Weekly Header Challenge -- Odd Shots

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 ~ Odd Shots

Chosen by Kathy.

This week was another tough week for me in choosing images to feature.  I'm not sure I did such a great job picking out shots I thought were odd; however, I tried to pick ones that others might think are odd.  So here they are!

My header image, featuring my sweet husband, uncropped:

 This is what happens when you fall asleep at a family gathering.

This next one is odd because of the framing.  It would have been an amazing shot of the sunset with the silhouette of the tree, but I was shooting from the passenger side of our moving vehicle, and caught the window frame on the right, the rear view mirror below the sun, and Fernando's face on the left!  (Mac, I would've had a great view if the steering wheel had been in the British style!)

Yeah, this next one...  Not sure what it was about...  Again, shot out of the passenger window while we were at a red light waiting to turn right.  I hope he found his hamster-loving wife...

Yes, I took a picture of legs.  These two shapely-limbed ladies walked the parade in those shoes.  Which makes it an odd shot.

After said parade, I caught this shot at our friends' post-parade barbecue.  Not sure what they were doing with a door...

I think this was Danny, below, who wanted a little ice cream under his whipped topping!

Hope these brought a smile to your face--or at least made you ponder, huh??  See y'all next week!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Melting

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 ~ Melting

Chosen by Lew.

This hasn't exactly been the hottest summer...which is what I thought of when I read this week's theme.  So as I was thinking about which images I would choose today, it was either "hot summer" or my chocolate ganache dripping down the sides of my chocolate peanut-butter-cup cake...

So, I dug back a few years to 2012, when we almost literally melted all summer long!  I cropped a vertically oriented picture to show you what I mean; here's the full, uncropped header image:

One hundred two, or maybe higher--but at those numbers it doesn't really matter.  Hot is hot and that's what that summer was.  For an outdoor Independence Day picnic we attended, they had the heavy-duty fans plugged in and blasting away.

They even set up a homemade sprinkler that the kids could run through, and the kids--and some adults--hung out there all afternoon.

The kids were at the point of just standing in front of one of the spouts, so that the water would spray right on them.  Everyone was hot!

A nice, juicy piece of watermelon cooled off this little guy.

That's it for melting!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Aah! Time to Relax!

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 ~ Aah!  Time to Relax!

Chosen by me.

Well, as you may be able to guess, I chose this theme to coincide with our mini vacation to the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Bonaparte, because I knew we'd be relaxing there quite a bit throughout the week!

Here is the uncropped image that I used for my header.

Jake was able to get a week off work, and he is dating a sweet young lady, Allie, who was also able to come with us and experience what a typical family vacation is for us.  The two cuties had plenty of time to sit, relax, do things together, chat, and just get to know each other better.

Here are some more relaxing images from Lake Bonaparte...

Fishing near the High Rocks.

Relaxing on Jackson Rock.

Beautiful sunset from our dock.

My morning mug of tea, a chair, a dock, and a beautiful view.

Swishing feet in the water!

Exploring the tree house.  (Allie's New York cousins came to visit.)

Playing cards on the front porch.

Since I'm a huge fan of sunsets, and sunsets at the Lake, I leave you with one final relaxing image, with a kayaker paddling by.

I hope you've had time to relax this summer!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Textures

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 ~ Textures

Chosen by Mac.

Popping in with a quick blog post for this week's theme!  We just returned home from a week's vacation in the Adirondack Mountains, at my parents' summer home on Lake Bonaparte.  All of my featured photos today are from our trip.

Here's my header image, uncropped:

This mushroom, as you can see below, was at least 10 inches in diameter--as big as a dinner plate!  My macro shot above shows the interesting texture.

Who can resist the texture of ice cream?  And whipped cream?  Not I!  We visited the local ice cream parlor, Treats 'n 'Tiques, for dessert one night.

I love the old textures in the sign below, which was hanging at Treats 'n 'Tiques.  The "'Tiques" is short for Antiques, and they have several on display, including old memorabilia from the area.

In town--and I use that word loosely because the main area of town is literally one block long--there is a park along the Oswegatchie River, next to the bridge at the end of the one block "business district."  You can see the bridge in the image below.

Above, I used a shutter speed of 1/250th second to achieve a stop-action kind of shot.  The texture of the water appears hard and crisp.

In the below shot, my shutter speed slowed to 4/10 second, and the texture of the water changed to a soft, flowing one.  Cool effect, huh?

Water can also appear calm and smooth, and I leave you with this final image of one of the sunsets.  It was a mostly cloudless evening sky, but I loved the orange radiating out from where the sun had set earlier.  The longer exposure (6 seconds) created the smooth, calm effect, which goes nicely with the peaceful sky.

