I took this shot as I stood at a corner in Hartford, waiting for the light to change. Timing is everything, isn’t it? It was a perfect time of the day to catch the reflections of the buildings across the street in this glass of this more modern building.
My day off was restful. I ran a few errands, hung around the apartment, and rested up for the week ahead. One purchase was a white noise machine by Marpac called the Dohme. A couple of years back, I looked into them, thinking one might be nice for Don when he was on the road. I never did anything about it, mostly because he thought he didn’t need one. But, since my neighbor makes some noise occasionally and I tend to be a light sleeper anyway, I researched ‘white noise machines’ and rediscovered this brand, which, happily, is carried at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Courtesy of bedbathandbeyond(dot)com
I love it. I slept so well last night! I know, of course, that there are many factors that can contribute to a sleepless night. However, this little – and it’s fairly compact – machine will surely help when I’m on the road. It’s a good investment.
What else is new? I’m contemplating packing all of this up in about 3 days and heading back home, trying to use up all the perishable food in the refrigerator, and looking at cameras online.
Don has found a new passion for photography. It’s all been done on his iPhone so far. He has a fantastic eye and he really gets some beautiful and, at times, provocative pictures. (I think he would have been a great photojournalist.) When I was home last, he casually asked me about DSLRs and whether I ever thought about upgrading. To which I responded, “Why? Do you want to inherit mine?” He loves taking photos on the iPhone but wants to explore a DSLR, because though photo quality on phones is pretty good these days, it’s not the same as the quality on a DSLR.
I had no plans to upgrade and I might not. We’re thinking about our options and I have a feeling we’ll be taking a little trip to NYC and B&H Photo to do some research.
But it got me thinking, that’s for sure. Which led me to play around with shooting in ‘Raw’ which is a setting used by a lot of photographers, like my friend Dawn and my friend Elizabeth. Raw is a format that captures all the image data when taking a picture. None of it is compressed, as routinely happens in a JPEG format. It requires more editing, but produces higher quality images.
I have that setting on my camera, so I played around a bit with it on Monday.
I have limited opportunities to experiment in this apartment, so this is what I came up with. I have much, much to learn! Fortunately, Don’s interest has sparked some renewed interest on my part, which is a good thing. I need to expand my everyday knowledge and skill set.
The show is going very well and we’re getting near the point where Darko freezes it and doesn’t do any more tweaking. We’ll probably be there by tomorrow. It’s a truly funny and joyful production.
Happy Wednesday.
I love the picture of the building and the one of your colorful home away from home accesories Claudia. I know you’re looking forward to settling back into your comfy cottage soon. It’s a gorgeous day here in Central Florida. I didn’t fall asleep till the wee hours of the morning, that seems to happen more and more.
I am really ready to go back home, Janie, though I’ve enjoyed my time here very much. It’s a bit dismal here in winter, so the one thing I miss is taking long walks in the park, etc. But I’ll be back in May, so I’ll have plenty of time for that. I’m sorry it took you so long to go to sleep! So frustrating, isn’t it?
I have thought about a white noise machine but never bought one. It helps me relax and let my mind rest and fall asleep. I use a fan but sometimes that gets cold in the winter :) I love that Don is getting into photography. I’m hoping to start using my cameras more also. I have a few artistic interests and photography is one of them and I’ve neglected it for too long. I bet you are ready to head home. Enjoy your last days in Hartford. Hugs!
We’ve used a fan before, too, but it gets cold. You should think about investing in a little machine. They really do help.
I’m enjoying my time here, but I’m ready to go back home, too!
I just ordered this same white sound machine from Amazon. I love that I can take it with me when traveling.
Yay!
I love that first pic….the juxtaposition of the new and the old…brilliant! We use a fan at night…my hubby likes the noise. I have to turn up my electric blanket…too cold otherwise. I’ll have to check on that white noise machine…thanks for doing the research for me! The sun promises to come out today….high in the 40’s for the next week or so…I am excited! Enjoy your day! ;)
Yay! I wonder if it’s going to be warmer here, too? I’ll have to check the weather forecast.
Have a white noise machine and love the choices they offer; lovely to be able to choose a soothing background sound. Mine is a very inexpensive Homemedics with 6 noise choices. Particularly like the ocean, rain, and the summer night reminds me of when we could sleep at night with the windows open. The sound of surf, whether it is pounding with the incoming tide or gently lapping is extremely calming for me!
Photography is a perfect artistic outlet; today there is so much equipment available to the average person. As someone who grew up with the great magazines (weekly) like Life , I have a particular love for black and white photographs. And especially love to have framed photos for wall hanging.
The days are dwindling for your Hartford time; being homeward bound after this satisfying work is double happiness!….Dianne
I used to have one of those ocean wave sounds and rain machines built into an alarm clock when we lived in San Diego. Now, I’m happy with the swoosh of this machine, but I remember loving the sound of the surf! I feel the same, it’s very calming.
I love black and white photography – always have. Just like I love black and white films!
I have a small alarm clock that has three white noise settings, one is the sound of the ocean, another is the sound of sea gulls, I forget what the third was. I’ve only used them for my alarm to wake me up (opposite of what you want to do), as I don’t like buzzing alarms, but I could also set a sound on a timer to turn off after I fall asleep. I’m glad your white noise machine contributed to a good night’s rest. It’s raining again, and I’m having the most difficult time getting any handyman or contractor to return my calls about my leaking window. So frustrating, especially when I know I’ll get more water damage.
