the dreaded day ~ and other stuff on a monday

 Last Thursday - September 25th - was the five year anniversary of Phil's passing.

(That's Phil in the green and white striped shirt, between me and Brian.) This was

the last family photo taken of the four of us in July 2009. We were celebrating Phil's

21st birthday at one of his favorite restaurants - Maggianos. Anniversary dates are

never easy. I don't think it matters how many years it's been been. Brian and I drove

out to Tim's place after he got out of school and we went to the cemetery together, then

out to dinner. I'm thankful that Tim isn't going to school far away where we couldn't

just hop in the car and be at his place in 1-1/2 hours.

On to other news...I finally saved up enough money to buy a nice lens for the Canon Rebel

xsi camera that Tim gave me a couple of years ago. (He was given a much nicer camera

for shooting a wedding.) I got a great deal on this lens from a seller on eBay. This lens itself

retails for almost $500! I was able to get this lens for a little more than half the retail price.

And it's in perfect condition. Now for the even harder part: learning how to use this camera

and lens! I have never used a DSLR camera before - just a point-and-shoot. Just looking

at all the buttons and knobs and stuff on both the camera and lens have me overwhelmed.

I know there's tutorials online, so that's where I'll start. Tim told me to learn how to shoot in

manual, not automatic.

 

 Speaking of photographs, there's nine of Tim's photos that I want to mat and frame

and hang on a wall in his old room/the guest room. I laid them out on my bed today

and I think this is how I want to display them on the wall. Now I need to make a trip

to Hobby Lobby or Michaels and check out my framing options. I'll wait to purchase

all of the frames until one of the places has a 40% off sale.

The weather here in northern IL continues to be just about perfect every day: warm

temps, tons of sunshine during the day, and cool nights. My desk faces a west window

so that the late afternoon sun comes streaming in - which the cats love. I caught Miss

Clemmie rolling around in delight yesterday. 

Sir Zippo prefers to just nap. Smart boy.

 One last thing ~ did I tell you that I'm back in my regular yoga class now that my

shoulder is feeling much better? After almost a year in a gentle class, it feels so

good to be back in my regular class where I feel a bit challenged. Namaste!