New Spotting Scope!

There are moments in a marriage when all the good things your partner embodies ups and *SMACKS* you in the face, and you've never been so happy or grateful for being slapped.  

Last month, Ryan gave the family "thumbs up" for me to purchase the birding equipment of a lifetime: my first spotting scope. His only request was that I use it. Otherwise, he had no interest in the make, model, cost, accessories,...none of it. Of course, I kept him updated of everything, perhaps more details than he needed or wanted to know. The final product arrived this past week, and I took it to the Awase seawall for its first Okinawa voyage.

As with all first voyages, there were more than a few blunders. I tried digiscoping with our point-and-shoot. I had some mixed success. Scratch that. I used up a bit of memory card space with nothing. This is not a problem with the scope at all. I did not buy an attachment for digiscoping, meaning that I was simply placing my point-and-shoot flush with the eyepiece and hoping for the best.  Nothing beats the quality of the scope itself. To best demonstrate that, you  must come to Okinawa and I'll take you to the seawall to show you the details that you simply can't see when admiring a Greater Sand Plover through a pair of binoculars.

I had a totally new appreciation for the seawall after that day. Ryan came with me, but we didn't stay too long as he's been feeling a bit under the weather lately. Strangely, I only noticed the bird-themed gates to the nearby shrine today, even though I've birded here several times before today. I guess my new scope changed my eyes for the better more or less permanently?

Thank you, dearest husband, for understanding my terrestrial hobby when your own heart yearns to dive deeply in search of mibai.