Charlotte Makes Photos

With lovely sunshine, but little inspiration to make photos, last Sunday, I decided to bring the Mamiya with me for our little morning grocery loop. It was our traditional route, which took us southward, along Waverley (and through the Elgin Street Sunday market), and back up toward the grocery store.

While walking through the market — maybe with the passive hope that the onigiri table would be running — our eyes were instead caught by a banner at one of the tables that said VEGAN.

Now, since they’re becoming fewer and further between these days¹, any business that promises vegan options will be sure to get our attention. So between that sign and the enthusiastic presence of the owners, we made a bee-line toward the table to see what was on offer.

Carib Lime specializes in Trinidadian Doubles and Sorrel, which neither of us had ever tried before. We ordered one combo each (one double and one sorrel) intending to have them for lunch.

Of course, we didn’t really know they’re more of a breakfast food (funny how that works) and we decided that we’d at least drink the sorrel (which was revelatory) in the nearby park and have the doubles for lunch (which were delicious). We will certainly be enjoying more of them next opportunity we get!

Lazarus Comes Back from the Repair Pile

I am not the strongest of gals, so outside of learning about (and enjoying) doubles, I also felt the weight of the Mamiya around my neck. At around 4 pounds, it’s no wonder I do!

This caused me to wonder about the current condition of my Yashica 635. I had put it away in late 2022 because, at least 1/100, I had two rolls of film that came back considerably over-exposed, a pretty sure sign that the shutter had become slow.

I can’t say that I was expecting the camera to have “healed itself” exactly, but on Monday morning, I pulled it out of the cabinet and played with the shutter a little bit. Although I could not tell you if it was specifically 1/100, I can say that 1/50 was definitely slower (half the speed? perhaps) and 1/250 was definitely faster (twice the speed? more? perhaps).

Seeing this, I decided that after work, I would load a roll of Lomo Potsdam and take a little walk. I had to pick up more cans of cat food and a few things at a nearby office supply store, so I needed to take a little walk anyway.

Outside of the photos being as inspired as I was while making them, it seems that the camera is working again. Or perhaps it always was working, but for a series of unfortunate circumstances related to the film being used.

If nothing else, the results have encouraged me to load another roll this morning to see what happens! ☺️

1. We haven’t been full vegan for even one year yet, and what’s on offer in Fall 2026 in general is already a shadow of what was in late 2025. I suppose it’s fortunate that part of going this way is that I’ve come to (mostly) enjoy cooking (when I’m not too tired) and at least have a handful of scratch recipes at the ready since convenience foods are rapidly disappearing. ↩︎