New & Improved!

Tonight is a time to rejoice! First off we are having the most glorious snow like we hardly never get around here anymore. although it does seem like just yesterday I took Roxi out to play in the evening snow when she was just a little Pokey Puppy of a thing. She's a year old now.
I took her outside tonight to frolic in the silently falling snow, and to take a few pictures although I do so hate to use a flash that there's really no use.
Here's one I tried to get just because the sky has that glowing, snowing, otherworldly feel. Even though it's not in any kind of focus, I think it still conveys the right tone...

Secondly, I recently came into a Nikon D50. I know! Amazing! Where to even begin?
I suppose it began last month when I told my Mom "I don't know how, but I am going to get a digital SLR in the new year"...I really didn't know how, but I knew that I would.
Fast forward to this week, my cousin had this one sitting in its box and found out that I was in need of one, so he mailed it to me! How's that for manifesting? Don't try to tell me intention doesn't work.
I am just playing around with it tonight, trying to relearn all I once knew about photography. I was never any kind of "real" photographer, but I knew my F-stops, ISOs and shutter speeds. This camera is so entirely different than my beloved 1970s Minolta, but wow cam,eras have come a long way. I am generally a purist but I am loving all this new technology. If nothing else the ability to take seemingly unlimited shots as freely as you please and weed through the whole batch for free and fast on your computer, all that alone is enough to turn even the most Curmudgeony of cynics into fans.
I need the ability to get good close up shots of tiny things, fine detail for portfolio purposes and for bringing new & improved photo quality to this blog! I can get this close up with a 35-70 mm. And these interior shots are all taken with existing lighting (I didn't even try to set up anything) and free handed!
I've been walking around for hours with it hanging from my neck and I don't much plan to go around without it too much for a spell. It feels like an entity in your hands as the AF lens zooms and zips in and out as you set up your shots. I had almost forgotten how the sound of a shutter clicking thrills me!
This is my mantle, just playing around with a little depth of field stuff...(planning for a nice row of old tombstones in crooked lines later).

By the way, how spoiled am I? I get to be an art snob because I'm lucky enough to have to many wonderful artists as friends and family. Brandi painted this for me several years ago, and it is a scene that I could just jump right into. It's her rendition of one of the Pre Rephaelites' work and I love it. I call it my "Graveyard painting" (guess I should find out the title and artist's name) and it hangs above my stove.
Here is another closeup of objet d'art a.k.a. cool stuff I have layin' around. I do love my vintage maple shoe forms. Aren't they pretty?

Let me just say thank you to everyone who continues to inspire me and support me throughout my very charmed life.
Thanks!