Project 2012 Week 24 -- June 10-16

Project 2012 -- Week 24

June 10 - June 16

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My Week 24 Photos

Last week was a relaaaaaaaxing week.  :)  I didn't do much at all, except for capturing some images from my back yard vegetable garden.  We had a garage sale this past weekend, and endured 90+ degree heat.  I'm still tired from being out there all day!  Without further ado, here's what I found in my harvest garden.

[162] Lettuce harvest

Oh, this (below) is not from my garden!  This is Danny being silly with a cornucopia basket my mom was planning on selling in our garage sale.  :)

 [163] Cornucopia Kid

Okay, back to the garden.  Danny hollered at me to put my macro lens on Ellie and run outside, which I did only to discover the below little guy.  And little he was--he's a praying mantis nymph, and was maybe half an inch long, really tiny.  I caught two or three great images of him.  Isn't he cool?

 [164] Praying mantis nymph

 [165] Marigold

[166] Garlic scape

[167] Tomato blossoms

More insects!  This guy was flitting around the garden, landing for only a few seconds each time before taking off.  But I managed to capture him sunning himself on the wire of one of the tomato cages.

[168] Dragonfly on tomato cage

I look ahead to one more sort-of lazy week, then I need to get my act together and get some things done!  Hope you had (and will have another) lovely week of summer!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Field Trip -- The Carillon in Naperville

I wrote a recent post about going back to college for one class session.  Well, it happened again:  I just sort of went to college again.  Jacob's music class had a field trip to the Carillon in Naperville, and his professor encouraged the students to bring whomever they wanted along with them.  For $3, I was happy to tag along, knowing that I would get to climb up the carillon and probably see some awesome views of the area.  I was not disappointed, either.  :)

The $3 was even more worth it, since I learned a lot about the carillon itself, its construction, and the carilloneurs who play the carillon bells (it's not done by a computer!).  Below is the practice carillon, where they work (up to two years) to become certified carilloneurs.

The carilloneur plays by using his fists to press the knobs down to make the bell sound.

One of the students got to play, too.  Having played keyboards, he knew what to do.

There are 72 bells that were constructed for the carillon.  In the below, I'm looking up at Big Joe, the biggest bell, which weighs in at just under six tons.

Partway up the tower, which is open to the outdoors, I took the below shot.

Below is the view from partway up.  You can see the steeple of Sts. Peter & Paul Church in downtown Naperville.

Downtown Naperville

Here is the carilloneur playing the actual carillon.  Music rang out all around us.  No paper sheet music here!  This part of the carillon is enclosed, protected from the elements.

Several of the smallest bells.

Peeking between the pillars, I saw the Martin Mitchell museum at Naper Settlement.

Even though it was overcast and gray, I managed to get some great scenic shots.  Oh, for a wide-angle lens!

More of the 72 bells.  Love this shot.

And yet more scenic views, looking east.

I had just my kit lens with me (17-85mm), so I zoomed in as much as I could and actually spotted the Chicago skyline!  The darkest building is Willis Tower.  The city is about 30 miles away.  Pretty cool, huh?

They have an anemometer up there at the top.  They close the tower to visitors if the wind speed is 30mph or higher.  It was blowing briskly the day we went up, and it was freezing.

Back on the ground, I shot a Canada goose and we went home.  (You know what I mean.)  They're great for photographing, but I do not like their mass invasion of our area.  Go away and give me ducks!

Been anyplace interesting or new?  I hope you have!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- Week 18 -- 4/29-5/5

Project 2012 -- Week 18

April 29 - May 5

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My Week 18 Photos

I took a ton of photos this past week!  I had such a hard time choosing my favorites.  I decided to share a sample of what we did all week long.

First of all, the guys worked in my garden, laying down newspaper and covering it with grass.  We're trying to get all the grassy pathways covered up so no one has to weed-whack the garden area.  It's no fun, according to my young men, and I totally agree with them.

[119] Garden workers

We scared Mr. and Mrs. Mallard out of our pool when we went out back, and I caught them waiting on the neighbor's roof.

 [120] Ducks on the roof

Lots of rain last week meant lots of neat after-the-rain photos!  Below are two of my favorites.

[121] Coral bells after the rain

[122] Almost time to bloom

Danny was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society (for two-year colleges) one evening last week, and my parents attended the ceremony with us.  :)

[123] Honor student

Danny drove me to The Growing Place, a nursery I'd never been to but had to now out of necessity--my favorite local nursery went out of business.  This new nursery did not disappoint; the below photo is a teeny-tiny part of the entire place.  It was huge and they carried all sorts of flowers, vegetables, and herbs, plus trees, bushes, and other landscaping material.  I had time constraints and didn't spend a lot of time there, but I'm definitely going back!

[124] The Growing Place

I bought just a few items to supplement the vegetable order I placed with my friend Becki.  I got some onion sets, rosemary, and cilantro, and some bush bean seeds.  I also splurged and got a little pack of marigolds to plant around my bush beans.

[125] Goodies to plant

I'm so excited about planting my veggie garden this year!  I was able to quickly plan out what to plant where.  Now, I just have to wait for a sunny afternoon and guys to help work in the compost.  That's a post for next week.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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A Walk Down the Street

It's amazing what you can see just walking down your street.  You just have to look.  Here's what I saw on my own walk down my own street.

I'm glad this little guy was blooming next to the sidewalk, so I didn't have to trespass.

The sunlight was illuminating these blooms so prettily!

At the neighborhood pond, I spotted a couple turtles sunning on a rock, and was able to capture one of them before he followed his pal into the water.

The Canada geese saw my camera and swam on over to pose.  ;)   I just couldn't decide which image I liked the best.

This tree was just beginning to bloom!

Ahhh, daffodils blooming along the fence.  Sweet spring!

Thanks for walking down the street with me.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Back to Lake Renwick

The photog class I was taking really pushed me to "escape" the confines of home and get out there in search of images for my weekly assignment.  This time I was supposed to play around with f-stop and depth of field, and I thought it'd be great to go back to Lake Renwick for another recon mission.  ;)

I captured some great images of some swans that were out for the warm evening, and I ended my day with a nice lake sunset.

Of course I had to put on my macro lens and look for details in the warming spring vegetation.

I love the golden hour, and took a nice reflection shot of the wharf/pier at Budde Lake as the sun turned the grass a nice golden color.

I took a pre-sunset shot, just to get a feel for where I should set up my tripod and enjoy the changing view.

This robin obliged me with a pose while I waited for the sun to sink on the horizon.

Once I was set up, I took photo after photo every couple of minutes.  In post-edit, it's hard for me to choose just a few images to keep, but I force myself to be brutal in deleting as many images as I can.  I aim for three, but since the sunset changes as the sun sinks, sometimes I just have to keep more.  I met my goal this time with three (I think) beautiful images of a beautiful evening sunset.

I'm already planning on going back, now that the weather is a tad warmer.  I'll definitely have on my walking shoes!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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