Weekly Header Challenge -- Signs

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

Chosen by Kathy.

Here's the image I used for my header.  It's a sign at the Louvre.  I love the English translation!

More fun signs.

At the Eiffel Tower.

Funny road signs...

And a misspelled sign (two m's in accommodation), at our local community college, no less...

Thanks for visiting today!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Weekly Header Challenge -- Looking Up

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 ~ Looking Up

Chosen by Tom.

For this week's theme, I traveled back in time to our silver anniversary trip to Paris.  Although pictures don't do justice to the view, it's pretty amazing standing at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower and looking up.  Here is the uncropped image I used for this week's header:

Closer to home is another tower--the Moser Tower which houses the Millenium Carillon in Naperville.  At the bottom, looking up, you can see a series of bells, from the largest bell, "Big Joe," to the smaller and smaller ones, until you have to climb the stairs to see the smallest bells of the carillon.

At the very top of the Moser Tower, you can look up and see the sky.  I took a picture, then turned 90 degrees and took a second picture for a different look.  I do like the second one better, though both are visually interesting.

In Chicago, you can find many old churches, one of which is Notre Dame de Chicago, which boasts this beautiful dome in its sanctuary.

Lots of signs can be seen if you look up; here is one of my favorite ice cream shops, in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

Finally, here's one old image I took at a springtime church picnic.  Daddy sure had to look up so he could catch his little son!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Weekly Header Challenge -- Historic District

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 ~ Historic District

Chosen by Lew.

My home town doesn't have an historic district, so I turned to our neighboring town for inspiration.  I grew up in this town, and have had the opportunity (twice now) to tour the Moser Tower which houses the Millenium Carillon.  There is an observation area in the tower, and that is where I stood to take this panoramic photo of downtown Naperville, which dates to the 1800s.  Here is my header image, which I had already cropped:

Downtown Naperville cityscape, featuring the spire of Sts. Peter & Paul Church.

So, what might one see in an historic district?  My photos will show you...

One might see old brick buildings...

Building in downtown Chicago.

Or just plain old buildings...

Downtown Harrisville, NY (yes, the entire downtown).

Or even famous buildings...

Notre Dame, Paris, France.

One might see beautiful lights...

Old lighting in downtown Chicago.

Beautiful lamp on Ile St. Louis, Paris, France.

One might also see columns...

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

North Central College, Naperville, IL.

University of Illinois.

And, one might see ivy-covered walls...

Old building in downtown Naperville.

Finally, the interiors of buildings in an historic district will also delight the eye.  Here are a few pictures I took at a church called Notre Dame de Chicago.  My son Danny sang here with his university's choir last year, and he will be a featured singer in the university's chamber choir this coming Friday in this same location!

I love old buildings; they're full of history and I always wonder who the people were that walked the same floors as I, and what their stories are.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Weekly Header Challenge -- Reflections

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

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 ~ Reflections

Chosen by Lew.

After a scare with my computer--it sometimes refuses to recognize my external hard drive, so I thought I may have lost all my digital images--and about an hour of my time, I gained a few gray hairs and a few images to share with you here today.  I also became a world traveler for these images, from home in Chicago, to New York, and all the way to Paris.

Here is the full image from my header:

Cloud Gate, a.k.a. The Bean, Chicago, Illinois.

I left this image as I had edited it several years ago (2011).  The Bean is a great "reflector," isn't it?  Here's another very subtle image of The Bean:

Above, if you look closely, you can see the edge of The Bean.  I framed it with the tree in the foreground, and the concrete wall, so it looks like you're looking at the city skyline.  But, if you look at the buildings closely, they're a bit curved!  You're really looking at the city's reflection in The Bean.  Clever, huh?  *pats self on back*

One more stylized image from The Bean's reflection:

On to New York--not the city, but my favorite place on Earth:  Lake Bonaparte.  I photographed a 100-year celebration of one family's Lake home, when, toward the end of the event, I spotted the reflection of the Lake behind me in this gazing ball.  It was getting on toward sunset, too, hence the pinks and purples in the reflection.

Now I'm jetting across the Atlantic to Mac's side of the world, and Paris!  One of my classic favorites from our silver anniversary trip is this picture of Notre Dame across the Seine, with the lights reflecting a beautiful gold across the water.

On to the Eiffel Tower, with Fernando's and my reflections in the window as we waited for the elevator to take us to the top of the tower.

At the Grand Palais, I spotted this French flag and its reflection in the window.  I focused on the reflection, creating a bit of out-of-focus fuzz on the actual flag.

This is one of my favorite reflection photos.  We spotted this painter in a storefront studio, and my aim was to capture her at her art.  I ended up with an image that did that, but that also captured the reflections of buildings across the street, plus a whole lot to look at and let your eye wander over.

Thanks for traveling the world and reflecting on my images with me!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Weekly Header Challenge - Street Performers

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

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 ~ Street Performers

Chosen by Mac.

Short of finding a circus or possibly visiting downtown Chicago, I didn't think I'd find any street performers here in the typical suburbs of America.  Once again, I found myself traveling back to Paris, where street performers abound, and where I actually took pictures of them.

Here's the full image that produced my header:

Okay, really, this guy was just creepy.  We were waiting in a very, very, very long line to go up the Eiffel Tower, and this guy was apparently there to entertain us.  People didn't really notice him at first; he'd sneak up next to someone, maybe put his arm around her as she walked by.  Then she'd realize it was this creepy dude, and freak out.  The crowd would predictably laugh, and so it went.  I told Fernando he'd better keep this guy away from me.  After awhile, Fernando commented that if the guy got close, Fernando would just "jump" him and give him a huge hug.  And it happened!  The guy was startled, and the crowd loved it.  He hugged Fernando back so I could take his picture.

