Random Updates

So I'm making a very quick jaunt down to Dallas for the weekend. It's Kate and Savannah's birthday week and Kate has her first communion this weekend also. I'm riding with my parents and Uncle Jack which should be quite an adventure. I love each of them dearly but being in a car with the 3 of them for 10 hours is clearly too much of a good thing. I'm very sure that they would say the same about me.

Mom and Jack will be staying for another week but Dad and I will be heading back on Monday. I got us a book to listen to on the way home called A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail which I thought Dad and I would both enjoy.

I ended up buying my telephoto lens off of e-bay as I discussed here. I had to let go of the idea of getting a 75-300mm with IS for under $300. I settled on the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Lens and I am actually pretty happy with it. It was a refurbished by Canon with a UV filter for a very good price. It has a great zoom and is incredibly lightweight. It is actually lighter than my 18-87mm. If I could do it all over again though I would definitely go for a single lens that covered all of that range like the Tamron AF 18-250mm. You live and learn and I'm happy with both of my lenses so I'm not going to complain.
The above shots were from last week, prior to the new lens, when I took Ani out for a little adventure. She was a bit scared of the old cemetery which I was surprised by. I think of it as a really cool place to photograph and forget about the creepy factor. When we were leaving and I was apologizing for making her uncomfortable she said, "sometimes I think you forget that I'm only nine Aunt Paige." I laughed and said that she was probably right. The other two shots are from driving around some back roads. The little orchard I caught right at the "golden hour" of dusk as my teacher calls it.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell from the trip when I get back.