Presents, Protecting Pixies, Playing and Photos ...

Well, the mystery of who my "Anonymous Rescue Squad" is/are remains a mystery. If I had a gun to my head and was forced to name names - I would have guessed my friend B. She called today and said my Rescue Squad was hilarious. She mentioned that she also had some Playmobil for me and was going to drop it off last night. She went on to say "Wouldn't that have just been a hoot?" or something like that. Decided she probably was not that good of a liar - and why not come clean - I LOVED IT! So I have scratched B off the very short list.

She said she would drop off her present on her way past my house for a class. She also mentioned cryptically that it was sort of the opposite of what arrived on my front porch last night.

Hmmmmm ....

I thought about this and could only come up with a SWAT Team, but since she had read my post - she knew that we have a team on the way - so was still wondering when she showed up.

I opened her present and I LOVE HER!!!

We now have our very own magical "Protecting Pixie" or Elf, or Sprite, or Imp, or Fairy protecting our 'house'! It is always a plus to have magic and a bit of Pixie Dust at the ready off in the wings (Ha! Pun!) just in case the SWAT Team fail spectacularly - and YOU JUST KNOW THAT WILL PROBABLY HAPPEN ...

She might just be a bona fide real life "Water Sprite" since she comes complete with her own leaf to float about on. A few lily pads and the cutest frog accompany her.

OK, I realize that just took up the first three "P's" in my title - but one of them is not done yet.

Can you guess which one?

Yes?

No?

We are talking about Lori-Hurst-The-Most-Spoiled-Gal-On-Planet-Earth ...

Yes! PRESENTS!!!

Apparently somewhere in my brain I made the command decision that to make it through the holiday season - I would buy a TON of stuff and have it slowly trickle in day by day for the month of December. And see? Haven't slit my wrists or anything!  This just might start to be the standard for the month of December around here ...

A few posts back on the day before my Wedding Anniversary, I mention that Gary and I were headed to Brazos Bend State Park early the next morning for me to play with my new camera and lenses. I wrote that part of my post before complete disaster struck ...

OK - I will be honest - it was not disaster per se ... it was very much more like complete stupidity - this too seems to be a running theme for the month of December ... hmmmm ...

When I went on my Black Friday Super Duper Camera Shopping Extravaganza I believe that I mentioned the grundles of cameras I purchased and the Macro and Wide Angle lens amongst other things. I failed to mention that I had also bought a Telephoto lens. It had slipped my mind since when looking around the Sigma 18 - 300 lens on my current camera was still looking good so I just got another one.

Ho Hum ...

OR SO I THOUGHT ...

After writing that post, I decided it was about time to get my lenses out and pack them in my very über cool Camera Bag that I specially ordered at a shop on Etsy. I got to pick the leather, the damask fabric, the canvas fabric ... well ... just everything! I think it turned out rather lovely, no?

Yeah, yeah, yeah - SPOILED ... I know ...

But lookie how everything is all snuggly yet stylish at the same time:

It came complete with a leather iPad case, a case for all your baby Sandisk cards and the other one ... hmmmm ... I have no idea what that is. Well ... MINE came complete with those things because at the last minute I threw them in the cart - yet still - ever so lovely!

The first lens I got out was my telephoto lens since it was going to be very underwhelming to try it out. Carefully took off the caps protecting the lenses, lined up the red dots on the camera and the lens and very gently, very slowly began to turn - waiting for that satisfying 'click' as it locks in place.

I turned it, and turned it and turned it - but nothing. Hmmmmm. Actually got out the Ikea'ish like instructions but it mentioned nothing about having to do anything special with it to get it on - so again I tried.

And again.

And again.

I was maybe ... just maybe a mite bit slow in figuring out that the dang thing was NOT FITTING my camera. AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!

I finally gave up with an ever-so-dramatic sigh. Moved on and was TREMENDOUSLY RELIEVED that both of my other lenses fit my camera.

