Artistic License*

My day, in reverse order:

Enjoying a bimble at Lake Padden with Phil in the last of today's sunshine. I liked this cozy couple soaking up the sunshine on a picnic bench.

Taking a look with Phil at two view condos for sale (we've begun researching our next/final move, still several years away).

Having lunch with M and dropping her off to catch the Bolt Bus back to Seattle.

M guiding me through the mysteries of clothes shopping at our local mall -- I'd rather go to the dentist any day than do that! Thanks to her, I found two tops on sale that will do nicely for my exercise classes.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to son W over the phone with M.

Relishing a lovely late breakfast with Phil and M -- homemade waffles with maple syrup, homemade raspberry jam, local blueberry jam, applesauce I made from our own apples, and local vanilla yogurt as topping choices.

Waking up at 5:15am and despite trying hard to go back to sleep, giving up by 6am.

*I took this using the "Impressive Art" choice under "Creative Control" on my new Panasonic ZS25 (UK TZ35), which I first used on January 11. I learned about this tiny travel zoom camera (24-480mm equivalent) from my Blip friend ValC.

I'll be traveling light several times this year, and the ZS25 is one-third the weight of my Panasonic FZ200 -- it's just 6.8 ounces / 193 grams. There's always a trade-off, of course -- the ZS25 has a noticeably slower lens (f3.3 - 6.4), compared to the FZ200's continuous f2.8 lens -- but as the adage goes, "The best camera is the one you have with you." I'll have my Olympus XZ-1 with me as well, with its f1.8 lens (28-112mm equivalent).