Sunday Snapshot - Chicago

'But when I go to Chicago, I know I'm home.'

~ Hank Sauer

(The Chicago Theater, historic Michigan Ave. walking north and inside Macy's on State, formerly Marshall Fields and Co.)

'I miss everything about Chicago, except January and February.'

~ Gary Cole

(The Cloud Gate - Millennium Park, Chicago)

The Cloud Gate also has a nickname of The Bean because of it's bean like shape (it's curved underneath like a bean).
I guess the sculpture was inspired by liquid mercury.
It's very cool how it reflects and distorts Chicago's skyline and as you can imagine it's a
popular place to take pictures.

My two favorite cities in the U.S. are Chicago and San Francisco.
So when my friend Grace wanted to make a little trip to Chicago,
I jumped at the chance for a weekend away to show her some of my favorite places
in this beautiful city.

(At the Art Institute of Chicago, one of it's iconic lions is in the top pic, 
a Degas ballerina and one of many Buddhas in the Chinese collections).

Grace and I spent almost 5 hours in the Art Institute, something I haven't done in years.
It's hard to find words to describe this treasure trove of priceless collections
from around the world.

(Grace standing on the main staircase in the Art Institute).

My personal favorites were the collections of art by Monet, the Degas ballerinas,
anything by Toulouse- Lautrec, and pretty much everything
in the Chinese collections.
It was a thrill for me to see a few antique pottery bowls from my daughter's
birth city in China.

Last weekend Chicago showed us it's friendly people and it's beautiful Fall weather.

We did a lot of walking, a bit of shopping, some people watching,
took many pics (these are only  a fraction of them), there was lots of laughing
 and mostly catching up
with what was going on in our busy lives.
This little visit and time away were truly a treat for me...thank you so much Grace!
Please, let's do this again soon my friend.

(Michigan Ave. looking South)

43/52 - 4 more days

In our house there is a 9 and a 5 year old who are practically giddy

with anticipation about one little day that happens to fall on Oct. 31.

Costumes are ready for wearing and candy's been purchased.

(It's been hidden somewhere and I just hope I can find it in time).   ;)

42/52 - this and that

(Taken over the weekend)

~ Fall truly seems to be here in Wisconsin. We were recently spoiled with at least 10 days

of an Indian Summer.

Now we're back to crisp days, cold nights and Winter coats that are presently being worn.

We're starting to bundle up now and ready or not, it's here.

We still have some leaves on the trees and I'm sure they'll soon be gone.

~ My camera is doing strange things and I'm concerned.

Over the weekend it started having issues and I'm getting a little stressed.

Especially since I just sold my old camera (kind of ironic, you think?)

~ Thursday I pick up my friend Grace at O'Hare airport and we'll be having a girlfriend 

weekend in Chicago. 

Grace had been wanting to visit the Windy City and hadn't experienced Fall in a while.

I need to remind her to bring a warm coat.

Can't wait to get together again, show her a few of my favorite places in Chicago 

and maybe get a little bit of Christmas shopping done for my family too.

I'll be back to blogging next week.

Favorite Photo Friday - walk in the woods

Bittersweet October.
The mellow, messy, leaf kicking perfect pause between
opposing miseries of Summer and Winter.


~ Carol Bishop Hipps

Besides the Autumn poet sings,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the haze.

~ Emily Dickinson

falling leaves
hide the path
so quietly

~ John Bailey

How beautifully leaves grow old.
How full of light and color are their last days.

~ John Burroughs

A little bit of our Sunday afternoon.
A walk in the woods with acorn and leaf collecting thrown in for good measure.
And enjoying the peace and tranquility of this beautiful place.

41/52 - hip hop

Last Spring Will and I were buying tickets for Grace's Spring recital at our dance school.
We were in a large open room waiting in line.
Will suddenly decided to do a long series of beautiful cartwheels across the room,
that ended with the splits.
A young woman came up to me right after that and asked if
Will could join her boy's (age 5-7) hip hop class in the Fall.
Will had a huge smile on his face and asked if he could try it.
Of course I said, yes. 

These were taken last night, it was his second class.

He's the youngest and the smallest and can you tell he's lovin' it?! 

By the way I was giggling the entire time I was shooting these...

This boy cracks me up.

Texture Tuesday - (Red)

I had to participate in today's Texture Tuesday because red is my favorite color.

Taken recently of 2 sisters wearing red and plum colored pettiskirts,
I used one of Kim Klassen's textures called 'Thursday' on overlay and removed it off their skin.
This image has a lot of contrast and I thought the texture added a nice finishing touch.

Favorite Photo Friday - apple picking season

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird 

I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. 

 ~George Eliot

It was a gloriously beautiful day Saturday and we made the little trek down
to our favorite apple orchard.
As I recall Grace and I first came here on a pre-school field trip when she was 4.
We've made it a little family tradition to come here every Fall.
One year it was so cold that we had our Winter coats on and it even snowed a little.

We still have plenty of apples left, and now I'm thinking I better get going on some baking this weekend.

And if you're interested, my favorite of this series is the below image,
a candid of Grace and William picking raspberries.
I love Grace's expression.

Happy Friday!

40/52 and {Texture Tuesday} - gratitude

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

 ~Thornton Wilder

Two days ago I captured the image of this milkweed with it's pods opening. I loved the contrast of the natural textures of the pods,

 the seeds and the fluffy white parachutes that carry those seeds away.

The theme for this week's Texture Tuesday is 'gratitude.'

I'm grateful that I have eyes to see and I'm able to experience the change of seasons at this beautiful time of the year. 

The sun was just setting when I shot this and I could see a little bit of pink in the horizon.

Textures I used were 'Thursday' at overlay

and 'Subtly Yours' at soft light.