quickie

Looks Underwood-ish...

busy vacation week

4

5

camera talk

 I had the chance to go to the bins recently and this is almost the first thing I saw:

 Inside, I find it looks good, and even has the manual!

So I hauled out the Nikkormat, found a battery for it (in another camera, the Minolta SRT), and realized I had also already loaded it with film!  Then I realized I hadn't posted it for you, months ago when I found it in a pile of decent SLR bodies at a Goodwill.  I had my pick of three FT's as well as a couple more Minolta SRT's and a Pentax K1000.  I mounted the only "eared" lens I have (with a fair bit of internal spotting - I'm waiting to see what that looks like on the film), and I am trying it out.

So here is spokescat Guido, making it look good

The FT was first in the line, made 1965-67 and updated several times for a decade.  It was the closest thing you could get to a Nikon F, and still the closest I'll get to one for a ten-spot.  I read somewhere today that it sold for $270 at the time, $70 less than a Nikon F.  That's a lot - online sources put it at about $2016 in current US money.

The controls take some getting used to.  It wasn't until the third place I looked that I found out that the film advance also activates the meter.  That's good news, as it isn't running down the battery all the time, and I have confirmed it does work.  Also note in the photo that the film speed is buried in that same multi-purpose ring.

No shoe on top at all (cold or hot), but luckily the Minolta came with a flash and the little cable that plugs in here.  Two different sync speeds, for electronic (X - for xenon, I think) and M (Medium) for slower-brightening bulbs.

So now I'm looking for washing soda.  I'll keep you posted.

more public typing

public typing

The first two are from a list of advice for women cyclists from the early 20th century. The last is from The Shadow radio program.

drafts of my cards, which I worked on a bit more before printing the finals

Tacoma Tweed Ride

"border collies" keep the herd together.

That's one of our Councilmen.

These gents have a vintage clothing shop in town that sponsored the ride.

In addition to my own, many others were shooting.  There's a nice one of me typing in a flickr set of a talented local photographer, Carla Gramlich. 

Busy week

 To start with, on Friday I picked up a recent win on shopgoodwill, this one at the big Seattle store.

 Yes indeedy, it's an Empire, a few years older than my Rocket so somewhat different in construction.
I do need to find the repair tutorial for those sprung typebars.

Then on Saturday we went to Portland, to catch the Venice exhibit at the art museum there.  It was fantastic.  I took along the Zephyr Deluxe Pride Line, and didn't know there was a typecast from months earlier still in there.

This typewriter had had a bit of an adventure.  I had checked it into the coat check for the time we were in there, then retrieved it and promptly left it out on a platform outside the museum as we went to lunch, where I discovered the loss.  When we got back, I went inside and they recognized me right away and called lost and found.  He was very interested and impressed with the goodwill price tag too.

Then on Monday, I had some preparations to make.

Dad chose the Royal Aristocrat, first seen in public at the big Snohomish Type-in, where Little Flower Petals borrowed it to win the typing contest.
"Dad" in this case is a design chef who works a few feet away from me.  I think he told me he'd studied literature in college, then somehow got interested in chef training and thrived at it.  College is supposed to get us OUT of foodservice.  I think we're both doing it wrong.  Anyway we talk from time to time about reading and writing and his son is apparently a fire hose of literary creativity.  An opportunity not to be missed, you'll agree.


Apparently the Typewriter was very much appreciated.  Here's what Dad brought me back today.

I think we all know how that feels, kid.  Welcome to the typosphere.