I finally pulled the trigger on buying a dSLR the other day, a Canon EOS Rebel T3i / 600D and today I took it out for a brief spin around the yard. The objective was just to get comfortable with it, and just walk through the process of shooting and downloading using the new software. I shot on the fully Auto mode for now, just to see how it would perform, and I think it did very well. Conditions, mind you, were pretty favourable: nice even light, no harsh contrasts for the AI to get confused over…

Before heading out for my little walkabout, I tried out the camera on my lovely wife Lynda, who did not let us down, and vice versa I think…

The Muskoka chairs I made last summer have survived their first winter. They have a diluted coat of spar varnish on them, so that helped.

Silver likes to cross over to Kitsch Island in pursuit of the Mallards that often drop in to hunt our few remaining goldfish.

An earlier pair of outdoor chairs I made in 2009, now recovering from their second winter… nicely grey now… no varnish on these…

The moss is well established now between the flagstones of our front walk. Most of the heaving from the winter has settled down.

It’s a boot. It’s a planter. It’s a mashup.

♫ I always feel like… somebody’s watching me ♫

During this past winter, there was a presistent snow cover on the front lawn, from the blower and just in general. Some rodents, voles we think, tore up the lawn pretty good under there.

Patrick the gnome has no legs. Every year he seems to be a little deeper in the ground. So it goes.

Our male Reeves Pheasant, named George. George Reeves. As pheasants go, he’s super, man.

Remnants of some project, I’m not even sure now, that we piled up here with an eye towards maybe using them to firm-up the banks of the pond, which tend to erode… The chairs are old, came with the house…. definitely not for sitting, they hold potted plants in summer…