There was a bit of discussion (and consternation) here recently when one of the longtime members of this group declared “I am outta here” or words to that effect.
I copy/pasted much of the ensuing discussion and sent it on to the dear departed (sorry, can’t resist using that phrase!) Just in case he had signed off before the discussion occurred. And I asked “so, what’s up with you?” In brief, the individual has understandably been under a bit of stress. Spending long periods listening to warning sirens while huddled with your family in bomb shelters can do that to you. All of this got me to reflecting on this group. This is an interesting group. I am not sure if I was the first to make this sort of move, but back at least 20 years ago I was at least one of the first to use the List to make connections when I traveled. Frank and Dave and others in Toronto, including an evening at a Blue Jays baseball game. Bob and Cotty and others in England. Gianfranco and Dario and others in Italy: Venice, Rome, Naples,Ravenna… Lasse and others in Sweden and Aland. Boris in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and Haifa. Henk and others in Amsterdam and Amersfoort. Rob and a bunch of others in Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide. Jostein in Oslo (and Salisbury and Tenerife) and Paul and Bob in Milwaukee. And Mark in Boston and of course the Chicago weekend organized by Mark and Christine. And the Grandfather gatherings. And photo meetups for weekends in D.C. And that is just me and off the top of my head. I can recall hearing of many NYC meetups and others, often on occasion of visitors from outside the U.S. passing through on business or vacation. Larry and John on the West Coast, Ann and Dan on the East Coast have provided something of a nexus in those regions. An interesting group. Formed around a common interest in photography in general, the proper and effective use of Pentax gear in particular. Not exactly tight knit, but close enough that we can ask favors of one another, close enough that we can (mostly) trust one another when buying/selling gear, close enough that we can share our feeble attempts at artistry without fear of ridicule and humiliation. Maybe close enough that we could reach out to someone in difficulty and without feeling like an intrusive stranger? I do know that there is no generic answer, we members are not all alike. But, for me, for some of us, maybe, we could work a bit on thinking about reaching out to provide comfort to one another occasionally? Just a thought. And now back to my regularly scheduled attempt to get a decent shot of the Oriole at the feeder… Stan -- %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-le...@pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.