Some signs of a bountiful harvest in The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Goebbert’s Pumpkin Farm in South Barrington and The Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.
For more information on Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge on Where’s My Backpack? go to http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/10/03/travel-theme-bountiful/
Standing on the edge; it’s a feeling that can sometimes be scary and at other times awe-inspiring. It can be the beginning of something or the end. Do we take the next step or should we pull back.
Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge this week on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/08/29/travel-theme-edge/ puts us right on the edge.
Standing on the edge, looking out over the Badlands in South Dakota.
At the water’s edge in the Chicago Botanic Garden, a sailboat enthusiast prepares to launch his craft.
Divers from a fire department water rescue team sit on the edge of the marina at Three Oaks Recreation Area in Crystal Lake, Illinois; part of an annual training exercise.
Flowers along the edge of a path at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Water thunders over the edge of Niagara Falls as viewed from the Canadian side.
I love orange! It’s such a vibrant color! Wherever I go I’m always on the lookout for bright colors and I had no problem finding images that I hope will adequately represent Orange, in response to Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/08/22/travel-theme-orange/.
Somehow, purely by chance, I nearly always seem to show up at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, Illinois during a special event. At the end of July when we visited, there appeared to be some kind of Youth Conference in progress. People at the Mandir are always very friendly and willing to explain what is happening and we were told that the participants were from all across the country. From what I understood, these young people were there to learn about the Hindu faith and its place in the world today. We arrived just as they were taking group photos outside the temple and out of respect we stayed well back, so we had rather limited access but I managed to capture a few images once everyone had dispersed. The figures in the above image were ceremoniously placed on the steps of the Mandir and the colors really stood out against the white stonework of the temple.
Orange canna lilies are just tall enough to catch the setting sun on the Esplanade at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
An orange place setting caught everyone’s eye at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier in Chicago earlier this year.
One of the stained glass windows on display at the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at Navy Pier in Chicago.
A flash of orange as ornamental koi splash around in the pool at the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois.
Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge this week on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/03/28/travel-theme-statues/ is Statues.
Plenty of these in the photo files despite the fact that a camera club judge once told us that images of other peoples’ artwork were not considered good material for competition. Too bad! I like taking pictures of statues!
A life-size bronze sculpture of George Washington Carver in the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St Louis.
An imposing statue entitled ‘The Apotheosis of St. Louis’ that stands outside the St. Louis Art Museum.
Also in the same city, in the grounds of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, is a statue entitled ‘The Angel Of Harmony’, a 14-foot high, stainless steel sculpture by Wiktor Szostalo.
There are countless statues in Chicago of everyone from famous sports personalities to historical figures but for this challenge I have selected just two. The first, on Upper Wacker Drive, is a tribute to newspaper columnist, broadcaster and talk-show host Irv Kupcinet.
The second is a statue of Nathan Hale who was reported to have said “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country” before being executed in 1776 as a spy by the British during the American Revolutionary War.
Although many statues are placed prominently on plinths or columns, I rather like the ones that appear in more natural settings. This sculpture of Abe Lincoln and his family for instance, standing on the street in front of his old law offices in Springfield, Illinois.
Or this bronze statue entitled ‘Spirit of the Prairie’ overlooking the Town Square of Schaumburg.
This week Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/03/21/travel-theme-pink/ is Pink.
These pink fringed blooms were part of a colorful display of tulips at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show last week.
Pink hollyhocks by a stone wall at Spring Mill in Mitchell, Indiana.
Pink flowers (not sure of the name) in the Heritage Garden of the Chicago Botanic Garden.
The pink walls of the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois.
Pink sky at night, shepherd’s delight.
Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge last week on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/03/14/travel-theme-gardens-2/ was Gardens.
I know I’m a bit late with this one but couldn’t resist posting a few pictures of some of my favorite gardens. I would guess that more than half of the images in my photo files are of flowers and gardens. Wherever we travel, the first thing we look for is a public garden or park.
The gardens at Cantigny Park in Winfield, Illinois.
The gardens at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois.
The gardens in Lilacia Park, Lombard, Illinois.
The Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois.
The Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis.
Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge this week on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/03/07/travel-theme-tempting/ is Tempting.
I was tempted to post pictures of delicious cream cakes for this one, as they are my biggest temptation, but instead I opted to tell a story about someone else’s temptation.
Last summer we decided to take the littlest grandchildren to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden. Not wanting them to get too carried away and enthusiastic about the whole thing we stressed that, for the most part, this was a place where you looked but didn’t touch.
Now I know this is asking a lot from a 4 and 5 year-old but we hoped for the best. Taking them in the Railway Garden might have been too much of a temptation. It’s as much as I can do to keep my husband from climbing over the rails, so expecting our grandson to stay on the right side of the fence was asking a bit much.
Things started out well enough. Both grandson and grandpa promised to behave themselves. Brother and sister stood and watched as the trains went back and forth but I couldn’t help wondering how long the non-participation would last. When would he give in to temptation.
It wasn’t long before the tempting sight of trains whizzing round the miniature landscape became more than he could stand. It’s amazing how quickly little kids can move! Luckily we managed to grab him before any serious damage was done.
You may have noticed that while all this was going on, sister was standing off to one side, watching the drama unfold without any sign of joining in. But she was faced with her own temptations in the garden.
She loves flowers! Usually the first thing she does when they come to visit us is to run around the garden picking whatever flowers happen to be blooming and present them to me in a rather haphazard bouquet. Again, we stressed that this just wasn’t acceptable behavior at the Botanic Garden.
But the place is just one mass of colorful, scented flowers in the summertime and for a little girl who adores flowers it was almost impossible to keep those eager hands from grasping those tempting petals.
But give credit where credit is due, although she looked closely, sniffed appreciatively and even gently caressed the blossoms, granddaughter refrained from actually picking them, even when egged on by brother. Well done, kids! “For in spite of all temptations,” as the old Gilbert & Sullivan song goes, you did a good job!
Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge this week on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/02/28/travel-theme-ancient/ is Ancient.
One definition of the word ‘ancient‘ is ‘belonging to the very distant past.’ I’ve very rarely come across anything really ancient in the USA, which is after all a comparatively young country, unlike back home in England when even a Sunday afternoon dig in our back garden yielded a handful of Roman coins.
One place that can claim to be ancient is the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village in South Dakota. Discovered in 1910, its origins go back more than 1,000 years.
The people, possibly 200 in number, who lived in this village were mostly farmers, growing corn, beans, squashes, tobacco and amaranth. They also hunted bison and lived in earthen lodges, 80 of which have been found on the site.
Another discovery of ancient bones in South Dakota was at the Hot Springs Mammoth site. A large number of woolly mammoths were trapped in a spring-fed pond more than 26,000 years ago and their remains were unearthed by chance during excavation for a housing development in 1974.
The site was subsequently preserved and is now in an enclosed area where further work is being done to uncover other remains. The building is open to the public and the guided tour provides an interesting insight in to what may have happened all those years ago.
Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge this week on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/02/07/travel-theme-yellow/ is Yellow.
Looking up at some glass artwork by Dale Chihuly on display at the Visitors Center in Columbus, Indiana.
A closer view of the artwork at the Visitors Center in Columbus.
Artwork on display in The Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at Navy Pier in Chicago.
This yellow hat seemed like a natural attraction for the butterflies at Brookfield Zoo.
A fancy yellow motorbike with helmet to match, parked in Fountain Square, Indianapolis.
Ailsa’s Travel Theme challenge this week on Where’s My Backpack? at http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/01/31/travel-theme-dry/ is Dry.
I’ve never actually been to a desert but I guess The Badlands of South Dakota come pretty close. It’s certainly dry there for much of the year and extremely hot too in the summer.
Despite the barren nature of the landscape, there is something fascinating about the various rock formations and colored striations to be found there.
December and January are figured to be the driest months in The Badlands, while much of its annual 16 inches of rainfall occurs in June.
When we visited Lafayette, Indiana, at the end of a fairly dry spell in June of 2012, we found the Wabash River had receded quite a bit from its banks leaving an interesting mix of shells and other bits and pieces on the exposed river bed.
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