Canon makes some great and affordable non-SLR cameras.

I might have to start dropping a few hints over the next few months until my birthday.

Great. I shall give Gordon some hints about the best camera for which to take pictures of your new doxie puppy. Since you did not bring Gretta home with you, you still should have a pup of your own. Gotta love those doxies pups ...............

Good day to you all, and many thanks for your support and prayers... bless you all...

I am happy to hear your eye is fine Marc, and Caman, whining isn't a bad thing, it does take some of the 'pressure' off the steam valve....

Don, it sounds as if you had a perfect afternoon with the golf and the mens final in Curling... it was a tight game until the end, I wish the Scottish skip wasn't so surly looking... but it is a good team in the making, I was most proud of Stoughten, it has been a long time coming for him and have always liked him very much as a skip.... so it sounds as if you had a perfect day! (my favourite 'dip' for seafood is always garlic butter, and it is also good on french fries... and super with lobster.... mmmmm! )

Kim you must be thrilled Kacey is home and I am sure she will have lots of tales to tell, you must share some!
Sonal, you and Kim should have a holiday tales thread and talk about the unusual and usual from travels, I am sure many have had funny things happen ' on the Vacation route' and lots of eye opening experiences....

I am back and had a good sleep last night, meditation is great for whatever ails you, and if nothing does ...well it is good for that too...

I have to finish tackling the taxes and I will be good for another year, usually I am done by now but got behind and now have to 'move it'

I hope the sun is shining as brightly there as it is here, although windy, it is beautiful outside... I hope they caught the bear Marc.... and take it way north... out of harms way
for itself and others...

Welcome back Leslie, glad to know that you are doing well, although I think we all knew that would be the case. Good luck with those taxes, I wish you a large refund.

I enjoyed the pics as well.

Also noted your passing thoughts on a new camera. Please do not get sucked in by the higher pixel count of the newer Point and Shoot cameras. They are still essentially 2 or 3 MP cameras with the higher count being achieved through interpolation. What has improved are the displays, in many cases much shorter shutter lag, better quality as well as extended range zoom lenses, and with some cameras excellent anti-shake features.

Some cameras feature much improved battery life, others about the same as those 2004 cameras. A good guess is however many pics the manufacturer claims from a battery set or charge, should be divided at least in half.

Have fun shopping!

Thanks Bob. Mine is a pretty basic Olympus 3 MP camera.

What I think I'd like is a bit more control. I always turn off the monitor and look through the viewfinder (my point & shoot has a viewfinder) but I noticed in the macro shots how 'off' that was compared to the actual shots... I know, SLR is the only cure there.

Still, I'd like better control over the focus, and anti-shake would be nice, particularly in those low-light/no flash allowed shots. More zoom would be great too. I'm finding a little more that the photos I would like to take are just not possible with my camera. Don't think I'm ready for an SLR though, since I like having a little camera that fits into my purse.

My battery life is pretty good, since I always turn off the monitor. Whole week was on the same set of old non-rechargeable Lithium AAs, and it's still going pretty strong. I didn't have to use the flash a lot, though, which also helps.

At my mom's so popping in to say hello and check my mail. Glad to see Kim and Leslie back.

Caman - keep your chin up, kids do eventually grow up, I know cause mine finally did!!!

Sonal - I wouldn't have the patience for the lag time of the pocket cameras. They may have improved since I tried them. I had a small pocket film camera that I liked, but still tend to stick with my SLR. Good luck with your hunt. I understand though that Fuji has some good cameras?

It is windy here but lovely and warm. I worked all weekend. Sat night I was exhausted and laying in bed, saw my cat slinking along like she was stalking something that was obviously under either my night table or bed. I half hearted thought she was probably after a mouse, but I was sleepy and comfortable and didn't bother to check it out. Next morning found the mouse at the bottom of the stairs where she left it after she obviously caught it. At least I know she is a good mouser!!

Marc, sorry to hear about your eye, glad to hear it isn't as bad as you feared.

Hello to everyone else, hope you are all well!

I had the same camera. Did good macros but you had to use the display. With macros and display on it really sucked the life out of the batteries. The one issue I had was the telephoto part of the zoom was not as sharp as it could/should have been. Not sure if that was just my camera or was all of them.

Evening Bob and Jeanne.
I know, and then I'll regret it and wish they all were little again.

Evening Leslie.
Great to see you.
I try whine less and wine not at all.
You and yours are in my prayer my friend.