Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
I wanted a quick test of my new Sony Zeiss 55mm f1.8 lens so I visited a popular winter destination in our area, the wooden heater vent in our living room. Boo was enjoying warm air blowing on his belly but when he got up to greet me he was immediately replaced by its most frequent guest, Trixie, who is usually sleeping here when I come home from work.
She is not always Sam’s favorite blanket but she is relentless in her desire to snuggle with her older brother.
When I was in graduate school in the mid-90’s, I got an unexpected bonus from one of my internships and I bought my first SLR, a Canon Rebel, and got hooked on photography. I’ve shot with nothing but Canon ever since until today, as the Sony A6500 mirrorless camera I ordered just arrived, along with a handful of lenses and some other accessories. I’m not saying goodbye to Canon in general, I’m still going to keep my 7D Mark II for wildlife shooting with my telephoto lenses. What it is replacing, in addition to many of the 7D’s tasks, is my little EOS M, Canon’s flawed yet charming entry into the mirrorless world a handful of years ago.
I bought my M four years ago when Canon had a fire sale due to slow sales, we had just adopted Boo and he was so timid I wanted a small, quiet camera to photograph him. I used it quite a bit for the next few years and always loved its quiet nature, useful for example for this picture of Trixie when she had been with us a few weeks. She was starting to feel at home and we were letting her explore ours, but also still giving her time in isolation, partly because she seemed to appreciate the chance to relax without the other cats around, but mostly because brother Boo was still coming to terms with her arrival. The tiny kitten makes my legs seem enormous, I love that you can put mirrorless cameras wherever you want and use the screen to frame the picture, in this case with my head on the pillow I stretched out my arms to put the camera at her eye level instead of mine.
I’ve posted the picture of Emma below before but it seems fitting to repost it now, it’s one of my favorites of her and also taken with the M and the delightful little 22mm pancake lens. For all its limitations it’s staggering how much more capable it was than my first film camera, this was shot at ISO 3200 in low light, in the film days my only hope would have been to fire off a flash and risk disturbing her. I never dreamed she’d only be with us for another year and a half, I’ve thought of this picture so many times since she died that it almost feels like the M was worth it for this picture alone.
I haven’t liked what Canon did with the newer M models in the years since, which is why I’ve finally switched after thinking about it for a long time, I’m not sure they ever understood what they got so right (and so wrong) with the original M. As excited as I am by the new Sony, I wanted to take a moment to say thanks for the old, I had a lot of fun with the M and I treasure the many images I took with it.
It cost me little but its rewards were great.
I’ve never seen a sea otter so imagine my surprise to find one sleeping on our guest bed.
Although only four years old, the vet says Boo has the teeth of an elderly cat and he had to get a couple of teeth pulled on Thursday. As you’d expect he was in a great deal of pain so we kept him in isolation in the guest bedroom for a few days while he was getting painkillers, both to give him some quiet time in a house full of pets and to keep him from running and jumping until he was off the painkillers.
My wife stayed with him that night but he was making such a ruckus through the night from some combination of pain and hunger and frustration at being cooped up that none of us got much sleep. After finally falling asleep I got woken up not much later by our dog Ellie, so I put on my warm clothes and took her downstairs so she could go outside and go to the bathroom. At which point she looked at me with an expression of “I don’t have to go outside, I just wanted to spend some time with you!” “A lovely thought, pup,” I grumbled as I stumbled upstairs, “but save it for the morning!”
We got freezing rain overnight and with the sidewalks coated in ice and the trains off schedule, I decided to take a vacation day and Boo and I curled up and slept off the morning. Friday night was another rough one so Saturday morning we were back to the two of us sleeping it off while the other pets all went to the vet for routine checkups. They had to get shots and were pretty subdued when they came home, so I let them all come in and join us, this is a shot of Trixie, Boo, and Sam (from left to right) curled up on my legs. Ellie was sleeping on the floor, the guest bed is on the frame and she can’t jump up onto it at her age (we keep our bed on the floor so she can still get into it with a little effort).
Boo recovered nicely and was given free run of the house on Sunday after some trial periods on Saturday, although he reminded me of when we adopted him, he’d go exploring the main house and then come back to the guest bedroom for some quiet time. Sunday night we all slept peacefully, that’s Boo in my lap below.
Let’s take a break from the winter pictures and enjoy Sam and Trixie taking a catnap in the high heat of summer.
This is the look of a cat who can’t believe his impudent young sister had the audacity to lick him on the head. I reminded our nine-year old that eight years ago an impudent young cat wrapped his arms around his older sister’s head and gave her a full-on bath. I’m not sure he appreciated the reminder.
Boolie 