Blue Lights and Fir

For the first time, our family has set up a live Christmas tree. Ella helped me pick it out and we lashed it to the roof of the van for a careful drive across Bayport. It is a beautiful tree and it makes our house smell like a Christmas from my childhood - the blue lights are also a part of that tradition. I didn't know it as a child, but live trees are a ton of work! I find myself checking on it multiple times during the day and although I water it right before bed, by morning it is almost out of water. I don't know how we are going to visit family before Christmas... would it be unusual to ask our neighbors to water the tree while we are gone? If it helps, I can always leave a list of instructions on the fridge, along with a number they could reach us at in case of emergency...




On Monday the kids were off school for a PD day so we went into town to go skating at Olympic Plaza. It may not be Rockefeller Center, but there was still something to be said for skating in the heart of a hustling and bustling city. Surrounded by office buildings and the sounds of traffic, it was neat to be on a frozen pond in a stand of fir trees. There was not a drug dealer to be seen the whole time we were there, so someone is doing a good job of keeping that area clean.



Yesterday we went to a children's Christmas Party put on by my work. We had missed going last year because someone didn't respond to his email in a timely manner (and it took almost a year for people to forgive him). The kids had a great time and Mason and Tyson each told Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Ella was a little standoffish, and although Santa probably didn't sense the change, I knew it was due to "The Talk" that Heather and I had recently had with her over a cream soda float after her brothers had gone to bed. Yup, I sound like a Grinch and that story is a post all on its own, but just know that it was a sad experience for all of us, and I would rather have never had that Talk. I just felt like we had no choice when she reported to us that kids at school were teasing her regarding the subject of Santa.



I've included this photo to help bridge the title to our different Christmas activities - a tenuous link, I know. Oh well, it has been a month since our last post so you shouldn't expect me to be in my best form.







The kids had a great time and, as usual, received some really nice gifts. Although Deacon didn't know what to do at first, once Heather unwrapped his gift, he fell in love with his little barnyard set.



This evening we had the opportunity to sit as a family and hear a wonderful message from the First Presidency about the true meaning of Christmas and what we can do to make this time even more meaningful. And following the broadcast we pondered the message over a delicious Pirogi Sunday supper that Heather prepared.

- C

The Talented Miss Ella

(I took this first photo)

This afternoon Ella went on a photography walk organized by a local art gallery. As I went through the pictures she bought back I was amazed at how good they were! It was a wakeup call as to how creative and how mature she has gotten. I am including a few of her photos (I only resized them). She tells me that the dog was blind in one eye.














On the subject of being talented but growing up too fast, here's a clip from the other day when I let Ella watch herself on the computer while listening to music. I saved the recording and later added the original audio track so the sounds of our house (ie, nerf gun fight) weren't so loud.




Thank you Ella for being so helpful and smart and kind. We love you and are so proud of you... but please, don't grow up so fast.

- C

The 10s

CHEMTD has been on a bit of a hiatus for the past little while, but something as monumental as 10/10/10 demands a post. This morning Heather made pancakes in the shape of "1"s and "0"s, and we have managed to save a lone firecracker which we will set off tonight when it's dark.



Our family went to Cirque du Soleil Kooza to celebrate and it was a mind blowing experience. The acts were fantastic but the live music and singing that accompanied them really added to the excitement. Here are clips of the two acts that we voted as our favorites:



And this one was the best:






We hope that each of you have a fabulous Tensth.

- C

Lost Party

Our family (mostly the kids and me), have been watching Lost for the past few weeks. To go along with the series finale tonight we issued the kids boarding passes in their names for Oceanic Flight 815 and set up a snack table complete with island fruit, wild boar, and Dharma Initiative food supplies (ps- the Dharma Cola is actually just rootbeer).

I'm not going to write anything about Lost itself because we are probably the last people to see it, but it was nice to be able to follow that amazing story from start to finish. I'm sad that it's over but at least now I will get some things done around the house... and the kids should stop falling asleep on the couches without brushing their teeth.

Namaste, and good luck,

- C

A Weekend at the The Sanctuary

Yesterday we returned from visiting JC&CO. at their new home. The name I gave it is partly due to the peaceful idyllic setting, and partly due to the unstated-but-implied "protected" status enjoyed by the birds on the property.

Almost as soon as we got there the kids started climbing trees.



Naturally it was Mason, who's Ninja Aptitude scores are the highest we've ever tested, that set the record with this three-story climb. Around this time we began questioning where exactly the nearest hospital was.



The most memorable event had to be the giant water fight involving the adults and all of the kids (except Deacon, he's probably still at the point where an icecream bucket of water over the head symbolizes the end of personal security and predictability in the world, more than it symbolizes a fun time). There are no photos because I didn't want to risk my camera to Chaim or Oscar's reckless use of a supersoaker, but I wish I had a picture of when Jeremy advanced on Tyson with a bucket of cold water, asking ominously, "how would you like to get wet?" To everyone's surprise Tyson, armed only with a small water pistol, shouted back, "how would YOU like to get wet?" and charged Jeremy, chasing him away.

