What? February - already?

As the frog on the lily pad said to a friend, "Times fun when you're having flies." I don't know where the last month went to. I tried looking behind the February calendar page but January was't there either, just the husk of a month.

Several things worth writing about have happened since whenever.

Several weeks ago, John Wood, pastor of the Methodist Church we had attended when our girls were young, finally passed away after dealing with ill health for several years. John was a kind, gentle man with a great sense of humor, an eye for detail, and a firm belief in God. John lived in the same care facility that Linda was in for 70+ days following her heart attach and surgery several years ago. A memorial service for John was held in the Methodist Church where he had preached for meany years. Linda and I decided to attend the service and we are very glad we did. We were still considered members of the congregation, but hadn't attended for what, 13 years or so? I though the roof would fall in on us when we walked in. (OK, Linda rode in in her wheelchair, but you know what I mean.) Certainly the jaws of a few friends dropped in surprise when they saw us. Linda and I enjoyed being back again, singing the familiar hymns, the warmth of our friends, that we have now began to regularly attend. It is a LOT easier for Linda now that there is an elevator that moves between the basement Fellowship Hall, parking lot level, and the main floor.

With the help of Dwight and his sons Matt and Don the pine tree in the back yard is no more. Matt, being younger and far more agile than either Dwight or I, climbed the tree with my reciprocating saw and limbed the tree enough than when the trunk fell it would not hit the power lines leading to our house. Dwight, as you would expect with someone with US Forest Service experience, was able to fell the tree perfectly so it didn't hit wires, fence, expensive decorative tree, or any of us. Good thing, that.





















My friend Jon teaches a forensics class at the local community college. He asked if I would be interested in doing a class on forensic and digital photography for the class. So I worked on writing, researching, and assembling a PowerPoint presentation on the subject. I presented it this morning; I guess it went well as none of the students (or Jon) was throwing stuff at me! In the process I discovered Gigappan, a robot that uses a regular point and shoot camera to make incredible panorama photos. Follow this link to see more; you'll be glad you did! http://www.gigapansystems.com/

I have been trying to decide if I want to buy a new digital camera to replace my old Canon G-3. The G-3 is getting a bit long in the tooth compared to current examples of point and shoot cameras. So I have been agonizing over what might take the place of the G-3. The new Canon G-10? The as yet not released Canon SX1-IS? How about the Fuji 2000? It is a neat rig. Or the Olympus or Nikon? I just don't know. manufacturers cleverly mix in or omit features so that no one point and shoot really does everything. For that you get into the DSLR cameras and some really big bucks! I want something that will fit in my pocket, react fast enough to take pictures of my quick grandsons, take short video clips, and of course take great photos. Hopefully I can come to a decision in the next month or so. Wouldn't a new G-10 and a Gigapan be a wonderful combination?