A New Camera

My new camera arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to go outside and try it out to see just what 20x zoom really is. I went out to the swings where the hubster and I sit to enjoy out afternoon coffee and took a photo of the backyard and the back of the house.

I'm not sure if you can see in the photo above, but there is a planter on the edge of the deck just to the left of the trumpet vine bush. Still sitting in the swing, I zoomed in and this is the photo I took.

As you can see we've had a frost and the flowers are not very pretty any more, but I think I am going to like this camera.  Then I walked around to the front of the house and stood across the street and took a photo of the front yard.

Can you see the reddish flowers along the front of the house? Still standing in the same place I engaged the zoom at full capacity and here is what I got.

At this point I am quite happy with the camera. Now I just have to go someplace with mountains or cliffs or ocean vistas - or maybe to one of the Great Lakes and see what this little powerhouse can do.

I am quite surprised this morning to find that I am not sore from yesterday's assorted workouts. It makes me a bit afraid that tomorrow I won't be able to get out of bed. I began the day by driving to town to get DD's little girls to school and then went to my conditioning class followed by my 30 minute ab/core floor work. After getting home from that, I got around and went to Meijer's to pick up a few necessary groceries and came home and made some Chorizo White Bean Soup - easy and delish! Then I headed for my first attempt at the personal training workout. There were four of us there - two usuals and my friend Nancy and me. We started out by doing several balancing maneuvers on both a Bosu and a balance ball. Then we did some stretching over the ball and some exercises utilizing the ball without weights and then we did some weight training using the ball as our bench. It was a wonderful workout, but I expect to feel some pain at some point. I am definitely planning on going back. I am thinking two times a week for awhile and see what kind of results I can achieve.

I got home in time to get showered and eat dinner while watching the Tiger game before little Miss Z arrived.  I didn't last very long into the evening though. I put Miss Z down about 8 and I was in bed by 9. I slept like a baby.

I've been reading some very interesting blogs and looking at some splendid art. I think today I will share links to a few of the blogs that I subscribe to in case you would like them too. I am always amazed by the wealth of wonderful blogs out there. I have my subscriptions in order in files whose first one is called Art Journals, so here are a random five from that list. I'd love to hear if you know these arty people or if you've found another favorite among this list. I will try to list a few of my favorites once a week.

A Colorful Journey - Carolyn Dube

Passions of an Odd Chick - Peggy Krantz

Random Acts of Art - Janet K Briggs

Sallyhow2 - Sally Rose

Sasifricious - Molly

Today I will have Miss Z until around 3 and then I am either going shopping and out to eat with my friend Carol or I am doing some art. If Carol and I don't go out and about this evening we will go in the morning. What about you? What are you doing these days? Do share...

xoxo