2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Largest Violin in the World

By the time we sailed into Sydney it became apparent to us that most of the stops in small New England towns would be basically the same...places in which to just walk around and see what's there.  And, like the boardwalk in Halifax, there usually is one thing that makes it stand out; here it had to be the largest violin the the world.

Silhouette shot below:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, 2-shot Cityscape Panorama

I love cityscapes, and Halifax makes for a pretty handsome cityscape.  Taken at dock level, the beginning of the boardwalk is in the left foreground.

It's interesting - even odd - that I didn't take any pictures at all in the Titanic museum, as this was a first priority for the stop.  Featured there were papers and other odds & ends found floating after the ship went down.  What was more interesting to us, however, were the artifacts left after a 1917 ship explosion where the death toll was even greater than that of the Titanic.  We'd never heard the story before.

This will conclude our port call in Halifax.  Believe the next stop is Sydney, Nova Scotia.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dining Seagull

If this is a seagull it's the biggest one I've ever seen.  Knows how to make itself right at home...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Brightly Colored House

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Gift Shop in Public Gardens

Yes, a quaint little gift shop and café there on the premises...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Bee on Red and White Flower

Another bee picture.  Since the focus fell on the white petals, the bee needed heavy sharpening to give the appearance that it was in focus as well...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Yellow Flower Against Black Background

Amazingly, this picture - with the exception of some sharpening - is completely untouched.  Normally I'd desaturate the color for effect, but the leaves in the background here are naturally black.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Bee on Flower in Profile

This and the pic that will be posted tomorrow are probably my two favorites of the Halifax shoot.  Bees are a little bit challenging to capture; once they land it's necessary to work fast, snapping as many shots as possible before they take off again.  This was the best of about seven taken from a profile perspective of the flower.  Some distracting elements were removed from the background, and voilà - we have a keeper.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Red Squirrel

Not sure how much time we spent in the Dahlia tent, but I went crazy in there and snapped at least 30 unique photos, each with three loud mirror clacks due to bracketing for exposure compensation.  Must've seemed obnoxious, as I was the only one not taking pictures with a phone camera.

Next we ventured to other parts of the park, which featured equally interesting subjects, such as this red squirrel.  Zooming way in, what interested the critter wasn't obvious, but something must have been moving in the root ball that attracted its attention.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dahlia Boquete

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Red and Orange Dahlias

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Awesome Red Flowers

Not sure this was a Dahlia, but was under the tent nevertheless.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Red Flower Against Green Background

This pic, likewise, only needed a little sharpening.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Pink Flower Against Green Background

Surprisingly, this picture is relatively untouched...just a bit of sharpening was all it needed.  Made a good candidate for square dimensions, which is why it also made it into the collage published a few days ago:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Flower Used for Promotional Card

Extracted just the foreground flower in this guy, then used it for a promotional card:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dahlia Varieties

A little collage showing the myriad varieties of the Dahlias - best viewed on a larger screen.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dahlia Society Meeting Place

As a bonus to the incredible sights offered at the Gardens, this happened to be meeting day for the Dahlia Society of Nova Scotia.  Never heard of a Dahlia, but there is an incredible variety in the species, as well as a number of folks serious enough about them to share with the world.

Meeting tent below, in which most of the following several posts were captured:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Garden Signage

Don't know what this says, but suppose it's French.  Very immaculately cultivated, to the finest detail.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Tree Next to Bridge in the Public Gardens

This is Andrew's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!  He's exactly, to the day, five years older than Allison.  Not planned that way but a blessing, as he's been a great older brother, and a great son, throughout.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Creek and Bridge in Public Gardens

Didn't have to go too far to reach one of the most impressive public park spaces we've ever seen - the Halifax Public Gardens.  Spent as much time as we could here before having to return to the ship.  Gotta love that miniature house.

Oh, and this is Allison's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Unusual Statue Cluster

Very interesting what other cultures consider worthy of the time and effort needed to create statues...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Stately Building with Canadian Flag

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, The Bicycle Thief

This display ticks several boxes - a picture of signage through the bicycle spokes, a little bit of bokeh in the lettering, and bright color against a black background.  By the time I got the composition right, Chenjean was a block or so down the boardwalk...

Accidentally stumbled upon this colored pencil rendering of same, along with glowing edges below:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Crazy Lamp Posts

The boardwalk here in Halifax was something to see.  Very fortunately the weather cooperated with us for the duration of the trip.

Scratching my head trying to figure out why one of these lamp posts is laying down.  Due to the curvature of its base, don't think it's broken.  Guess they just wanted one of them to be prone, providing night lighting for those that may be sitting on the bench.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Plant with Leaf Edges

Think I've published this species before, but forget where.  Perfect subject for the Glowing Edges effect in Photoshop:

...recolorized:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Old with the New

A bookmark fashioned from this old obelisk in front of a new, modern building.  Once we disembarked and were in town along the port, there was plenty to see.  Being in early September, when school was in session, most of our shipboard companions were the older types, so we ended up doing pretty much what everyone else did...that is, just walking around and looking at things.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Lighthouse

The proverbial New England lighthouse, taken from the deck of the moving ship.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Retirement Spot on Island

So we're cruising on into Halifax when I spied the perfect post-retirement spot for the wife and me.  Tried using those red chairs to convince her, drawing an idyllic picture of the two of us sitting there just watching the world go by, but it didn't work.

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Unique Cargo Ship

Caught this from the ship on the way out of port for our next stop (Halifax).  I've seen things like this in documentaries but never before in person.  This ship is actually made to sink up to the white line so that it can position floating cargo there in the middle.  Then it raises up again and sails away...

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Pilot Boat

Though I don't like being on small boats, think they're neat and will snap a pic of those that are modern or unique in some way.

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Sand Sculpture

Though it was right there, didn't even notice this sand sculpture until returning to the ship.  A black layer was used to cover over a very busy and unnecessary background.

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Restroom Sign

This makes the cut for a collage of unusual bathroom signs I'll be creating one day...

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Colorful Houses

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Cityscape from Ship

Captured from our balcony on the ship...

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Sidewalk with Cable Shadows

Knew this was a keeper the moment it was captured; could not resist the shadows as they tracked along the masonry in the sidewalk.  There was a busy background that I didn't like, so covered it over with black.

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Wall with Windows for Card

Had to extend the wall a little to fit the promotional card dimensions of 3.5 x 2, then borrowed the text and layer styles from another card.  Am fairly please with the result.

2025 NE Cruise - St John, Wall with Windows

Chenjean was mercifully patient whenever I wanted to stop for a pic, and is getting used to me stopping at the least expected times.  This I did mid-walk while in town on the way back to the ship.  Immediately I thought of using this image in a promotional card, which will be posted tomorrow.  Meanwhile, how could I not play with the colors?