The light in a child’s eyes is all it takes to make Christmas a magical time of year. 
Image captured by available light at Santaland located at Heather Floral in Madison, Minnesota. Beautiful holiday displays and well worth the trip.
Category Archives: joyce meyer photography
Day 4 ~ Camino de Santiago…Estella to Los Arcos
Sunday, September 4, 2016:
Rats!! Apparently we missed a huge party last night in Estella as at 6:00 a.m. this dark, Sunday morning we hear the revelers still going strong from the downtown area of Estella, Spain. We did enjoy our Pilgrim meal last night in Oceana Youth Hostel (Ignore the name – they take in old people like us, too!) as recommended by a colorful character from Amsterdam. Our table included people from France, Germany, Brazil, Australia and ourselves from the United States so the air was peppered with the sounds of these languages and accents. Our stay also included a nice visit with a brother and sister from Israel as they shared some insight to their culture and way of life. The hostel is in an old school turned dormitory and serves us well for a good night’s stay, especially when we weren’t sure we’d even get a bed.
Two choices of routes leaving Estella – Go left to experience the wine fountain “Fuente del Vino” beside the Monastery of Nuestra Senora la Real de Irache... that is the route we choose. Free wine? Can’t pass that up! A community of monks served pilgrims here since the 10th century but were forced to vacate in 1985 and it is now a museum. ~A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago by Brierley.
The ruins of 10th Century St. Stephen’s Castle are at the top of the mountain and can be seen from Villamayor de Monjardin.
Another incredibly hot day of hiking and Joan may have sucked her bladder (water supply in her backpack) dry. Interesting conversations with other pilgrims help take our minds off of the heat today.
Short video of our day:
Top three photo picks of the day:
Ceiling view of Iglesia de Santa Maria de los Arcos XIIth C in Los Arcos, Spain
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The earth has music…
The earth has music for those who will listen ~ George Santayana
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Lightning & Smoke
I’m not fond of drama in real life but I do love a dramatic blended image… and high school sports.
Tried to make my own lightning at first, but decided that was too time consuming. Googled smoke and lightning brushes and downloaded some free brushes, installed them in Photoshop CC 2015. BOOM! …much easier.
Every image can use improvement and I think an action image would be a good candidate for a blend using these brushes.
Next time…
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At any moment…
At any moment, your whole life can change…
A simple encounter, a rare connection, a random act. Life is full of these moments that change our destiny forever.
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Scary Gary, SD 2016
Drone footage by Tanner Gauer / Video by Joyce Meyer
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Believe…
Believe in yourself, and the rest will fall into place. Have faith in your own abilities, work hard, and there is nothing you cannot accomplish. ~Brad Henry
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Day 2: Pamplona to Uterga / Where the path of the wind crosses that of the stars.
September 2, 2016: We (Joan, Randy & Joyce) leave Pamplona shortly after sunrise and find the early morning streets fairly quiet. (Short video of the day at the bottom of this post)
ALERT!!! Joan and Randy possibly witness an ATM scammer at work this morning with a Camino bicyclist as his victim and it reminds us to always be aware of people nearby when using these technologies and don’t use a machine if you view anything suspicious. Click on this link: How to avoid ATM fraud while traveling for some useful information when withdrawing cash. 
Also, be sure to alert your bank as to where you will be traveling so they are aware of your activity. Shout out to the fabulous customer service, while we are traveling, from our local DNB National Bank in Clear Lake/Gary, South Dakota. You are definitely an important part of our adventures.
So much history… It was in this area that Charlemagne’s Christian forces defeated Aigolando’s Muslim army in the 8th century. 
Ruins of Guendulain palace are visible from the path, but I am having trouble finding historical background of the palace. There is a hotel in Pamplona by that name – Palacio Guendulain. If someone has a link to its history, please leave a comment The plowed field in the foreground is interesting as it is almost totally made up of rocks which must be hard on equipment.
As we approach the summit of Alto del Perdon (Hill of Forgiveness), we discover that there is ambulance service on the mountain and feel fortunate to not need their services. The high temperatures combined with the climb and lack of shade are certainly taking a toll on pilgrims.
Check this off the “Bucket List”: On the summit of Alto del Perdon is an iconic sculpture dedicated to all the pilgrims who walk the Camino de Santiago. The long metal sculpture representing pilgrims on foot and on horse reflects the historical and eternal nature of the walk. There is a Spanish inscription on it “donde se cruza el camino del viento con el de las estrellas” meaning “Where the path of the wind crosses that of the stars.” ~caminodesantiago.com
Beautiful views as we look back towards Pamplona, but what goes up must go down, and we carefully make our way down the steep descent. One wrong move and the hike is done. The unfortunate and injured pilgrim would need to be picked up after rolling down to the bottom. It wouldn’t be pretty and I’m sure tears would be involved.
Top three photo picks of the day:
Short video link below of today’s hike.
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Grant-Deuel High School…class of 2017
Things end, but memories last forever.
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The adventure begins…
September 1, 2016: Unfinished business awaits us as we begin our 2016 Camino de Santiago trek across northern Spain. We previously completed Astorga to Santiago and St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Zubiri, Spain, so it appears we have a little over 300 miles remaining. Click on the short “kick off” video as we begin our journey…
We stumble upon the Parish Church of Santa Lucia which has lived through the invasion of the Moors, the Spanish Inquisition, Napoleon’s crossing of the Pyrenees, two world wars and the Spanish Civil War.
It is rumored to be a Templar church and symbols contained in and around the building seem to confirm this. Few records exist so piecing the building’s story together is quite a challenge ~the abbey.es
The intent was to stay in Arre tonight but we seemed to have bypassed the path through that particular town and, before you know it, we’ve gone 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) and find ourselves in downtown Pamplona. Oh, well… plan B will be just fine and we have a head start on our hike tomorrow. We settle into our little room above a small bar and rest our weary bones.
Below are today’s top three photo picks:
RJMeyerArts 