Arenal Volcano

We slept 5 miles from here for the last two nights!

More Fun at Arenal

This morning we went to the school to meet the children, watch them dance, play games and take a tour of the school. Then we visited homes of local women who treated us to a home cooked lunch.

This is a big afternoon with a hanging bridges tour, a trip around Lake Arenal, and then to see the lava flows from the volcano. Wish us luck!

So Far

We have been loving the ADVENTURE part of the tour. Our guide, Alfredo, is a biologist with a master's degree. Believe me, we are learning mucho. Bat lecture last night, nature walk this morning.

White water rafting on the Sarapiquis River was the highlight, of course. We were nervous, but the guides made it relaxing and fun. It is about the size of the American River with rapids.

Pura Vida

For all of our concerned friends:

We landed safely in San Jose, after the threat of going to Managua because of fog here. But after circling for an hour, they let us land.

City tour today, coffee plantation, and staying at a nature preserve tonight.

Playin' with Picnik

black frame

zoom focus

lomo

sepia

original

lomo 2

cinema-scope

sixties style

original

Dawn took these photos of Sebastian and I have just been cropping and editing and changing all the settings to see what I can get. You can see the improvement in the quality and the variety of moods that you can create.

Every photo looks better with a black frame. Most photos look better with a little bit of dark edging, called vignette. But you can also change styles, add matting, soften the focal point, posterize, fix blemishes, whiten teeth, and much more.

The possibilities with this online photo processing program are endless. Picnik makes it easy to upload photos, either from your computer or Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket or any other photo program. The basic program is totally free, you can be logged in 30 seconds. They have a premium package available and I am enjoying it so much that I just might sign up.

This is going to be a ton of fun when I get home from Costa Rica with thousands of pics to edit!

Which one do you like best?

Grateful Friday

Today I am deeply, eternally thankful for the guys who work for us so diligently. Roofing is hard, physical work, yet they show up here every morning before sunrise. With smiles and good attitudes. Sometimes they put in twelve hour days. On Fridays, they get beer and food and sit around in my backyard, finally relaxing. Their laughter rings out through the trees. It makes my heart glad.

Thank you: Jeremy, Jose, Raul, Cameron, Brian, and Justin.

BobbleTodd

The coolest thing ever!

The colors in my backyard stun me with their beauty and warmth

raking leaves has been good, so far

Picnik, photo processing online, did this photo above, mega-fun!

curry pumpkin soup with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg ~ yummy