27 days- A few pictures and such

Now, it is seeming like I am setting myself up for a daily count down to the trip, doesn't it?  The thing about me is that I really DO want to do that.....  how evah! We all know that could quickly go awry depending on a multitude of things including my particular sleep quality on any given day and my ability to get distracted by the least little..... oh shoot I have to do some shopping online- like TODAY!!!  You get the picture.

Isn't he an impressive guy? or girl?

I get to kayaking today with my newest kayak buddy, Lisa.  I have to figure out a Mad name for her, as I have a Mad English teacher already, but this will come to me.  Maybe I need to check with her before calling her the Mad-Lisa, ya know?  But on the other hand I have checked with no one else concerning their names, sooooo......  Focus, Debi, focus.

Gorgeous calm night

Mad-Lisa and I are going to go for a paddle today on Smith Lake, which I am looking forward to.  I very much enjoy the river, and I think we should go up to the Pixley dam.  I will let the wind and the river decide- and also my companion.  ONE OF THESE DAYS, people, I am going to get the MA out there, and it could be tomorrow morning.  We shall see.

YAY for summer (ish) weather

These pictures that I am posting are from my last journey in a kayak.  After a minor kerfuffle on a certain silly Facebook page, I have discovered that changing lenses frequently in the great outdoors can make ones camera sensor dirty.  Which (shhhhhh, I just didn't know) apparently happens to everyone.... why is it I didn't know this?  Because the camera I had didn't have as many pixels, because the lenses don't rock my socks like these do???  Because I didn't do a ton of outdoor wildlife photography before and didn't change lenses 55 times in 2 hours because I have a sick need to take cloud and landscape photos, even though I am supposedly out to photograph birds???  You choose.  Idk, but I have a specialized can of air being ordered as we speak and last night I did some interesting maneuvers that involved no lens and rapid-fire shooting at the floor to try to dislodge the dust.  It actually worked well but after taking pictures of a plain wall and scrupulously searching every centimeter of that image on my camera, there is a little left.  Did you know that there is such a thing as a pixel peeper??  HAHAHA  people who will enlarge other peoples photos and look at them like up  super CLOSE???  Who has the time to do things like that?  I have my own pixels to peep at and that my dears, is a never ending chore.  And then to rudely comment on some innocent art teacher's photo that she was so proud of for the perfect- if I do say so myself- exposure after fighting with it for several months now??  The things you find out at 11:30 at night.

FIERCE eyes

Anywho, my sleep quality last night was REALLY bad, so I need to wear myself out today.  Kayaking and a reasonable, say an hour, walk should do the trick.  Besides perhaps some weeding and the normal stuff that happens on a day.  So that is the plan!

Back to Italy, which you may as well get used to the fact that this will be a focus of this for a while,  I am starting a pile- a stack if you will- of things that I will be taking.**  And a list of the things I need to get online.  And I am definitely thinking about my footwear, as if you want to try out a few things you have to have lead time up here.

My kind of evening

And because this is VERY important to me- I figure that I have 31 days until I get to see Michelangelo's  David.  And THAT will give me a whole lot of joy!

But first its a lovely sunny day here, going to be in the 70's, no rain, not a lot of wind....  perfect for the kayaker types.  Weather we have been waiting for for about 6 months. Ready, set, get going on your day!!

**You would not believe the amount of time I spent on this sentence and trying to decide what exact punctuation to use.  This is a combination of the fact I like to be fairly accurate and also the thought of certain English teacher types that may or may not be reading this.  HAHAHA  Not that I am really all that worried about it, but I like to be in the ball park.  Don't judge me ;)