A Pleasant Evening

Last evening, my SIL and niece with baby Julia came to visit to see the house, garden and for dinner. We had such a pleasant time! The garden was looking fairly nice and dinner was really good. I made meatball subs with salad that was dressed to the hilt with almonds, bacon, croutons, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, and cheese. I think that's everything I put in the salad. It was a quick dinner because everyone was hungry and we wanted to spend as much daylight out in the garden as possible.

Along with Carol and Rachel and the baby, came Rachel's dog, Jazz. He is an elderly Dachson, 10 years old. It was a slower process to introduce him to Bratley, but they seemed to get along quite well. Bratley just wasn't sure what to do with company. Rachel is talking about moving here because it's closer to her family and John (her husband) really likes this area. If she does, maybe Bratley will have company more often. This would be good for him.

It was a great time for all of us. It was nice to entertain my SIL and niece. The baby was a bit fussy, but she'd had a big day and of course, nothing was familiar. We finally put her down on the bed and Shalimar was under the bed purring. Julia heard this and fell instantly to sleep. I was a little nervous about the cat being in the same room with the baby, but Shalimar stayed under the bed and purred while the baby slept peacefully on top. We had the bedroom door open so we could hear her and checked on her occasionally.

During dinner when Julia was in her carryall on the floor, Bratley gave her a curious sniff, but for the most part, left her be. He knows company that small as he's seen a number of the granddaughters when they were tiny like this (well, maybe not quite this tiny...Julia is 4 months old) but he probably figured this was another of those granddaughter things. Besides, Jazzy seemed very acceptable of this baby. Shalimar is used to having small children around the house on occasion as well. She usually spends her time under the bed when the grandchildren are here, and I will tell them not to bother her when she's under there. They don't either, so to Shalimar, this is a safe haven.

All told, this was a wonderful evening. I'd like to do this again, sometime.

More New Stuff

Choke Berries (stabilizing zoom lens)
Beauty Berries (50 mm fixed lens)
Peachs N Cream miniature rose. (stabilizing zoom lens)

Adding to our camera equipment, we got two new lenses. One I wanted and one Husband wanted. Both are exceptional and both are assets to our equipment. There is a lot of difference on how to shoot these, but the results are both very, very stunning.

In all honesty, I see a difference between the two. The Stabilizing zoom lens take very clear, sharp pictures. The 55 mm fixed lens take pictures with more clairty. I'm not sure if you can see the difference here or not, but I can really tell in the full size pictures.

The Book

Lately I've been doing some work for my mother. She has, in her possession, a family Bible from her previous (now deceased) husband. It is a glorious large tome published in 1736. She was thinking she wanted to know what she could do with it.

Keeping it in her house is the biggest issue. She doesn't want to keep it there since she has that house shut up for a good deal of the year. So she asked me to help her goet it appraised which I did. I was able to locate a wonderful appraiser of antiquities and he gave me an honest appraisal and has offered to help my mother try to sell the books if she desires to do this. He has also helped me to understand this world a little better and has patiently answered all my questions.

Personally, I'd like her to see if she could find a museum or public library or someone in these fields who would have the proper facilities to care for of book of this stature and age. Ultimately, however, this will be up to my mother.

It's a beautiful day today, cool for August. Without a lot of plans, I'm thinking this will be a good day to be outside.