Catnap

Out with my friends Derek and Rita tonight. Had the usual great time, chatting, drinking coffee, having supper. Poor Rita is a saint, the way she puts up with the two of us going on and on about whatever our latest obsession might happen to be. She's had to put up with a lot of things over the years, from hi-fi equipment comparisons to music sessions to Apple Mac ... and now photography. Derek's always been into cameras and photography, and he's led the way into the digital realm. He's kept one step ahead of me over recent years in terms of camera, most recently moving on from a Canon PowerShot G7 to a gorgeous Olympus E-510 just as I was changing from a Canon PowerShot A620 to my G9.

Tonight Rita had to put up with Derek introducing me to the Canon flash gun he's just got, while I picked his brain about camera bags and tripods. In the process we both fired off a few shots, and I was pleasantly surprised to find how well this one turned out. This is largely thanks to Rita. She inherited Derek's G7 when he got the Olympus, just as she got his previous PowerShot. She gets great results, and swears by the auto setting in all circumstances. Sure enough, this shot, which was the best of the ones I took tonight and way better than the few I took earlier in the day, had everything on the G9 set to Auto. Just goes to show ...

This is Elle, one of Derek and Rita's three Burmese cats (at least I think they're all Burmese). She was snoozing contentedly on Derek's computer chair over on the far side of the dining room when I took this. I'll be out with Derek and Rita again on St Stephen's Day, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if I end up blipping a cat or cats again then.

(p.s. The blurriness in the bottom right corner is caused by a glass which was on the table between me and the cat.)