Gollum Welcome

Wellington, New Zealand is Hobbit crazy!  The town is relishing in the upcoming general release of the first of three Hobbit movies.  As you have seen from previous posts, even the airport has gotten into the act.  Today's image is the same figure featured in yesterday's post but from further away to show the scale.  This Gollum creature welcomes visitors to the Wellington Airport terminal.  If you search well on YouTube you can even find a time lapse video that shows the actual construction and hanging of these figures in this airport terminal.

Gollum Welcome

Giant Gollum

Even the Wellington airport got in the act with this gigantic welcoming Gollum creation.  And for those of you who have not seen the Air New Zealand flight safety briefing video I recommend you surf over to YouTube and look it up--a very well done Hobbit themed safety video destined to become a classic.  And yes, they do show it on the Air New Zealand flights.  

Gigantic Gollum

Hobbit House

Even the luggage carousel delivered our bags from a Hobbit house....

Hobbit house

A fish in the hand is worth two in the brook.

Today is the day!  November 28th in New Zealand (yes they are ahead of us by one day) is the world premiere of the new movie--The Hobbit--which of course, was filmed and finished in New Zealand.  So, of course, there were lots of Hobbit related celebrations being planned while I was in town.  Including this interesting character, quite "precious" he is.....

A fish in the hand is worth two in the brook

Wellington, New Zealand

The end of the road and final destination.  Wellington, New Zealand.  It is so windy here that even the town welcome sign was made to give tribute to the windy city.  Welcome to windy Wellington.

Wellington, New Zealand

San Fran

Yep, you got it.  I got to spend the day in San Francisco and therefore lost a day at my final destination after paying big bucks for the ticket and planning it for months.  Thanks United!

The only good thing about the change was that I got to fly a different airline on the long second and the third legs of my voyage.  The airline I flew was much better than United and never discounts their tickets enough for me to fly them otherwise.  The other great benefit was that by re-routing my original flight it not only put me on a better airline but it cut off almost 5 full hours of flying time.  Whew!  Now that is a big benefit on this old body of mine.  Memo to self, do not book an international flight through San Francisco again.  Too many delays and problems.

San Fran

Sourdough bread loaf

Have you guessed yet where my trip took me?  Here is another clue, a clue for one of my stop-overs.  Due to the cancelled United flight, I had to spend a day at this stop.  So I got to play tourist and this is one of the sights I saw.

Sourdough bread loaf

Consistency

No matter where you roam, one thing is consistent.  When you are in the US, you know what you get when you visit the Golden Arches.  No, I didn't really eat here.  I just stayed in the hotel next door and captured this image while waiting for the airport shuttle.

Of course this was not in the original plan--the hotel stay, I mean.  United Airlines cancelled the first of three flights of my itinerary.  They rescheduled flight #2 and #3 and booked me on a replacement flight #1with Delta Airlines.  However, this meant I had to stay at a hotel after flight #1 and wait an entire day to then resume my itinerary.  So, thanks to United, I lost an entire day of my planned vacation.  The replacement Delta flight was also delayed by over 6 hours.  Not a great way to start out a vacation.  Oh yea, because United blamed the cancelled flight due to weather conditions, they would not pay for the hotel I had to obtain because of the lost travel day.

Consistency

Juice!

There is juice that we are all hooked on these days--and I am not thinking of the orange juice of old.  I can't get too far from this kind of juice without losing my connections to the world.  Wait, do I really need these connections?  After all, isn't this supposed to be vacation time?  Ha, times have changed and, having changed with them, I am now just as hooked as the next person.  If I can't get this kind of juice then I carry an extra battery pack.  Sick, isn't it?  Yea, I know.......

By the way, Happy Thanksgiving!

Juice!

Melt in your mouth, not in your hands

Every traveler needs a few necessities.  The right snack pack is certainly one of those required items. For me, peanut M&M's rank high on the list.  This pack did not even make it out of the airport on the first leg of the trip.  Of course, there is much more to this story, stay tuned for more......

Melt in your mouth, not in your hands

Water bottle holster

I am sure whoever first put wheels on suitcases did not get enough credit.  That has got to be one of the most useful inventions after indoor plumbing.  Anyway, the designer of this roll along bag inadvertently created a unique benefit with the handle hole.  It fits my water bottle perfectly.  Not quite as nice as the wheels on the suitcase but a nice benefit, nonetheless.

Water bottle holster

Ready to roll

All packed up, with no place to go.  Wait, I do have somewhere to go.  In fact it is quite the adventure.  Where, you ask?  I guess you will have to stay tuned to find out.  Stay right here every day and enjoy the trip.

Ready to roll

Coming into the Light

Been in the dark too long?  Time to step into the light.

