Bougainvillea and hibiscus in Mexico

I loved seeing the bright flowers in Mexico, where tropical flowers bloom year-round, even in December. The following photos are of my original shot followed by the same photo with "Poster Edges" by PhotoShop.
Purple bougainvillea, used as a hedge in Cabo San Lucas...
...and with Poster Edges
Another hedge of hot pink bougainvillea in Cabo San Lucas...
...and with Poster Edges
Double hibiscus in Tuxtla Chico, Chiapas, Mexico..
...and with Poster Edges.

See more lovely flowers at Today's Flowers, hosted by Luis Santilli Jr, Denise Gullickson and Laerte Pupo.

Swan posing

There's a double beauty whenever a swan swims on a lake with her double thereon.
-Thomas Hood

Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg.
-Hans Christian Andersen

The swan, with arched neck between her white wings mantling proudly, rows her state with oary feet.
-John Milton

But calm, white calm, was born into a swan.
-Elizabeth Coatsworth

The swan on still St. Mary’s lake float double, swan and shadow!
-William Wordsworth

When all the world is young, lad,
And all the trees are green;
And every goose a swan, lad
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
And round the world away:
Young blood must have its course, lad,
And every dog his day.
-Charles Kingsley

Death darkens his eyes, and unplumes his wings,
Yet the sweetest song is the last he sings:
Live so, my Love, that when death shall come,
Swan-like and sweet it may waft thee home.
Marcus Tillius Cicero

Skywatch over the Panama Canal

The Dutch flag flies proudly atop the MS Amsterdam as we make our way through the Panama Canal, December 12, 2009.
There's always work going on alongside the canal, from terracing hillsides to slow down erosion to road-building for easier access to the canal. Dredging the canal goes on continually so that it stays deep enough for the big ships to pass through.
We pass under the Millenium Bridge, completed in 2004, named in honor of Panama's 100th year of existence. The area that is now Panama once was part of Columbia.
We're just passing under the Millenium Bridge. It was a hot and humid day, but what a glorious sky!

Happy skywatching everyone! See unique and beautiful photos of sky canvasses around the world at SkywatchFriday. Thank you Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing guy, Louise and Sylvia for keeping up this site!

Rainy day views

Monday was a rainy day, as have been many of our days in the past couple of weeks. Being a compulsive exerciser, I went out for my daily constitutional along Oak Lane, umbrella overhead and camera in my pocket.
As you can see, Oak Lane is a gravel road and on this day it had a little muddy stream running down it, eventually flowing into Johntown Creek.
Filled with rain water, the potholes made pretty polka dots, reminding me of tea with milk in it, the way I like my tea.
In this view, the rain-filled pothole looked more like cafe au lait...
...and with a bit of PhotoShopping, it turned into what looked like a big caramel candy.
Oak Lane, in the dead of winter atop the levee forming the Oak Lane Reservoir...I'm learning how to sharpen images with PhotoShop...It is so much fun!
Our visiting lone swan glided slowly around in the lake looking for luscious delicacies and not minding the rain at all.
Two days later, on Wednesday, he was just as happy paddling around the lake in the sunshine.

I used Photoshop to change my dull-colored, slightly out-of-focus pictures into brighter, more sharply focussed ones. I'm amazed at what it can do!

Shooting baskets on the Panama Canal

Panama Canal Transit Part 1

At last the day of our Panama Canal Partial Transit had arrived, Saturday, December 12, 2009. Lots of ships were waiting in the Bay of Panama for their turn to make the transit. Dozens of ships per day pass through the canal; only 3% of them are cruise ships. Look here for more details about the canal. The charge for each cruise ship is $100 per passenger, so the MS Amsterdam had to pay the Panama Canal Authority $200,000 to do a partial transit.

As you can see on the diagram below, the Pacific Ocean (where we were) is on the RIGHT (east) and the Atlantic Ocean is on the LEFT (west) due to the twisting shape of the country of Panama.
If you click on this diagram, you will see that the first set of locks we went through (from the Pacific side) were the Miraflores locks, to bring the ship up to the level of Miraflores Lake.

You can see what I mean (that we traveled through the canal from the Pacific Ocean in the SE to Gatun Lake in the NW) on the map below:
We traveled from southeast to northwest--strange but true.
The first bridge we went under was the Bridge of the Americas.
This is the Panamanian pilot boat that followed along next to us up to the first set of gates, the Miraflores locks. The Panamanian pilot actually boarded our ship right up to the start of the locks, then got off.
Another official Panama Canal boat
We are approaching the first lock which you can see in the distance.
The little silver train-engine-looking thing is called a "mule." Two mules are attached on each side of the ship to guide us to and through the locks so that the ship doesn't scrape up against the sides of the lock area.
We are approaching the narrow section leading to the first Miraflores lock.
You can see the water pouring out from the first lock (lower left this side of the lock) to lower the water level between the two locks so the ship can go into that section.
The water has lowered almost enough in the between-the lock section so the gates can open. They are just about to open…
…and they start to open…
…and our ship moves into the section between the locks, where we wait for water from Miraflores Lake to pour into that section so that the ship will rise up to the level of the lake.
You can see how close we are to the concrete area. It looked like only 8 to 12 inches between the side of the ship and the concrete wall on each side.
Panama Canal official buildings
The section between the locks has filled up after 30 minutes or so and we move ahead through the lock toward Miraflores Lake.
The locks are almost all the way open for us to enter Miraflores Lake. It took about an hour to raise us up from sea level at the Pacific Ocean to Miraflores Lake, going through the two gates. It is amazing to me that the entire Panama Canal was built without power tools in the early 1900s and it is based on gravity. The only electricity used is in opening and closing the gates.
Looking behind our ship, we see more ships coming through. I was surprised to learn that the product most often going through the canal is wood. Grain and ore are second and third.
We're well past the Miraflores locks, into Miraflores Lake
Jerry relaxes in one of the lounges as we cruise through the first lake, Miraflores.

Join the fun and see places all around the world at My World Tuesday.