For some reason #20 seemed to be loading slowly, so I'm starting a new thread a bit earlier than usual. Here is the link to #20
http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=47&pst=1283501
This is the thread where we all get to see a part of each other's lives other than our furkids! Please share your photos or digital art of vacations, scenary, hobbies, nature . . . but make sure the photos are yours or someone you know who has allowed you to post them here. Photos should be no wider than 640 so we don't have to scroll to read. 
Okay shutterbugs, let's start posting!
This was my last post on #20. Maybe it made the thread load too slow!!!
Group History Thursday, 2:20 PM
Well, I finally got some of my old photos scanned, cropped and loaded into the album. Meralyn - the thread will never die!!!!!! I love your Fern Canyon - and I agree that it should be called Fern Gully. Sunny, your girls could nearly pass for twins! Beautiful girls with very beautiful smiles. I bet they actually look just like their Mother 
Great rainbow photo!! 
It appears that April and Kim were able to pick up some photo taking tips from Dad?! That last mountain (rock formation) looks like so many in the area that I have around me - but then, there's lots like that in NM and UT. How neat that they could get close enough to get some set up shots from the movie scenes!! Looks like the Rio Grande wasn't exactly real "grand" at the time the photo was shot. You can see where the water could be by the sides of the riverway, though. It's the same in CO - most spots where we cross it are very low.
Well, here's a couple of different shots for all of you photo buffs
First, a pic of one of my little Betta fish - I used to have 20 of the little guys. Had 3 aquariums with dividers in them and many little tanks all over the place. They were very fun to watch, but it got to be too much of a hassle for me to keep all of the tanks cleaned.
And then this is a shot I took back in '95 when I lived in KY
and another Betta
WHOA!!! Okay, so it's not a Betta 
Just tryin' to keep you all awake! This was taken in the aquarium at Sea World. I just found my disk from that trip and will be doing some cropping and stuff for more to share. Yes, Meralyn, I do want to do a book with my photos - a road trip journal book. hehehe I, too, wanted to write before the photography. Hopefully, I can put the two together some day.
This post was modified from its original form on 19 Sep, 8:46
Linda, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that the photos at that bed and breakfast were absolutely stunning!! I could have been looking at a travel magazine - or a National Geographic!! That looked like a very relaxing jaunt. Beautiful countryside.
Fern with water drops from seepage dripping down the wall of the canyon. If the sun had been out they would have glittered like diamonds, as they are, rather dead.
Black Stemmed fern hanging over the little stream in the canyon. There were several varieties of ferns growing on the walls of the canyon, I couldn't identify all of them, need to get a book on ferns. OK, this is the last of the Fern Canyon pix, on to other things now.
Sunny - your pix from your daughter havn't loaded yet, I came in last night and waited, finally went to bed! Will try again later
Deb - great pix and gee, what a dainty little betta, LOL! Thanks for starting a new thread, too. And thanks re my pix.
I got some shots of a pretty little Evening Primrose with a hover fly yesterday, and this morning a beautiful morning moon when the sun was out, amazing! Its only about three-quarter though, so looks a bit squashed! Will share these later.
Happy shooting and hunting those elusive rare shots!
The photos are beautiful. That shark is something else, and I loved the greenery Meralyn.
Deb, you can change this at any time. Doesn't have to be 100 posts, and by the way, care2 is crawling.
Oooooo, my long post disappeared and I'm not going to repeat myself. I commented (nicely) on everyone's photos and concluded by agreeing rechargeable batteries were the way to go. I have one set in the camera and one set in the bag ready to replace them.
This is episode two of my North York Moors trip and this was our first afternoon in the area. We decided to visit Whitby, a small fishing town as it was so wet but despite that there were still plenty of photo opportunities. The rigging caught my eye here but I can't recall the significance of the vessel to the town.
This is looking across the river with the old Church in the background on the hill overlooking the sea.
This young seagull demanded food from us but we didn't oblige. There were signs saying "don't feed the gulls"!
This bridge swings out sideways to allow boats through.
