Sunday Thoughts

It's been raining every day since we've gotten back from our vacation, where we took sunny and rainless days for granted the entire two weeks.  

We're used to afternoon thunderstorms in the DC area, but not so used to ones that hit mid-day.   It's causing havoc with plans for having fun outside, but I am getting some inside chores done, like reviewing my trip photos and cleaning out my sewing room. 

After this morning's storm I tried out the F stops on Ben's camera and got some interesting results.   

This shot of the deck railing was with an F8 aperture, leaving most of the water out of focus.  

This one is with a F16 aperture, putting the whole thing in focus and unexpectedly catching the reflection of the tree limbs and leaves in the overhanging maple tree.  

And check out this cool picture.  

It used an F2.8 shot but I just photographed a small portion of the railing,

 resulting in this rather abstract image.  

The first of the water lilies bloomed yesterday. Ben took this lovely photo. 

It was wet yesterday morning but had dried out by the afternoon so we were able to get the yard mowed and some other gardening done. 

Later we had the first grilled dinner of the season; steak, squash, and tomato/basil bruschetta. 

 It's so nice to eat out by the pond.

And I'm just about done with my first "summer reading" book.  The summer is my time for reading adult books, rather than the children's literature that I usually read during the school year. 

 I'm reading a hard copy of this rather than an e-copy and I quite like holding a "real" book again.  I found it by actually visiting a Barnes & Noble bookstore and browsing the displays, also an experience I don't have much anymore.  I chose it because it in Rome and in the Cinque Terre area of Italy and it's turned out to be a good choice.  

Given my serendipitous method of book selection, I was surprised and amused to read in this morning's Washington Post (also hard copy) that this is on the New York Times best seller list.