I bought some flowers for Maria last at week at the store of John Rieger’s, who I hope to have lunch with next Wednesday. He is one of the nicest people I’ve met in years. Maria gave them to me, and we decided to split the difference and put them on the dining room table.

I fell in love with this rose in the center of the arrangement and promised myself I would figure out how to use the macro photo feature in my new Leica. It took to calls to a Leica employee in Boston, but we figured it out. He told me to forget about the manual focus for now and go back to automatic focus for a while.

I learned about how the Leica focuses itself in all kinds of light.

So I did go back to automatic, and I got this beautiful result and reward. I love my Rose, she speaks to me of Spring, and I fear she is beginning to die. She’s been a wonderful visitor. Maria went to see her friends in the bank today and came home with a bunch of rolls so we can finish off the piggy bank. She’s on the way home from belly dancing, but she’s extremely anal about chores.

I might be up all night counting pennies and dimes. Anyway, the Rose is a milestone for me. I have to go warm up some soup.