A view of one of the steep, narrow streets. It was extremely quiet because of the rain.
We climbed up the hill to see the old abbey but didn't pay to look around as it was about to close. I did take this from over the wall though! Later on I have some brilliant views of the town from a distance which also include the abbey.
This is looking back up the hill to the abbey. As you can see, it was VERY steep but fortunately not too slippery in the rain. I wouldn't want to go up there in the ice or snow!
Tomorrow I'll show you some of the beautiful scenery inland.
This post was modified from its original form on 19 Sep, 10:44
one on camera!
I thought I'd just post a few more pics as I have a minute or two to spare. I should really have shown you these before the Whitby ones as they were our first views of the moors and dales. It was just starting to rain and the second shot has rain spots on it!
This is Farndale:
and this is Farndale Beck (the stream running along the bottom of the valley)
All of a sudden this magnificent bird of prey flew over:
I haven't been able to positively identify it but suspect it could be a hen harrier or even the larger marsh harrier. We didn't see another bird of prey all the time we were there so I was thrilled to have caught this on camera.
Sorry, the colours aren't working and I don't like writing in black!
Linda - wonderful pix, WOW! thank you for sharing them with us!
Joy - thank you also for sharing the Lipizzaner pix! Gee that's neat that they have some of them there! Hadn't known that. I have yet to check out the Hermann horses. I did notice the royal brand on one stallion! By the way, kneeling and the Spanish Walk are NOT part of the Spanish Riding School's training or maneuvers. That's strickly circus-type exibition.
Not all the Lipizzaners were brought here, most of those that Patton helped save remained in Austria. The 250 saved formed the breeding farm and they continued with the Spanish Riding School, located in Vienna, Austria, named Spanish after the original imported lipizzans and Andalusians. Some of the imports were also Arabian.
There is a great deal on their history in Google/Wikepedia under Lipizzans. Lipizzaner is the name used here in the states.
I'm trying to get a few more pix of the Lipizzaners loaded but neither care2 nor P-Bucket will cooperate today!
Have a great weekend shutterbugs! By for now!
Oh what beautiful pictures! You guys are all so good! Thanks for sharing your lovely work!!
I found these little beauties growing on a ditch bank along the highway a little ways from where I live on the California side. While I was squatting down shooting, trucks roared past and I heard one driver yell "hi ya sweetheart"! I didn't look up!
That's a hover fly sipping from one flower not a bee as I first thought.
I finally got care2 to load some of the lipizzaner photos for me, its just worn me out fighting with it and P-Bucket today!!! I'll try to get some posted for you tomorrow.
Meralyn. I also like the results of your risky roadside bending over. hehehe What a gorgeous little flower! And you caught that hover fly before he could move and become a blur!
My granddaughter came running into the house today with a huge bush of purple flowers yelling, "happy grandparents day!" I playd along and told her thank you - then when my eyes teared up and my nose started tickling I asked if we could take pics of them because i was allergic to whatever it was. She agreed and here are a couple of those shots. One of them I played with a bit.
So, I will be gone for about a week. I will miss all of your photos!! But I will try to get online somewhere during that time. Keep posting those pics!!
Deb, what FANTASTIC SHOTS!!! Amazing color and clarity! I would deffinitely say your camera is working now! Did you enhance the colors in both!? I dont think I've ever seen such clear & colorful shots of flowers before!!! BRAVO! And I love what you did with the second pic! I dont think I have a program that will do that.
Thanks. And have a good trip where-ever. Take care!
P.S. I couldn't sleep so I'm waiting for a Tylenol PM to start taking effect!
This post was modified from its original form on 20 Sep, 23:42
May as well throw in some Florida flowers...the park on the corner of my street has bunches of magnolia trees.
Azaleas over on the beach...
Bottle brush tree...on the beach, in between the movie theater and the funeral home...(?) ...
Hibiscus in my yard...
Great White Egret in the park...
And, some Upham Beach seashells.
Hello everyone and what spectacular evening primroses Meralyn!
