Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/1.8, ISO 800 — full exif
Anthony on the PGA Tour
“PGA” being the Preschoolers' Golf Association
At $4.87 for the toy golf set, I couldn't pass it up, so Anthony tried a bit of golf today.
Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/5, ISO 800 — full exif
Golf is Fun!
(at least with kid rules)
Eventually, golf transitioned into baseball....
Living in the country has certain benefits for kids. Yesterday's post was about a toy backhoe. Today, Grandma had to drop something off at a friend's place, and since they had a few animals, Anthony and I tagged along. They had chickens, a bunny, a dog, a baby raccoon, three cats, and two horses.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 40mm — 1/800 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400 — full exif
Checking out the Chickens
And one very lucky rooster
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 22mm — 1/350 sec, f/6.3, ISO 160 — full exif
Enjoying the Fruit of his Labor
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 125 — full exif
Hello Mr. Horse
(Anthony stands at a safe distance, with arms politely folded)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 20mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 125 — full exif
Feeding Apples From a Safe Distance
(while I screw up with the fill flash)
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 — full exif
Apprehensive Curiosity
Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 640 — full exif
In the Midst of Irrational Exuberance
Pretty much the first thing Anthony said the first morning we were here was that he wanted to play in the sand, remembering the sand pile and toys from when we were here last year.
When trying it for the first time this trip, he was so excited about everything that he even waved to the camera (something he's not normally prone to do).
Being quite a bit older now, he can interact with the play backhoe quite a bit more than before. It's a joy for him to play with and discover, and a joy for us to watch...
Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/16, ISO 320 — full exif
Excitingly Discovering Something New
As I mentioned in my previous post, Anthony and I just arrived at my folks' place in Ohio for the summer. Besides just visiting family, it's good for his English. Fumie has things to attend to in Kyoto during the summer, but felt it's important enough for his English that she'll part with us for a month. One thing that makes it easier is that it's essentially free for us to call between Japan and America, thanks to the most excellent magic of our Vonage American phone number in Kyoto.
Anthony was very well behaved on the flights (Kansai to Cleveland, with a change of planes in San Francisco), which made things much easier on me. The flight to San Francisco was a zippy nine and a half hours, of which Anthony slept perhaps three hours, and I slept not at all.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
An Hour or So After Takeoff
One thing that made the flight much better was that we got bumped up to United Airline's Economy Plus, which I hadn't known about but quickly learned to appreciate. My knees are normally so cramped that I have to take out the in-flight magazine and other stuff from the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me just to get an extra measure of uncramp. On this flight, though, I had plenty of space... it was positively dreamy.
90% of the economy section (which was 100% full) was comprised of two groups of high schoolers, one group of Americans and another of Japanese. I had braced myself for the worst, but both groups were very, very well behaved.
All in all, it was as good as a 9.5 hour flight without sleep can be.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 20mm — 1/4 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
An Hour or So Before Landing
I became a walking zombie by the time the flight for Cleveland left San Francisco, but Anthony was wide awake and in good spirits. That kid just does not need sleep.
My folks picked us up, and Anthony remained in good spirits until we noticed he was asleep during the ride home. I was in bed by 10pm, and surprisingly, we both slept pretty well. Jet lag is normally crushing for me when I travel this direction (such as when we came here last year when it was the worst I can remember), but this time it's not been downright “not bad.” I get tired in the afternoon, but fix that with a short nap.
All in all, travel-wise, it's been much better than expected.
Having just traveled 23.5 miles over 6,700 hours, or something like that, to arrive at my folks' place in Ohio, I'm a bit jetlagged, so I might not post too much until it wears off.
I will take a moment, though, to unveil a new page on my blog, a table-of-contents kind of full list of posts page, showing all post titles on one page.
If you mouseover a post title, you'll see thumbnails for the images that appeared in that post. Clicking, of course, brings the post up.
(The image thumbnails are the same as those on the by-year index of photos pages.)