Peach and Thistle: This Post Has Nothing to do With England.

This weekend,

while I was [finally] loading alllllllllll my memory cards onto my new hard drive,

I reminisced a little about my nearly three years with Sylvester (my Canon 50D).

He and I have had our ups and downs,

mostly involving my misunderstanding of his treatment of light

(digital sensors are very, very different from film),

but I do love him.

I bought him in preparation for a trip to Yellowstone in May of 2009.

We went back to Yellowstone that July,

and then to Glacier National Park that August.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from those trips,

as I was also learning my new camera.

This is probably my favorite shot of all my Yellowstone pictures. A lady was wearing this hat, leaned over to look at the nearby geyser, and the wind blew her hat off. She was appropriately horrified, and I don't know if the hat was ever retrieved- but I love this shot.

When Paul and I went up in July 2009 we stayed in Cooke City, Montana, just outside the NE entrance to the park, as that area had the highest concentration of animals. One day, as we were driving into the park in the morning, a little family of fox kits was playing on the roadside. I took several pictures, none really turned out great, but the memory is always triggered!

Baby bison. Adorable.

Mammoth Hot Springs. I could live in Mammoth.

A very courteous and genteel bison.

Rare bighorn sheep sighting in Yellowstone!

This young bear enjoyed some berries alongside the road...

as a lady in the car behind us got out, set up her tripod, and proceeded to attract his interest. I still wish he'd knocked her camera down the hill- wildlife respect and safety are a must!

(For the record, this was the first time I ever used "live view" on my camera, and shot this using my side mirror. No outside the vehicle for me!)