Deb, I'm not surprised those mauve flowers made you sneeze - they look laden with pollen but so pretty. What a lovely thing to have them presented to you like that! Now, you look after yourself and your husband. You know all our thoughts and prayers are with you as you face a difficult time and I hope they bring you the strength you both need.
Your magnolia is gorgeous Joy and the leaves are wonderfully glossy! My favourite though is the sea shells - I love photos like that!
Well, back to the North York Moors! I took these between leaving our B&B and arriving at Staithes (a little fishing village on the coast) which I'll show you tomorrow.
This is Duck Bridge on the River Esk. Our little red car in the background along with the ruins of Danby Castle on the hill. Part of the castle is now lived in as a farmhouse.
This is a little further on from Duck Bridge looking in the opposite direction - interesting lighting I thought!
A little further on I spotted this from the road - almost missed it. It's called Clither Beck and very pretty with the pink heather (which was almost over - mid Aug to mid Sept).
Scaling Dam Reservoir is used for water sports but we spent a short while in the hides watching the birds over the water. I could have spent ages here but we had to get to Staithes.
This might not be the prettiest picture but it said something to me. It's Boulby Potash Mine near Staithes and I loved the contrast between the fairly modern mine and the little stone building on the right. I haven't been able to find out what it is but could be something industrial.
See you all later on tomorrow
I missed Deb’s first line and thought I had a déjà vu thing going for a while. 
Definitely not twins Deb. Both were born in April though, but 3 years 11 days apart. In fact one of them was my 30th birthday present. Bummer the original picture was shot at 1600x1200, so all I can get is a 4x6 print out of it.
Aaah, snow. Won’t be long and we’ll be seeing that on the ground again. And Deb, you’ve been around. Kentucky, huh.
Here ya go Meralyn. This is better than the girls . I finally sort of just threw a dart at the board and randomly picked one of my water droplets. Kinda looks like a diamond sitting in there
Joy, thanks for the info and pictures of the Lipizzaner Stallions. Gorgeous animals, even though they don’t have a brake pedal
FYI, Joy, you don’t need to make a separate post for each photo. As long as you put them one under the other you can keep it all in one like Linda does with her trips. And you can always hit “
review" to see how they look before submitting
And Linda Are you sure you don’t work for the British Department of Tourism. You’re making it very tempting to take a trip abroad. And to think, we almost speak the same language.
Between my kids photo's and yours I just may actually leave the house some day.
Speaking of which. I'm saying I can't find anything to shoot. How about my own front walk
No need to weed since I plant so close nothing can grow in between.
Have some Hot Banana's This is the last year I plant peppers. The deer ate more than we did.
And for those who remember the spetic field, I've messed with it a little.
Took the pies out and changed the sky, although I put the sky in front of the hills instead of behind so I have a straight horizon instead of the hills. Little by little learning how to do this stuff.
It's not perfect but it's a begining
with a garden there is ALWAYS something interesting to shoot! Looks like you're having fun with the editing etc - now just put a pair of silhouetted unicorns on the horizon with sun flaring in one corner ........
From "The Backyard Collection"... Linda...your pictures of the UK are outstanding! Someday...maybe. And, Sunny, the water droplets! Also, at first I did post everything together.Screamingbelle Donna gave me how-to instructions, because, after reading the directions, I still couldn't get it together. But, then when I did it again, I lost my whole, long lipizzan letter, and the pictures. So, I did it again, and it came out sideways! (?) The pictures went sideways instead of under each other . So, I thought...I'll just do em one at a time. That way I won't screw up anything major, or waste a whole lot of time, and I didn't want to break anything... Obviously, I'm not computer savvy at all...it's just not my forte'...it takes me years of trial and error to learn things. Oh, well. What!!! My motto should be "The Hard Way Or No Way!"
HOLLY COW!!! You all have busy today!!! That's what I get for asking if the thread was dead, LOL!
There is no way I can find the energy tonight, after a long hike which I'll tell you about later, so I'm just going to condense and say -
Joy your photos from Florida are just beautiful and I'm glad you got things figured out. It took me forever and I'm still learning.