I am still unsure how I messed up - but messed up is apparently what I did. Thus I got on the computer that evening and started the return process.

OK, here is where it gets kinda, maybe EXACTLY like the definition in the dictionary under the word "SERENDIPITOUS". (The one stating: "The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident")

See - about two days AFTER I had ordered my grundle of camera stuff - Gary was looking around on Amazon and since it likes to suggest things to you based on what you have been looking at, and since we share the account - he gets to look at camera stuff whether he likes it or not and I get to look at all sorts of tools whether I like it or not. He yelled out to me: "Lori - I just put a telephoto lens in the wish list. Did you see this one?"

I was thinking that this was rather UNTIMELY of the guy, but headed to the wish list and seriously LUSTED after the telephoto lens he had placed there. It was called:

Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras

It started to describe the lens in super, duper, intense detail and listed its main features:

Piezo Drive (PZD) Ultrasonic Autofocus Motor

It started to talk about Ultrasonic motors, traveling wave motors and standing wave motors - which (and I am not proud of this) is COMPLETELY LIKE CRACK COCAINE to me (or so I would imagine ...). And it had diagrams!


DIAGRAMS!!!

Vibration Compensation (VC)

Low Dispersion (LD) Glass for Greater Lens Sharpness

Internal Focusing (IF) System

Zoom Lock (ZL)

Anomalous Dispersion (AD) for Better Color Correction

Aspherical Lens Elements (ASL)

Yeah - there was bunches and bunches of writing that accompanied all this - but since I am probably the only one excited about it - well - I probably went too far with the diagrams ... didn't I?

With EACH AND EVERY new feature I read about - how it was state of the art, fantastic, marvelous, magical ... I sort of got steamed. After finishing the entire description I yelled back to Gary: "Hey, yeah - THANKS!!! This would have been REALLY, REALLY nice to have known THREE DAYS AGO!!!" ... then sulked like the spoiled girl that I am.

Not really - I sort of forgot about it ....

All of a sudden, in the middle of setting up the return for my telephoto lens my brain began to tickle. Hmmmm - there was something I needed to remember.

And then I DID!

OH, HAPPY DAY!

But I was not going to be bamboozled again so I googled how to make sure the lens you are buying fits your camera and someone had mentioned that Adorama.com had a little program that would let you enter both and say 'yea' or 'nay'. Clicked over to Adorama.com - a web site I had heard a lot about and is very trusted by photographers - and cut and pasted in the name of the lens.

It came up with seven options with this lens name. One for Canon DLSRs, one for Nikon whatevers, one for Sony whatevers, then three kits for each of these cameras that included, in addition to the lens, a Pro Optic 62mm MC UV Filter, a Lens Cap Leash, a very cute, adorable Professional Lens Cleaning Kit in the cutest little zippered case you have ever seen and an Lexar 8GB Card. That looked good - and was cheaper than just the lens on Amazon - very unusual for me.  But still -

WAS IT GOING TO FIT MY CAMERA?!?!

And there - sitting in all its glory was the SEVENTH option:

Another kit - complete with:

~ Canon EOS Rebel T4i Digital SLR Camera Body

~ Tamron 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 DI-II VC PZD Piezo Drive Ultrasonic Motor Aspherical AF Macro Zoom

~ Pro Optic 62mm Digital Essentials Filter Kit

~ Lexar 8GB, 200x Platinum II SDHC Card

Yes - it was astronomically more expensive than the other six, but do you see it?


Do you?


DO YOU?


Look at the very first thing listed!

 IT IS MY CAMERA!!!


THE EXACT SAME CAMERA!!!

Well, now I knew - OF COURSE the lens is going to fit! And - although the lens itself was about 'ahem' four times the cost of the other telephoto lens I was returning - I took that seventh option as a sign - a VERY SERIOUS SIGN and immediately purchased it with free second day air delivery. As it was late Tuesday night - I was hoping that they would ship it on Wednesday - it would get here Friday and Gary and I could head out to Brazos on Saturday...


