I think the Monarch is the most beautiful butterfly in the world! I used to raise them as a kid from catepillars--great memories!

Thanks Jeanbug for the compliment. I also really loved the glaciers. They look more blue if it is overcast, and we were lucky to have seen the Portage Glacier on a cloudy day (and rainy day--made me a little uneasy about having my good equipment out for a lot of the time), and the others on a crystal clear day. It was great fun and breath-taking!

Yes, from the paddle boat, and it was the Chena River.

It was the river running through Fairbanks, but I can't remember if it was the Chena or not. That does sound familiar though.

Thanks all! Alaska is a true playground for even the amateur photographer!!

Thanks! Sometimes I have a hard time choosing my favorites because I (probably like others) tend to fall in love with my photos because of the effort I went to get them--especially if I tried something different and it worked!

Thank you Sunshooter! It was amazing weather to be sure. I was worried when we woke up the day we were to see glacier bay because all I could see was fog out the window. Then, poof, we sailed right out of a wall of fog and into blue skies. I'll try to find a photo.

Wall of fog!

From my recent family Alaskan cruise! Glacier Bay and the Inner Passage were great! Favorites?

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6 (point and shoot)


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13 (calving glacier)

These were some of my favorites from my recent trip to Alaska. It was with the whole family, so I couldn't focus on photography as much as I would have liked, but still got some good ones.

Alaskan Pipeline


Float plane taking off


Interesting cloud (not Processed)


The train to Denali


River rafting the glacially fed river


Wishing I had a longer lens!


The Portage Glacier


Alaskan Fireweed

I decided to start with Aperture, and I'm still getting to know that program. I haven't used LR, but I may wind up there before all is said and done. I'm not much of a computer guru, and I really liked how easy iPhoto was to sync pictures to my iPad, and iPhone, and Aperture is far better than iPhoto. I think that syncing can probably be set up using LR as a primary photo editor, but I didn't want to have to spend the time figuring it out instead of developing my photography skills and thought I'd give Aperture a chance--also, I'm really hoping that Apple will update it and bring it up more on par with the other stuff that's out there--my impression is that it is not nearly the program LR is for photo editing. I'm still learning and wanted to take things one step at a time. I'm seriously considering a CS6 purchase, though, once I figure out what I can and can't do with Aperture, that is.

Excellent link! I guess this is what I was referring to. I thought that there must be some established rules for the flying of the flag at half mast, I just never knew where they were or thought to look them up:

"The laws relating to the flag of the United States of America are found in detail in the United States Code. Title 4, Chapter 1 pertains to the flag; Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 regards criminal penalties for flag desecration; Title 36, Chapter 3 pertains to patriotic customs and observances. These laws were supplemented by Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations...

...The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, or the death of a member of the Armed Forces from any State, territory, or possession who dies while serving on active duty, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff, and the same authority is provided to the Mayor of the District of Columbia with respect to present or former officials of the District of Columbia and members of the Armed Forces from the District of Columbia. The flag shall be flown at half-staff 30 days from the death of the President or a former President; 10 days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress. The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day, unless that day is also Armed Forces Day. As used in this subsection —
the term "half-staff" means the position of the flag when it is one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff;
the term "executive or military department" means any agency listed under sections 101 and 102 of title 5, United States Code; and the term "Member of Congress" means a Senator, a Representative, a Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico."

It seems that according to this, flying the staff at half mast is to be done as a result of a governmental decree, not an individual decision. There is surely a significant degree of freedom given to those whose responsibility it is to make those decisions, but it appears not to be a decision that is to be made on an individual basis, and is actually unlawful.

I was raised with a great deal of respect for the flag and how it should be treated and displayed, and I guess I have always felt that the way it was being indiscriminantly flown by people at half mast to signify their own feelings violated my internal sense of propriety for a national emblem.

I also have a tremendous respect for those who serve our country and think that there are many ways to honor their sacrifice. Perhaps the fact that so many of them over the past 20 years have made the ultimate sacrifice has made me feel that flying the flag at half mast is losing it's significance--though admittedly it may be that we are all just getting more accustomed to such loss of life as "normal". I think that if it were me who gave my life for my country, I would want to think that my sacrifice made it so the flag could continue to fly high and proud, rather than in a position of mourning.

I don't know how everyone else feels about this, but I'm getting tired of everyone flying the flag at half staff all of the time. Most of the time, I don't even know why it's at half staff. Personally I feel that flying the flag in that fashion should be reserved for the most significant of national tragedies--such as the death of a president, 911, the Challenger or Columbia accidents--something along those lines. I feel that where I live, people fly the flag at half mast for anything and everything (such as the death of a local police officer in the line of duty--which I admit is a tragedy, but a local one, not a national one, and not meriting that flags be flown at half mast) and it loses it's significance. Also, I don't like to always see the proud standard of my country always halfway to where it should be--flying high and proud for all to see. Anyone else feel the same, or am I just a little oversensitive about this?

Thanks for the link imagemeister. I'll check into it. I've never bought used before.

Great shot.

Thanks everyone for all the food for thought. I'll have to do a little more research and get some hands on time with each of the lenses/combos before making a final decision. I looked for the Sigma 100-300 f/4 EX for Nikon, and only found one one Amazon for $87,000. That can't be real, but it seems that one might be hard to track down.