Happily married 55 years, retired baby boomer, mother of 2, grandmother of 4, traveler, Georgia Bulldog fan, Air Force Brat, avid reader, amateur photographer, gardener, ovarian cancer survivor, blogger. Every day is a gift!
John is our host for the challenge Before and After. His challenge is to “feature three or four images in your gallery that you tweaked for whatever reason as well as the original image straight out of the camera.” I almost always crop my images and sometimes do other minor editing. I experimented with a few different edits for this challenge. All of my editing is done using Adobe Photoshop Elements.
My header image is the final edited version of a favorite image from our 2013 RV trip to Alaska. We camped in a waterfront campground in Haines, Alaska for about a week. The following image is the original photo I took one rainy night from our campsite.
To achieve the after image in the header I first cropped the photo to focus on the three ships with the mountains in the background. I then adjusted the blue hue/saturation levels. I finished it off by adjusting the levels of black and white.
Original image before edits
The following image is the original closeup of lemon blossoms.
Original photo before edits
I started out by cropping the photo to a square so the blossoms would be the focus of the image. Next, I added a white vignette effect to soften the floral image. The final image after all edits is shown below.
Final image after edits
The next two images are of Dogwood blossoms. The first image is the original.
Original image before edits
I began by cropping to select the blossoms in the center of the photo. I wanted to create an artistic image so I added the Colored Pencil filter and tweaked the settings to get the look I wanted in the following finished edit.
“April Showers bring May Flowers” is the theme for Terri’s latest Sunday Stills photo challenge.
I was in elementary school when I first heard the saying about April showers bringing May flowers. Where I live in coastal Georgia, many of our flowers bloomed in March and have already faded. I walked around my yard to find these flowers the first week of April.
The header image is of my Dogwood tree blooming in the first week of April. I’ve been enjoying the Dogwood flowers since March.
March is peak season for azaleas where I live in coastal Georgia. This light pink bloom is one of the final azaleas in my yard this year.
These Meyer Lemon blossoms will hopefully bring me some lemons this winter.
For this challenge Sofia tells us “we’re looking for Water in Motion, gentle or powerful, man-made or natural, the choice is yours”.
I chose several images of natural moving water. My header shows powerful waves in the Atlantic Ocean created by an approaching tropical storm. These next images are other examples of powerful water movement in oceans.
Devil’s Punchbowl near Newport, OregonWaves crashing against rocks in San Juan, Puerto Rico
I’ll go out of my way to see a waterfall. The following gallery includes four waterfalls, all named Bridal Veil Falls.
Bridal Veil Falls in Nantahala National Forest, NCBridal Veil Falls in Keystone Canyon near Valdez, AlaskaBridal Veil Falls, Yosemite National Park, CaliforniaBridal Veil Falls, Niagara Falls, New York
The final two images are of water cascading over rocks.
Yosemite National Park, CaliforniaGlacier National Park, Montana
After going on this same cruise itinerary in 2022 we enjoyed the islands so much we wanted to visit them all again. This time we chose different excursions so that we could experience new things on each island.
February 17, 2024 Day 8: Wandering around the port of Barbados
We had two days to explore Barbados on our 2022 cruise. We spent the first day on a wonderful Photo Tour with Ronnie Carrington. The next day Henry went for a submarine ride in the Atlantis Submarine. You can read about both days at Caribbean Islands Adventure 2022 Barbados.
For our 2024 visit we wandered around the port of Barbados on our own. We enjoyed a leisurely morning on the ship and watched the Barbados Coast Guard come and go before riding a shuttle bus from our ship to the cruise terminal. We asked the driver for a good place to eat lunch and he told us to try Millie’s Snack Bar at the port. We love eating where the locals eat so we gave it a try. We knew it must be good when we saw the local police eating there. Our lunch was delicious.
