Ruthmarie:  Absolutely incredible pictures.  Just amazing.  You Go Girl !  By the way... just the name of Ichabod's Landing in Sleepy Hollow would make me want to move there and stay forever.  Sounds like a very cool place.  Thanks so much for sharing... hope you are well.  :)

Hi Karen-Anne - I took 134 shots to get those 4! It just goes to show if you do it LONG enough, you'll get something. I think people thought I was nuts, but I really wanted some nice fireworks for the blog site. 

The links take you to Ichabod's landing and the River Walk...Several new developments are on the way.  All include extending the River Walk.  The eventual goal - A GIANT LINEAR PARK from the border of Putnam County in Peekskill all through Westchester through Yonkers and the border of the Bronx.  It will take many years - but what a wonderful public resource it will be when its finished.  I'm VERY excited at the mere idea!  What a wonderful legacy for future generations....

As you can see - this type of public land use stuff really gets my heart beating and moter running.

OK, now I see.  I was going to ask how you got such great shots but as you explained it took some work!  These 4 shots are great, nothing I took the other night came out well.  I;ll try again next year!

Lisa - you just have to keep shooting.  The delay on my (and most) digital cameras makes it chancy. But it doesn't matter. You aren't wasting film - just make sure you memory card is empty.  The bad ones are easily eliminated.  Then - if you dont' have photoshop, you can use picnic or iPhoto if you have a mac.  Working a bit on the exposure and highlights on pics taken in the dark often restores them to what your eye actually saw. I won't argue that it is time consuming...but it does work.

Ruthmarie:  I do not have picnic, and find photoshop too complicated for me.  I use the free download of Picasa, and it does all I want it to do.  It is free, it is easy to use, and it works for me.

Hi Karen-Anne --I just started with Picasa - haven't explored all its facets.  Picnic is (mostly) free online. It's great for tweaking photos. When I take photos at night, the light is often an issue.  Basically, its amazing how playing a little with Picnic (or iPhoto) will bring a picture back to the way you saw it with your eyes....

How is your tomato blog coming???

Ruthmarie:  If I can figure out Picasa... your pet turtle can figure it out.  I am short on techie skills, and, like you said... Picasa can bring a picture back to the way it was when you saw it with your own eyes.  Cropping, lightening, sharpening, fixing contrast... it works for me.  I found Photoshop Elements like trying to read Chinese.

The tomato... way, way on the back burner.  I have some phycial issues I need to work on before I can even think about climbing back on that horse.

Thanks Karen-Anne...I  hope all is well....I'm starting to use Picasa too.  I started with Flickr - but you need to get as much out of your photos as you can.