Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/10 sec, ISO400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello!
Wow, my body is exhausted… yesterday we received 1 cubic yard of dirt to use in our front and backyards, so today I shoveled it all into the wheelbarrow and distributed it around our lawns, to fill in low spots. We get heavy rains sometimes and it washes away a lot of dirt. So once in a while, it is good to replenish! But it’s a lot of hard work and my arms are so sore. Plus the mosquitoes are in full-force in Central Texas, so it wasn’t a relaxing bit of work. But it all got done, and I have a good feeling of accomplishment!
In other news, we bought a couple new fish for our aquarium, plus I asked the store for several Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Our tank has developed a lot of brown algae, and these snails are supposed to help keep everything clean. Right after I dumped them into our tank they got straight to work! I wonder how good a job they’ll do, and how long it will take to see any progress. It will be fun to see!
Today’s photo is of Koa, eating dinner using chopsticks while riding the exercise bike and watching television. He can multi-task like a pro!
Well, I need to sleep early… my body needs rest. 😄
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/9, 1/7 sec, ISO6400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello!
The weekend is here already! I cannot even remember what I did this week. It went by so fast.
This evening, Bay and I watched Star Wars Episode 7 on Blu-ray. It was amazing! We watched it twice in the theater, but watching it at home is really nice too. And for some reason, our broken surround sound system decided to come back to life, so we cranked it up and had the house shaking with the sound of space battles and explosions. It was great!
Tonight’s photo is of our dog, Lani, who was nice enough to join us for the movie. She really dislikes the camera, so I was surprised I could catch her looking at the lens. 🐶
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/300 sec, ISO400 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hello! As you may have noticed, I’ve been working on the A-Z Challenge, and thus, I am actually wondering what to write about in today’s regular blog post. I put a bit of thought into “D”, and spent a decent amount of time editing and rewriting it. It’s actually a lot of fun to do that! I know that I am not very skilled when it comes to writing, but I enjoy doing it anyways. I just didn’t know that it is tiring, but it makes sense. I mean, you are using brain power and oxygen in thinking, and that must cause some mental fatigue, right?
But, just like the exhaustion you feel after a good run, the mental exhaustion feels kind of good. As long as I know that it’s almost bedtime! If I had several hours left in the rest of the day, I probably wouldn’t have such a positive mindset! 😆
Today’s photo is of Lani waiting to go outside. We are trying to get her to not bark so much if she wants to go out, so now if she is loud, we stop in our tracks until she quiets down. I think she is learning slowly that in order for us to let her out quickly, she needs to not bark. But she’s so full of energy it must be difficult!
A couple other things about this photo is that I am trying to use a consistent look to my black and white photos, and have started making some presets in Lightroom so that I can produce the same look. This includes film grain, tone curve, and slight blur. Also, I’ve been getting into the 4×5 format. I’ve normally used a 2×3 format, or the square format, and never considered 4×5. But I kind of like it!
Well, it looks like I did find a few things to write about tonight, huh!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/30 sec, ISO3200 Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！ Hi, how’s it going?
I am doing ok. I worked from home today, and tried to take it easy, but I ended up working hard as usual these days. It’s weird but I spend so much time planning and coordinating projects and sending emails these days that I don’t spend as much time in Illustrator or InDesign actually producing stuff. But it is interesting because it is still creative, and maybe because it’s also new and something I am not used to. A new experience!
Today’s photo is of my son (14) who is waiting for me to take him and his brother out to get a bite to eat. I thought this photo worked better in black and white, so I used Nik Silver Effects to convert it. In the original color version, there is a pink folder in the bottom left that was really distracting so the black and white simplifies this image so the focus is on Bay and Lani.
Well, I hope you had a nice Monday. I am going to get some rest… it’s early… only 9:30pm but I am so tired! 😴
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/20 sec, ISO6400 Cedar Park, 2016
おはようございます！It’s early in the morning, but I woke up and felt like writing… so I thought I would write a bit about our pet situation.
When our cat Miki 🐱 was still with us, she stayed upstairs and Lani 🐶 stayed downstairs. This arrangement came about because Miki didn’t really like the strange new dog that moved into her house, and also because in the rare times Lani would sneak upstairs, she would make a mess (we found her poo up there a couple times) so we taught the dog not to go upstairs and even put a pet barrier on the stairs. We moved Miki’s litter box and food station upstairs into the bathroom and she became an upstairs cat.
Now that we only have Lani, Koa and Mariko have wanted her to be able to come upstairs and sleep with us in our beds. I’m not a huge fan of this idea. In fact, I’m opposed to allowing her upstairs. I guess I like that upstairs has stayed relatively clean, not only because we don’t eat up there, but there isn’t a lot of pet hair to clean up and the carpets don’t have stains on them. I’d like to keep it that way. Plus, dogs are kind of dirty. Besides the dog smell, they run around outside and are covered with who knows what kind of germs and allergens and I really don’t want her bringing all that onto my bed. And I don’t like cleaning up pee stains from the carpet! I mean, you cannot get it 100% clean, right?
Anyways, last night Koa and Mariko tried to get Lani to sleep in Koa’s room by bringing up her crate (where she usually sleeps). Lani reluctantly hung out in Koa’s room for a while, but left the room at the first chance and spent the night downstairs on the sofa. She’s now almost four years old so I don’t know if she’ll ever really be comfortable upstairs. Maybe I am just being stubborn but I want to keep that separation between upstairs and downstairs space. Still, I’m only one out of four votes in the family so who knows how it’ll play out (For the record, I think Bay is indifferent to having Lani upstairs, although she has pooed in his room before).
In other pet news, Mariko wants another cat and has been going to shelters to look at some. I have to admit that although I loved Miki and miss her, life is a bit simpler now. I don’t have to clean the litter box (which we had to keep upstairs in my bathroom), I don’t have to clean up the messes that cats tend to make on the carpet, there’s no more pet hair all over the bed and carpet, I can keep my closet door open, the air in our bedroom is fresher, and we don’t have to make arrangements for a pet sitter when we go on vacation. This cuts out a lot of clutter from my mind. I guess it’s really my own personal issue… but just this simplifying of my life (albeit under sad circumstances) has improved my stress-level a lot. I’ve found a good balance right now, but I’m worried that adding another pet will tip the balance again to the over-stressed side. 😔
Well, that’s just a bit of what’s on my mind this morning. I hope you have a great Tuesday!
-B
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
