"Buying a Nikon doesn't make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner." ~Author Unknown

Two years ago, my husband gave me a beautiful Nikon D90 for  ~ my birthday, anniversary,  Christmas, Valentine's Day, birthday, anniversary and ultimately retirement this past June - it covered a lot of gift-giving!  It is a beautiful camera - absolutely beautiful, and in retirement I have really begun to use it in earnest.  Those of you with whom I've been in close contact since we arrived in Florida know the saga of my broken camera lens.  For everyone else, we had been in Florida for approximately 4 days when my beautiful lens jammed up and would not zoom.  I will tell you that I am beyond careful with my camera - I really am, so for this to happen made me absolutely nuts.  To make a very long story short, we took it to a camera shop in Florida, then sent it back to our camera shop in NY, who sent it on to the lens manufacturer, who sent it back (repaired) to our camera shop in NY, who sent it back to us via UPS, who lost it in their warehouse in Clearwater, who finally found it.  Whew - it is now safely back on my camera and in my hands nearly a month later.

When it first jammed up - it was not a pretty sight - I had a bit of a meltdown - it is the combination of that lens - and my camera - and the fact that I take like a gazillion pictures, that I end up with some photos that I really love.  I really was beside myself - especially since I have taken to including so many photos on my blog. Bruce immediately set about getting me a replacement lens so that I would at least have something to use while my other one was being repaired - I suspect that he knew that he was going to be listening to a lot of wailing otherwise!  The lens that we got, while not as capable as my original one, helped to tide me over, and I know now that I have a backup in the event (perish the thought!) that I find myself in the same boat again!  I am so happy to have my camera back to its original state!