Lesson 425: Damn Amish!

Eloise is back with your weekly World As I See It Report.

And as I see it, even rust can be pretty!

(rusted oil can from the camp with Picmonkey.com Paint applied)

 Paint is found under the texture button.

This time, it's in part through a borrowed lens.

My camera broke.

Well, actually--this guy broke it.

If you recall the story, I imploded another camera of mine a couple summers ago,

taking a photo of this Amish man.  Pennsylvania is loaded with Amish.

I fluctuate between fascination and fear of this group of people.

I had been warned not to photograph them,

as the Amish believe that a camera steals the soul of a person.

I chuckled about it as I snapped the shot,

and on the very next picture my screen turned bright white, then dead black.

Two years ago to the weekend, which was last Saturday,

we returned to the very same place near Cook's Forest,

and spotted the very same Amish man.

"He's SO busted," I told daughter Ellen Louise.

He was operating the tractor,
 so I planned on taking a photo of him and showing it to his Amish community
 as revenge for ruining a perfectly fine camera.

"Don't, Mom," cautioned Ellen Louise.

"You'll break your camera...."

A day later, poof!

That one is gone now too,

added to the camera museum in the Lamp Post.

I wonder if this person's camera died!
They don't look afraid.

Before the untimely death of my Canon SX50,

I was able to get some shots from camp,

a jointly owned family hideaway on the edge of the Allegheny Forest

since 1935,

The camp in Marienville, PA is a special place--

one part Boonies

and 

one part Mayberry.

The most popular photo set of the week was this one--

my five year old nephew from Philadelphia 

catching his first fish.

It's amazing how B quality photos 

can tell such a powerful story without a single word.

His three year old little brother did not want to be outdone.

Within a few minutes, he also caught his first fish.

He was more interested in the fish themselves.

He poked at them,

made their jaws move up and down,

and spent the rest of the afternoon taking them for a walk.

I always bring reading material with me wherever I go,

and this issue of Reader's Digest seemed quite appropriate.

OK, Eloise--

Stay calm.

Gather your wits.

You'll be able to navigate the scariest of life's perils with ease.

Glad to see this made the article,

but I've got that covered.

I'm midway through Season 4 of Zombies Run!

Helpful advice for anyone.

4 months to go--

we all need to read this.

I'm not much for mnemonic devices,

aside from the fact that the word mnemonic itself is quite interesting.

I dig that hat, though.

I think I need one for my next camp trip.

This article I read aloud to everyone, expecting to see bear--

and that we did--camp total last weekend, 4!

Have to tell you though,

this whole stand still and be calm if you encounter a bear thing

probably ain't gonna happen with Eloise.  

We all survived though.

Little Blue, my new beater camera made it's debut

 and was called into extreme action upon the death of the SX50.

I think it did a remarkable job!

The summer has been filled with days at the lake,

summer festivals,

(Boys of Summer Photo, Harborcreek Community Day, photo credit Wendy Shutterfly Chwatty)

and kids all around.

Eloise loves kids!

And babies!

Some snapshots just turn out unexpectedly perfect.

Others, not.

News from the Lamp Post sports world--

Ellen Louise finally broke 50 on the golf course--

48 is her new record to beat.

(Hunter's Station, Tionesta, PA)

Sam's little league team had a Bad News Bears week.

I left last week's blog, headed to the championship game.

The team won a close game in a rainy battle all the way to the last inning.

They won only two games the entire season and were the lowest ranked team.

They swept through the playoffs and to clinch the title this year.

Lesson of the week:  Never Give Up!

When the party bus pulls into town,

Sam always buys the first ticket.

Cavs hat purchased with Tooth Fairy money by Tuesday.

It's time for Eloise's van to go bye-bye.

It was inspected yesterday and all the needed repairs were made.

We are putting it up for sale next week.

Sparkly E and all!

A new car purchase and a camera death made it an expensive and frustrating week.

The replacement camera purchase

(I'm shopping now, but I may get the very same one I just had),

is going to have to wait.

Little sister Kenyan came through and offered me her SX50 to use until I can get one of my own!

Thanks, Kenyan!

It has been fun going through the 798 photos on your camera.

I whittled them down

 and got rid of the 200 blurs, 

blinks, 

and unflattering butt shots you took of people.

Looking through someones camera card 

is the equivalent to searching through their pinterest account

or scrolling their facebook wall.

You have a picture representation of what that person is really about.

For your entertainment,

here are some shots saved on Kenyan's camera card:

Thanks for the rescue, Kenyan!

I'll get to share with you my own ocean shots next week!

ELOISE