The cats hate it when I whip out the camera. Especially Felix, who will make it a point to turn his back toward me and ignore every attempt I make to get his attention.

Not that Cleo’s any better. On a good day, she’s already in her default crotchety state, and I consider it a privilege if she allows me to be within two feet of her without being hissed at or scratched.

I willingly admit that I crawled around on all fours to get the following photos.

And that I may or may not have endured some physical injury getting this shot of Her Royal Crankiness (who is in dire need of claw trimming).

All in all, a good bounty for a day’s work. I’m inspired to focus on an oft forgotten member of our animal family. It’s someone I’ve yet to feature. Stay tuned!

I have to remember to remind myself:

Just two more weeks.

Only 14 more days and I’ll be putting these to good use.

I can make it.

Breathe.

Dear G10,

I know I did you a great disservice when I scratched you up and let the damage linger for 10 months longer than it should have. Believe me, it was more because I knew I would miss you when you were gone for repairs than plain old laziness that kept me from taking action. OK fine, laziness did play a part. But, oh, how I missed you this past week! And now I’ve got you back! And you look just like the day I bought you.

Except.

Well, you see, I met someone new. And while you were my first foray into grown-up photos…well, you just can’t do stuff like this:

The colors! The pop! The use of an ISO higher than 400 that didn’t result in total chaos!

And try as I might, I could never get you to focus like this:

So I’m sorry. It’s me, not you (I swear)! This isn’t goodbye, it’s just “I’ll be back after I finish drooling over the new lenses I want to buy”.

xoxo,
Justina

Last week, after approximately 10 months (!!) of dealing with a huge scratch on my lens, I finally send the G10 in for repairs. And now my baby’s back, practically brand spankin’ new!

I can’t believe I lived with that scratch for so long. Sort of makes me regret putting it off all this time…

And I’m sure you can tell by now that I have something else to be excited about. New toy!

No inaugural spin is complete without an obligatory Teddy shot.

And one of Dot, for good measure.

Super excited!

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.
– Og Mandino

What is it about stars in the night sky that has captivated people the whole world around?

In Morocco, when we first reached the Atlas Mountains after hours of driving, the first thing that struck me was just how quiet everything was. The night sky was breathtaking, the dark was all-encompassing, and it was absolutely beautiful.

This was a night sky I had never seen before. In high school during the stressful college preparation days, I would lay across the bleachers of our football field after my nightly run and gaze at the sky. In college, right when TCSD had me in its clutches, I would venture out to Schenley Park at night and take in the Pittsburgh skyline to clear my head. But this Moroccan night was the first time I had I seen the stars so clearly, so many of them speckling the sky, showing me why they called it the Milky Way. Was this how Copernicus and Galileo felt when they gazed at the heavens?

To have that sort of peace accessible literally right in your backyard — that’s something that I dream of often these days. I think about it when I need a reminder that there is so much more out there, that this life and this universe are so much bigger than just me.