Yes!

We went to the zoo today. I have only a handful of good pictures -- I need far more practice with this camera! But one thing I did learn was that this camera's flash works far better thn the previous one when shooting through glass. If you can get the lens right up on the glass, the flash is often great. Sometimes even back from the glass. Other times it has the 'bounce off glass' problem -- you should try to shoot at a 45% angle to the glass, but too often the creature is moving....

Maybe I should do a book on digital photography for writers. LOL.

Anyway, had a really nice time. Poor Russ... he really doesn't like wandering around zoos as much as I do, but he was a great companion today. And he liked quite a bit of the zoo, especially the desert.

We bought a season pass! I can go down any time for the next year and get in for free now. That was Russ's final present to me. Since he's (we hope, hope, hope) going to be down there once or twice a week, I might get quite a few chances to go. As long as we don't have to come up with the money to get me in. And the two of us going in today already took 1/3rd of the price of the membership.

So this is a very good thing. We had hoped to do it today, while the price was still relatively low, and our enthusiasm was helped when Russ stopped by the training center where he'll be teaching next week and they told him that they had not two, but three classes for him to teach.

We still have a few weeks of 'eek' ahead of us. But, if things go well, we can see light again.

And that, I think, is the best birthday present of all. It's been a rough year, and I would like to see things even out. We don't have to go back to making a lot of income, but if we can just keep our heads above water, it'll be fine.

It's amazing the number of people who have spouses out of jobs, though, or who are without work themselves. Frightening, in fact. The economy around here is horrible, and that's one of the big reasons that Russ is oging to be working 100 miles away from home. He'll be spending as many nights down there as he can when there are some classes that are two or more days in a row, because a cheap hotel is less expensive than the gas and time involved to drive both ways.

Anyway, all is going well. I'm taking the time to relax, unwind, and try not to worry. They are calling for a pretty bad snow storm on the first day Russ is supposed to teach, of course. He's going to go down the night before, and hope that they don't cancel the class. If it's snowing, it's better for him to be down there than driving the 100 miles in an early morning blizzard. If they don't cancel the class, far better for him to be there and ready.

But you know, this worry about the snow (which is supposed to go on through Tuesday, I think), is just typical of how things have been going for us.

Still... I am still feeling less stressed again! And now to go play with some more photos!