I'd like to introduce you to two new friends of mine. The first, who I've known for a couple of months, is Lilly, also known as "Little Scruff" for obvious "perpetual bad hair day" reasons.

Although not completely evident from this shot, Lilly is very friendly and loves nothing more than to be given a little attention. And to play with Lucy the cat.

The other is one that I met for the first time today after handing over (yet another) voluminous wad of cash at Digital Camera Warehouse; the Canon 60mm f/2.8 EF-S Macro lens.

"EF-S", I hear you cry, "what are you thinking???" I'm thinking that even if I upgrade to the rumoured 5D Mk III full frame when it's released later this year, there's no way that I'll be getting rid of the 40D any time soon. I'm thinking that of the other Canon macros, the 50mm (which isn't a 1:1 lens like the 60m is) would be a compromise, and I decided to stop making those since the quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten. I'm thinking that 60mm is already a 96mm equivalent on a 40D. And I'm thinking that the other contender, the 100mm f/2.8 IS, while a highly desirable piece of hardware, is just too long when it becomes an effective 160mm until or unless I get the 5D. So the 60mm EF-S it was, after reading review after review about its laser-like sharpness.

Based on this shot, it's a reputation well earned. Obviously the end of her nose is out of the depth of field since I was using f/2.8, but the sharpness in the fur around her eyes has to be seen to be believed on the original image.

Lilly wasn't the original subject of today's image; I was in fact playing around with some flower shots when she came over wanting to say "Hello". I blasted off a few shots and liked this one, especially around the eyes, so this one was nominated as today's PAD.

For those wondering, Lilly was rumoured to be a Malchi; a Maltese / Chihuahua cross. However we later determined (as she herself asserted) that she was in fact a wolf. (An indoors wolf, of course.)

Edit December 2023: One of the first times we met I was sitting on a garden chair with my legs stretched out. Lilly ran straight up my legs and plopped herself into my lap. As the years passed she became less of a lap-wolf, in part I think because she put on some weight and in part because her aging joints didn't allow her to be quite as nimble as she once was.

Unfortunately Lilly died earlier this year; on 12 February 2023, by coincidence EXACTLY 12 years after this shot was taken. As often happens, those 12 years passed without noticing that they were indeed passing. Lilly was there through all of them... until she wasn't, and the regrets and the "coulda woulda shoulda"s set in, in relation to how much time we could have spent doing things in those 12 years. There is, however, no going back. Rest in peace, little one.

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