I'm ending my search for the serial number of my 70-210 mm f/4-5.6 AF Nikkor.
Nothing seems to work. About the only possibility is that it does report its serial number
in the Exif data, so if I find
somebody with a modern Nikon camera, it might divulge its secrets. But while looking for
it, took these photos:
The second and third images (close-up) show considerable fungus on the front element,
something I have almost never seen. But the second image also shows a completely unexpected
gradation of the lens barrel. I haven't been able to fix it, but why is it like that at
all? The first image was taken with studio flash, the second with available light to get an
accurate view of the fungus, which is barely visible in the first photo. My best guess is
that the barrel really was lighter than the rest of the scene. One to put in my “fix this
photo” collection.
Our Strelitzia nicolai is blooming, by chance three flowers next to each other:
And even the Strelitzia
reginae looks like it's going to flower, something that it doesn't do very often:
And though it's not looking happy, the Clematis “Edo Murasaki” has a couple of buds that may flower if it ever gets any
warmer:
I'm baking less bread lately, since we've found
other things to eat as well. But today was the start of another batch, and I discovered
that the starter, now nearly 4 months old, was looking less than perfect:
It's far too dark, though only on the surface. Scraping it off reveals good starter
underneath:
I recall that it was called “hooch”, and that it's harmless. Still, worth scraping off and
seeing what happens.
Turkey breast roast this evening, from ALDI. I've made it in the past, and it surprised me by taking exactly as long as the
packaging claimed, 90 minutes at 170° for a 1 kg roast. The only issue was the browning.
Last time it looked like this:
I had already intended to leave it open (without aluminium foil) for longer than
recommended, and this time I started after 60 minutes, changing from even heating (2 on our
oven) to grill (8 on our oven), keeping the temperature constant at 170° (something that the
oven always resets). It only took 20 minutes to brown nicely, so next time I can start
after 70 minutes:
Progress was:
| Time (mins) |
|
Oven |
|
Meat |
| since start |
|
setting |
|
temperature |
|
| 0 |
|
2 (170°) |
|
5° |
| 40 |
|
|
|
40° |
|
remove foil, turn over |
| 60 |
|
8 (170°) |
|
60° |
| 80 |
|
2 (170°) |
| 90 |
|
|
|
82° |
|
done |
| 110 |
|
off |
|
86° |
Interestingly, though the meat was dry, some jelly formed while it was resting:
I don't recall that happening before.
Jesse Walsh along today for a couple of hours in the garden, getting rid of most of the
nasty weeds. There are still the grasses to go. He also finally removed the dead
Camellia that had really been
dying since we moved in here. I still don't understand why it declined and died.
Baked bread again today, something I've been doing
for over 17 years. I had been mildly
concerned by the apperance of the starter yesterday, but there was no obvious problem. The bread came into the oven 4 hours,
40 minutes after it started to rise, about normal. The only issue was that at the end I
couldn't get it out of the form! After much messing around, discovered that I had not put
in the paper as cleanly as I should have, leaving a black corner that fused to the form:
It's been a long time since I have done that.
