ne(one)piphany

As promised, photos from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival:

Tulip Festival, a flickr photoset

This weekend was a bit early for tulip-watching. The show displays at Roozengaarde were pretty and full of color, but the growing fields were sparse at best. In the distance were still-brilliant yellow swaths of daffodils, which might have made for a more typical set of flower-festival photos. Still, I’ve never been one to seek out “typical,” and there were plenty of neat things to photograph after a little searching.

More to come, but for now, I hope you enjoy the photoset!

xoxo

Well, if you’ve been paying attention to my flickr photostream at all, you’ve probably sussed out my big secret. I finally have a real camera!

I know some of you lovely folk just want naked facts, so:

• Canon Digital Rebel XT
• Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
• Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

I’ve forgotten how nice it was to hold an SLR and feel the perfect fit of grip-in-hand*, the soft whirr of focus lock & satisfying click-clack of the mirror swinging out of shutter’s way. This whole USM thing is new to me, and wow is it fast — now if I could only get anything to come out correctly focused, I’d be as pumped up as Violet Beauregarde. You’d think that would be the least of my problems.

Oh, and I love this macro lens. I could shoot with it forever, even though it’s just enormous. Thank goodness for neoprene straps.

Seattle’s been in a weeks-long dry freeze, and for the first time since I’ve lived here I’ve been feeling as colorless and cold as the weather. Goodness knows I’ve my share of depression triggers, but I’ve never really thought myself susceptible to seasonal affective disorder. Still, frosted-over grass day after day is uncharacteristic for wintertime here, and maybe there are shadows of my past at play. It’s easy to forget sometimes, but all told, I’ve been very happy in my years in Seattle, while before that… maybe not so much.

But? Now that all is wet and mild and gray again, I’m finding myself really missing the frost.

Life’s funny that way.

Nothing drains my blogging momentum like having to deal with comment spam, and there’s just been an absolute deluge lately, as spammers seem to have found ways to circumvent SpamLookup’s junk filter. Thankfully, most of them are still getting moderated due to the URL limit, but it’s still getting old — I’ve probably had to delete five hundred or so in the last four days.

I’m holding out hope for a near-term solution from Six Apart or somebody. Anybody! I love getting comments, but beyond a certain point it can’t be worth it.

And also, I need reasons to like blogging again, or I end up doing things like watching America’s Next Top Model.

Which helps nobody at all. Seriously.

Anyone else get their NaNoWriMo kickoff mail? Lord help me, I think I’m actually going to try again this year.

And finally: digital SLRs. Canon or Nikon? Help!

Dug this one out of the archives, where that expanse of white shirt-back kept getting in the way of any appreciation I could muster. I’m still not sure it works, but there’s just something — in her glance, or the dance reflected in hazy shadow on the spatter shield…

This was taken at Pommes Frites in Manhattan, the best place ever.

I said this in comments, but I watched the rest of the BBC Jane Eyre last night. Still so good, but St. John Rivers? Total freak!

Piling up for an Austen marathon: should I rent the BBC Northanger Abbey? Anyone seen it?

Currently in the pile:

• Clueless
• Pride & Prejudice (1995, BBC)
• Persuasion (1995, BBC)
• Sense & Sensibility (1995, Sony)
• Emma (1996, BBC/ITV)
• Mansfield Park (1999, Miramax)
• Bridget Jones’ Diary
• Bride & Prejudice

Finally, I just discovered AustenBlog today and have spent far too much time reading it — and through it found the trailer for Focus Features’ new Pride & Prejudice. Matthew McFadyen? Keira Knightley? Sign me up, please!

And, back to Brontë: SB says I must see the 1944 Jane Eyre with Orson Welles, but it doesn’t seem to be available on disc. Sigh…