Thai Meals / Testing The Nikon Z 7 II

 

Song:  North Star

Artist:  Helen Jane Long

Yesterday...

my wife and I went to Colorado Springs to do some shopping...

and we then went out to eat at a high quality Thai restaurant.

On our way down our mountain ridge.

The colors of Autumn are coming out nicely in our neighborhood.

We were in Woodland Park on our way to Colorado Springs.

Pikes Peak still has some snow on it from the mild snow storm there...

a few days ago.

For our appetizers...

we ordered spring rolls and a green papaya salad.

I had the Pad Thai and my wife had the veggie green curry.

We then had dessert.

I had the fried bananas and my wife had sweet sticky rice topped with Thai custard.

Everything was very good...

but we had everything in a mild spicy profile...

and we were glad we did.

Anything more would have been too hot.

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For today's meal...

my wife made memmi tofu...

avacado and green salad...

with a new Korean dressing

(Choregi).

It was spicy...but very tasty.

And for the main meal...

my wife had made seafood (squid, mussel, shrimp, and scallops)...

along with some chicken...

Tom Yum Goong stew.

It was very delicious...

and quite filling.

We are on a Thai kick right now...

and so...

we have been eating a lot of Thai food lately.

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I went up to the third deck for all of the following photos.

Just before the sun began its final descent into the horizon...

I decided to try my camera in a variety of lighting conditions...

as well as to experiment with some of the functions...

one of which I had just discovered...

was a built in super crop function using one dedicated button...

which when depressed...

auto crops the view in up to three separate stages...

which operates as an ultra zoom...

and which I can see the results live...

and of which seems to give it up to a 1,000mm zoom...

 without any post production on the computer.

This is an extremely valuable function.

I didn't take any pictures with it cropped as the lighting was low 

by the time I had found it.

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We were going to Pikes Peak this morning...

but we decided to go tomorrow early in the morning.

We are going back to Colorado Springs to do some more shopping on Monday.

I will be going to Bass Pro to look for a good rain parka.

While in Japan...

especially when we go up to the Northern territories in the mountains...

we may get some rain...

as well as some cold winds.

Bandi is holding her chewy in her paws...

cute  :)

Even after the sun had already set...

the Aspens seemed to glow on the hillside.

Although the clouds weren't right for a nice sunset...

it was the varying lighting conditions I was after.

I also tried varying focal points...

and experimented with manual focusing.

I had learned a lot...

and I will take many photos atop Pikes Peak...

tomorrow late morning.

A Morning Autumn Property Walk

Song:  Give Me Love

Artist:  George Harrison

This late morning was the first real time I could test out my new camera.

I love it...

although it will take me a while to get used to it.

Also...

I can't utilize the full capability and resolution for this camera on this blog...

as each file size I can upload to this blog is limited.

But...

I just love my Nikon Z 7 II.

This morning...

Bandi and my wife joined me on a little nature walk...

just on our property...

to enjoy the Autumn colors emerging.

My wife took some photos with her Canon G7 x...

and her Iphone...

of which I will post near the end of this article.

I took this just outside our front door.

We first walked to Bandi's restroom area of the forest

(to the left of the property as you look out the front of the house).

We then began walking down towards the front end of the property.

And...

yes...

the skies are really this blue up here.

There is less atmosphere for light to go through...

and far less moisture in the air to scatter the light.

My new camera catches more true colors than my old ones had.

The large Aspen grove at the bottom of this photo is still on our property...

and we walked through it after walking down farther.

Bandi on Serenity Rock...

just to the front of our home.

After walking down almost to a draw...

which marks the front boundary of our property line...

we walked to the right...

...and a natural path exists for us to walk through the large Aspen grove 

in the middle of the front portion of our property...

and beyond to the right most end of our property

(although there are no fences).

Our property went on a little farther...

but we headed up the ridge anyway.

I took this last shot just before going into our front door.

A small Aspen grove is near the house...

while the large Aspen grove is at the far front of the property and extends 

almost the whole width of the front of the property...

and it is partially visible in the distance on the left of his photo.

----------------

My wife took these photos...

mostly of me taking my photos...

and of Bandi.

Although I took photos of her...

she doesn't want any photos of her on the internet.

This was near the beginning of our morning walk.

We were walking down the ridge towards the front end of our property line

(it terminates at a draw...

the point where our ridge stops going down...

and the opposite ridge starts going up).

And...

yes...

I am wearing pajama bottoms...

and a sweat shirt.

We were walking through the large Aspen grove here...

near the front end of our property line...

but the Aspen grove extends almost the length of the front of our property...

and so...

the whole large grove of Aspens are on my property.

It is one of my favorite places for me to walk...

as I am surrounded by colorful Aspens...

and I am on a peaceful and private path amongst them.

We still had a ways to go up the ridge line before we reached the road...

and I had to stop and rest on rocks on the way up...

but I just loved our nature walk...

especially in our large Aspen grove...

as I was just surrounded by the beautiful amber of their leaves...

including straight up.

--------------

We are getting ready to head into Colorado Springs

to do more shopping at the Asian market...

and Trader Joe's...

as well as to try out a new restaurant...

a higher end Thai restaurant.

Of course...

that is what I look to most...

a new restaurant to try.

----------

A photo of Pikes Peak yesterday

(by someone unknown to me).

Although Pikes Peak is still closed today...

it is expected to open up tomorrow...

and so...

we are planning on seeing it tomorrow.

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I cannot stress this enough...

being surrounded by natural beauty brings serenity to the soul.

Get out into it as often as you can.

And if you can...

live out in nature in retirement.

While people drain you...

nature heals and energizes you.