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I have been trying to find time to digitalize some of the slides I took on my first trip to China back in 1987. I must admit that it has been slow going, whoever said “you’ll have plenty of time to do all the things you want to do when you retire” doesn’t know what he/she is talking about.
Many of the slides are in bad shape, but some can still be worked with. I got the picture above on a slide during a trip to the Great Wall in 1987. We were on a bus north of Beijing, and this was one of my first sightings of the Great Wall. I think this turned out to be a pretty good image — it definitely brings back some nice memories.
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It seems as if we have rain or heavy clouds every time there is a full moon, so we usually can view the full moon through TV weather reports or posts on the internet. But last month there were clear skies during full Pink Super Moon. I was able to get one decent picture from many atempts.
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I got a new iPhone for Christmas and have been enjoying it as I experiment with the camera on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. I have to say that so far I have been very impressed. This picture was a hand-held photo taken one night back in February after we received a light snowfall. I may eventually give up my big camera — this is certainly easier to carry around!
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Betsy and I made a day trip to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park last week. Cades Cove is one of our favorite places in the park, but there is often bumper-to-bumper traffic on the loop road through the cove.
We have found that by visiting the cove in the off season in the middle of the week we can avoid the worst of the crowds. There are still plenty of people at the most popular stops, but it is possible to find peace and quiet if you look for it.
We were in luck on our visit and we were able to enjoy the beauty — as well as the history — of Cades Cove. I got this panorama pulling off the road at an undesignated pull-off.
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Several years ago My Beautiful Bride and I celebrated my birthday by going to Fort Payne, Alabama, where we visited Desoto State Park and Little River Canyon. I converted a picture of Little River Falls into a ‘painting’ using software. I hope you like it.
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Several years ago Betsy and I celebrated my birthday by going to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. There was a great deal of ice and snow around, which, while making getting around ‘interesting’, provided some beautiful scenes.
I got a picture of an icy Lower Falls on that trip, part of which is the header for this month. I got this full image by using software to convert the photo into a painting.
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My Beautiful Bride and I enjoy the glorious sunsets when we visit Mt. Nebo State Park in Arkansas, but we also usually take the time to search out waterfalls during the day.
One of the waterfalls we’ve visited several times is Falling Waters Falls, which is in the Ozark National Forest north of Mt. Nebo. It’s a pretty little waterfall right along a Forest Service Road. I played around with software to convert a picture I took a few years ago into a ‘painting’.
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For several years My Beautiful Bride and I went to Mt. Nebo State Park in Arkansas to spend several days in a beautiful cabin on top of the mountain. We haven’t been there for a couple of years, but we’re planning on going there in a couple of weeks.
This photo shows why we keep going back. This panorama was taken on nearby Mount Magazine during a February visit several years ago.
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I’ve had the privilege of walking along the Great Wall of China on four different occasions during my teaching time in China. The first time I saw and walked along the Great Wall was in 1987 our hosts took us to the wall at Badaling north of Beijing.
The wall was certainly impressive, especially as it wove along the ridges and mountain tops as far as the eye could see. I was impressed with both the construction and the age of the structure I was seeing, and I tried to convey the age of the wall in this photo I took so many year ago. This image was scanned from a slide and then ‘aged’ with software.
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I don’t get up before sunrise very often these days, but if I did it would often be worth the effort. This picture was taken on a January morning a few years ago from the golf course behind our house. What a great way to start the day!
