Fiona's Birthday

We are ecstatic to announce the arrival of our daughter, Fiona Lily, born August 20, 2014, weighing 9lbs 6oz and 20 inches long, having a voice that commands respect.

Much, much, more to come...

Angie's Mint Chocolate Birthday Cheesecake

I'm a very fine cook but baking, not so much. Wheelchairs and paralyzed hands don't play nicely with ovens. So Angie had to make her own birthday cake and it was outstanding. Only her second cheesecake, but the best I have ever had and I'm not a fan of mint. It was present and the star flavour, but not overpowering. Perfect, and our guests agreed.

Mint Chocolate Cheesecake 2 by Jay Scott

Mint Chocolate Cheesecake 1 by Jay Scott

Sunday Afternoon Portrait

It was a photographic equipment birthday this year. I had already mentioned the transceiver I purchased with birthday money from my parents but the gift from Angie had not arrived, or so I thought. When I accidentally stumbled upon the transaction in our bank records I had highly doubted that it would make it here from Hong Kong in the two weeks before my birthday. It did not. It arrived in one week with the free shipping option! When Angie explained to me why it took so long for her to get our A & W the other evening it was because she was stopping at the post office to pick up my gift.

Because of placing some orders with other Chinese companies I was aware of some political goings-on that were causing outgoing packages to be examined by Chinese customs as well as by the customs of the destination country, with the exception of the United States, which was resulting in 20 to 50 business day delivery times with standard airmail shipping as opposed to the typical 10 to 25 business day delivery times. Regardless, it did not affect us with this one.

What Angie had bought me for my birthday was a 90 cm x 90 cm soft box, essentially an umbrella-like box with a reflective interior and a white sheet of diffusion material at the bottom that softens the light to diminish the appearance of wrinkles, soften shadows and give a gentler appearance to the subject that it is being used on. There are other purposes but I will leave it at that.

I tried it this morning on a pair of nail clippers, which many people on Facebook thought was an interesting subject, for my project and then this afternoon asked Angie to pose for a portrait.

Angela by Jay Scott

I am pleased with the results, happy that despite its significant and somewhat cumbersome size I can still handle it and that it will be one more tool when soft light is called for or when I need a pure sheet of reflected light and the appearance of an umbrella's ribs simply will not do.

Aside from the gifts, we had a very nice supper with good friends at Las Palapas last evening. We then came back to have some lovely banana cake with chocolate icing and coffee almond ice cream that Angie made for me with an even larger group of friends. Definitely what I would call a great birthday.