Lens-Artist Photo Challenge – Symmetry

This week, Patti has chosen Symmetry as the topic for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. On the road and in the garden, we’ve come across symmetry in all kinds of places; Cantigny Park in Wheaton, a display of artwork in Galena and the Art Museum and a bridge in Milwaukee.

Although my own garden follows a more free and easy cottage-style format, I enjoy visiting the symmetrically formal layouts in gardens such the ones seen here; McGovern Centennial Park in Houston, Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville and Green Bay Botanical Garden.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Creepy

This week, Ann-Christine has chosen Creepy as the subject for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.  I’ve always had a fascination for visiting old houses, especially unoccupied houses that have a history. We have been to quite a few and there were some where I could definitely feel a presence as though past residents were watching us wander through the rooms, which at times can be rather creepy. One such house was the Lincoln Tallman House in Jaynesville, Wisconsin. We were the only visitors there at the time and although we were accompanied by a tour guide, I definitely got the feeling that someone else was there with us.

Stairways in particular have a strange feeling about them like this one at the Taylor House in Freeport, Illinois.

The chapel at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills seemed like a place that might get a visit from a spirit or two.

Ghosts don’t wait until night time to make themselves felt, and Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, with its macabre history, was definitely a place where you might expect to feel the chilly presence of a restless spirit.

Another house that had rather a creepy feel to it was the Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake. It must have been a beautiful place when it was first build but when we visited it a few years ago it was badly in need of renovation and many rooms were inaccessible for safety reasons.

The Biltmore Mansion was too full of tourists to get any kind of feel for the place but I imagine at night you might come across one or two spirits wandering the hallways.

As you have probably guessed, I am still unable to get about owing to being on crutches, especially now that we have several inches of snow on the ground, so I had ample time to add a few ghosts to the images.

Biltmore Lines

Some fancy lines at the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina for Becky’s Square Lines Challenge.

Pull Up A Seat – For Art’s Sake!

In my experience, most statues of people seem to portray them in a standing position, as if showing a person worthy of a statue in a sitting posture would be to give the impression that they were somehow guilty of slacking. However, in my travels I have come across one or two inanimate posteriors that have been allowed to sink to a supporting chair or plinth. The first three images are of an art installation call ‘Borders’ in Grant Park in downtown Chicago back in 2013.

It would seem that Abraham Lincoln wasn’t above sitting down occasionally for a quiet think or to read a good book, as seen here in Chicago’s Grant Park, Freeport in Illinois and Louisville, Kentucky.

 

Children can sometimes be seen sitting down but mostly only in statues.  In real life you’re lucky if you can get them to keep still for more than two minutes!  These shots were taken at the Green Bay Botanical Garden, Wisconsin and Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg, Illinois.

While some artist’s models are lucky enough to score a comfortable chair whilst sitting for a sculptor, others find themselves perched on a cold, hard slab or a nubby rock as shown here at the Frederik Meijer Sculpture Garden in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And the more classical element only rate a less-than-comfy tree stump to prop up their rear ends, as these pictures, taken at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, show.

If anyone asks me to sit for a statue, I’ll be sure to specify that I want, at the very least, to be parked on a bench, seat or preferably a well-cushioned armchair.  Images captured in Elk Grove, Illinois, Sioux Falls in South Dakota and Green Bay Botanic Garden, Wisconsin.

For more on the Pull Up A Seat Photo Challenge go to Photo Challenge of places we sit…or might sit…or art about sitting.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Fountains

This week, Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge calls for fountains.  There are plenty of these in the photo files but here are just three, captured at the Biltmore Estate, in Asheville, the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis and a park in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to Fountains

Travel Theme – Steps

I’ve gone from doors to steps with Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge.  Arriving at the top of the steps; sometimes steps can be quite a challenge, such as these seen here at Copper Falls State Park in Mellen, Wisconsin, especially after a long hike, to which my husband can attest. He did just that, a few weeks before knee replacement surgery this spring.

Going up the steps at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

Coming down the steps at Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota.

