9/26: portability

I've been imagining getting a small digital camera for some time. I'd like to be able to carry a camera around as a regular thing in my school bag, just to be able to take pictures whenever I wanted. (My usual camera is great, but bulky.) Yesterday's amazing skies were the tipping point: I realized that I really wanted to be sure to have a camera on hand in the future for things like that. So yesterday I did some research on lightweight cameras and camera-phones (since that could be a way to go), and today I bought one. I opted for a Canon PowerShot A1100IS. I wanted something that would be very point-and-shoot-y (for complicated photo expeditions, I can bring my other camera), not too expensive, and able to use AA batteries. This last desideratum limited my choices quite a bit, but I like knowing that whenever my camera batteries give out, I can pick up more at almost any store. We'll see how it does!

But in any case I'm glad to have a camera as a "book-bag friend." When I was in kindergarten my mother put a little stuffed animal Eeyore in my book-bag so I'd have company walking to school. (I know that from today's perspective a 5-year-old walking alone to school sounds shocking. But life was safer then perhaps, and our house was at one edge of a small college campus with the kindergarten at the center of campus--so I was on pretty protected ground the whole time.) In any case, Eeyore kept me good company that kindergarten year, and I'm going to consider my camera as the grown-up equivalent.