Don't necessarily agree abouth the point n shoot. Case in point:
I couple three years ago I was taking a 3 day photography workshop. The photographer leading the class was extremely accomplished photographic artist, having learned the trade as a young man under the tutelage of Ansel Adams. Anyways, he was showing some of his work to us on a projector screen. We all ooooohed and awwwweeeed at some of the shots, one being a picture of a whale diving in the foreground of a glacier. Magnificent shot. Found out he shot it with a 3mp point n shoot. It was what he had readily available to capture the shot. As we were out in the field practicing techniques we were discussing in class, he was using a very old Sony 1mp point n shoot that used a floppy disk to write the image to.
Don't be swayed by a "point n shooter," might just be a pro using what is available.
Gordon, their are small dslr's, the xsi being one. Go to a camera store and pick a few models up and see what would be practical for your needs. The g10 shoots in raw, 12mp, has a hotshoe for external flash, and can shoot full on manual. The xsi can as well, except, can swap lenses.