Back to P&S

*sniffle* This is the best I can do for today with the new D50. It's currently back at Ritz camera, heading on it's way to Nikon for repairs. So for now, I'm back to the little point and shoot camera. Two things to be thankful for today... warranties and back up cameras.

So.. it all happened like this.

It was a beautiful day yesterday. 75 degrees and sunny. Flowers starting to bloom.. the perfect day to go out for a hike. So I get home from work, grab my camera and my pack, throw on some sneakers and head off to do some hiking and picture taking. All is well. I got some great shots of new buds, colorful flowers, and yes, even a few bug shots. Things couldn't have been going any better. Until.... that little patch of mud.

I was on my way back down the hill, enjoying the blue skies, the warm weather... and not watching my footing. The next few minutes were a blur. There was some mud, and my foot slipped, and I lost my balance. And... and... the pack hit the ground. I got up, brushed myself off as best I could (mud doesn't brush easily when it's wet) and took a minute to steady myself. I knew my camera was back in the bag which was inside the pack, and I figured it was probably ok with all that padding, but I figured I'd better check just to be sure.

So, I took out the camera and it looked fine. I turned it on and it didn't sound quite right, but it came on. I figured it was just me being paranoid. But, then I tried to take a picture. I can't begin to describe how many settings I tried changing, and how many pictures I tried to take. But every single one of them that it did shoot, came out dark and blurry. The autofocus thing-a-ma-jig wouldn't work at all. I was shaking, almost in tears, and still had to make it the rest of the way down the hill, which seemed almost impossible at that point.

So, I finally made it to the car, found a map book to sit on so I didn't get the car seat all muddy, and drove myself home. I changed out of the muddy clothes, found the receipt for the camera and made my way back to Ritz. And just as I'd suspected, it wasn't something they could fix for me. So my Nikon D50 is somewhere in a box on it's way to Nikon to be fixed, and I'm left with this one last shot I tried before I left for the store and my little point and shoot camera. It's amazing how quickly my perfect day went right downhill, literally.

As for yesterdays picture.. the abstract macro.. it's actually a pistachio nut. Here is a not-so-cropped version of it. Oh....
... and did I mention... April Fools! :)

(The camera and I are both fine... there was no mud involved, just a nice walk around the neighborhood after work. But that really IS a pistachio!)