Beauregard top, Danï underneath. We all watched with great trepidation as Hurricane Idalia passed us by in the Gulf, only to strike well north of us in Florida’s Big Bend area. We had plenty of rain, especially after it moved out of Florida, which was interesting. Rain is always welcome here in Florida because without plenty of it the vegetation rapidly dries out and becomes fuel for intense county-spanning wildfires. During the rain and thunder everybody settles into the same room with the humans, some even spralling across our laps.
At this point in time Beau is nearly eight (birthday in early October) while Danï is three. Once again I’m reminded how time is fleeting. I still remember (without photographic aids) when they all arrived as kittens.
Both photos taken with the Olympus Pen F and the Panasonic Leica 25mm/1.4 first edition. On micro four thirds the 25mm is a normal lens. Being a Leica designed lens, not Leica built, it produces photos with excellent character. Being Panasonic built I was able to afford it over 10 years ago. If it had been Leica built I wouldn’t have touched it because it would have been well outside my discretionary budget.
Brad and I met up for a lunch today at a local pizza place called Lazy Moon on University. I hadn’t realized it until reminded by Brad, but it’s been over a year since the last time we got together for a lunch (see link/story below). Lazy Moon sells pizza by the slice; a very large slice. My slice was vegetarian (white base with broccoli, red onions, spinach and artichoke hearts on top). It was quite filling and I wound up taking home some leftovers for my wife to sample. I make pizza at home with a base of wheat, topped with Italian cheeses and olives (green and black), Vidalia onions, and artichoke hearts. I actually enjoyed the addition of broccoli at Lazy Moon. As a consequence I’m going to start adding it to various dishes I make at home. We spent about an hour just relaxing and talking about life both as a working stiff (Brad) and a retiree (me). Oddly enough there were still a lot of intersecting interests, especially when it came to living expenses. None-the-less it was a stress-free lunch, and we both had a great time.
Lazy Moon pizza slice box with Hypnotoad
I’m showing you the Lazy Moon pizza slice box so you can see how large a typical slice is. I also wanted to document how much I spent; $12 for the slice, and a free cup of ice water. I would have gotten a diet Coke, but a cup of any beverage there (tea or soda) is now up to $3.50. By comparison I can buy 2L diet Coke at Walmart for $1.88 right now, which means I can get two 2L bottles for a bit more cash ($3.76) than what I would have spent on that cup of soda I didn’t purchase. To make the contrast even starker, my wife and I can go an entire week drinking 4 liters of diet Coke, instead of me blowing it all on one luncheon cup of soda. These are the equivalencies you automatically think about in retirement.
As for why everything is in black-and-white, I’m in one of those “artistic” moods again. I pulled out my Pen-F and set it to black-and-white with minimal grain. The lens on the front of the Pen-F was Olympus’ 17mm/1.8, which in spite of all the haters for that particular lens, has never produced a bad photo for me. Because this is a four thirds sized sensor, not 35mm film sized, the 17mm is equivalent to 34mm on the older 35mm standard. This makes the lens equivalent to the film-era 35mm, a favorite lens of street photographers everywhere, myself included. Combined with the Olympus ECG-4 grip, the entire combination is easy to hold, simple to use, and totally unlike a “real” camera with its SLR hump. If anybody sees it they don’t get excited, assuming it’s some unprofessional point-and-shoot.
As a final photo to end the post, here’s Nicholas Joseph in one of the kitchen chairs this evening.
Radarwitch
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