That's all I could manage today; but, I will have more time to dedicate to next week's challenge.  See you then!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Looking Up

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 ~ Looking Up

Chosen by Tom.

For this week's header, I have fresh, new images to share!  These were definitely an occasion where everyone was looking up, and looking all around--we were surrounded!

Some big storms came through just a few nights ago, and we happened to be out on our front lawn at the perfect time.  Sometimes we're oblivious to the shapes, colors, and scenes of thunderstorms, and we didn't think about this particular storm until we went outside to say goodbye to Jake's girlfriend Allie and her family, who came for a visit.  Sunset was nearing, and the sun was reflecting the most brilliant colors off the clouds to the northeast.

Here is my header image, uncropped so you get the full effect:

When weather "happens," digital images usually don't do justice to the grandeur and majesty of the sky lit up with clouds and colors.  But, I did my best to capture the sky.  Below, our house was framed with blue-tinted clouds.

As we turned our backs to the house and looked northeast, these billowing clouds met our eyes.

A little later, as the storms continued to develop north and east of us, we saw the color display become even more dramatic.

Besides this storm, there were other recent images I took where I was looking up.  Here's one from last week's fireworks show in Naperville:

Also, as I was gardening last week, I heard a familiar tap-tap-tap, and looked up to spot this female downy woodpecker on a half-dead tree on the other side of our back yard fence.  Yes, I garden with my camera nearby, since you all know I blog about our everyday life!  I was able to get close enough to this bird and set my telephoto to 105mm to get the below image, with no cropping.

Finally, here's an older image at my favorite portrait session location just a few miles from my house.  These are the concrete steps leading up to the wooden footbridge across the DuPage River at Knoch Knolls Park.  In order to look up these stairs, I had to crouch really low on the ground.  It's a great perspective to use with stairs!

I will be out of town for next week's theme, so I will see everyone the following week with (Lord willing) lots of new images to share!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Macro

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 ~ Macro

Chosen by Kathy.

I love this theme!  I have tons of macro images, so I'll stick with my most recent, with a couple of beginner shots thrown in .  Here's my header, uncropped, below.  The guys spotted this adventure playing out in my front porch garden, so of course I ran in and grabbed my camera and macro lens.  The spider went into hiding after a little bit, so I was there at that perfect time.

Back when my macro lens was new, I took this image:

Insects are fun to shoot close-up, and grasshoppers look so friendly, don't they?

Here are my most recent macro images.

Side view of Pixie Meadowbrite Coneflower.

Top view.

My woodland hydrangea blooms both blue and pink!

A macro lens can capture tiny flowers on the forest floor that you normally don't even see, like this toadshade below.

Coral bells, "marmalade" leaves.

I found some bright orange toadstools in the mulch of my garden walkways:

Another great macro subject is food.  Yum!

Chocolate Skillet Cake.

Ice cream with fresh whipped cream and homemade hot chocolate sauce.

Just before I donated my wedding dress to Goodwill, I took some pictures (I think I posted them here for you earlier this year).  Here's a macro image of my veil, and my final macro image to share today.

Happy week to you!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Water

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 ~ Water

Chosen by Lew.

Water, water everywhere...!  I have lots of water images, so the hard part this week was which ones to choose to showcase for you all.  :)

I start with my header image, uncropped, here below.  I took this at The Morton Arboretum this year while there was still snow on the ground.  I was standing on the bridge at the end of Lake Marmo, where there was a drainage ditch.  Looking down, I realized how much like a mushroom the scene looked through the lens, so I had a little fun with my camera and ended up with this shot, looking over the railing straight down.

The below shot is more recent, taken at Shabbona Lake about an hour west of home on Father's Day.

I almost deleted the below image while it was still in my camera.  I had my macro lens on my camera that day, and I brought no other lens--one of those "put one lens on and go out" afternoons.  Fernando and I walked one of the trails and ended up looking out at a swamp/wetland area, filled with croaking frogs and still water.  I shot this scene almost offhandedly, looked at the back of my screen, and almost hit the "trashcan" button.  I decided to wait, though, and I'm glad I did.  I keep coming back to this image--there's just something about it, almost like a watercolor, or an Impressionist painting.  It has become one of my favorite images, and I really need to get it printed and hung on a wall in my home.

Here's a fun water shot, with the guys accepting a water bucket challenge (last year's rage).

Going macro on the water theme, I love heading out to the garden to capture the individual water droplets.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Speaking of macro, that's next week's theme, and I just took some pictures that should fit the bill nicely.  See y'all soon!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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