Thursday. It was warm yesterday. They're saying less so today, but I intend to get my walk in soon so as not to gamble on it not heating up again later this morning. So much for the weather.

Up with the alarm at five forty-five, off to breakfast and back by eight to go over yesterday's entry before posting. Not overly comprehensible, but we'll blame it on the weather and persevere. If we were too picky here, there wouldn't be any here here, and you wouldn't be able to wince as often as you've become accustomed. “Here here”, after all. No shame, it seems. Little or none.

Later. A bit cool out there at nine wearing a shirt and a t-shirt, maybe we're looking at a cooler day after all. A brief walk with a longer lens on the camera but no pelicans, of course, just a few diving birds here and there and one lone cormorant unfolding his wings to dry out its feathers.

A closer cropping to see what he looks like. No wonder it's hard to get a picture that's distinctive at a distance. Maybe a little mascara around those eyes. Another shot just to test the lens and camera combination, an old standard 135mm f 2.0 on a 1.5 factor digital camera. A two hundred millimeter equivalent. Not enough, but better than the 120mm I was using yesterday.

So the fog was burning off as I returned and there are brief flashes of sun as I write. Maybe a nap now to pull it all together, set out later looking for adventure and decent weather, here on the lost star Oakland in a galaxy long ago and far away, bitching.

Later still. A nap: good. Let's see what happens if we set out again: the temperature, the attitude, the knock on wood.

A short walk duplicating the first one this morning, too short to be called a walk, but taking the same 1.5 factor camera body with the 180mm f 2.8 lens this time, giving an effective size of 270mm. Not that much more than the earlier lens coming in at 200mm, but still, a significant difference. Why not something larger? Well, because something larger would have been heavier and we're just taking a short walk here, not setting out for Africa.

Anyway, the ISO at 400 and the lens set at f 4.5 to get a decent shutter speed we set out looking for pelicans. No pelicans. Then again a shot or two to see how the focus was holding up - I haven't used this lens in a while, but remember it to be pretty good for an older Nikkor (Nikon) lens - and to test the depth of field. Reasonably sharp, sharper than my eyes are anymore, so a walk back to the apartment deciding, seeing this lady in the distance, to walk farther on to the convenience store and buy some diet Coke as my last bottle was finished yesterday. Don't want to run out of Diet Coke if to only occasionally use it to gargle. Cleans the palate and doesn't leave an aftertaste that lasts for more than about an hour.

So another walk that wasn't really long enough to be called a walk, up here now just after noon with the fan blowing across my brow and body. It isn't nearly as warm as it was yesterday and there's a reasonably cool breeze blowing now and again, but it's still warm and I'm still feeling its effects. Not quite to the point of bitching, but close enough to be talking about it. Endlessly, if this is the example.

There was a photographer and his assistant taking pictures of two models at the white columns on the lake. I consider it rude to take a picture of such a shoot, wouldn't like it if someone else were taking pictures of mine, but I shot a picture or two anyway. What the hell, I was testing a lens and I don't think the photographer and his assistant were paying attention. Is it considered OK when you're not caught? Kinda like the financial business, success if they don't put you in jail? Might. Might not.

Evening. Hmm. A three going on four hour nap. Not sure why I needed a nap that long, but evidently I did. Maybe I really am getting on in age.