Things That Make Me Happy #15

I love to learn. If someone would pay me to go to college for the rest of my life, that would be the best gig ever. I love to study and believe it or not I love to take tests. I’ve always been a good test-taker, I have a knack for it, but I must admit I haven’t always been a good studier – is that a word? Yes, apparently it is. In fact, there were times when I was an abysmal studier. But I’ve always loved learning new things.

I have begun working on a new challenge – actually I just started this morning! I’m learning how to use Sam’s camera (pictured above, Canon’s EOS Rebel T7, for those who are interested). I’m working my way through the manual (imagine my relief when I realized that of the many pages in the 3/4-inch-thick instruction manual, only the first 116 are in English! The others are just repeats of the instructions in other languages)!

I had been thinking about learning how to work a real camera and not just the one in my phone for a while now, but something recently brought the idea from the back burner to the front – hummingbirds! I love hummingbirds and we have managed to attract some hummingbirds to our two feeders. I am so thrilled! I tried taking some iPhone photos, but the camera in my iPhone model doesn’t do a great job of zooming in with any decent amount of clarity. Maybe I’m using it wrong, and maybe more fancy models have much better cameras (I’ve heard they do), but this week I decided I would start to take some photos with and learn everything there is to know about the Canon.

I have spent a good portion of the day sitting at the window, or kneeling at the window with the camera propped up on the back of a chair (at some point a tripod might be needed), waiting for the hummingbirds to arrive. Two birds did arrive, and I have nicknamed them Ruby, for his lovely red throat, and Turq, for her gorgeous turquoise feathers. Ruby came first thing in the morning and I haven’t seen him back yet. Turq has been a frequent visitor today.

Friends, I am so happy I could just do a little dance. This is so much fun.

Update: Friends who actually know their birds have informed me that these are both ruby-throated hummingbirds. Ruby is an adult male and Turq is an adult female. 🙂

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Michelle xoxo