Ritzy view

This was one of the views we enjoyed from a thirteenth floor balcony of The Tower Residences at the Ritz-Carlton last Thursday.  And what were we doing there?  Attending an Arts District Volunteer Appreciation Reception spread throughout three of the model residences which truly deserve the term "luxurious."  We certainly felt appreciated.  There were drinks in the contemporary residence looking north across Uptown.  A buffet in the spacious, more traditional home with its sweeping views toward downtown and the west.  Coffee and sweets in the vibrant red and mirrored north-east facing residence. All overseen by smartly uniformed and obliging staff from the Ritz-Carlton.  A sincere thank-you to Veletta Forsythe Lill, the Executive Director of Dallas Arts District, and Doug Thompson, the ever-ebullient Volunteer Coordinator, for such a lovely evening and the opportunity to take a lofty look over urban Dallas. 

An aside...  Despite having had my little Canon Power Shot A540 for a few years, I had never tried out the Stitch Assist feature for shooting panoramic views which I used on the photo above.  But the real magic was with Photoshop.  Just click Automate > Photomerge, point it to the photos, and sit back while it does the rest!  It whirred away, throwing up what looked like empty windows, and taking its time, and then, voila! there were my four shots, all melded seamlessly together, leaving me nothing else to do but crop the somewhat raggedy top and bottom. I wonder if anyone has ever penned an ode to Photoshop, because it certainly makes me want to rhapsodize about it.