Thursday, May 7, 2009

Another beautiful morning. I say that despite the fact that it´s raining and it´s rather cold outside. Back home there´s a fire in the stowe and my coffee maker is on its way to make my morning perfect. To be honest, I kind of like these days when it rains after a long warmer period. I then don´t have to feel guilty not going out to enjoy the great weather :-)



Sometimes I really miss my old camera, a Minolta XG1. Misunderstand me right now (swedish saying), I really like the camera I have now. It takes great, sharp pictures so I´m very happy with it. But there are somethings with these modern digital cameras that disturbes me a bit.



I love seing when the ferns slowly rolls out and reveal the shape of their leaves, It´s almost better than to se the actully leafs.



With my old camera I could quickly adjust the focus and then press the button so it took the picture I wanted. The new ones have autofocus wether I want it or not. My camera has touch buttons, so I only have to touch it easily and it focuses all by it self. Then I press the button again and the picture is taken. That is if the motive stands still and the camera is in the right mood. If it moves it´s a completely different thing.



A white Checkered daffodil. If one looks close one can see that it still is checker bord coloured, but in white and very light yellow.


Like yesterday when I saw a fox in the field when I and my dogs were out walking. The fox looked at something just ahead of it, probably a vole or mouse I think. I grabbed my camera and of course I had to turn it on. It takes about three seconds until it´s ready to take a picture. I amed at the fox and touched the button and it adjusted the focus real good. The problem is that it´s makes a little noice when I touch the button, a little bleep. The fox wasn´t far away and despite that he was very focused on the vole or what ever it was, he heard the sound clearly. So I press the button again to get the picture. The only thing that happens is that it bleeps again! It actully bleeps several times in a row. Sort of telling me that it wasn´t especially satisfied with the last focusing and that it wasn´t consentrated this time :-)





Another Violet, but even if it looks almost the same as the one I photografed down by the creek, this one lives where it´s rather dry.


Yet again I touch the button. The picture is now focused at the place the fox stood at before it started running away from me. I press the button and the little bling comes once again. “Well You didn´t tell me what to focus on, did You?” I sort of can hear how the camera mocks me :-) Once again I press the button, I really want to get a picture of that fox. The camera actully takes a picture, but on the trees far, far away from both me and the animal. With a bit of imagination the brown-red spot in the picture can be a fox, but it can also be something on the lens :-) :-)



I´ve said it before and will say it many times more. I think the polyporuses adre really beautiful! I know it means the end of the trees when they get them, but I still think they are beautiful.


These ones also have some colour undernieth.


Some of them can grow really big. This one is over thirty centimeters wide (twelve inches).





Usually I have my camera set for fast moving objekts, when having it that way shaking hands doesn´t give a bad picture. But if I use the super macro, the fast moving setting goes out the window so to speak. The camera then doesn´t care if I want to get a quick picture, it will take the time it feels like :-) So there I stand usually in a difficult position and my hands start to shake. Guess how the picture will look like :-)

The first strawberries in bloom. We are getting strawberries early this year.



But those things aside, the new cameras are greate. One can get a really high quality camera today for less than then I bought my much loved Minolta XG1 over twenty years ago. One doesn´t need to take all pictures on a film and then wait a week or two to get the pictures home, just to realise that half of them were crap. One doesn´t have to pay to get them developped either. One just plugs in the camera to the computor and woops, there Your pictures are and only the good ones. The bad ones has already been deleted in the camera.



When the the flowering period of the Cherries slowly geta to an end it´s time for the Bird cherry trees to start. Some of them smells wonderful, but a lot of them smells like cat pee. This one however smelled fantastic.




Well if it doesn´t rain on my next walk I´ll try to find that fox again :-)
Have a great day now, I will!





Forgetmenots.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just to add to your hilarious story, I was really counting on seeing a fox picture this morning. I came all the way over here from Florida in the U.S. just to see Christer's take on a fox he found in his long morning walks. Tomorrow I hope to remember to take my camera with me as the Aligator has returned to the campus lake. So may be I can get a picture of it showing its' teeth like it did this morning. It loves to swim near the cafeteria building, they have a sitting area for students to have their lunch, and it swims around with the snapping turtles. They look viscious and when I throw down some bread, a dozen paddle quickly to the drop point. Amazing. And that first picture of the sun rising . . . it's beautiful! I really like your post this morning Christer, have a great day!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

HiZ&M!
I got so irritated that I deleted that picture immediatly :-) :-) and when I did that the camera said Bling :-) :-)
I will get a picture of a fox if it so will kill me during the search :-) :-)

Oh yeas, take a picture of the alligators! The only time we can see them here is when we go to big aquariums. We did have the oldest living Crocodile in Gotheburg for a long time. Her name was Smilet (smily) and she never mowed at all. One time she blinked her eye and that was the most I ever saw her move :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Valerie said...