Linda - you could do your own travel book! I love the compositions and the countryside is spectacular. But I'm wondering if there is someway you can lighten your photos? Maybe Sunny can help you with that?
Sunny - your photos are just an inspiration! How on earth did you get those water droplets like that! Is it a special effect thru a program?
Thank you all for sharing your wonderful work! I hope I didn't miss any one but I'm just beat tonight, walked longer and further than usual. I'll come back in in the morning and go thru this again as some of the pix are being stubborn about loading!
Good night now!
This post was modified from its original form on 22 Sep, 5:27
Meralyn, always be careful what you wish for around here. Did you know that if I ever actually post "me" in the mug shot thread it means I finally got fed up with the slow going on C2 and I'm leaving. Be content with my white socks This is the 2nd time I'm doing this because I tried last night and it never posted and I lost the darn thing
Everyone on the water droplet. It was so hard to pick just 2 of them There's a dozen and they are all just slightly different. Ohhh, that editing right guys
Nope, no cheating on my "diamond" at all. It's just the way the drop hit it. I was watering the flowers and went to put away the hose and I found a diamond mine. I was going to call it "diamond in the ruff" but I wasn't sure it looked the same to anyone but me.
SANDREA! That drop of water is sitting on Lupine leaves.
I also put the wrong septic field picture up. I have another without the fence in it. I need to learn how to drop that sky behind the horizon though. Looks kind silly the way it is.
Nice sunset (?) Joy. I like ht e palm to the left, for me it adds depth. I assume "set" since I haven't seen the sunrise in nearly a year. Well when my insomnia kicks in I see it rise.
Joy did you understand what I mean with the cursor? I'd rather post it here so everyone knows. It's how we ALL learn You need to get the cursor on the bottom left in order for the pictures to stack atop of each other. Otherwise they go horizontally and make the thread wide, and will be deleted. It just makes it easier for everyone not to scroll back and forth. Right now your cursor is being a little devil and hiding in the lower right alongside the photo You no doubt can't even see it.
Just hit the "enter" key and it will go where it belongs. We don't take no BS from our cursors around this place 
.
Yup, yup, I'm definitely going to start the Mera-Linda calendar company soon. Just be having all these flowers and countrysides not being put in print. And maybe a Southwest version with Deb and April & Kim's sunsets and landscapes.
Oh, and yes Deb, my kids payed a lot of attention to dad when it came to taking pictures. They caught on about that 3rds stuff pretty quick too. Doesn't always work when you sit someone down the the dried out Rio Grand Canyon April is better at it than Kim though. Kim is my "whatever" girl.
I may not be around again for a few days. We have perfect weather and I have so much to get done outdoors. It's a work till I drop thing. 
that's about an hour for me isn't it.
Well, this is Staithes, a little fishing village on the North Yorshire coast. I tried to choose half a dozen photos but couldn't so there are five now and five tomorrow. When we visited the tide was out so you'll have to visualise more water in the river and harbour.
This is looking inland up the gorge the river has cut out.
This lifeboat is launched down the ramp and into the river where it's kept busy on a dangerous coast line.
A great view of the river and sea if you happen to live in one of these houses!
Looking out to the harbour.
Another view inland.
I take on board what you say about the photos being dark Meralyn. Sometimes I do lighten them but I think it's a personal preference of mine for dark green shades! I have found that if I try to back light them it tends to distort the colours but maybe that's just the programme I'm using (Photoscape). Any advice will be gratefully received.
See you all tomorrow
Sunny - that's amazing about the water droplets, I've never seen anything like that before.
Linda - If you prefer your pix that way then stick to it girl. Your photography is just gorgeous and the scenes make me yearn to see England again.
Joy - after you post one photo you will see the sentence bar blinking at the right bottom corner of the pic. Hit entry. That will move the bar to the next paragraph, then post another pic. Keep doing it that way and you will be posting vertically rather than horizontally! Also use it to start text where you want it. Clicking the space bar will move it right, backspace will move it to the left. Hope this helps. Sunny's tips were great, too.( I didn't mean to type this in bold, drat!)
