Thursday Doors – Cantigny

It’s good to see Norm back at Thursday Doors with lots of great pictures after his well-deserved vacation.  Photogenic doors have been few and far between during my daily round, this year, but I did come across this colorful door in the Idea Garden at Cantigny Park in Wheaton the other day.

For more on Thursday Doors go to https://miscellaneousmusingsofamiddleagedmind.wordpress.com/2017/09/21/thursday-doors-september-21-2017/

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Dome

This week, Cee is looking for four-letter words starting with D for her Fun Foto Challenge.  While I have plenty of duck, deer and door images, I decided, after sifting through the photo files, to go with dome.  These may not, in the grand scheme of things, be quite as elaborate as some of the world-famous domes I could mention, except for the first one and I’m not even sure if that could technically be considered a dome, but I work with what I’ve got.

The Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois.

The dome of the State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri.

The dome of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri.

The State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin.

The dome of the State Capitol building in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter D – 4 letters words that start with D

Weekly Photo Challenge – Waiting

Cheri Lucas Rowlands has given us Waiting as the subject for the Weekly Photo Challenge and it wasn’t too difficult to come up with a few images that I thought might give the impression of waiting for something or someone.

Island Queen, waiting to carry passengers from Bayfield in Wisconsin to the town of LaPointe on Madeline Island.

The train now waiting at platform 1 is on display at the National Railway Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

A horse-drawn wagon, waiting to take visitors back to the entrance of Wade House Historic Site in Greenbush, Wisconsin.

Waiting for the sun to rise in Nebraska.  This image was captured from a fast-moving car as we traveled back home from Utah.

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

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – City of Chicago

This week’s Alphabet With A Twist, part of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, is any C word with 4 or more letters.  Rather than finding a bunch of random things that begin with the letter C, I thought I would post a bunch of random things under the single heading City of Chicago.

 

When my daughter and I first emigrated to the USA back in the early 70’s I missed my home, family, friends and country.  I was born and raised in London and even after we moved out to the suburbs I would still spend a lot of my time in town so when we came to Chicago I clung to the city like a drowning man clings to a straw. It was the only thing with which I could identify.  Admittedly there wasn’t the history but there were large buildings (very large buildings,) shops, a river and the people.

Just as I had spent many hours walking around the City of London, so I’ve trekked many miles through the City of Chicago over the past forty or more years, only these days with a camera.  It has become a home, of sorts, never completely replacing dear old London but a place where I feel as close to home as I ever will, now.

These images are just some of my favorite shots; the pictures that show what Chicago means to me now that I have had a chance to get to know it. The buildings, the river and the people.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: C – The C word needs to be at least 4 letters in length

Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Shadows

Shadows abound in this woodland setting at the Monk Botanical Gardens in Wausau, Wisconsin. It makes rather a creepy kingdom for the kids to climb and play in as they slay a dragon, rescue a princess or fight off enemy intruders.

For more on Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge go to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Shadows

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Bronze

Cee’s Alphabet Challenge, the subject for this week’s Fun Foto Challenge, asks us to show a color beginning with B.  My choice for this one was bronze if for no other reason than that I have a ton of images of bronze artwork that were captured at the Frederik Meijer Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I thought this would be a good opportunity to share them.  Despite the fact that all these sculptures are made of bronze, they are slightly different in hue and texture and the subjects themselves certainly give one food for thought.

Two Bears by Marshall Fredericks.

Mad Mom by Tom Otterness.

Sleepwalker by Kiki Smith.

Light of the Moon by Igor Mitoraj.

Espaliered Girl by Laura Ford.

Disc in the Form of a Desert Rose by Arnaldo Pomodoro.

Listening to History by Bill Woodrow.

#25, one of a pair of figures by Hanneke Beaumont.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Colors that start with the Letter B

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Tombstones and Cemeteries

Ever since the days, back in the late 40’s, when my father used to take me on Sunday morning walks around the local cemeteries, these places have always been of great interest to me.  Many of my ancestors are resting in Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, London.  Highgate Cemetery in London was another place where Dad would point out the monuments of the many famous people who are buried there. Sadly I’m too far away to visit these cemeteries now but, whenever I have the opportunity to visit an old burial ground when we are out exploring, I like to look around.

A tombstone, shattered by a falling tree, in St Michael’s Cemetery in Wisconsin.

A rather unusual sight in Memory Gardens Cemetery, Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Elgin has a beautiful cemetery with many interesting tombstones and resting places.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Tombstones or Cemeteries