And just like that ... BING, BANG, BAM:

Gary walked into the house and I yelled excitedly that my lens had arrived. He walked into the office and said "I suggest that you see if it fits and will focus". I had some trouble with the focus two nights earlier trying to take night shots of Christmas Lights in Pecan Grove. Seriously ... DO NOT get me started about how crazy weird all Pecan Grove residents must be to decorate like that - it boggles my mind.

Picked up my camera, swiveled my chair, put it up to my eye and 'click':

Said: "Yep, seems to be working JUST FINE!"

And isn't he just the most ADORABLE WOODWORKER EVER? Note the safety glasses, pencils in the pocket, tape measure and a shirt covered in wood chips. I love that he loves his hobby so much - especially since I am the one that gets all the good stuff he makes! But now that I have posted this picture and used the words 'saftey glasses' he might just refuse to come with me in the morning ... hmmmmmm - Not really - this post is SO FREAKING LONG - he will NEVER make it this far ...

I then decided to go a playing with it - in the house of course! Took a photo of one of the two ginormous Tine's Gary is in the process of making - wanted to see if the background would sufficiently blur:

Lookin' good!

Then stood in the kitchen and took a photo of my mantle - clear across the Great Room at no zoom:

And then one with full zoom:

Was going to check them out on the computer and see how much degradation there was in the second photo and was very pleased to see very little.

Decided to see how it did photographing crystal - something that my other telephoto lens refused to do. While walking through the Great Room I took a shot of our "Serial Killer Santa" nutcracker since I have not 'shared' him yet.

Seriously - was I TOTALLY STONED when I picked this guy out? JUST LOOK AT HIS FACE! HIS BEADY, SHIFTY LITTLE EYES! He gives me the creeps and I simply cannot put anything to the left of him because - well - it just looks creepy.

He is from Norway and most Santa's I saw in Norway were very jolly. I don't believe I saw a single one in which I wonder if he has an entire stash of headless bodies buried in his basement.

Norway also has Christmas Witches. It was VERY ODD - and last year I was reminded yet again - to walk into the Christmas store in Drøbak - the 'real' North Pole and see witches on brooms flying about. Yet still - they DID NOT LOOK LIKE THEY ATE SMALL CHILDREN FOR DINNER.

I actually keep him out all year - I am not sure why - maybe just to keep an eye on him or to ensure all my other decorations are safe ...

OK, I decided that you just might not get the full force of his evilness without and EXTREME CLOSEUP:

Started out with my 'Angel Pile' wanting to take a photo of the Swarovski stand and snowflake I never photographed. It worked wonderfully:

It focused on the crystal snowflake just fine:

And then I wanted to get really, really close - something my other telephoto lens did not like at all. When I ordered this stand - I didn't know it came complete with a crystal. Apparently it is against the law for Swarovski to make anything without one:

Pleased with my results, I played around with the ornaments on the tree. I am a little disappointed that it seems to have a wee bit of trouble focusing when I have the camera in 'Live View' mode - but I will probably get over it.

Since I mention Rachael's first ornament - the one I bought while pregnant with her - I decided to start with her:

And then just merrily snapped away to my hearts content - with the focus chirp sounding like music to my ears ...

OK, this was not a challenge, but tell me - is this not the CUTEST, TEENIEST, LITTLE CUCKOO CLOCK EVER?  The only thing Gary said to me as I was leaving with Ryan for a week in Bavaria, Germany was that if I brought home a cuckoo clock I would be in BIG TROUBLE.  I am not entirely sure why he hates them so ...

So, what's a girl to do?  NOW, I simply HAD TO BRING ONE BACK. 

Call this my compromise:

Well, folks - it seems like I am totally incapable of writing a blog post shorter than War And Peace these days - if y'all are still reading this - I am TOTALLY AMAZED!

Night all ....