my new camera

Whilst in Italy recently we visited Pisa, 

to see the famed Leaning Tower of course.    

So silly, but when we rounded the corner and caught our first glimpse of it we turned and looked at each other, and we each had this huge goofy grin!

I mean, this is an iconic structure, you hear about it your whole life, and most of us think we'll never see it outside of print.  But there we were, in the presence of this awesome site.

 from this angle the lean is to the left,  which is the most pronounced,

 but from one side it actually looks in vertical alignment

As you can imagine we walked with eyes lifted to the soaring 55.86 meter (183.27 feet) height of this incredible structure.   Prior to the restoration work which was performed between 1990 and 2001, the towers lean was at an angle of 5.5 degrees.  The tower now leans at about 4 degrees. Which means that the top of the tower has a horizontal displacement of 3.9 meters (12 ft 10 in) from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical.  Incredible, eh?

We started taking pictures, each of us taking probably the same shot with each of our cameras. We walked without care, without regard, and with complete and utter conviction.   

That is until we turned towards each other without bothering to look.  We collided, hard.  

No damage, unless you take into account the complete destruction to my camera, because it went flying. The lens is stuck part way out, the latch on the battery door snapped off and the door no longer aligns with the opening, and there are several rather large dents and scratches.

This camera I purchased about 3 years ago, hard for me to believe I've had it that long.  I think I paid about 120USD, so to try to repair it just isn't economically logical, especially after I was already jones'ing over a camera that does Panorama Shots!

So here you see my old camera!

Et voilà, my new camera arrived last night via my friends.  

Pretty!

Just in time too, because tonight is the Paseo de las Animas here in my neighborhood so I'll give this baby a test drive!

isn't it funny that colors are cheaper than silver or black?  

Not that I mind!

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words - Well so much has been going on since I lost my camera - and none of it has been photographed. I wish I had the abilities of Paul aka HammockMan, or Theresa to paint pictures with words, but alas my prose falls flat.



I have been to numerous events worthy of photos since that fateful mid November camera meltdown; Art openings, Flower Shop Open House, dinner parties, flower shows, The Fair at Xmatkuil, Thanksgiving came and went, Gallery Events, Book Signings, the beach, friends have come and gone, a Quartet Concert, Guadalupanaos, Artisan Craft Fairs, amazing street scenes, family of 4 or was it 5 on a motorcycle (yes, all with helmets), alters, creches, novenas, posadas, big fancy ass birthday parties, little intimate birthday parties, the Women's Club Annual Sleigh Ride/Dinner/Dance, other bloggers visiting, funny pet photo opportunities, the chicks are growing and not nearly so cute and adorable as before, my own orchids blooming and dying off, I made peanut butter and would surely have shared that experience (can anything be more monotaneous and boring than shelling, twice (the hulls then the husk) a bag of peanuts, oh by the way Tom has decided that he likes a little salt in his homemade peanut butter, well maybe next time.


Oh man, I need a rest! My new camera arrives late on the 19th, so I'll miss another blogger visit, but maybe Theresa will take a photo. I have a yucatecan friends birthday on Saturday so maybe, just maybe I'll get the camera in time to charge everything up and be ready for that.

Gratuitous photos from Septembers Charro Parade