David’s Delicatessen, Geary Street, San Francisco.
This is a test. If this were a real blog post, it would have appeared loooooooooong ago.
Slowly trying to blow the gunk out of the engine, here with an image of my favorite old companion (20 years together means we get to say “old,” right?), taken with my favorite new companion, a wee little mirrorless camera that more or less fits into my pocket. I’m daring it to take noticeably better pictures than my cameraphone (who ever thought that would be an issue for any kind of quality camera), and also daring it to be in my life so effortlessly and regularly that it actually does help me see/ share the world via visual images nearly as much as the proverbial cameraphone in the pocket does.
I blame Palinode, specifically this post of his, for even getting the notion of nabbing myself a mirrorless 4/3s .
I first met Palinode, aka Aidan Morgan, at the 2008 BlogHer in San Francisco. In one and the same moment I met Elan Morgan as well, aka Schmutzie. I would go on to read them both and keep bumping into them, more often Schmutzie, at BlogHer conferences in the ensuing years. There’s a special affection you can develop for interesting, kind, thoughtful people who are in your daily or regular life by virtue of this extremely interesting delivery mechanism, the Internet. And I developed such a thing for these people.
Elan’s contributions – freely given! online and in person! – include such huge community services as the Canadian Weblog Awards (I appreciate that and I don’t even live in a state that borders Canada), Grace in Small Things, and Five Star Friday. I am proud to know her and happy for everyone out there who gets to benefit from how much she shares what she has.
I’m going to work on sharing what I have just a wee bit more now, in recognition of and deference to the generosity with which so many use this medium share the most valuable, most immaterial of things – compassion; insight; cameraderie; you name it. A Baptist preacher chum of mine once made the point, and fairly sternly, that we have nothing short of a moral obligation to use (and we both agreed, share) the gifts we’re given. So. Thank you who have done this, and here I go again.