This is an enhancement that I did as one of our weekly "Digital Nuts" challenges. I tried using some new tools and was pleasantly surprised by a couple of them. I liked the outcome. You can see the original I started with below.

I'm kind of glad that today is over with. I have a short (very short) solo part in our Christmas cantata and now I don't have to worry about it any more. I also don't have to practice the cantata every day any more.  Now . . . let Christmas commence.

As promised . . . the original of the little girl in red.

Here is what greeted me early this morning. They're building a house across the gulley from me, and I loved how you could see the sunrise through the rafters of the unfinished home.

I'd gotten up early so that I could get a good start on the day. It was to be our annual Candy Days and we were going to try to get everything done in just one day rather than 2 days as in years past. We had pared down the amount of candy we were going to make this year so it would be just possible that we might actually accomplish everything in one day.

This isn't all, but it's the majority of the candy that we made yesterday. There are white chocolate covered pretzels, Craisen bark, white covered cashew clusters, peanut butter balls, coconut bon bons, Oreo bon bons and chocolate covered toffee.  We'll be cutting down a even a little bit more next year as well. Gill participated with us last year for the first time and surprisingly enough . . . she was game for it again this year.

Then shortly after we finished dividing up all the candy and after Alice had gone home to take Rosie Joy for her walk, I got a call from Alice on her cell phone. She said, "Quick, go look out back". 

 
I went to look out the back window and immediately ran to get my camera. There was a hot air baloon that had just landed across the gulley from my house. It caused quite a commotion . . . there were probably a dozen people clustered around it.

Then a minute later it lifted off and I got a movie of it as it rose into the sky.

 

                    Enhanced                                                Original Photo

Here's another picture from my Greek Cruise. Actually this is a shot I took walking on the streets of Patmos. I'm a sucker for unusual doors . . . and sometimes just OLD doors.  I think this one falls into that category.

It snowed here just a bit last night. Not a lot mind you . . . just enough to leave a little dusting in grassy areas. It all melted too fast on concrete, so it was only in the grass and flower beds. But, it does count as our very first snow of this season.

This is a shot I took of Kavala Harbor while I was on a recent cruise called "The Footsteps of Paul". We were gone for 10 days and visited many ports in Greece and Turkey. I feel so very fortunate to be home safe and sound, what with all that's going on over in that part of the world right now. . . . rioting in Athens and pirates trying to board cruise ships. Pretty scarey stuff.

Actually, taking a cruise is really a great way to get the "flavor" of region. Your ship steams on to the next port while you're sleeping, then after breakfast you leave the ship and get on a bus to take you to all the sights there are to see near that port town. Repeat the next day, and then repeat, repeat, and repeat again.

I'll share more pictures in the weeks to follow.