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

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

Thanksgiving Week

Here are some photographic highlights from our wonderful Thanksgiving week.

Baking in the kitchen with Jacob produced some interesting photographic moments.

Foggy morning before Thanksgiving.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' new home...

My mom makes everything special, from the decorations at the front door to the dining room table.

Her pretty china plates.

We always overdo it on dessert!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Project 2012 Week 23 -- June 3-9

Project 2012 -- Week 23

June 3 - June 9

How to Link Up With Us

1.  Click here to read the Project 2012 Guidelines, and to get the code to place in your blog.
2.  Fill out the little form below (insert the URL of your blog post, not the main URL of your blog).
3.  Please visit others' links and leave comments; you will receive visits and comments in return!

My Week 23 Photos

As I stated last week, I wanted to make sure I used Ellie a few times before our state homeschool conference began on Wednesday evening; otherwise, I would have no pictures to show you!  And it turned out to be true--I took just one photo of my speaker at the ICHE state homeschool conference.  (I can't believe it's over; it seemed to loom ahead of me, and now poof!  It's over.)

After watering my front yard gardens, I brought Ellie out for a few pictures.  Of course, it's so fun to experiment with depth of field with lilies.   They have such depth!  :)

[155] Asiatic lily (f13)

 [156] Asiatic lily (f4.5)

Here's a somewhat side view of the flower, at f13.  Even though the stamen/anthers/pistil aren't in focus, I think it's my favorite shot.  I love the water droplets.

[157] Asiatic lily

I was happily surprised to see my first purple coneflower flower begin to emerge!  This variety is called powwow wild berry, and it is such a deep, rich purple color.  It's my favorite (but I say that for almost all the flowers in my garden, for one reason or another!)

 [158] Emerging purple coneflower

 [159] The blooming begins

Indoors, Fernando and the guys finished painting our main bathroom.  Then, he hung some towel hooks that I bought--well, let's not share when I bought them.  But they're hung now, and the guys have places for their towels.  We just have the border to hang in this room, and maybe I'll replace the shower curtain (it has yellowed over the years), and then this room will be pretty much complete.

 [160] Hooks in the bathroom

Below is the one picture I took at the ICHE state homeschool convention.  I brought Melinda Boring, from Heads Up Now!, in to speak for most of the workshop slots.  My friend and ICHE assistant Adrianne spoke for one workshop, and Fernando and I spoke for another workshop.  Melinda was a great speaker, really engaging her audience and imparting solid, practical advice and ideas.  Plus, with a name like Boring, she had to be fun!  And we had a lot of fun together over the week/weekend.

[161] ICHE state homeschool conference

I'm thoroughly exhausted from working since Wednesday afternoon, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  It's such a wonderful feeling to feel goodly tired and knowing that I brought encouragement and hope to families homeschooling (or thinking about homeschooling) their special needs children.  If you're interested, check out the blog I created for homeschooling and special needs!

And now, I rest.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

A Spot of Tea

Tea cup time!

I usually reserve teaup pictures for my family blog.  However, since I took these teacup images at an event for which I was the official photographer, I am making an exception.  I love teacups of all kinds--fancy and plain, white and multicolored, bone china and pottery.

Here are several of my favorite teacups that I spotted at the Mother/Daughter Tea.

The below teacup made it into my favorites a few times!  It looked so pretty in several different shots, and I loved them all.

The teapots were borrowed from different ladies.  Below is one of my favorite teapots.

I'm now in the mood for some tea!  I think I'll go brew me a cup.  See you soon!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

P2012 Week 12 -- March 18-24

Project 2012 -- Week 12

March 18 - March 24

How to Link Up With Us

1.  Click here to read the Project 2012 Guidelines, and to get the code to place in your blog.
2.  Fill out the little form below (insert the URL of your blog post, not the main URL of your blog).
3.  Please visit others' links and leave comments; you will receive visits and comments in return!

My Week 12 Photos

I took a mountain of photos last week.  I have a wide variety of images to share--it was hard to choose just seven!

My week started at Lake Renwick and Turtle Lake and taking pictures for my current photography class.  I took the opportunity of being outdoors with my camera and stayed for a peaceful sunset.

