Weekly Photo Challenge – Smile

The topic for this week’s Photo Challenge at The Daily Post is Smile and I can’t think of a better subject for this challenge than my eldest grandson. I never had to coax him into smiling for the camera. He always had a smile on his face and still does. He has already appeared on a couple of posts here at Happy 21st Birthday Grandson! and Weekly Photo Challenge- Collage – A Celebration but I just had to bring him back for another visit for a very special reason which will be made evident shortly.

Fast forward a few years to high school graduation followed some years later by a wedding, and then a baby shower.

Yesterday my grandson’s lovely wife gave birth to a baby boy, my first great-grandson!  One more reason to smile!  I haven’t seen him yet but you can bet there will be plenty more smiles on here in the near future.

For more on The Weekly Photo Challenge at The Daily Post go to Smile

Advertisements

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge

Cee’s topic of choice for the Black & White Photo Challenge this week is Store Fronts & Building Signs. Opting to focus on the store front aspect of the challenge, and going through the photo files, I realized that more often than not, when I’ve stopped to take a picture of the exterior of a commercial building it’s usually been either a pub or a restaurant, neither of which technically meets the ‘store‘ criteria. However, I did come across one or two stores that I thought might be of interest the first of which is Tiffany’s in Oak Brook shopping mall.

From the opulent to the soon-to-be defunct; the end of an era. I had to stop at our local Toys R Us store to capture an image before it closes and is eventually torn down.  For more than forty years we’ve been buying things for our kids, grandkids, great-grandkids and, alright, maybe even for ourselves at this once great toy store. I’m sad to see it go after all this time.

It might have been the flowers that first caught my eye at this store in Bartlett but even in black and white the building has a pleasing, small town, country look about it.

The store sign below has a little bit of history attached to it although the store itself is in a comparatively new shopping mall in Glenview. The ‘Hangar One’ part of it is a nod to the Glenview Naval Air Station that once occupied this spot from 1923 to 1995.

Going back a little further in history, many of the commercial buildings in Marion have names and dates incorporated in their architecture.  I thought this store in the town square translated well into monochrome.

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Store Front and Building Signs

Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge – A Funny Thing Happened

A funny thing happened on the way to the supermarket. I’ve heard of ‘putting the cart before the horse’ but this was too good to pass up!

For more on Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge go to Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge: March 18, 2018

Weekly Photo Challenge – Story

Every city, town or village has a story to tell and Marion in southern Illinois is no exception. Whenever we visit somewhere that is new to us we like to explore and find out as much as we can about the place, not only about the present but also the past, and the best place to learn about the history of Marion is undoubtedly the Williamson County Historical Society Jail Museum and Library.  Every floor in this building is packed with interesting memorabilia and artifacts. The jail itself has a story of its own which can be seen here  in Jail Time

The past and present are defined by the mix of buildings in the Town Square vicinity, some of which date back to the early 1900’s.  While many of these buildings have been well-maintained, some, like the old offices of the Marion Daily Republican newspaper have fallen into disrepair.

The Marion Cultural and Civic Center has undergone extensive renovations but I was happy to see that they had preserved the old entryway inside the new lobby.

This memorial in the Town Square tells another story about the terrible destruction that Marion suffered during a tornado, one of the largest in Illinois history, that touched down in 1982, killing ten people and causing close to $100 million in damages.

It’s interesting to see the different styles of architecture in this city of some 17,800 inhabitants, from the stark lines of the First Baptist Church to the more ornate exterior of the Carnegie Library and even a touch of whimsy as evidenced by a mural painted on the side wall of a local artist co-op that tells its own story.

For more on The Weekly Photo Challenge at The Daily Post go to Story

Weekly Photo Challenge – Sweet!

This week’s Photo Challenge from Cheri at The Daily Post asks us for our interpretation of Sweet.

Looking back at some of my earliest posts on WordPress I came across this one Exercise……There’s Nothing Like It!  At the time it remained pretty much unread. It included pictures of some of my favorite foods which featured several sweet treats. If you have a couple of minutes to spare, slide on over there to see how these tasty delights fitted into my daily exercise routine.

As you can no doubt tell, I have a sweet tooth which probably accounts for another post Icing On The Cake that dwelt on the love affair between my family and cake.

No matter how we dress it up or how scary it may look, there is something about cake and all it’s close relations that is just so deliciously hard to resist. The feel, the taste, the smell of all those delectable desserts are too good to pass up and when the call goes out, “Anyone for afters?” the reply is always, “Sweet!”

For more on The Weekly Photo Challenge at The Daily Post go to Sweet

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Treasures of the Lizzadro

Cee has reached the final letter in her ‘alphabet with a twist’ segment of the Fun Foto Challenge and I had no problem coming up with a subject for the letter z.

The wonderful thing about the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in Elmhurst, Illinois, is that it combines the beauty and splendor of nature with the skill and craftsmanship of artisans who have created some of the most breathtaking pieces of artwork that you will ever see.  Here are just a few of the treasures that you will see if you visit the Lizzadro.

A turquoise carving donated from the collection of Cheng Kong Man Ying.

The Lohan, Buddhist monks carved in ivory.  Although I deplore the use of ivory, the incredible skill with which these figurines are carved cannot be denied.

An Italian cameo is delicately worked onto a helmet shell.

A bracelet set with 288 sapphires and 45 diamonds in white gold,  a ruby and diamond bracelet set in platinum by Tiffany & Co made in 1928 and a seed pearl parure by Bailey & Co made in 1850.

This Chinese figurine, one of a pair, is made of rose quartz.

Beautiful little snuff bottles, intricately carved on ivory, agate, porcelain and other natural materials.

A gorgeous Chines figurine carved in jadeite.

Two impressive Chinese spinach green vases carved in nephrite.

Detail from an Italian statuette of Henry IV, King of France carved in ivory and set with gemstones.

Two exquisite Japanese pieces carved in ivory.

Two skulls made of carved and polished stone from the “Faces of Eternity” exhibit at the Lizzadro.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter Z anywhere in the word or people or animals catching some Zzz’s

Weekly Photo Challenge – Ascend

OK! I admit it. I’m a worry-wart.  Worrying about my own kids was bad enough.  Worrying about someone else’s is even worse. My least favorite place to take the grandkids was and still is, the park. And naturally, that’s always their first choice when I ask what they want to do. If I can weasel out of it, I will. But sometimes there’s just no way around it, so I watch with my heart in my mouth as they go flying on the swings or ascend the climbing frame.  MIND!!

For more on The Weekly Photo Challenge at The Daily Post go to Ascend