The camera ventured out during supper and managed to get this shot of the steaks Jeremy cooked.



As if 6 acres of forest, dugout, field, and raspberry bushes weren't enough to keep the kids busy, I picked up a pellet gun for Mason on our way out of town. After going over the Cardinal Rules for safe gun handling, he took to it with his hallmark, sober intensity. Soon he was proficient at hitting the silhouette targets that came included.



As much as Mason enjoyed plinking away, I would estimate that Jeremy and I shot even more of the 250 expended pellets than he did. And I admit that when Crystal wasn't looking I even took some shots at a few of The Sanctuary's feathered residents... but don't worry, I didn't hit any of them.

Another luxury of an acreage like this is that we could park the Yamaha just outside the front door so it was ready for a lap around the circuit at a moment's notice. That sure beats our usual routine of driving for an hour just to get to a place where we can ride it.



Ella loved picking raspberries from the "thicket" behind the shop and Heather enjoyed sitting on the front porch and relaxing in the peace and quiet. Yes - between the yelling of children, motorcycle exhaust notes, and sound of riflefire - there were some nice quiet moments too.

Thanks Paynes

- C

We've Lost the Paynes

This morning I feel much the same way as I did when KJAMBD moved out of Bayport. I'm not talking about back-pain; I'm talking about regret. Regret that we took JC&CO. for granted and didn't see them as much as we should have while they were close.

Yesterday, they packed up their earthly possessions and set out for a new home.



What about the area? I love it. It is a beautiful area that, if the people who stopped by are any indication, is populated by hard working, salt of the earth people. Being in the company of people like this always has me questioning why any of us choose to live in larger cities.

One thing I noticed is that the sky seemed much prettier in their new location. Although I didn't capture it in the photos, the clouds seemed closer and fluffier than those at home. We will have to visit more to see if there really is a difference.



What about their house? I am jealous. Because of Crystal's modesty I was not expecting such a nice home. It is newly built and quite beautiful. The large porch on the front is just asking for chairs to be set up so the adults can visit while the cousins play.



The land that the house is situated on is even better. Is has trees, a dugout, barbwire fence, and an old barn. The perfect recipe for a happy boyhood. Jeremy and Crystal brought a big-screen TV and some news toys along with them - according to Crystal, because they were worried that Chaim and Oscar would have nothing else to do out there. I applaud Jeremy for so cleverly gaining approval for a new TV, but really it's Mason, Tyson, and Deacon who I was worried about. Until now, they didn't really have a place where they could go to snare gophers.



I should have taken the house pictures before we moved all of their things inside. Here is a picture of the kitchen and dining area. My favorite feature of the kitchen is the awesome pantry that has a switch in the door frame so the light comes on as soon as you open the door. The master bedroom is on the left and the front door is on the right. Ahead on the left is a hallway that goes to the laundry room, side door, back door, and stairs to the basement. Behind me to the left is another bedroom and a bathroom and behind me to the right is the living room.



Living room. That piano looks pretty good there.



Here is the large room in the basement. On the right is the landing to the stairs and a furnace room and storage room. Ahead is another bathroom and two bedrooms.



Even though I wish they hadn't moved, I have to admit that it was probably a good move for them and their kids. It may even turn out to be good for our family and we are looking forward to having such a fun place to visit.



- C

Broken Record

I feel like the needle of our blog has skipped backwards, creating that dreaded "locked groove" and causing me to repeat the same post over and over again.

It's not like there isn't anything else that we could be writing about. I recently received a sobering calling at Church, which came right on the heals of being called to the role of Sergeant to supervise a team at work until a permanent replacement is found. Today is my 15 year high-school reunion. Heather has recently become 35% more pretty and has added a few new dishes to her already impressive culinary repertoire. Ella and Mason were each chosen, by different teachers, for an award at school that has made us very proud, despite our best efforts at humility. Oh, and the Littlest Pet Shop? He just turned one year old.

So with all of that going on, what do you think I'm going to write about? Yup, camera stuff. I honestly don't know what is wrong with me.

I promise I will make this brief, I just wanted to share something that I have learned, namely:

Which camera you use matters much less than which lens you use.

To demonstrate, here is the bee picture I posted last time. I took this with a 30 year-old 135mm manual focus lens on my beginner-level (they say) Olympus e-510 camera.



This is as close as I could get to the bee and still be in focus so it turned out to be a photo of flowers with a bee in the frame. Today I took out my similar-vintage Tamron 90mm f2.5 macro ($40 from kijiji) and attached it to the same camera.





Now I know for certain that if my pictures don't look like a professional's, it's not my camera's fault - it's my lens' fault. Just kidding, it's my fault... but the right lens can make a huge difference.

