My Morning Meeting

I was on my morning walk when I spotted the cat. It is a cat I have seen about once a week in my travels. It hangs out on Stonerow Lane, where I believe it has a house and family.

It walked behind me one foggy morning last week and I thought it was black. But perhaps every cat looks black in the fog. This one is clearly a tabbycat. It has a lovely circular pattern on the side (I know you can't see that so I'm telling you), which makes it a classic tabby. It does not have white paws.

For once, the cat sat still long enough to allow me to approach and obtain some decent pictures. My last photo of the set is of its back leg, as the kitty said Bye-bye! In this photo, it gives me a serious, straight-on look. It is taking my measure, as cats do.

In entirely other news, I am starting to be in sort of a camera dilemma. I'm a Canon PowerShot kinda girl, having started my digital photography life with the SX 120 IS, followed by the SX 40 HS, the SX 50 HS, and the SX 60 HS. (See pics here. And here.)

The 40, 50, and 60 are super-zoom cameras with long snouts. I've put them all through heavy wear, and while they've not been abused, they've been out in every kind of weather, all year long, anywhere from 0 degrees F to nearly 100 degrees F.

The 40 developed a squeal when the lens zoomed out about a year and a half after I bought it, but it still works. The 50 just died on me one day and would not take another picture. My 60 started to grow long in the tooth and 3 years ago, I tried to buy a new one directly from Canon; my order was eventually cancelled, as they were out of stock. Permanently.

My cousin generously gave me her SX 60 at that point, and I've been alternating using her camera and mine since then. I had to glue part of her camera back on this past winter when a piece fell off as I was photographing some dead animal in the snow. PLINK! went the camera piece, as it fell into the snow. You should have seen my face.

This past January, on a cold morning (it might have been this one), my own SX 60 started to turn off on me, and it gave me some kind of lens error warning. So I swapped back to my cousin's camera. Maybe a month or so ago, I went back to my own camera, thinking summer would be easier duty. With both of the SX 60's, I note that as they age (or rather, with wear), they start to have difficulty focusing sometimes.

On this morning, on my first shot with my own SX 60, the camera emitted a very bad sounding noise as the lens extended. On the second try, it wasn't quite as bad. It wasn't a death rattle, apparently, but I know this: it can't be good.

Anyway, that's the long way around to tell you that I'm looking into getting a new camera at some point in the coming few months, if possible. Probably another PowerShot, as I have loved every single one I've owned. Wish me luck.

Back to my little morning meeting. Here is a song for summer, and for a wandering tabbycat: Richard Marx, with Endless Summer Nights.

P.S. Update on the camera: I have ordered another Canon PowerShot SX 60 HS!