Weekly Header Challenge -- Favorite Animal

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

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

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Favorite Animal

Chosen by Tom.

When it comes to photography, I have lots of favorite animals.  They're usually ones I can get really good pictures of!  My favorite one this year is the praying mantis.  I accidentally watered this fierce little guy in my green beans late this summer.  Here's the full, uncropped image.

Here he is, with all the water droplets...

Besides the praying mantis, I love birds.  I captured this osprey in flight (and trying to catch a fish!) at Lake Bonaparte this summer!

Here's another osprey--or maybe the same one--with its catch, flying away.

I absolutely love loons, especially their haunting birdsong.

This red tailed hawk was in my backyard!  I love these birds.

I spotted this downy woodpecker tap-tap-tapping away in the dead tree on the other side of my back yard fence...

And, there's always dogs.  I love man's best friend!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Follow me on Facebook

Weekly Header Challenge -- Colors

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

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

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Colors

Chosen by Kathy.

For Colors, I naturally thought of autumn colors.  I chose this image below for my header:

I took it yesterday at The Morton Arboretum; the colors were really starting to show themselves.  I'll have to go back later this week and hope there are still brilliant colors left.

To give you an idea, here's how the color changed in a week:

October 18.

October 24.

Here are my favorite images from my walk at the Arboretum.  This one is from last week...

And these are from yesterday's amble through the woods...

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Follow me on Facebook

Weekly Header Challenge -- Signs of Autumn

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

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

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Signs of Autumn

Chosen by Lew.

I chose a somewhat different set of images for Signs of Autumn.  You know it's fall in the U.S. when there are football games wherever you look--high school sports fields, university stadiums, almost any sports channel on TV...

Here is my header image; I cropped it because I wanted the focus to be on the players, just after the ball was snapped.  I didn't have to crop it any further to use as my header image.

Since I'm currently working on these images for this particular football team (the Crusaders), I'm sharing a small montage of images which encapsulate the game.  Even though I'm only through somewhere in the second quarter (I have hundreds left to edit!), I think the images I've chosen below show a thorough story of what this autumn sport is all about.  Enjoy the game!

Assistant coach gives some pre-game instruction.

Pre-game team prayer.

Pre-game creative shot--when I actually have time to get creative!

The coin toss.

Referee meeting.

Trying to make his way through the defense.

Blazing right past the sidelines.

Defensive tackle.

Racing across the field.

Mid-air catches.

Sun setting at the high school stadium.

Fumble recovery.

Celebration in the end zone!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Follow me on Facebook

Weekly Header Challenge -- Through the Window

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

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

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Through the Window

Chosen by Mac.

Well, we're back from "summer vacation" and hopefully ready to share new and exciting photos!  For this week's theme, I chose this image, taken on our August vacation to Lake Bonaparte, to use in my header:

After we came back from a boat ride, I spotted the flag waving in the breeze, and shot through the mesh window at the back of the boat.  The flag is back-lit by the sun, and there's a slight blur at its striped edge capturing the movement.

Here are some other "through the window" moments...

Looking out a window at Boldt Castle to the St. Lawrence Seaway.

An artist paints inside her studio in Marais, Paris, France.

Car on display at the Renault dealership, Champs-Elysees, Paris, France.

Blur of birds taking flight through a window in my home.

A sneak mobile phone picture through our living room window a few days ago!

"I've walked by your truck many times and always wondered what was inside...!"

A father and daughter stop as Fernando performs some tests in the truck.

Hope you enjoyed looking through my windows!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Follow me on Facebook