Barbados Coast GuardLunch at Millie’s
February 18, 2024 Day 9: Panoramic Dominica and Jacko Falls
Our excursion for the day started with a scenic bus ride through the capitol of Roseau. Our driver stopped at an overlook on the side of the mountain for a view of the city before continuing up the mountain into the rain forest. We stopped at beautiful Jacko Falls in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park. Henry and I skipped the steep steps to the bottom of the falls and enjoyed viewing them from an overlook at the top. While waiting for the more adventurous people to return from the bottom of the falls we enjoyed a rum punch before hopping back on the bus for the journey back down the mountain to the ship.
On our first visit to the island in 2022 we went into a different part of the rain forest to see some other waterfalls. You can read about that adventure at Dominica Adventure 2022
February 19, 2024 Day 10: Antigua Catamaran Cruise and Lobster Lunch
On our first visit to Antigua in 2022 we took a scenic bus trip around the island. For our latest visit we wanted to experience the island from the water.
Our six hour Catamaran cruise in Antigua was just perfect. The crew was great, the skies were clear, and the scenery was spectacular with beautiful bays and white sand beaches. The captain and crew took care of us all day. We boarded the catamaran at the dock in St. John’s and cruised along the coast of Antigua with a stop for snorkeling and swimming near where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea.
We sailed on the red Mystic Cruises catamaran A beautiful day in the waters of Antigua
The crew set up tables around the boat for lunch while lobsters were being grilled. They served us a delicious meal of lobster, beans and rice, potatoes, and a salad along with rum punch, beer, and champagne.
Grilled lobster prepared on the boatThe crew set up tables with tablecloths and served us our delicious lobster lunch
After lunch the captain pulled up to a beach so everyone would have an opportunity for a swim and a walk on the beach before returning to the cruise ship dock.
Great place for a swimAn old fort on top of the hill overlooking the beach
February 20, 2024 Day 11: Tortola Safari Bus Trip to Cane Garden Bay
In 2022 we had a great day cruising in the waters around Tortola on a catamaran. This time we wanted to see more of the island itself. We boarded the bus at the cruise ship dock in Road Town. It was a slow, bumpy ride on narrow, twisting, steep Ridge Road up a mountain and then back down to the other side of the mountain to a beautiful bay and beach.
This Safari Bus was our ride for the daySpectacular views from the road
As we traveled up the mountain we drove by a wall painted with the Ridge Road Mural. Several different artists created these scenes of life on Tortola. Our driver drove slowly as we went by because the road is too narrow for the bus to stop. There is more information about the mural in this article Behind the Ridge Road Mural.
We had about an hour to relax and enjoy the scenery at the Cane Garden Bay. We sat in the shade at the beach side restaurant enjoying the view before going back up the mountain to return to our ship.
February 21, 2024 Day 12: St. Thomas on our own
In 2022 we went for a catamaran sail to a beach in the U.S.V.I. National Park. This time we enjoyed watching the activity on the water from our ship before going ashore to wander around the Charlotte Amalie cruise terminal. The header photo shows the bay as seen from our veranda.
Dinghies at the yacht receptionHarbor at Charlotte Amalie
February 22, 2014 Final Destination: San Juan, Puerto Rico
After a relaxing and adventure filled cruise we arrived at our final destination of San Juan, Puerto Rico early in the morning. We disembarked about 6:30 a.m for our ride to airport. After two flights and a drive from the airport to our home we arrived relaxed, rested, and with many happy memories.
Tina has challenged us to show people. I usually don’t take a lot of people pictures and I’m not very good at taking them but I managed to come up with a few images for the challenge. The two musicians in my header image entertained us with Celtic music in a pub in Dingle, Ireland a few years ago.
We were serenaded with a Bob Wills classic while we enjoyed our steak at the Big Texan Steak House in Amarillo, TexasStreet musician in Galway, IrelandTwo crew members preparing a hot air balloon for launch at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.Katz’s Delicatessen in New York CityCooking lobster on the ship VikingSea
I’ll finish with a gallery of three tour guides we enjoyed during our travels.
Our tour guide in Costa RicaOur tour guide in BelizeOur tour guide in St. KittsDur
Wandering Dawgs 