Weekly Header Challenge -- The Color Pink

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ The Color Pink

Chosen by Everyone.

We all decided on the color Pink for this week's theme, in honor of Kathy and me, the two girls in our Headbangers group.  I'm eager to discover what images the guys have come up with this week!  To start, here is the image I used for my header, a pink hollyhock blossom with some extra buzz:

Pink comes in a variety of shades, so here are the rest of my pink images.  Yeah, they're all flowers, but I love them!

Hollyhock blossom.

Clematis.

Flowering crabapple.

Hollyhock before it blooms.

I took this last one at The Morton Arboretum a few weeks ago.

Pink magnolia.

That's my pink for this week!  This was the perfect color for this week's spring weather.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Is Spring Finally Here?

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Is Spring Finally Here?

Chosen by Tom.

I'll let my images be the answer to this week's theme question.  The full image from my cropped header is below.  When we arrived at our friends' home after a concert, these beautiful tulips greeted us, drenched by the afternoon's rain.  I dallied outside for this quick shot before going inside, and I'm so glad I did.

My back yard garden says Yes--it's spring!  Look at this rhubarb coming up!

Yes, it's spring!  The garden needs to be weeded--the first of many times throughout the year, lol.  And notice that Joseph was able to wear his shorts for our garden chores!

Yes, it's spring!  The trees at The Morton Arboretum are in full bloom.

White magnolia.

Pink magnolia blooms.

Red maple tree blossoms.

Blue scilla.

A carpet of mayapples!

Finally, the daffodil glade screams, Yes, it's spring!

I hope I've answered the question.  *grin*


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Found Object

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Found Object

Chosen by Kathy.

For this week's theme, I decided to show you what I found on my last two visits to the arboretum.  I expected to see certain things there, such as trees and daffodils (at least I hoped for the daffodils to be in bloom!), but some things were unexpected. 

Pictures from Visit #1 -- Using my Macro

Here is the image I used for my header:

This little fella was happily munching away on a nut, right in the middle of the walking path, in the shade of a tree.  I had brought my macro lens as the only lens on my camera, and that allowed me to get a little closer without having to crop the image.  Also, this squirrel was apparently a longtime resident of the arboretum, because he let me get up close and personal without a bit of concern on his part.  Plus, he posed for me, too!

It was a challenge to find shots with just my macro lens, but the below worked well.  Imagine how tall this tree is, since I missed the bottom half!  I discovered a nest up high, plus I loved the twisty trunk.

Fernando discovered a garter snake in the leaves, and "helped" the snake slither my way for its portrait.

Pictures from Visit #2 -- Using my 24-105mm F/4L

Yesterday, Fernando and I went back to the arboretum to see if the daffodils were in bloom yet.  I brought just one lens, a challenge yet again.  Here are the things we found.

Daffodils with scilla scattered around:

Here is part of the daffodil glade.

We took a walk around and found a section of woods covered with mayapples.  They weren't quite open, but when they are, they're the neatest looking sight--the wooded floor covered with little leafy umbrellas.

In an open field, we came upon a clump of white and pink magnolia trees.  What a pretty spring sight! 

Here are the fuzzy buds from a few of the trees:

And one of the open blossoms:

Those are just a few of the things we found on our two trips.  I know there'll be other things to discover the next time we go, and I can't wait until then!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Pictures from the Past

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Pictures from the Past

Chosen by Lew.

For this week's theme, I resorted to pictures of pictures since I don't have a scanner.  I had taken pictures of these family pictures awhile back for a "Throwback Thursday" theme on Facebook, so I created a triptych for my header; here it is:

June 1991, 1996, 1997.

Since I scrapbook, I cropped these pictures for various scrapbook pages, hence the colored edges you see here.  Below are the individual pictures--precious memories!

Nana (Fernando's mom) sits with Joey (as we called him then) while he plays with a toy.  He was two at the time, and she came out to visit us here in Chicago.  The boys really enjoyed her being here with us.

The middle picture in my triptych was taken during a California trip when the whole family got together.  We spent a good hour posing various groups for pictures; this image below is Nana with all her grandchildren.

I love this third image in my triptych!  Nana flew out for a visit once again (with Fernando's younger brother and his fiancee).  She went out to our front porch every morning with a magazine to sit and read, and on one of those mornings, little Thomas followed her out with a book, dragged his chair right over next to her, and sat and read as they shared the morning together.  She was so tickled that a little two-year-old guy would do this with her!

Here are some more pictures of pictures I've taken, all precious memories.  All have been scrapbooked, so you will see colored borders and written descriptions.

June 1991.

The below image is the oldest one in this bunch!  On my first visit to meet Fernando's family in December 1985, I took lots of pictures.  Below is one of Fernando (21 at the time), with his niece Suzie (I always misspelled her name!!), and his dog Oso (Spanish for Bear).

Fast forward to November 1993 when Danny (our #3) was seven months old, and Suzie was a grown-up 11 years old.  What an expression!!

Fernando with his mom.

I included this image of Delia, wife to Joe, Fernando's oldest brother.  She died of cancer in her early forties, but she was known for her laughter and vibrant personality, and we all miss her still.

My final picture is also a treasured memory.  Our nephew Mike was a young teenager (or pre-teen?) at the time, and here he is with his little brother Alex, whose thumb had just been bandaged up.  I got them to make silly faces for me.  Mike was tragically killed at the age of 22, so this picture is a treasured memory of a more innocent time in his life.

Thanks, Lew, for the opportunity to travel down memory lane and ponder the precious memories of family!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Something that Begins with C

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Something that Begins with "C"

Chosen by me.

For this week's theme, I stuck with pictures I've taken this year.  It was fun to scroll back through the first few months of 2015 and look at my images in a new light--what begins with "C"?  I found some good ones, I think!  Here is the image I chose as my header:

Cookie Cake -- double "C"!!

In case you want the recipe, click here to get started.

On to some more "C" images!

Candle.

Crafts.

Closet!  (It's new--a Christmas gift!!)

Cleaning--thanks, Danny, for cleaning the meat juice off.

Cherries--must have more than one on my ice cream.

Cajun seasoning--I'm going to make my own; this stuff is awesome but expensive.

Coyote tracks.

And with that, this C-hristine is signing off to enjoy a beautiful day, hopefully at the Arboretum with my camera!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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