beepily

G is constantly striving to make new mental connections. It’s very visible with the words and phrases she slots, with ever-increasing accuracy, into contexts she thinks we’ve used them in. Small kids are such earnest and industrious learning machines, it’s incredible. To me, in any case, an adult who hasn’t spent a lot of time with kids.

Currently, G believes that we often have small orange fruits called “clemons” in the house, which share some properties with “lemons,” but aren’t yellow and are round, and are more easily peeled and eaten. It’s hard to convince her that they’re really called clementines, because when we say it, we’re clearly announcing that it’s “clemon time!”

I found some evidence of another ambiguity in G’s verbal world, which I have recorded for posterity. I like to try to imagine the conversation between F and G that preceded this.

It’s been a bit spidery around here. And we had one day that was wet and windy in a peculiar way that caused all the webs to bead up.

I was glad I’d decided my Panasonic LX3 was pocketable that morning. Here is a “no cycling” cycle bridge garlanded in jewelled webs. Garlanded. In jewelled webs. I’m daring myself to leave that sentence like that. I thought about saying “bejewelled,” but that seemed like taking it a bit too far.

Hallowe’eny! Sort of. Although it’s water droplets, not dust, all over the webs.

Pretttty. And stretchy.

I also saw watery webs at home. I took pictures with my D90, using every lens I have: the kit 18-105mm, the 35mm, and my new Sigma 70-300 “macro” zoom.

When I had picked out my favourites it turned out they were all taken with the Sigma lens.

I wasn’t being systematic with the lenses so I don’t know why.

Some of these photos are cropped, which doesn’t make it easy to judge anything about the lens. Sorry. Not useful!

It was fun playing with where the focal plane sat in the web, and making the droplets light against dark things or dark against the sky.

You’ve noticed, perhaps, that I didn’t focus on the spiders, some of whom were in fact available to pose. I may keep spiders for another post. I have some pictures with that Sigma zoom…but I’ll warn you first.