[78] Sunset on Budde Lake

Tuesday was primary elections in Illinois, and my young men and I walked down to the polling place.  I got "talked to" when I snapped a picture of Danny (his first time voting!).  Illinois does not have statues regarding photography in the polling place, but the judges apparently decided that I was not allowed to do so.  The crazy thing is that I announced to them that I was going to take a picture, and that I was going to stand away from the voting booths to be out of the way.  No one else but us was there, either.  I have one more up-and-coming voter, so we'll see if the statutes will be changed in the next few years.  (At least I got the shot!)

[79] Time to vote

We saw some turtles and geese at a pond on the way home from voting.

[80] Geese reflections

My brother called me one evening and asked if I wanted to go shooting with him in Plainfield.  (He's taking the same photography class as I am.)  Of course I would!  Below is a frame within a frame shot that I didn't use for the class.  I love the late evening sunlight.

[81] Downtown Plainfield

My young men went to work this week, shoveling extra dirt from their grandparents' home to put in our vegetable garden.

[82] Moving dirt

I received an invitation to join Pinterest, and I've been pinning lots of things, including recipes.  I made my own version of one of the recipes, seen below with homemade tomato soup my friend gave us.  This sandwich was out-of-this-world delicious!

[83] Bacon guacamole grilled cheese

My dearest knight in shining armor spent the better part of Saturday working on our pickup truck.  A couple of bolts were completely rusted tight, so he has to get someone else to do the remainder of the work.  I'm so proud of him trying to save money!

[84] Mechanic for a day

Since the weeks of Project 2012 start on Sunday, I already have lots of photos taken for this upcoming week!  (Being in photography class helps get me out snapping, too.)  I'm hoping the warm weather will hold for a little while--I've been enjoying getting out this early in the year for picture-taking opportunities!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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

Project 2012 -- Week 5 1/29-2/4

Project 2012

Week 5 -- January 29-February 4

1.  Take pictures
2.  Share at least one--and up to seven!
(Click on the graphic above if you're interested in joining us!)

Really, I hope last week was the most boring week of this year (photographically speaking).  I had one or two good ones--y'know, those ones you're happy to shoot, or excited about capturing.  I spent a bit of time trying to find something special in the ordinary (similar to my resolution from the beginning of this year).  After meandering through my chosen photos, I've decided that there is beauty in each one.  You'll get to learn a little about me as I explain each image.  :)

My favorite photos

If you've read my blog at all, you know I love sunsets.  I'm so glad my kitchen window faces southwest.  If there's something spectacular going on in the evening sky, I'm usually there to catch it.  The below sunset was much prettier in real life, but I love the sweet dusting of color against the rich blue.

[29] Sunset in the 'burbs

I am a word freak.  I love individual words--persnickety, onomatopoeia, seesaw.  It's the sound, the spelling, the etymology.  (Sorry.)  It's natural that I love Scrabble.  Below is a shot of a game I played with my mom.

[30] Scrabble

For me, Scrabble is not about winning, or bluff-playing a nonexistent word to fake out my opponent (I can't bring myself to do that).  It's all about letters forming words, and learning new words.  Scrabble makes it challenging by forcing me to put together words so that high-point letters fall on high-point squares.  It's almost more exciting laying down one tile and scoring 50 points than laying down all seven tiles.  Almost.

[31] Letter frequency

Away with my words...  One item that I find beautiful in my home is my Tiffany tealight lamp, which I purchased at a garage sale (another fun activity).  It reflects soft colors as the flame shines through each glass piece, and I love burning candles in it.  This little lamp sits on our fireplace mantel.

[32] Tiffany tea lamp

Below shows detail on one of the lamps in our family room.  It really does look this golden when the lamp is lit!  I love how the image turned out, with its rich contrast.  It could almost be a section of an ancient spear, or part of a scepter from a prince of old.  My imagination is carried away...

[33] Lamppost detail

Blue is my favorite color.  We have a number of small round patio tables that serve as end tables in our little living spaces, but this is the only one with blue inlaid tile.

[34] Inlaid design

This last item of beauty came to me from a generous and thoughtful friend who loves to let people know when they've blessed her.  The gift came with a sincere note of thanks for my flute playing at church during communion and at other times.  I'm not an accomplished player--the simpler the tune the better--but she always thanks me for playing.  Inside the basket were design-your-own note cards, Burt's Bees lip balm, and chocolates!  She has a great memory for people's likes and dislikes, and each little gift inside proved that.

[35] A friendly gift

I felt like it was a beautiful early Valentine's gift from a special friend, and it made my week.  Also, she, like I, is a mom of four young men, so she knew I would appreciate the PINK.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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