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

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Sepia

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 ~ Sepia

Chosen by all of us.

Finally!  Everyone was vying for time on our home computer, and now it's my turn.  Here are my images for this week's theme.  First, the uncropped image I used for my header:

I took this a few years ago, when we had snow (hardly any this past winter!).  I love the vintage look of a tinge of sepia, the lines of the bare trees, and the reflections in the river.

Here's another sepia image of winter snowfall and an evergreen tree just outside our back yard.

One final sepia image, of my 1950s vintage tea kettle I use every day for my morning Irish breakfast tea.  The sepia look goes well with the vintage kettle.

And now, it's about tea time this afternoon!  See you soon!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Trees

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 ~ Trees

Chosen by me.

Picked at the last minute (because I forgot it was my turn), the theme of Trees practically jumped out of my heart and into our theme choice for us "headbangers" this week.  I've spent almost the whole month of October watching the trees turn from their usual summer green to the beautiful jewel tones of autumn.  Here is the uncropped image I chose for my header:

I chose the above image because it cropped nicely for the header.  I love the brilliant colors contrasted with the water of the lake and the white and blue of the sky.  I love the vertical lines of the white birch tree trunks, and the gently curving shoreline.

More favorites, continuing with my week-long Lake Bonaparte visit.  One day we went for a pontoon boat ride when the water was sheet-of-glass still.  Below is one of the images I captured.

Another day, Dad and Mom took me out in the Caddy (my grandpa's old aluminum boat) for a final condensed boat ride, and ended up in Mud Lake, an extension off of the main lake.  It's owned by the U.S. Army, but as long as we stay in our boat we're fine.  :)

I took the below image as we were leaving Mud Lake.  The lily pads added to the depth of beauty and color I saw, and I took the photo at just the right moment.  It's hard capturing a scene in a constantly moving boat--the scenery is always changing and I had a split second to compose the image and capture what my eye saw!

Back on land at the lake, I took an early morning 30-degree (that's -1 Celsius, Mac!) walk down Hermitage Road to the nature preserve, then back around to turn off at Hotel Road which leads toward the lake and my parents' lake home.  Below is the entrance to Hotel Road.  I love the variety in the image--some live trees, some dead, all different types of trees, and all different stages of color.  This image currently graces my computer as the screen saver.

I looked up into one tree at the corner and snapped this one.

Speaking of looking up, back at home, I took this picture looking up into the spruce trees at The Morton Arboretum.  I converted the image to black and white due to the chromatic aberration (purple fringing around the edges of the trees) I got from shooting up into bright light and sun.  These tall spruces were gently swaying in the breeze as if talking to each other, and down below where I stood was peace and quiet, most sounds muffled and muted by the needled pathway.

Other images from the arboretum are below, taken over several trips in search of autumn's glory.

Pathway along Loop 4 (one of my favorite walks), colors at their perfect peak.

I'm posting two photos I hadn't realized I had taken until I uploaded the second "peak color" one; I took them about ten days apart.  What a difference a week makes!

Yellow forest scene.

I have one last photo to share--Jake's tree, right in my own back yard.  It was at its peak color a few days ago, so I stood at the back edge of my vegetable garden and shot toward the house to get this late afternoon image with the sun at my back illuminating the colors.

I love trees, especially during that one perfect week in autumn when they show their brilliant, glorious colors, as if to remind me to soak it in before the world turns white and gray and the waiting begins for rebirth of spring color.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Cell Phone Pics

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 ~ Cell Phone Pics

Chosen by Craver.

This week's theme was both simple, and difficult.  I rarely take pictures with my cell phone--an Android smartphone--because I usually have my camera with me.  But on those occasions I don't, or when I want to share something on Facebook right then, my phone comes in handy.

I usually take vertical pictures with my phone, so I made a composite for my header.  Here it is:

 August 2014 -- Up at Lake Bonaparte.

I made a surprise trip to the Lake this past August for my mom's 75th birthday, so not many people knew I was up there.  I wanted to share on Facebook what a typical evening up there is, so when I went down to the dock to sit and watch/photograph the sunset, I pulled out my phone to share what I was doing.  I call these evenings my dock dates.  That's the picture on the right.

The picture on the left was taken at Janet's cottage, where she was hosting a beauty products party.  The ladies let me slip out to her deck to capture the sunset, and the sun was so stunning--the picture in no way does it justice--that I had to take one with my phone to share on Facebook.  Here are the two individual images that make up my header.

Out of the couple dozen images I've ever taken with my phone, I'm now sharing the best ones here for you!  Remember, I only use my phone when I want to share something unusual, exciting, or funny (usually on Facebook), or when I just don't have my "big" camera on me.  Here goes...

January 23, 2013 -- For just a few minutes, autism doesn't exist.

April 18, 2013 -- Massive flooding in the Chicago suburbs.

Same day -- Driving through the flood to get home.

May 24, 2014.  Thomas gets his driving permit.

May 26, 2014.

Please don't ask why Danny is pushing a dresser

filled with stuffed animals down the sidewalk...!

May 2, 2014.  What happens when your friends' children are little, and yours are big.

May 3, 2014 -- Thomas' math team takes 5th place at the state competition.

May 10, 2014 -- Jacob's graduation!

August 7, 2014 -- Celebrating an 825-point game!

This last picture is worth noting since in our family, breaking the 800-point barrier in a Scrabble game is a major feat.  Mom and I pulled this one off during her birthday week at the Lake.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Signs of Fall

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 ~ Signs of Fall

Chosen by Lew.

I love this week's theme.  Then again, that was easy, since I love all things autumn, and I tend to break out my camera and go exploring in a big burst before the really cold weather hits us here in Chicagoland.

Here is the full image of my header:

Red leaves, McDowell Grove, Naperville, Illinois.

Fernando and I went for a walk at a local forest preserve.  I hadn't been there in ages, and although there wasn't a lot of color because most of the scenery is scrub trees and "natural" vegetation, there were pops here and there.

Here are more signs that it's fall.

Brown, crinkly leaves...

More opportunities to warm up the house with baking...

Pops of color along the river...

A harvest moon...

Autumn colors on the prairie...

Ladybugs congregating on our south/west windows...

And my favorite image, which I see every day for just a week or so through my kitchen window.

Jacob's tree.

This is a very special tree.  My dad gave us this little stick of a tree for Arbor Day the year Jacob was born.  We put a little plastic fence around it--actually, there were two trees but one kept getting mown over by the lawnmower!--and it grew two or three feet tall.  Then we moved, and we took the tree with us.  But, we moved to an apartment while we waited for a house to be built (or not--long story), so my parents transplanted the tree into their back yard.

We ultimately moved into our current house, and that autumn had my dad re-transplant the tree into our very own back yard.  It's a small tree for 23 years of age, but it has always been called Jacob's tree, and for a mere handful of days in autumn, it is a beautiful reminder of the glory of autumn, and of God's faithfulness to us in our family's journey together.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - A Few of My Favorite Things

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 ~ A Few of My Favorite Things

Chosen by me.

Julie Andrews' voice is stuck in my head this morning as I compile images depicting some of my favorite things...  Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

Anyway, those were Maria's favorite things.  Here are some of mine.

My goofy family (and my header image)...

A walk in the woods...

Fireworks...

Wildflowers...

The ocean...

Chocolate cake...

The colors of autumn...

Sunsets, anywhere...

My vegetable garden...

Lake Bonaparte...

These are just a few of my favorite things.  Can't wait to see yours!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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