It's raining. Can I take pictures?

It's officially an addiction. Someone please add it to the list. I am at the computer right now with three separate windows open: one for buying photo mats, one for ebay (for an external flash), and one for my blog (where I get to right about my addiction to taking pictures).

On those mornings I've been over at our friends' fabulous bookshop/art gallery, I've walked around and checked out some of the photographs for sale. And ours are good, too. The ones we have of the area. So I'm matting them and taking them over to sell. If they'll allow it, of course. It's not really about the money. It's more, "Do you think these are good, too?"

Back to the addiction though. So I'm looking out this giant window at the rain and I'm thinking to myself, "I could probably get in the car and go down to the harbor, open up the back of the wagon, and get a great shot of the boats and lobster buoys in the rain. Then I could Photoshop the picture to almost black and white, mess with the exposure/contrast, and that'd be a contender. Right?"

This while TM, and, oh boy, is she TM today, naps. Speaking of the MONSTER, she was all about putting on pants by herself this afternoon. For 20 minutes I sat and smiled while she giggled and made honest efforts to get her little bigfoot into her pant legs. It didn't happen and, frankly, I was done observing. The twos are here, folks, 'cause when I took over, she thrashed about and screamed like I was torturing her soul. And then promptly fell asleep. At lunch today, she was banging her spoon on her plate. When I asked her to please, STOP!, she scoffed at me and continued on. I offered her the option of eating lunch ONLY or getting down from her seat. She was super-offended and, again, scoffed at me. And continued with the spoon. When I lifted her out of her seat, she hit me. Boo.

Anyway, rain keeps me inside, dreaming of photography.

If you have a money tree...

Would you mind if I swung by after work (yours) and plucked a couple hundies from its harder-to-reach, otherwise underutilized, branches? Branches of your choice, of course.

I promise not to be too greedy, but I've been infected by the photo'slr'us virus and it's got me itchin' real bad. First, I got my camera. Then I got some accessories. Last night, I bought a tripod. But! Oh! My! Now I need a detachable flash, like this or this or this. And what about a longer lens, like this or this or this.

Our for-the-sake-of-my-hobbies money tree withered away, in rather unfortunate circumstances, shortly after the baby was born and we headed to Maine for the sake of staying alive. The crazy weeds took over so that when we returned, all that was left of our tree was a tiny gray heap of switches and ashes (which, incidentally, is what B got for Christmas this past year---see below for a glimpse into his excitement).



As you can see, I'm a lady in need.

I'll bring my own ladder---if I fall and break both my legs, I promise not to pick extra to cover my medical expenses. I'll check my bags with you at the garden gate. I swear, I'm totally low maintenance.

I want. I need. Gimme gimme. Miiiiiiiine. It has gotten so bad that I've even considered a gawdy-piece-of-jewelry-pawn-swap. For Photography equipment. GASP!