Beautiful steps at the old Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

For more on Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge at Where’s My Backpack go to https://wheresmybackpack.com/2017/09/19/travel-theme-steps/

Weekly Photo Challenge – Delta – The Passing of Time

Erica, at The Daily Post, asks us to share our interpretation of the passing of time for the Weekly Photo Challenge, and what better way than using time itself.  Going through the photo files I found that there were many images that included clocks, watches and various other methods of telling the time including these sun dials, the first two, at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the third, the Millennium Sundial on John T Myers  Pedestrian Bridge, in Lafayette, Indiana.

Time spent in Wisconsin, at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers and at The House on the Rock in Spring Green.

Time as a focal point in Mitchell, South Dakota, historic downtown Long Grove in Illinois and Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Time and architecture in Elk Grove Village in Illinois, Bartholomew County Courthouse in Columbus, Indiana, and at the race track and the Village Hall in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Classic timepieces at the Stephenson County Historical Museum in Freeport, Illinois, Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills in Illinois and Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina.

Time waits for no man, not even at Scooby’s Hot Dogs in West Chicago, State Street in downtown Chicago or at the Elgin History Museum where many timepieces made at the Elgin National Watch Factory are featured.

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

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Furniture

The subject for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is furniture.   What you see in the following images is anything but ‘just part of the furniture.‘  I love ornate furniture like these chairs and table at The Hotel Chequamegon in Ashland, Wisconsin, although they are not necessarily designed for comfort.  Of course you would need the right kind of house in which to put them.  And I definitely wouldn’t want the job of dusting them every day.

Now, if you owned a place like Biltmore House in Asheville, you would need plenty of fancy furniture to fill all those rooms, like these beautiful pieces in the Salon.

In Mr. Vanderbilt’s bedroom.

In the Van Dyck Room

And in the Morland Room.

Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota also has it’s share of fine furniture, although maybe not on quite such a grand scale.

And furniture at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois is certainly worth seeing.

 

 

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Furniture, Tables, Chairs, Sofa, etc.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Public Transportation

This week, Cee invites us to take public transportation for the Black & White Photo Challenge.  My first thought was that I rarely take public transportation, pictures or otherwise, except for the train into downtown Chicago and that, only rarely.  But then I realized that the term ‘public transportation’ covers a good deal more than just trains and buses so I went through the photo files and came up with quite a diverse collection.

A more leisurely style of transportation; a horse and wagon awaits passengers at the Wade House Historic Site in Greenbush, Wisconsin. A great way to get from the Wesley Jung Carriage Museum to the Old Wade House.

Taking the lift up the mountain at Snowbird Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah.  It was the first time I’d ever ridden in one of these and was too busy taking pictures to be nervous.

A more conventional form of public transportation; one of the tour buses that takes visitors around the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

This was another first; a ride on the Star Line hydro jet ferry that took us from Mackinac City to the Island.  Although I’m always apprehensive about being on water, being a non-swimmer, I found this form of public transportation very exhilarating.

A more familiar form of public transportation and one seen in many towns around this area; Metra trains are a comfortable and convenient way to get around and certainly beat sitting in traffic jams for hours on end and paying exorbitant parking fees when you get there especially in downtown Chicago.

One kind of public transportation that I don’t plan on taking any time soon is the airplane.  The only time I was on one of these was when I came over to the US from England.  Like many people, I can’t explain my fear of flying.  The flight over here was good, nothing to put me off of doing it again, but there it is; an irrational fear of flying.  I suppose if it was an emergency and I had to do it, I could, but it’s not something I would do by choice.

For more on Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge go to https://ceenphotography.com/2017/01/19/cees-black-white-photo-challenge-public-transportation-2/

Thursday Doors – Asheville NC

Featuring Asheville in North Carolina for Norm’s Thursday Doors this week.  The first image shows the doors of the Basilica of Saint Lawrence in Asheville. The second is the aptly decorated library door at the Biltmore Estate and the third shows the doors leading from the terrace at the Vanderbilt’s stunning home. For more on Norm’s Thursday Doors go to https://miscellaneousmusingsofamiddleagedmind.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/thursday-doors-october-27-2016/