Weekly Header Challenge -- Memories

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

I'm joining the group above for this weekly challenge.

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Memories

Chosen by Kathy.

Here is the image I used for this week’s theme:

Although this is a recent memory, I'm really holding on to it!  Here's the story, in photos and a few words of explanation...

Thomas applied for and was accepted into BMW's advanced technician training program!  We had only three weeks to get everything in order and get him down to Orlando, Florida where the training program is.

I pulled out two boxes of stuff we had used for camping a few times, and it was perfect for Thomas' new apartment where he'll be staying while attending the program.

Fernando led the way in the Suburban, and I rode while Thomas drove his car (a used BMW!!).

Other than the first hour, this is what the entire 12-hour drive looked like...

We stopped the first night in South Carolina to visit friends, who own five acres and chickens!

Tripod and remote shutter release, and here we all are...

Then it was on to Atlanta and more good friends, and another goofy photo...

Once we were in Orlando, and while Thomas was in orientation, Fernando and I visited Cocoa Beach.  We ended up swimming among all these pelicans, which were swooping and diving all around us.  It was amazing.

Thomas had me take an "official" photo of him (with my phone) that he could post on Facebook with his news.

As we drove off from his apartment, I took a photo with my phone.  At first, I was annoyed that I had also captured the reflection of my hand in the car window.  But then, it struck me that it looked like I was trying to hold on to him.  I love the symbolism of knowing that I got to experience almost 21 years with an amazing young man before having to let him go.

In the end, I love this last photo because I realize that I never really had hold of my son; he was meant to fly.  But I know that he's in God's hands--always has been, always will be.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Silhouette

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 ~ Silhouette

Chosen by Kathy.

Silhouette, different from shadow:  The dark shape and outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background.  Here is the image I chose for my header:

I took this shot purposefully; I was compiling a photo book for my parents' 50th anniversary, to be presented to them at Christmas, and I wanted an image that would decorate the back cover, and also be featured in the book.  While up at Lake Bonaparte on vacation, and while shooting the sunset (as I typically do every night up there!), I asked them to pose for me, just for fun.  There's a little bit of chromatic aberration (the purple haze around my mom's head) due to shooting into the light source, but otherwise it's a beautiful image and looks amazing in their photo book.

Below are a few more images for this week's theme of silhouette.

At my friend's son's Wisconsin farmhouse.

Palm trees in Vero Beach, Florida.

I took this last one for a photography class in which we were assigned to shoot in front light, side light, and back light.  Jacob and Thomas trekked along with me to shoot in back light, and while they goofed off in front of the setting sun, I snapped this image.  They were laughing and having a good time, and this image is a great portrayal their camaraderie and brotherhood.

That's it for this week!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Waves

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 ~ Waves

Chosen by Mac.

This week, I went with the literal interpretation on the theme--actual waves, as in ocean waves.  I hope you all were more creative!  Here's my header shot, below.  I kept it cropped just like a header, since the horizontal wave lends itself to that format.  I love the contrast of the breaking wave on the left, and the curled, smooth part on the right.

A few days later, the waves looked like this.

And after another day, when all the seaweed was kicked up, they looked like this.

These images were all taken on our 2011 trip to Florida to stay with friends--they have a timeshare at Disney, and we all stayed together in a huge beach cottage at Vero Beach.  Here was my first wave image of our week-long trip:

Early Monday morning, and all those people, you may ask.  Here's why, below.  The final launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor!

Wave close-up.

Friends and family enjoying the waves!

The waves subside a lot some nights, and I found myself on the deck of our cottage or on the beach almost every night, just enjoying the colors and sounds of the Atlantic Ocean.

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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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

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