If I'm using Aperture or iPhoto, the free Border FX plug-in works great for creating copyright watermarks, or creating borders, but I rarely use it for that.
http://www.iborderfx.com/

thanks for the kind wishes, everyone. I'm looking forward to hanging around here a little longer!

Focus 2 by Macphun can do that, though I usually use the custom setting to blur background. Macphun products (Intensify Pro, Snapheal, etc.) are Mac only, I believe.

I'm really glad I found this site, which has provided me with countless sums of invaluable information in just the two weeks or so I've been lurking around. I came into the photography world a little backwards, in that I was a newspaper reporter right out of college, where I toiled for 10 years at a daily newspaper that is no longer with us (The Sacramento Union). In my years in government public affairs, which has taken me to some very interesting places, often blind dumb luck got some of my photographs published. But I want to actually know what I'm doing, and as I ponder retirement with a little business plan in mind, I've jumped in with both feet, and in the year or so I've owned a DSLR I've been published in several (mostly non-paying) publications, with mixed results. But I've learned a lot (like how to straighten photos), had a ball, and earned a press pass to some great sports venues, such as AT&T Park in San Francisco. Feel free to check out the Photography section of my web site containing a good portion of my work over the years, as I look forward to continue to pursue this obsession that I know I'll never master.
http://www.stevemartarano.com/Martaranos_archives/Photography.html

I'd definitely take my Sigma 18-250 with my small Canon SLR1 (I also have a Canon 7D but I wouldn't need it for this trip). That's why I got the 18-250 and kept the SLR1; for trips like this.