Coming into the Light

Barefoot in the snow

Barefoot in the snow?  Yes, for a few seconds at least.  Hmmmm, I wonder how dogs do it........

Barefoot in the snow

Roses in the Snow

Big snow storm dumped two feet in the back yard a few days ago.  Combine that with roses given to my daughter by the boy who will be going to the Christmas dance with her.  Result........

Roses in the Snow

The Looming Double Barrel....

One of the best slippery slide set-ups I have seen or experienced for just straight-shot sliding.  I don't know what they used for the slippery surface but it was not the normal plastic used in most large slides.  This stuff was slick and made for a great ride.  Spent awhile here with the grand kids and even raced them down a few times.  Fun times.

The Looming Double Barrel....

Cozy Night

Cold nights are here.  The fireplace is working.  What more is there for the late night wind down time?

Cozy Night

Mini iPad Giveaway a Hit

Yesterday our company sponsored an marketing event for key customers and potential customers.  Everyone in attendance received a new mini iPad loaded with content marketing and demonstrating our products.  About 180 Mini iPads were prepared for the event.  The big Mini iPad giveaway was a hit and the meeting was the talk of the town--well the conference anyway.....

Mini iPad Giveaway a Hit

Every playground needs a slide like this.

This is a slide that every playground needs.  It's high, slick, fun and double barreled .  We could not get the kids off this one.  Grandpa liked it too.

Every playground needs a slide like this.

Surprise! No takers for these seats....

Surprise! No takers for these seats outside our local Baskin & Robbins ice cream store. We sat inside to eat our ice cream....

One scoop of Pralines & Cream and one scoop of chocolate chip on a sugar cone for me.

Surprise!  No takers for these seats....

It's beginning....

There is a time and a season for everything.  This is the season for winter and the snow has started.  This is the beginnings of a 24 hour snow fall in our neck of the woods.  Heaven knows we need a lot of these storms this year because most of them went missing last year.  We had to seriously apologize to our out-of-town visitors while riding the ski lifts last year in the middle of ski season on mountains with practically no snow except for what was man-made   We all pray that this storm is a great kick-off to a banner snow year.  Time to wax the snowboard.....

It's beginning....

Mired Down?

Feeling a little mired down today?  The prescription.....look around, find someone else who is mired down and help them out.  Result.....you will both feel better!  Happy Friday!

Mired Down?

Queen of the Hill

She came.  She saw. She climbed.  She conquered.  She celebrated.

There are some great life lessons in that story.....

Queen of the Hill

Blowing in the wind

A new wind is blowing this day after election.  Buckle your seat belts and hold on tight, the journey is just beginning.

Blowing in the wind

Eat your veggies

These green worms are really good.  Especially when fresh out of the garden.  All veggies are much better when fresh out of the garden though, aren't they?

Eat your veggies

Colorful Cauliflower

Wow!  Who knew?  This one was a surprise to me.  In all my years (and there have been many) I don't ever remember seeing purple and orange cauliflower.  Maybe my memory is going or maybe I just need to get out more......  I know many things do change.  I even like cauliflower now.....

Colorful Cauliflower

Blending In

Sometimes you just want to sit back, blend in and keep an eye on what is happening around you.

Blending In

Low Hanging Fruit

A popular expression is "Go for the low hanging fruit."  I don't even know what is growing on this plant and whether or not it is even a fruit or a vegetable.  But this is the expression that came to my mind when I captured this image.

Low Hanging Fruit

Fly, Baby, Fly

Action shots are hard to catch using an iPhone camera app.  The shutter lag is long enough to miss the action unless it is anticipated well in advance.  This duck take off image happened to be a fortunate mistake.  I actually was trying to capture the first duck take off (you can see the ripples on the right of the photo) and was lucky enough to capture this second duck by the time the shutter actually fired.  Yep, sometimes luck lands on my side......

Fly, Baby, Fly

Sweet Virginia Countryside

Our recent trip to Virginia filled my photo reservoir full of images.  This beautiful countryside is just one--a small lake in the middle of an operating farm.  The cows, horses, pigs and other animals are just a sniff away.

Now for the curious.....


I used my iPhone 4s - after all the best camera is the one you have with you, right?

Simple photo taken with my default camera app which is ProCamera (I have grown fond of the focus and exposure adjustments on the viewing screen together with the shutter release triggered by touching anywhere on the viewing screen).

The image was then opened in Filterstorm for cropping to the square, some minor curves, saturation and sharpening adjustments performed at full resolution.

Next the resulting image is opened in PhotoStudio for a slight vignette and my regular frame option. PhotoStudio does not save a full resolution file but the smaller file serves my blog purpose and I like the vignette and frame option I have found there.

Total elapsed processing time about 2 minutes or less. I have become fairly adept at doing these simple adjustments to get a resulting image I like.

Sweet Virginia Countryside