Playing Catch-Up

So much has happened since my last blog post nearly two weeks ago.

Jana had a fabulous birthday party at the Yard House in Downtown. Why is it so hard to convince strangers that we giggle that way even without a drop of liquor? There is no better thing in life than laughing hysterically in a corner booth with your best friend until one of you lands on the floor and calls it a night.

The next day was the Dodger’s Home Opener and perhaps it wasn’t such a great idea to just keep pointing at the drink menu at random. The opening day ceremony was amazing, marked by a very special tribute to our very own Vin Scully who is currently in his 60th year with the Dodger organization. The celebration was marred only by the very odd contrast of the fly-over of a stealth bomber and the release of dozens of white doves. A “peace” offering, I suppose, to us liberals who are annoyed by the “traditional” spectacle of American military might during a baseball game. The game was great, of course, and marked by history. Interestingly enough 50 thousand people get to tell one story and two people get to tell another.

Jana and I also went to last Friday’s game against the Rockies. That was a great game. I love watching this team. These boys play with all their heart and win or lose it’s great to root for players who actually try. It’s such a nice contrast over the last few seasons and it is what will make this team a winning team this year.

On Saturday I shot a beautiful backyard wedding in Lakewood. This wedding reaffirmed to me how much I love wedding photography. I absolutely just love being in the center of it all. The couple was so loving and their friends and family were so wonderful. Also, I captured some of the most beautiful wedding pictures to date. I am just in awe of my camera and lens. All it makes me want to do is keep upgrading and adding. My only disappointment about that day was that Jana could not shoot with me. Instead a friend of hers, that joined us in DC, helped as my second shooter and did a fabulous job.

Throughout all of this I have been adjusting to life with a 60 pound pit bull. She is just the most amazing and beautiful dog that I have ever seen. She is constantly charming us with her many quirks and her stubbornness makes me laugh. She is amazing me everyday with her quick ability to learn. She already knows what she can and can’t do and tests those boundaries every day. It is so hard for me to fight the urge to let her sleep on the bed. As to her relationship with the cats, I think they are all finally learning to get along. She ignores them for the most part and they try to keep out of her way. I’m sure they will be friendly in no time, but for now my tiny little cats still aren’t so sure of that giant mouth and all those teeth.

Bellatricks!

Bella

Well, as you can see by the title of this post and the picture this is not the same dog as we were hoping to bring home a week ago. But before I can introduce this angel let me begin by discussing the previous 7 days.

Last Tuesday Petunia’s foster parent emailed me explaining that the adoption foundation had called our building manager and she told them that it was her belief that the landlord was not allowing any new dogs so until that was straightened out Petunia could not come for her week trial. We were devastated, and very upset. As we watched the many dogs come and go in our courtyard our anger kept rising. We, after all, have lived there without any problems for 6 years. We were being punished for bad timing. It was wrong!

We had to wait until Thursday before news came that it was alright for us to bring Petunia home, and we were ecstatic. But we didn’t hear from Petunia’s foster parent until Friday. The email he sent was like yet another rug pulled out beneath us. It had already been a very emotional week and his words were not the ones we were hoping for.

Nevertheless, the more and more I think about it, I can’t escape my reservations. Of the seven dogs I have raised myself, plus the ones we’ve fostered, Petunia is, without a doubt, the most “high energy” in terms of running, patrolling, and play with other dogs (she has essentially retained her puppy energy, even though she is two years old). She definitely benefits from having unfettered access to the outdoors and she chooses to spend the greater part of her day outside. As I mentioned in our phone conversation, I work from home, and I have to say that on several occasions this week I couldn’t help but be reminded how Petunia takes such pleasure in simply sitting in the backyard sunning herself, and it was making me feel guilty thinking that she would no longer have the freedom to do that if we place her with a family in an apartment.

We were so disappointed and so angry. He didn’t understand or even give us a chance to show how dedicated we were to giving Petunia the perfect home.

We spend most of Friday night and Saturday morning brooding. Ryan flat out refused to take back all the stuff he had brought from the pet store. I tried and failed to see the silver lining. Finally, after a good deal of discussion Ryan headed off to the shelter. I didn’t go, those places make me cry.

It turned out to be the same place we got our cat Ashes 6 years ago. They had a lot of American Pit Bull Terriers. The SPCA website listed over 1,300 Pit Bull Terriers for adoption in Los Angeles. That number made me both sad and angry.

Well, Ryan found her, a gorgeous 5 year old Pit Bull Terrier mix.

We brought her home on Monday.

I named her Bellatricks, Bella for short. She is anything but a Death Eater. In fact, she is probably all Hufflepuff.

I believe a lot in fate. I knew it was fate that we met Petunia. It was fate that we weren’t supposed to bring her home. It was fate that lead us to Bella. Beautiful Bella.

My new Canon 5D!

Palms on my street

I finally got to take my new camera and lens out for a test drive this weekend. I shot some beautiful snaps of my courtyard on Saturday.  I was utterly amazed when I uploaded them into my computer. Sure they could be tweaked in lightrooom, but they didn’t need to be.  The images were so crisp and clean. The amount of contrasts and depth was perfect.

My new lens was a great buy.  I tried to choose something that would give me lots of range for the price. I ended up getting the Canon EF 28-105mm.  Not only do I have the variety of focal length, this lens also shoots in macro.

Ashes

Without much effort I can now take the perfect portraits.

Yesterday, I popped on my flash and took some shots of my cats. I was utterly amazed at the images I was able to capture.

You can see my flickr page for more samples of the test shots I took.

I am deeply in love with my new camera and know that very soon it will become my new best friend.