Morning moon:
First shot, cropped, sharpened a little, shot on auto.
2nd shot - cropped, not as much, but sharpened & enhanced .
3rd shot, cropped, sharpened & enhanced thru Picasa. Picasa had fun and I was literally amazed!!!
All of these were shot on auto, hand held! By the time I woke up to trying manual and bracing against the garage the thin clouds blew across the moon and ruined it!
I went out to feed the cats a couple mornings ago and saw the moon, looking rather pretty, also rather large, so went back in, grabbed the camra and snapped a few.Hey, Meralyn, I can't believe the detail on your moonshots! Those craters are so clear - well done 
Ever since I took those shots of the moon a month or so ago I haven't seen the it. It's so frustrating because this time of year we get the huge 'harvest' moon which would be so photogenic but every night has been cloudy or very hazy. I'm just itching to capture it on camera but no chance!
Anyway, here are the rest of the Staithes pics:
Narrow, winding footpaths between the houses:
Pity abut the bins! This next one captures the lovely red pantiled roofs.
Looking out into the little harbour:
I haven't edited any pics today but I'll try and get some done tomorrow for sharing on thursday. At the moment I'm not sure how much free time I'm going to be able to allow myself every day now I'm back at college
Linda, "Looking out at the harbour" (3rd one down) is sooo beautiful. Never get to see anything like that around here, that's for sure. And, I've traveled quite a bit. Europe is my next stop.
Sunny, Ahhh!!! It worked! Thanx! And yes, that's sunset...the intercoastal waterway, a corner of Boca Ciega Bay by the Gulf of Mexico.
Meralyn, It worked again! Thanx guys! After years now, I still know nothing... like I told Donna the other day...me+computer=retarded.
At '"The Mattress Factory" an art gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I have been enjoying looking at all the lovely pictures that have been posted. Flowers are beautiful. The horses are magnificent. They were here on the weekend but I did not get the chance to see them in person.
Yesterday I had to pick up antibiotics for dental work that I am having done. The drug store is up on the mountain (escarpment). I had my camera with me so I wandered along the brow and took some shots of the views. I want to share them with you. The first one is a view from the escarpment of the area where I live and across the bay.
This one is looking across the city to the other side where you can see an access up the escapment.
I was half way down the stairs whe I decided to take the last shot. The knees were very wobbly when I got to the bottom.
Linda - Hi there, your photos are not wanting to load, my computer and dial-up is so danged slow, I'll come back in later and see if they will. And thanks re moon shots.
Jean - same problem!
Have a good day shutterbugs! By for now!
Linda - I am now only getting red x's for your pix even though I've left them for awhile to load.
Joy & Jean - yourc came thru. Both interesting and pretty, which ever you looling at, LOL!
Thanks for sharing ladies! I have yet to get anything else edited or loaded today, too busy.
Many thanks for your comments on my photos Joy - much appreciated. I love your "red spots" - wish I could capture something like that!
Jean, hope your dental work is going okay. I was interested to see the shots of your city. I wonder how many steps there are to the top? That last photo has a great depth and perspective!
Hope you can see my pics now Meralyn. I have a few more to post here later today but perhaps you'd let me know if the last lot have loaded okay first.
See you all later ...
Linda these stairs were built after the Incline was dismantled. I tried to count them one time and I think that I counted 260 from the top to the bottom. There are 4 seperate sets of stairs up the escarpment in diferent areas of the city. These are just 10 minutes from the house and are the longest. Many people use them for their exercise; running the stairs.
Linda - the problem may just be from my Dial-up. We need someone else to come in on this and tell you -
Sunny - where fore art thou?! Can you see Linda's last posts?
I have been able to see all the others, Linda, so hope this works out. Deb is of course very busy with her husband.
Take care and have a wonderful day doing whatever?!
Everyones posts are showing up in this thread. Deb isn't here to change the thread so I will do it now.
This thread is closed.
PS, great photos everyone.