Well, will you look at that. The needle just jumped the groove and is back on the spiral. Sorry for the interruption.

- C

Tanis' Lens

Here are some pictures I took with the 135mm when we were out working in the yard.

(does it seem like Heather is always the one that's working and I am the one that's taking pictures?)















- C

Recycled Glass - Bonus Points

These photos aren't great but I am posting them to show Tanis the difference in focal length between a 50mm lens (almost her max reach currently) and my little Olympus 200mm f4 (it is the longer one shown in the first post).

Here's the 50, and yes it's not a very sharp photo. When the subject is further away it's harder to see whether it's in focus or not (of course, if the subject is really far away like a mountain or something, then it is easy because you can just set it to infinity and everything will be in focus).



and the 200mm taken from the same spot:



This has me excited to try out the 500mm mirror lens that we got from dad. As long as the image quality is good, it should get us nice and close to the wildlife. I hand held those shots but I found it a lot harder to do with the longer lens.

Jewel asked if she could use these old lenses with her Canon Rebel and the answer is "yes". For $13 she could get this adapter and use her camera with all the lenses that I have used in these posts:



She can't use old Canon lenses that have the "breech lock" style of mount (unfortunately this is the mount used on all of dad's nice looking Canon lenses) because back then, those lenses were located closer to the film negative than the distance to the digital sensors in our cameras. As a result, you lose the ability to focus to infinity unless you get an adapter with a corrective glass element in it, but that is not ideal either because it will have an effect on image quality and the light gathering ability of the lens. My understanding is that while you can also mount Nikon lenses on a Canon body, you can not mount old Canon lenses on a Nikon body.

But there is one advantage that Olympus has in using legacy glass and that is its in-body image stabilization. Olympus is definitely the underdog and can't even compete with the "Canikon" juggernauts when it comes to sales. But there's no denying that this is a company that knows photography. Olympus was the first company to feature a dust reduction system which cleans the sensor of dust particles that would otherwise show up as spots in your photographs. Olympus released this Supersonic Wave Filter (SSWF) back in 2003 and other companies have followed suit by releasing their own versions: Sony (2006), Canon (2006), Pentax (2006), and Nikon in (2007). I got those dates from wikipedia along with this quote:

"There have been several attempts by camera magazines to test the various dust reduction systems to see how effective they are. Pixinfo,[2] Chasseur d’Images,[3][4] and Camera Labs[5] have all published their opinions, which can be summarized as saying that none of the systems are completely effective, but that the Olympus SSWF system is significantly better than most of the others, with the Nikon system perhaps a close second."

Also, Olympus was the first company to introduce live view for digital cameras that allowed you to use the lcd screen as though you were looking through the viewfinder - I find this very helpful for legacy lenses because it allows me to zoom in on the image to 10x magnification in order to get the focus right (of course you almost have to be on a tripod for that fine tuning).

But the thing that I find most useful is Olympus' in-body image stabilization. It just makes sooooo much more sense to pay for that technology once and to have in your camera so that it benefits any lens you attach, rather than having to pay for it each time you buy a lens and having to decide which lenses you will get with stabilization and which ones you wont. It is such a good idea, that Canikon will have no choice but to eventually copy it - you can bank on that.

To give an example of the difference this makes, I just snapped two hand-held pictures of our telephone with my 100mm f2.8. Because it was indoors with available light through the window, the shutter speed had to be slower - which led to "camera shake" blurring.



Then I turned on my camera's IS and told it that the particular lens to be stabilized was a 100mm. This is the difference it made:



Now despite the promoting I have been doing, I don't believe that my Olympus fourthirds camera is the best camera for using legacy lenses. No, the best camera for legacy lenses has to be an Olympus micro fourthirds (mft) like their new "digital pen" series.



Even though this E-P1 is the first-generation of its class, and is only half the size of my E-510 digital SLR, it has a more powerful and better performing image sensor than mine. Also, because the sensor is closer to the lens mount, it is possible to get adapters for any type of lens - because it's easy to make thicker adapters for lenses that need to be further away, but for my camera you can't make adapter rings thin enough for some lenses that need to be closer (like dad's Canon lenses).

But the main reason why I think MFT is the ultimate legacy platform? Because the compact, beautiful camera body is the perfect match for these compact beautiful lenses. Here it is with an old Olympus 38mm pancake lens:



This is a powerful interchangeable lens digital camera that you could put in your coat pocket. It is a back-to-basics, deliberate style of photography that is really starting to appeal to be. And did I mention how good it looks? Here it is next to one of its ancestors, wearing an optional "leatherette skin":



Another glamour shot:



I don't have one of these yet but when the next generation models come out with a viewfinder that you can look through instead of just the lcd screen on the back - I will definitely be tempted. Until that time, I will just keep collecting nice glass and continue trying to convince Heather that she needs a small camera of her own. I suppose that I could sell my dslr to finance it...


But then how would I take pictures of the PEN?



- C