I am not a writer. This Blog is more of a picture diary of my life with my Pugs, Family and Friends among other things I enjoy doing or am interested in.
My brother and his wife got a new fur baby. His name is Sage and he is a Havanese. The breed is supposed to be non shedding and great for people who have allergies. He is so tiny right now and looks like a little puff ball.
Thanksgiving was enjoyable this year. We missed our son Patrick but our other two sons were here along with my mom and dad. I cooked the meal and my mom brought her famous french meat and potato stuffing, hors d’oeuvres and a pumpkin and apple pie. I for some reason took no food pictures except for the pies. I guess when you are hosting you are too busy to take many pictures. The meal went smooth without a hitch and some of the things I did this year I plan on repeating next year. This was my first year of wrapping my butterball turkey with bacon. I saw it on TV a week before and new I wanted to try it. I ended up with a very moist and yummy turkey. I also took stove top stuffing and doctored it up with sauteed chopped onions and celery. It was also moist and delicious. I made home made mashed potatoes and some very sweet Birds Eye corn that I popped in the microwave. I had also prepared my famous broccoli casserole the night before. I have to make this dish at every holiday and most picnics due to requests. I even made an extra casserole for my son Sean to take back to Massachusetts for him and his brother who was not here.
I took this picture with my timer.. It was the best I could do and we were hungry..
More pictures. Click on Thanksgiving 2009 and it brings you right to the pictures.
As you can see I am a happy camper.. I upgraded to Windows 7 and Movie Maker recognizes MOV files. So now I want to find the best video setting on my camera. I thought I would test out two of the better video settings on my new camera to see how much of a difference I could tell in the quality of the picture. The best mode is AVCHD but at this time I don't have a program that recognizes it. Hopefully at some point I will because I heard it takes up lest space on your memory chip but has better quality. But the next best thing is another high def mode but takes up lots of space on my memory chip and the next one down is WVGA mode. The latter is smaller so I thought I would test it out to see if i would be happy with it's quality. Here are two test videos.. Let me know what you think..
Warning.. I sound real corny because I am doing my baby talk to my dogs to get their attention to look at the camera and make cute facial expressions so make sure the vomit bag is close by... LOL
A few years ago I purchased a camera only for me to have a stressful time with converting my files to AVI or something compatible to use on Windows Movie Maker. A few months ago I purchased Movavi. It's a easy to use program but once I put my MOV movie files into the program to manipulate it, right off the bat it changes the great look of my video to one with wavy looking pictures and that is even before I compress it. I have a wonderful camera that takes great quality video and all I want is a program that compresses it with good quality. I recently purchased Quick Time Pro which lets you manipulate your MOV files. I experimented and made them to AVI files first and they looked crappy. I also made them into mpeg4's and they also came out crappy. I finally converted them to the ipod setting and they look better then all the rest but it loses some of the crispness of the original video. I am happier with this but the videos are not as easy to join in this program. There is no dropping down the videos into a program. There is a lot of copy and pasting so it's more time consuming but worth the effort if you want better looking videos. They also don't upload to Youtube in high quality BUT.... They look better then the ones that are uploaded in High quality with Movavi. I'm going to put up to a few videos done in different formats. Please give me your opinions. You don't have to watch all of each video but you should be able to see the quality difference right off the bat.. If you can click on the direct link to see them on the Youtube page for a better view.
This is the one done in Movavi. I hate how the picture looks wavy in the light..
This next one is done in my Quicktime Pro with the Ipod setting.
This one is done in Movavi.. Also wavy picture
Now here it is done in the Quicktime Pro with the Ipod setting.
Update.. I just upgraded to Windows 7 and the Live Movie Maker recognizes MOV files and it doesnt make them look like crap anymore.. Here is a test with it..
Joe and I decided to head out on another foliage hike. We decided to hike up and around Lantern Hill. We do this hike a few times a year. It's especially pretty in the fall. Here is a little information about Lantern Hill.
NEARLY 600 FEET above sea level, its summit of bare granite flecked with quartz crystals glittering in the sun, Lantern Hill (or Tar Barrel Hill, as it is also called) in North Stonington has served as both landmark and lookout since the first peoples came to this region where the continent meets the sea. Tradition says that it has served fishermen and deep water sailors as a day-beacon, guiding them safely into the eastern Long Island Sound ports like Mystic or Stonington, from the earliest days of maritime activity on the coast. Since the shimmering, white summit can be seen from many miles at sea on a clear, sunny day, the landmark tradition probably has a sound basis in historical fact.
By the same token, on a clear day observers on the gleaming peak of Lantern Hill can see five states -- New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- as well as more than a hundred miles of coastal waters. Sassacus, the fierce Pequot chieftain, was said to have stood on the summit many times, squinting seaward, eternally watching for the approach of enemy war canoes, or landward, seeking signs of hostile Narragansett campfires. Starting our hike.
We decided to loop along the side then head up the hill.
Nice view of Lantern Hill Pond from the side of the hill.
You can see the tower in the distance..
Up close.
You can see a rock climber at the top right of this picture.
I have been happily married for 34 years and have three grown sons. I work at a highschool in the kitchen and love it. I love spending time outdoors hiking and gardening and hanging out with my family. I love my pugs Ping, Zoe and their new siblings our male Miko and black female Maya. After the stress of the first few months we are really starting to enjoy them and their personalities..
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