I’m so sorry you’re still wrestling with that leaky window, Wendy. It must be so frustrating waiting on someone to get back to you!
Hope the white noise does help you! Insomnia is just awful in any dose.
Time to start to pack up and head home. Time really does fly when you are having fun!! When does Don leave for his production? Will you be able to take a few days to go out and join him while he is gone? Then I suppose he gets home and you will be getting ready to head back to Hartford? Good to have the work, I am sure.
Hope you have a good day. It looks like the sun is finally trying to peek out after days of rain and ice here. School is finally open again after 2 days off for ice ~~ and we have temps into the 40’s for the next 5 or 6 days!! Good stuff!
No, you’ve got the order wrong or – the length of time! Don leaves at the end of March, early April for LaJolla, CA. He’ll be there until at least the end of June, maybe a week longer. Meanwhile, towards the end of April, I go back to Hartford to work on Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. I’m there until sometime in May. I’ll be going home most days off to check on the house and work in the garden (the timing of all of this is troubling for my gardening time!) I will be able to go out and visit him in California, though, because my commitments will be finished in May. Huzzah!
Oh, Claudia, so happy you will be able to get out there for some time with Don while he is working. May is certainly a busy gardening time (CAN’T WAIT!!), but nice that you are close enough to be able to get home a few times to at least get the clean up started! And you shouldn’t have any weather concerns about driving home at that time, either. It will be here before you know it!!
I’m really looking forward to spending some time out in California. LaJolla is just north of San Diego and it’s a place I spent a fair amount of time in when we were still living in CA.
Hi there! I’ve used white noise to help me sleep for many years, progressing from a small fan to a Homedics device and now to an app on my iPhone. There are several white noise apps available, and mine even has noises named different colors if you can believe it…I use the ‘brown’ noise setting, its softer than the white noise, at least the white noise on this app. I keep my phone plugged in, with the sound off so I don’t get woken up by any texts or phone calls. Glad you are enjoying your time in Hartford! ❤️🍀
I am. I’m ready to go home, but I have no complaints. The cast is wonderful – such a great group – and the show has been so much fun to work on!
YOU would have been a great photojournalist too! Having seen all the wonderful pictures of plants, animals, flowers, skies, etc – I think your field would have been environmental. At least that would probably have been ONE of your fields – who knows?
PS – checked around online about NOT watching TV on Friday & Snopes pretty much de-bunked things. Unless we’re an official Nielsen household, it pretty much doesn’t matter what we do TV-wise that day. But I STILL won’t be watching. Seeing Trump and his family, especially the 3 Stepford kids, on that platform would be too much. Very what’s-wrong-with-this-picture? I can’t even think of an analogy weird enough. However I will predict that Humpty Trumpty’s Inaugural “address” will be one of the shortest in history. And I bet he’s start riffing through it at some point as well.
Taking photos for National Geographic! Wouldn’t that be the best?
I thought it might have to do with Neilson households. Thanks so much for checking on that, Janet. I won’t be watching. I will have nothing to do with it. His speech is supposed to be short, probably because he can’t stick with a teleprompter very long. And he has attention problems. Because, well, you know…
We have that same sound machine. We used ours when we lived closer to the city and in a town home. We heard our neighbors and traffic from the street etc. I took it out and put it on the dresser in our new home and the house is so quiet and the neighborhood so quiet, we haven’t used it once. I will consider packing it, if and when we travel again. Never thought to bring it with us and have had some rough sleeps as a result. I also liked that the sound was adjustable. My husband also wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to significantly add to our electric bill. Takes very little power to run. Love your picture of the reflection. The old and the new – reflection of all our lives – the old and the new. Take Care.
We can use it at home, as well, because we hear a lot of traffic from our heavily traveled county road. Glad you like yours, Ranee.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing the lovely photo! I agree you would be a perfect photojournalist.
Although the man child who would be president deserves no more of our attention, I just had to share what a good laugh was had by all in our household this afternoon as I read aloud the comment from another reader—HUMPTY TRUMPTY–I absolutely love it!!
Isn’t that the best? Thanks, Jeannine!
Claudia, will you please tell us how you hang your quilts? Please excuse me if you have written about this already.
You know that I think your photography is spectacular.
In this apartment, I simply hang them with push pins. That’s it! At home, I’ve done the same, though no quilts are on the walls at the moment.
I didn’t realize that your time in Hartford was almost over Claudia…I have been missing here due to being sick with a flu bug…I also use a fan for sleeping…have never tried a white noise machine so maybe I will look into them..I look forward to seeing pictures from Don also!
I hope you’re feeling better now, Nancy! So sorry to hear you’ve had the flu.
Love the building photo! As you know, my son is a photographer. I have inherited his first DSLR camera. I haven’t used it in a long time and I never learned how to shoot in “raw”. I asked Tim to teach me, and he wasn’t willing. Boo! So, I bought a basic photography book and was going to teach myself not only how to shoot in “raw”, but just all the basics of DSLR photography. Umm…the book is still sitting here untouched. One of those things that got put on the back burner.
Brian and I have to sleep with white noise, too. We have a fan going in our bedroom in the warmer weather and in the winter, we use a vaporizer. It’s a win-win situation with the noise and the water vapor, since it’s so dry in the house. When we stay in hotels (which isn’t often), we have to turn the fan to “on” so we have the white noise while we’re sleeping.
I know! I have photography books, and I’ve consulted them, but I stopped learning anything new a while ago – I have to get back to challenging myself re: photography.