Happy Birthday!
last update: 12/10 @ 14:59

A nice, mellow birthday. While I thought I might get on the river, the forecast kept getting less and less appealing over the last several days. The rain has held off and the temp did make it to the mid 40s, but the breeze has been pretty stiff and clouds thick.

That said, I’m now in possession (well.. will be soon) of a lifetime national parks pass.

And Robert found a CD which I’m sure to enjoy, Scottish Cowboy Ballads by Sam Shackleton. How can you go wrong with Early American Folk Songs in a strong Scottish accent? I have to say, it’s a great reminder of the importance of migration to our country — an important lesson these days.

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Thanksgiving
last update: 11/29 @ 22:30

We enjoyed the traditional Springfield Thanksgiving (thank you again Lee for hosting). Fantastic food, great company from the extended Zapolsky side and fun excursions.

Including the traditional Thanksgiving hockey game.

And this year the Capitals won! 4-2 vs. the Maple Leaves.

Non traditionally, Robert stayed in Seattle; he had only a couple days between classes and sports events out there. Traveling, especially right around the holiday, would have been crazy.

We do get to see him soon for Christmas, when he has much more free time.

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Checking in…
last update: 11/22 @ 22:41

The Bird Buddy is working fine.

And the Pigeon protection cage is also doing its job.

But there has been a bit of a slow down with the changing seasons, we’re seeing fewer birds (like this house finch).

Which means the seed is lasting longer — not a bad thing.

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Back from a lovely wedding
last update: 11/19 @ 18:30

We really enjoyed the fantastic wedding of Elise and Martin last weekend.

And we enjoyed the flexibility to tour around a few extra days in (not so) sunny Southern California.

The time to catch up with Sarah’s family, and meet Martin’s family was really special.

But not as special as the rainbow that popped up right after the wedding!

More photos in the trips section.

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Really looking like fall
last update: 11/03 @ 17:34

I expect with the dry autumn we’ve had this year, the leaves around Angler’s Inn are unlikely to get any better than today.

Which is fine, I think the back channel looks splendid in its fall glory today.

It was a bit chillier (low 60s, and I’m sure the water is also gradually cooling off) than the last time I was out but we did get some rain so the level was up a bit to just over 3 feet (3.03).

I did see the heron again, but not long enough to try to get a photo. I also saw a couple other boaters out on the water today.

I’m hoping for a bit more rain before I get out again, today was noticeably less rocky and the Maryland chute a bit more fun to surf across.

Of course, I also hope it’s not too cold for me to want to go out should the river come up a bit :)

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Another pretty day
last update: 10/22 @ 22:34

Cooler today, mid-sixties, but the water level was about the same at about 2.7 feet.

And there were more clouds coming in.

But the leaves are starting to take on fall colors, even though it’s been a dry summer so I don’t expect the colors to be great this year.

But this spot, just upstream of the Virginia chute, was quite pretty.

Sarah was meeting with a friend so she missed out on the walk or paddle this time — but got to enjoy time with her friends, maybe a fair trade.

And, in light of my prior post (see below), this is the not too pricey waterproof camera we have that I feel comfortable clipping into my boat for a trip when it will get wet (generally not too wet, but you never know). It’s quick and easy with a little Joby tripod to snap a selfie for this blog.

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Photography Wisdom
last update: 10/21 @ 17:15

A wise man, Bob Martindale, once told me (I don’t know who he heard it from or if it originated from him), the best camera is the one you have with you.

He was, at that time, a TV news photographer (maybe even back in the pre-video days of 16mm film).

The point being, if you don’t have your camera when a great, cool, interesting, momentous scene presents itself, the camera does you no good, no matter how well made it may be.

I was reminded of that recently and unconsciously at a happy hour gathering of former AARP WSO-ians. Yonas pulled out his camera to capture some cool afternoon shadows on the buildings around us.

And I was reminded even more recently, and consciously, this afternoon when I thought this was kind of a cool self portrait. Not as cool as Jake’s from WSO days: his face at the end of a Diet Coke bottle.

So, by way of illustration, the self portrait would be pretty hard for me to get with my “real” camera and its (D)SLR viewfinder. But with my cell phone (or most any cell phone camera), or — admittedly a mirrorless “real” camera, it’s much easier to see the screen as you’re composing an awkward shot.

On the other hand, this bird from our last day in the Galapagos would have been hard or impossible for me to get (I think) with a phone camera — that viewfinder, with a long lens, made all the difference.

In both cases, the technical details of the image or image capture are less important (at least in my mind) than having a camera with the features you need when you need it.

This last example is a not very good scan (sorry about that) of a 4X5 chrome I took years ago along the Potomac River. It required a lens swing to get the pilings in focus from front to back (which knocked much of the rest of the image out of focus — though a bit of the far shore is in the same plain and also in focus). I’ve seen advertisements for tilt/swing lenses for 35mm-like cameras, but don’t have one. That flexibility comes built in to a 4X5 rail camera.

So no way (before AI, at least) to get something like that from a phone camera.

But I’m still happy to have a camera I can and do carry with me almost all the time — that will often be the best camera (even though my 4X5 has cool extra feature and can capture way more detail).

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Happy Birthday Patrick!
last update: 10/20 @ 19:28

Sarah and I went to celebrate the birthday of Patrick, from the Pod Squad last night.

In addition to fantastic chili, cornbread, cake and cookies there was Foosball. Nathan v. the world — in this case Pocket.

It was a very fun evening with great folks.

And always astounding to me that such good people came together years ago, in the height of the early Covid days, to help out their neighbors. And that the core group still really enjoys hanging out together.

Patrick has lots of friends — and a recently married daughter — so there were several groups of folks there to celebrate. The Pod Squad took advantage of the perfect weather to enjoy his porch.

(And I feel the need to clarify that I’m a groupie — I did not volunteer for the Medical Reserve Corps to help with education, testing, contact tracing or vaccinations; I am, however, a beneficiary of their work.)

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A good day for a protest…
last update: 10/18 @ 15:32

…and a good turnout. We brought some of the MRC / PodSquad folks in on the metro with us to join in DC’s No Kings protest today. I was very happy with the turnout and did not feel bad about sneaking out early before being trapped in the crowd.

I would, of course, prefer to see the entire DC metro area population out on the streets, complaining about the current administration — but this seemed a fair sized percentage.

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Blue Sky Day
last update: 10/15 @ 17:36

I was fortunate that the only side effect from my vaccinations yesterday was a little arm soreness at the spot of the shots.

So I took advantage of the weather to head back to Angler’s Inn and the Potomac. Sarah came along to get out on the Billy Goat trail.

We both enjoyed the weekday with fewer folks out. There were a couple folks going downstream, towards lock 10, and I saw one downriver boater coming down through the rapids at Anglers.

And I think we both saw this same heron, at different times. He didn’t let me get much closer before taking off — and maybe finding a spot on the canal to be spotted by Sarah.

The water level remains low, about 2.75 feet; surely an effect of the almost drought conditions we’re in. The big storm we expected earlier this week generally stayed to our east, so still not much rain in a while.

But I’m not complaining about the beautiful, blue skies!

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