And have a wonderful weekened everyone. We're off to see the Spurs and Rockets. :-\

Workers from afar

Here they are from afar.

Water Tower Workers

On my way home from work, I drove here and there to practice using my camera some more when I spotted some activity on the water tower they've been fixing up for a while now. It's looking better but still have a little more work to go. I can't imagine working as high up as these gentlemen. Not too long ago, I saw on the news and in the paper that one of the tower workers had gotten injured when he fell while doing some of this work. Dangerous stuff but they sure make our towers look great!

Guadalupe Valley Regional Hospital

Here are a couple of night shots of some of the construction at our local hospital. It's nice to see construction still healthy in little Seguin. Good sign for the economy I think. Plus our hospital really needs to grow and improve. Many people go to San Antonio for some medical needs since there are a lot more options in the bigger city.

I also posted about the imaging department this past July.

Fall Colors

I was checking out the camera after snapping shots of the squirrels when I noticed the cool colors on the display when I passed by the paint cans we have on the deck. I took several shots and I really liked the coppery colors with the blue in them.

Shot with the new digicam

They are still everywhere, which makes them quite an easy subject. Here's a shot from the new camera. Still playing around with it but I think it's going to be a keeper. I am going to download the new firmware update and that should help reduce the one thing that is odd about the camera: the "long" processing time every 3rd or 4th shot. It has not been a problem for me and hopefully it won't become a problem. I better get on the ball snapping shots to test the camera, right?

Sports note: the Spurs FINALLY won tonight. It took double overtime, but we finally got a W in the win column. :)

My Vote Counted!

We went and voted! I hope you did also. I love living in a small town like Seguin. I've lived and voted in big cities and now I fully appreciate a voting site three blocks from home where I can park right out front and have seven or eight voting officials waiting to help me. It rocks!

At our voting site, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, you can vote electronically or on traditional paper ballots if you wish. Both are offered and the officials really have always been very nice and helpful. Now, I shall go join Mark, who is flipping between the Spurs/Mavs game and voting results.

Merry Christmas to me

Surprise, surprise! Christmas came early for me this year. Thank you honey for my new digicam. It is so cool and I can't wait to see how I handle it this week. All my cameras have been Kodaks and they've been really good to me. I'm not ready for a fancy SLR and with the z1015, there are already plenty of things I see I'll have to learn. It allows more manual control than my z612. And did you see that? I've now got 4 more megapixels and the zoom increased by 3. Of course, what I need to do is go out and try it out to make sure I can take advantage of it all. And we have a Spurs game next week so I can try out the zoom at that time. Oh, the video image is awesome. I was amazed by the crispness.