Hi Christer,

Such a funny story about the fox! I could have writte the same story except insert kid(s) instead of fox. They also move too quickly for macro setting! LOL

And you're right, nothing more exasperating than the wait to get film developed only to see crappy photos! I really feel like digital has helped me to improve on picture taking b/c you get immediate feedback!

Lovely phots...is that a type of fungus that attacks the tree? You're right in that it is quite beautiful.

Blessings to you from Kansas,
Valerie

P.S. Yes, you are correct...a "thrift" store is like a second-hand shop that sells all different types of house/garden ware in addition to clothing. You can find records, cameras, china, couches, the list is endless!

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Valerie!
Yes, kids are to fast for the camera :-) :-)

I belive too that the digital cameras helps us getting a lot better pictures. Now we can try our ways with the camera and it wount cost a nickel. It´s easier with things standing still than with kids and foxes :-)

Yes again, When the tree get attacked with these funguses it slowly starts to die. Oaks can live with it for hundred of years, but a birch dies within ten or twent years. But many of them are really beautiful.

Another word I learned today then, great!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

woody said...

So the fox got away I guess thats why the call em foxes.But you sure got some good pictures of the flowers and polyporuses and your little tale paints a perfectly clear picture of the fox so once more you get A+ for your bloggin.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Woody and thank You!
Have just been to Your blog and loved it!
Have a great day now!
Christer.

NinaH said...

Woops. Hard to keep up with you now!;-) Had so many posts to read here now! Don´t think I did get all. But many. Nice to reread!
Hm.... Thos cameras... Hm... Yes... Hard to get that kind of photos (but nice & amusing to read your story ´bout it!;-)...) But they are pretty good in the garden. As you can have it in the pocket & take immidiate shoots of a flower when one sees it ... I skip the foxes etc.!;-)

NinaH said...

not reread! But read!;-)

Kat said...

Christer,
I'm sorry about your missing the fox, but I suspect that you'll not be deterred by a few bleeps.

What camera are you using now, the one with the bleeps? It odes take wonderful close up shots. The more I see your flowers the more I envy you your garden.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Nina!
There´s so much to do outside so it´s hard to get the time to read blogs now, so I understand completely.

I mean the digital cameras are really great, just the thing that one can delete bad pictures makes it so much easier. But they sure do have their own ideas :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi kat!
There will be more chanses with that fox I think. My neighbours says it´s around their cottage most every day, so my chanse will come :-) :-)

The bleeping camera is a Sanyo Xacti.I got it from my sister in law when she bought a new one. It´s a real great camera, but with ideas of its own :-) :-)

My garden is actully mostly lawn. pehaps 20% is different flowerbeds. I want it that way because of my dogs. Three 90 pound dogs needs a lot of space when playing in the garden :-) I do however plant a bush or a liyttle tree eher and there. It wount take a lot of space from the dogs and they can later use them as hideouts when playing (the cats use them as such too). But I can´t even remember how many small trees and bushes they already have broken and killed while playing :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

wow..I'm not sure what to comment on first...of course the fox story and the camera misbehaving as far as I'm concerned, is what sticks with me..probably because mine drives me crazy like that. I have taken to using Howards as his is NOT a loud..and is faster. Wild strawberries...beautiful. I would like to plant some in my yard..the type that creep around the yard like a ground cover..but doubt I will get them in this year. It is HOT here. Nearly a hundred degrees today. More heat tomorrow.

The polyporuses I am unsure of. I mean if they are pretty or ugly. I guess I think they are ugly..I know..I know you think they are pretty..but...well..I cannot agree. :) They are..just..ok..I guess for a polyporuses they are ok. How is "ok"...it's the best I can do! LOL...sorry...
Loved the post today!
Mona

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Hi Mona!
I think that ok is really ok for the polyporuses :-) :-) :-)

Cameras! I mean they are really great nowdays, but it takes some time to understand them. Even if I had this camera a couple of months now I still find new ways of changing the settings on them. I know I can turn of the bleeping sound, but then I´m not sure if i move to fast when taking the picture, so it becomes all fuzzy instead.


So You have it that warm! We only reached 59 yesterday. I heard thet there´s a big fire in Santa Monica, have they manage to put it out yet?
Have a great day now!
Christer.