January Squares – Room Up Top

There is plenty of room Up top for Becky’s January Squares Photo Challenge this week. And the view is pretty spectacular from up on the top floor of these high-rise buildings in downtown Chicago.

Of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a high-rise in Chicago. You can catch a great view from up top these less conventional structures; the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the YMCA Leaning Tower in Niles, a lookout tower at Fort Snelling in Minnesota and the Moser Tower Millennium Carillon in Naperville.

Whether corporate or cute, there’s always room up at the top; Oakbrook Terrace Tower in Oakbrook Illinois, the Amegy Bank Tower in Houston, the James H. and Joann N. Collins Tower along the River Walk in St Charles and a lookout point in the rose garden of Olbrich Gardens in Madison Wisconsin.

January Squares Photo Challenge – Step Up

This month, Becky is asking us to Square Up for the January Squares Photo Challenge. So, here I am, Stepping Up with a few images to kick off the year.

Going Up! Steps along the River Walk in downtown Chicago, Naperville and San Antonio.

Some impressive steps leading up to even more impressive buildings; The Baha’i Temple in Wilmette, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, McCormick House at Cantigny Park and the State Capitol Building in Minneapolis.

Stepping up to the sky or just up to the garden; the Norge Ski Jump at Fox River Grove, the Moser Tower Millennium Carillon in Naperville and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

And winding things up; stepping up at The Grove Redfield Estate in Glenview, McCormick House at Cantigny Park, Marion Cultural and Civic Center in Illinois and the State Capitol Building in Minnesota.

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 – A Window With A View

I’ve missed one or two of these Lens-Artists Challenges recently so I’m making up for lost time with this one.  Amy has chosen A Window With A View as the topic this week and here is my take on the subject. The first picture is a view of Millennium Park from The Chicago Art Institute. The second was taken at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills where there was a lovely view of the surrounding gardens from one of my favorite rooms there.

The next view, of the waterfront on Mackinac Island, was taken from a window high up on a hill at Fort Mackinac.

The next two pictures were taken at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oakbrook, Illinois. Two totally different views from the same room, one of the gardens and the other of the house. I believe this room was built as a sun or fresh air room which was supposed to be beneficial to the occupant’s health. If I remember rightly, there were windows like this on three sides of the room.

The next image was captured at the Capitol Building in St Paul, Minnesota. A window within a window overlooking the Capitol Grounds.

One of the biggest reasons for our travels has been to visit our children. For a while our youngest daughter and her family lived in a condo that had a very nice view of McGovern Centennial Gardens in Houston, Texas.  Before that, they lived in Salt Lake City, Utah where we visited the Natural History Museum that had a window where the view was almost the same looking in as it was looking out.

Climbing up the steps of one of the towers at Holy Hill Basilica provided a great view of an adjacent spire.  Also in Wisconsin, this time at the Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, there was a colorful view from one of the windows of the John Purves tugboat.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – History

This week, Patti has chosen History as the subject for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. Coming from a country so rich in history, I deeply regret not taking up photography while I was still living in England. From the majesty of London’s past with its towers, bridges and cathedrals to the Roman ruins of Verulamium in St. Albans and the mysteries of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, I saw all these historic places yet have nothing to show for it, at least no pictures for which I can take credit. A few years after arriving in Chicago my husband bought me my first SLR camera and ever since then I’ve tried to document all the places of interest that we’ve seen, if for no other reason than to look back at the images in the years to come, perhaps with the grandkids and hopefully their families, and say, “This is part of your country’s history.”

An important part of Chicago’s history was the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. It destroyed so much of what had gone before but led to one of the greatest revival stories in American history. The sculpture shown above is part of the southern bridgehouse of Du Sable Bridge or the Michigan Avenue Bridge as it is more commonly known. Entitled ‘Regeneration’ and created by Henry Hering, it shows workers rebuilding Chicago after the Great Fire. Below is the iconic Chicago Water Tower, the only public building to survive the fire.

 

On a recent trip to Texas we visited another of America’s famous historic sites, The Alamo in San Antonio. I don’t pretend to understand the rights, wrongs or reasons for many of the wars that have been fought, down through the ages but, as in all battles, men died at the Alamo fighting for a cause that they believed in.

South Dakota has its share of historic sites, even prehistoric ones, including the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs and the Indian Village archaeological site in Mitchell. Something a little more recent, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, designed by sculptor Gutzon Borglum, depicts four U.S. Presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln representing the birth, growth, development and preservation of the United States.

Speaking of Abraham Lincoln, one of the first places I photographed when I got my Minolta film camera was the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois. Later images captured with a Canon EOS Rebel show the old State Capitol Building and Lincoln’s law offices, both in Springfield.

 

 

APAW – Contrasting Colors

It’s all about colors just recently. This week, Nancy Merrill has chosen Contrasting Colors as her topic for the Photo A Week Challenge and, using the color wheel in her post, orange and blue would appear to be quite a good combination for this subject. images include a stained glass window by Marc Chagall at the Chicago Art Institute, a table top in a coffee shop in Evanston, restaurant umbrellas in Texas, and a table setting at The Flower & Garden Show in Rosemont as well as scenes from the Chicago Botanic Garden, the 63rd Annual Chicago Powwow in Elk Grove Village and Goebbert’s Pumpkin Farm in South Barrington.

For more on Nancy’s Photo A Week Challenge go to Contrasting Colors.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Black & White

This week, Cee has chosen Black & White as the colors for her Fun Foto Challenge. These days it’s relatively easy to convert images to black & white provided you have the right picture. Finding pictures of things that are primarily black & white without doing any kind of manipulation was rather more difficult but here are some random shots that seemed to fit the bill.  I took several pictures of the young man playing the xylophone but although this one wasn’t necessarily the best, I chose it because I noticed that the woman crossing the street behind him was also wearing a black & white shirt.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Black and White

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge – Working on the Water

I thought I’d stick with the water theme for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge, People at Work , this week, having recently submitted a post for Nancy Merrill’s Photo Challenge Water

Working on the barges at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in Cairo, Illinois.

Working the tour boats on the San Antonio River in downtown San Antonio, Texas.

Working to keep us safe on Lake Michigan at the Air & Water Show in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Working to keep the lakes and gardens beautiful at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

June Squares – Conservatory Roofs

Today, for Becky’s June Squares, I’ve chosen two unusual conservatory roofs, one at the Domes in Milwaukee and the other at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens in Texas.

For more on Becky’s June Squares go to There is only a week left!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Horizontal

This week, Cee is looking for Horizontal Lines for her Fun Foto Challenge and glancing through the photo files I see that we encountered quite a few on our recent trip to Texas. The first image was captured as we went across the bridge over the Mississippi River in Cairo, Illinois.

Waves and ripples in the sand at East Beach in Galveston, Texas.

A view of McGovern Centennial Gardens in Houston, Texas.

A series of steps along the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Horizontal Line(s)