Here's a much more quintessential street performer we discovered just outside the Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens).

And the most French street performer of all was this gentleman on Ile St. Louis, where we stopped five nights in a row to get ice cream from Berthillon.  It was magical!

This interesting character was on the Metro car in front of us, doing back flips and other acrobatics (Fernando saw him and thought we'd be in for a treat when he and his fellow musicians hopped on our car at the next stop).  One gentleman (off to my right) put on some rap-type music, the gentleman with the accordion played (yes--along with rap music!), and the pink-shirted guy started dancing away!  The crazy part was, he practically gave me a lap dance; I leaned around him and half-teasingly hollered at Fernando (seated across from me; you can see his striped shirt and part of his face on the right):  "Help!"

When their performance ended, they passed the hat for donations.  Fernando told him in English (we doubt he understood), "Hey, that was my wife!  I'm not giving you anything!!"  It was definitely good for a laugh later on.

Hope you have some interesting and fun performances to share!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Weekly Header Challenge ~ Forced Perspective

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

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 ~ Forced Perspective

Chosen by Craver.

All the example images that Craver sent to us were so creative!  I had to dig back in my archives, because I just didn't have the mental energy to come up with something new.  Here is my full-size header image.  I had to really crop it since it's vertical!  Plus I hope you'll appreciate the fact that I had to sweet-talk Fernando into doing it.  He loves me.  :)

One of the Forced Perspective classics!  The funny thing is--see the guy on the left side of the image?  His girl got him to do it, too!  I thought that was a nice added bonus.  :)

Can't wait to see the creativity by my other blogger friends!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Weekly Header Challenge - Underground

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

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 ~ Underground

Chosen by Lew.

Well, was this a tough theme!  I tried to think of things that are underground, or if I've ever been underground.  And the latter was the basis for most of my pictures.  For one beautiful week, I went underground frequently--and that was in Paris, whenever we rode the Métro.  And I took some pictures to prove it! The full image of my header:

The picture above is one of the first pictures I took on our anniversary trip to Paris.  Shot rather stealthily, it's at a cockeyed angle, but I like the feel of it with the curved walls, the lone Métro rider in red in the background, and the track disappearing into the tunnel. Here's one of the many entrances to the Métro.

One of our last Métro rides was on a Friday night, after visiting the Arc de Triomphe.  This was another "shot from the hip."

And this is our very last time riding the Métro, leaving the station to head back to our appartement to pack what we could and catch some sleep before our very early morning departure for the airport.

How about a recent Underground picture?  We do have a basement, which is underground!  Far less interesting than the Paris Métro, but hey, it fits the theme and this was just several days ago!

That's oregano from my garden, hanging to dry in front of our hot water heater and furnace, among all the pipes and "guts" of our hosue.  And that's thyme hanging down real low there, also from my garden.  Once these herbs are dry, I'll remove the leaves, crush and store them, then harvest some more.  I have tons of oregano to keep me busy all summer!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine
Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Weekly Header Challenge - Bridges

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew
Tom W 

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 ~ Bridges

Chosen by Lew.

Every week, when I delve into my archives to look for images to portray the current theme, I'm amazed that I actually have images that work.  This week was no exception--I've taken lots of pictures of bridges.

I thought I'd use this fun image of a bridge from a unique perspective--through the front window of our moving car.  (No, I was not driving.)  You get to see exactly what I saw as we followed our friends (the H. family, in that car ahead of us) toward our destination:  a beach cottage at Vero Beach, Florida.  The H's had invited us to spend the week with them in their time share in May 2011, so we did!  They told us about this bridge just five minutes from the resort, but experiencing it was truly amazing.  It really did seem as if we'd drive off the edge of the road!  You also get to see all those lovely smears of love bugs, which infest the Florida coast for about a week each spring!

Keeping to the perspective of from the car, below is another shot of us crossing the Louisville Bridge over the Ohio River, crossing from Kentucky into Indiana, on our way home from visiting friends in Georgia last year.

One final shot of a from the car image.  This was during the rains and flooding of April 20, 2013, and we were on our way to a friend's house to help them empty their basement and save as much as possible from the encroaching waters.  (Their back yard was completely flooded but the rising tide stopped just short of their basement windows!)  This below is a footbridge at a golf course, and a raging torrent of what normally is a little brook babbling way below.

Speaking of floods, here is another closed bridge from the same storm system.  This one is just a few blocks from home!  That car almost dead center got stuck and was abandoned, and there is a tree limb wedged on the side of the car.  This bridge was closed for several days until the water subsided.

On to a much prettier bridge!  I thought I'd toss in just one image of a Paris bridge; if you want to see lots, I have an entire blog post dedicated to the bridges along the Seine River in Paris.

Pont au Double, Paris, France.

Back to some bridges closer to home.  Knoch Knolls Park in Naperville has some beautiful walking and biking paths, and I frequently go there to capture images of the river, bridges, and a sunset or two.  Here is the one main walking and biking bridge from this past winter.

Here's a view of the bridge from the winter before.

This below is my favorite shot of this bridge, taken this past January.

Same bridge, autumn:

The other bridge at Knoch Knolls Park is strictly a footbrige; here's the entrance up:

It's the prettiest bridge in autumn!

Below is the bridge from the other side, on a winter afternoon:

One little footbridge at a forest preserve close to home looks like this in the winter:

And this in autumn:

One final little footbridge, at Seager Park in Naperville in the spring.

I started out with the biggest bridge, and ended with the littlest!  I can't wait to see all the bridges my fellow headbangers have posted!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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