Bazaar This Saturday

I took this picture of the Atwater United Methodist Church with my new camera. Although I am still in the automatic mode, I think it's a better picture than I could get with my "point and shoot" camera. I really like having a zoom lens and also a single lens reflex.
The church is located on the corner of Bellevue and Linden Street. It's across from the Jantz Cafe, and in the background you can see the Brooks Ranch Resturant.
This Saturday, November 3rd, the United Methodist Women are having a Bazaar in the Fellowship Hall from 8:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Everyone is invited to come and browse the many crafts, plants, bake goods, etc. Come out and do some Christmas shopping.
All proceeds from the sale is for mission projects around the world. Stay for a lunch of soup, sandwich and pie, lunch available from around 10:00 a.m.

This view is from the Linden Street side, showing the offices. The front door to the church is to the left. There is another door to the church from the Bellevue parking lot side, which is where I always park. The Fellowship Hall can be reached from either the Linden parking lot or the Bellevue parking lot.
Come by and say hi. We're a friendly group. I'm taking 10 Iris plants that I divided a few months ago. A picture display will let you see what the flowers look like. Ten pictures, 10 plants, no duplicates. $3.00 each is a bargain considering what some of them cost from the grower.

New DSLR

I had an exciting day Saturday. My friend Pat drove us to the Camera Center on 9th Street in Modesto. I finally decided to splurge and buy a new digital single lens reflex camera. I've been thinking about that for a few years, but couldn't justify it to myself. What would I take pictures of?
I started taking pictures of the tombstones at the Winton District Cemetery, but I didn't feel that was a good enough reason. Then I thought about the Winton Old Timers. Every year I am at a table either selling something or collecting dues for the Winton Historical Society. I would like to mingle with the people and see who all is there. I don't get a chance to visit with the out-of-town people that I rarely get to see. In fact I don't even know who all is there until I see them in a picture that Norm has taken of them. So, having a nice camera and helping with taking pictures was my excuse for investing in a new camera.
Another reason, I am the editor of the "Winton Hometown News" for the Winton Historical Society. I asked one Old Timer for his memories of the good-old-days in Winton, he said he and his friend talk about them at the Winton Old Timers, but that I am never around. So, that is going to change next year!!! Yipee.

The camera I bought is a Nikon D5100 and the lens is a 18mm to 270mm zoom. Quite a long focal length and I read some negative things about that. The pictures may not be as high quality as with an 18 to 55 for instance. But you have to outweigh that with the convenience of not having to change lens if you need both a wide angle and a telephoto.
I don't expect to be professional, but I do like good quality pictures.

The first picture was taken at the 18mm, wide angle setting. The second picture was at 50mm and the third one at 100mm. I like a little better depth-of-field than what you see in the 3rd picture. Guess I'll have to take it out of "automatic" and use the manuel setting for a smaller aperture opening. The last picture was taken at the high end of 270mm telephoto setting. I was standing in the same spot for each picture. Just trying it out and see what I can do with it. The pictures come out at 4928 X 3264 pixels, which is a large file. I cut it way down before uploading these. I know I have a lot to learn.

Winton Old Timers 2012

This is one of 105 pictures that Norm Giesbrecht took at the Winton Old Timers reunion on September 30.
You can see the rest of them at flickr. We had ten 90+ guests this year. There were several out-of-state people there; from Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. And maybe others. Those are the ones I know about.
I was collecting dues for the Winton Historical Society again this year. Someone else will take my place next year, because I get my wish to be able to mingle with the people and take pictures. Norm will be there too so we'll be sure to have some good shots.
I'm really excited about buying a new digital single lens reflex camera and practice with it before the next Old Timers reunion next September.
What will I practice on? Well, the tombstones at the Winton District Cemetery; my cat Maggie, not sure what else. Maybe a close-up of a flower or two. Anyway, it sounds like lots of fun and I can hardly wait to get my hands on an SLR camera. (It's going to be a Nikon D5100.)

Winton Old Timers -- Good Time Had By All

I managed to take a picture of the table set up at the Winton Old Timers last Sunday. This year, the placemats had pictures of the old original Winton School on Walnut Avnue. The focus was on the Winton School because it was 100 years old this year. The original building (2 school rooms of it) was completed in late 1912 and after Thanksgiving vacation, the students picked up their books and walked from "the garage" on the corner of Santa Fe and Winton Way to the new school building on Walnut Avenue, just west of the current Winton School District Office.

Later I was kept pretty busy taking dues for the Winton Historical Society. My cousin, Norm Giesbrecht was there with his professional DSLR camera and he was our official photographer again this year. Norm does a great job and lets me post the pictures on flickr each year. Norm also takes pictures at weddings, so he has a lot of experience. I don't have the pictures from 2012 yet, but you can find pictures from the previous years here.
All the pictures are given to Randy Heller each year on a CD and he shows them at the Winton Old Timers luncheon on the overhead screen. Everyone seems to enjoy that.
We had a good turn-out. Could have been better, but some of our regulars were not able to make it this year. We did have new people though, and that was fun.
Rosalie was in charge and she knows how to keep everything organized. Randy was the MC for the day and all went well.
Leona Eason was the oldest woman there at 101 years old. She looked great and was more spry than the other 90+ seniors. Her brother, Curt Jantz was again the oldest man. Another brother was visiting from Kansas. I didn't get his name, (probably Chester) and although younger than his siblings, he was also over 90 years old.
Also over 90 this year was Wilma Arnold, Mildred (Wedell) Dysart, Patricia Olmos, Edna Gilbert and two more whose names slip my mind at the moment.
On display were Winton School class pictures blown up to 8x12. You can see them in the background in the picture below.
The school has class pictures (not group pictures) from the 1960s, they were in binders and people were looking through those as well. One lady said she wished she had more time with those because her children were in them. I believe I have most if not all of them on my computer. Maybe we'll blow some of those up for next year. It'd be nice to know which ones people wanted to see.

Here is Ivaleine Cooper at the school books display table. She had first grade readers from every decade beginning with the McGuffy books, the Dick and Jane books, and up to the present.
It was a good day. Everyone we talked to said they had a good time.