andrewlighten.com

I saw this on the eternally wonderful Boing Boing. Didn’t quite see where it was going, then laughed so hard I can’t actually see the screen. Gold.

Yet another really wet day up here – that’s maybe 4 or 5 days in a row we’ve had solid rain. We’ve been fortunate compared to some other areas of the state; some pockets of houses have been smashed by lemon sized hailstones that have broken roofs and windows.

Mum and Dad’s house had a broken skylight, so Brendan and I ducked down there Saturday night and put some tarping up until it can be fixed. There could be a bit of a wait given the amount of damage across the city.

I’m having a pretty lazy day at home with the kids. Little One wanted me to take some photos…

Today – Sunday March 7th – is the annual Clean Up Australia Day. The Girl Guides got involved, as they always do, so big girl and I spent a couple of hours picking up rubbish and recyclables from the grassland around the bandstand in Princes Park.

Afterwards, there was a BBQ for the guides and then some ice blocking, which basically involves wetting down at tarp and having the kids slide down on blocks of ice. They all got terribly wet and muddy, but had a fabulous time.

Big Girl wanted to walk part of the way to school today. Took a few photos on the way.

The night before we knew Jesse was leaving us we spent some time in the house with the brolly and reflector getting some good final shots. These (and more) were posted on Facebook, but for those who missed them…

We’ve had Jesse since he was a young tearaway that we rescued from the RSCPA over Christmas 1995 – that’s 15 years ago. He was a year old then, so he’s just a bit over 16 years old.

About 2 years ago he had a kidney pancreas issue, but we got that under control and he’s been doing ok, but a few months ago he started to struggle again. He’s been getting pretty lethargic. We took him to the vet a few weeks ago and based on what we thought was going on he was put on a low dose of arthritis medication. That hasn’t helped much, so he went to the vet again yesterday and some blood tests were done.

The results were not good at all: his kidneys have failed, and we’ve got to put him down.

We’re obviously pretty sad about this. He’s been with us for a long time – 3/4 of the time Lisa and I have been together Jess has been part of our lives. Both kids have grown up with him; they don’t know anything other than Jess being part of the family. The big girl is taking it pretty hard; she’s quite upset about it. It’s not easy to explain death to a 7 year old.

We’ve got lots of really good memories of Jesse; things that annoyed us at the time are just fun to look back at now. The way he used to pull all the washing off the line until we fixed that (hint: plastic shopping bag half full of water). The time Lisa and I were walking into Box Hill from our house in Surrey Hills and Jess and Zak ran either side of Lisa and the lead went across the back of her knees and dropped her like a sack of potatoes. The trip we did to Uluru with Jess and Zak in tow.

When Zak was put down we had him cremated. We’ve got his ashes in a wooden box; I think we’ll bury that with Jess. They were good mates.

Update: Jesse was put down just after 1pm yesterday.

A few months back (right around the time the D80 failed) I bought a few more small pieces of lighting gear. I got some el-cheapo radio triggers, a 5-in-1 reflector, and a new umbrella. As well as the silver reflective umbrella we’ve now got a white shoot-through brolly.

Tonight the kids and I spent a while playing with the nifty fifty and the lighting gear. It’s just beautiful; the reflector adds so much to the setup – being able to fill opposite the main light makes such a difference.

The photo below was shot with the SB600 dropped 1/3 of a stop to camera left with the gold reflector camera right.

This is what I’ve missed doing over the last 2 months…

I finally have my beloved D80 back! It took the Camera Clinic about 7 weeks all up, I think. They had it for almost four weeks before they were able to quote on the repairs, and then had to wait nearly three weeks for parts. It’s finally back though.

It would obviously have been better to have it back much sooner (or have it not fail in the first place!) but the price was actually pretty good considering they’ve replaced all the moving parts (shutter, aperture control, sequencing motor), cleaned all the optics, adjusted the focus and tested everything.

I haven’t done much with it yet (might get the speedlights out with the kids tonight) but Lisa and I did wander out to the paddock and I fired off a few shots of the sheep and Alpaca.

I’m participating in the Relay For Life 2010.

Relay For Life is an overnight, community event where teams of 10 or more keep a baton moving in a relay-style walk or run to raise funds for the Cancer Council. The event brings the whole community together for a night of fun, entertainment, celebration and remembrance.

Every dollar raised at Relay For Life helps the Cancer Council to:

• Investigate new ways to prevent, detect and treat cancers
• Educate people in your community about ways they can reduce their cancer risk
• Advocate for cancer control
• Support people during their times of greatest need.

You can help support me by making a secure online donation using your credit card. Click on the link below and search for me:

https://secure.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/registrant/StartUp.aspx?locationID=10927

For more information on how YOU can participate in Relay For Life 2010, please visit us at http://vic.relayforlife.org.au/ Thanks for your support!