Day 128 - Cat in a Bag, Part Deux

cat?  what cat?

After a mostly quiet Bank Holiday Monday, we have at least had a couple of minor successes today. 

Most obviously, we have a brilliant new edition of the ongoing Cat In A Bag series!

Here, Maisie is demonstrating advanced Improvised Disguise bag technique, whereby an everyday plastic Matalan bag can be repurposed to create this instant White Ninja outfit.   This is a very handy skill for a black cat who lives in occasionally snowy climes to possess!

Obviously it's difficult to spot that there even is a cat in this photo, so Maisie insisted I also include the more fundamental Cute Pose technique.   It's a timeless classic, and although this pose is easily performed by any cat, it's not so easy to overcome the clichéd, forced look that so often devalues this sort of shot - it takes a true professional to bring a natural feel to the discipline.

cute pose

Bravo, Maisie!

Our other significant success of the day was that after a mere several months of relentless indecision, we finally managed to order a new DSLR camera!

We'd decided some time ago which camera model we wanted, and thus it was a simple matter of working out which lenses would best suit our needs, whether to buy new or second-hand, whether or not it was cheaper to purchase separately or as a bundle, where to buy from, and so on and so forth.

As we had a relatively free day, we realised the time had come to actually Place the Order. 

We started by changing our mind about everything we'd decided before, forgetting where we had found all the best deals, and failing to remember why we'd chosen one particular lens over another. 

To assist with the process, we started to reread a multitude of reviews, most of which conflicted with each other. 

After several hours, and having been around several loops several times, we came to the crunch, and went back to our original choice.   Anna helpfully resolved the lens quandary by impulsively buying all 3 lenses over which we were deliberating. 

Go Anna!

So we've now actually ordered a new Nikon D90 DSLR camera, with 3 lenses;

35mm fixed - a fixed lens with low f-stop for interesting, arty shots.
18-55mm zoom - for general day to day use, with a bit of flexibility.
55-300mm zoom - predominantly for wildlife and climbing action shots. 

Frustratingly, the fixed lens will be here before the rest of the camera and other bits and bobs...but still, the lens itself might make for a handy Photo of the Day subject!

It will be interesting to see if there's a noticeable improvement of the quality of photo on this blog...

Just to finish up, deliberations deliberated, we popped over to see Frankie.   He was at the bottom of the field, and apparently reluctant to run up to us...in fact, he downright refused to!

We headed down to see him instead, and it seemed to me that his feet were a little sore - he was hesitant to move and walked gingerly towards the carrot and apple I dangled for him...

He was a bit cleaner than he has been though, so I think his owner must have been to see him.  I'll keep my eye on him over the next few days and see how he's getting on. 

Here's a final photo looking up the orchard where he lives.

how do you like them apples?

The orchard used to consist of these six fruit trees, but I see that one of them has now fallen, so there are only five remaining.  It looks like there's fruit on one of them...surely it's far too early in the year for that?

But then the seasons are all over the place now that we've broken the planet so thoroughly...

Lovely old trees, anyway.