Thanks for all your comments. Regarding the first one, I'm not entirely happy with the foreground-background balance either, but I didn't want to lose the foggy morning feel, nor did I want the houses to disappear completely. Shallower DOF might have been the answer, but all I had with me on the trip was a Canon G9, so I didn't have as much DOF control as I would have liked. Next year I'll be sure to pack the SLR. In the meantime, I'll work on the background some more in PS and/or LR and see what works.
Eric