Susan, that is a cool picture! With the amount of snow you got, I couldn't do much at any one time either. Yikes!! Was it a lot by normal standards for you?

Great photo of the boats in snow - they look so festive on a dreary day! Moni, those big ornaments are so cool - I've really enjoyed seeing them in your photos the last few days. Jim, that's an intriguing photo - one can't help but wonder where the stairs lead.

I can only hope the sisters -- and their spouses -- really liked each other. They are neat looking houses, stair stepped like that.

When we were at the Gatun Locks our guide pointed at the "mule" at the tail end of the ship that was transiting and said the smoke around it was because the ship was currently rubbing along the edge of the canal, and said the canal operating crew was probably already talking with the ships captain to pay for damage to the ship. He also pointed out that Panamax ships (the maximum size that will fit in the locks) are 13 containers wide, and they have these circular connection points on the stern of the ship for attaching the cables for the mules. This image also shows how tight the fit is. There was less than 6 inches gap on each side.Also the mules only keep the ships centered in the locks, the ships must provide their own power to move forward through the locks