A couple of images for today’s post and a couple of random thoughts. Not necessarily connected with the images. I had another early morning meeting yesterday so I didn’t have time to shoot any images on the way to work and then had a lunch scheduled with some friends at work therefore no time during the noon hour. I was pleasantly surprised to see the above image on my way home. I left the office at 5:05 pm last night and this is a mile from my office. The really good news of this post is there was enough light at ISO 400 to take this image handheld. I did darken the foreground a bit more than it actually was to add some more drama to the sky.
The other reason I was happy about this image is because on the way down the sunrise was reflecting on some low hanging clouds and it was a beautiful color of soft orange and pink. I really wanted to stop and take some images of that sky but if I did I would be late for my meeting so, sigh!
A few miles down the road I saw this image. This is very close to the image I could have taken in the morning so I felt good that I could capture it in the evening. I had to push the ISO to 800 but very little noise in this image.
Jeanne and I went to a new restaurant (new to us anyway) last night called Europa. It was not a great experience for me but let me quickly say it was not the fault of the restaurant.
I had a stressful day at work and what I really wanted to do was just have a nice meal and relax. So we walk into this restaurant and the first thing you notice is it is tiny. You set at small tables and if you don’t know the people on either side of you before dinner you will by the time dinner is over (I’m talking intimate.) 🙂
The restaurant has been open for several months and started out being open for breakfast and lunch only. It is located near a lot of offices in the Office Park. A few weeks ago they dropped the breakfast and started opening in the evening. It is owned by a family from the Ukraine. We had the best waiter I can ever remember having. He was attentive and very helpful.
Anyway I digress. So I’m in the mood to relax, have a few wines, eat a nice meal and decompress. Well I can’t do that in this setting and even though I have a hearing impairment I can hear a lot of the conversations around me, so talking about my day or anything else is going to be told to the whole restaurant. Next I do not recognize anything on the menu and the few things I do see that I know have a lot of things added to them that either I don’t like or have never heard of.
So now I’m in a mood! Then when I order my second wine the waiter tells me they only have enough for a half glass because they are out. 😦 So my poor wife had to endure my boorish behavior, which is just one of the thousands of reasons she is destined for Sainthood.
Now for my review. The food was fabulous. Actually what ever is a better adjective than that, that is what it was. The food was well presented and the portions were just the right size. The service was superb. So if you are looking for an intimate dinner with friends or family and go with the proper expectations you will be delighted with the experience.
Normally If a server does a good job it is my habit to not only tip well but to tell them they did a good job. I said that to our waiter last night and I thought he was going to hug me. He bowed slightly and shook my hand heartily and thanked me profusely. I have never experienced gratitude like that before.
Well that’s it for today. I didn’t start with this long bloviation in mind but that’s where my thought took me so thank you for hanging in. Enjoy your day. I have a 4 day weekend so my intention is to do some serious shooting over the next 4 days. We’ll see what I can come up with. Thanks for supporting my blog. Be careful.
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