Weekly Header Challenge -- Fall Colors

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 ~ Fall Colors

Chosen by Lew.

Well, I thought today was Wednesday...  A day late, and without further ado, here are my images, from various Chicagoland locations, all the way back to my house.

Fullersburg Woods.

McDowell Forest Preserve.

The Morton Arboretum.

My back yard.

These were all from last year, since we don't have any color here yet this year.  I'm excited and ready to go out looking for it soon, though!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- My Favorite Place to Visit

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 ~ My Favorite Place to Visit

Chosen by Mac.

What a great theme!  I thought about my trip to Paris, but no--that was just one time, and even though it could have been my favorite place to visit, I don't know that I would want to go back again and again.  So I thought--where do I go, again and again, with anticipation and eagerness?  Besides Lake Bonaparte, I think hands down it's my vegetable gardens.  So those are featured today--and a good thing, too, as the snow melts and I hope for spring!

Here's a picture of my back yard raised garden beds, taken from the deck of our pool.  This is my header image, uncropped.

One reason it's my favorite place to go is that I never know what I'm going to find.  Take this giant heirloom tomato:

One pound, taking up both of Jacob's hands!

In the spring, I keep going out to check on the strawberries--are they red yet?  Can I pick them?  The first batch usually ends up in my mouth, and I make strawberry shortcakes with the second batch.

The Giant Marconi sweet peppers are prolific, as are the spicy jalapeños:

I love to watch the garlic scapes ripen and burst with little garlic seeds, to plant for next year's harvest:

There's always a bright, yellow squash blossom to be on the watch for:

And, in my front yard flower garden, I check on the herbs; here is the oregano growing like a weed!

The French sorrel is a delight, as a new addition last year:

Below, the English thyme was also a new addition; I love running my hand through its stems and sniffing the aroma!

The sage plant, below, was a garden staple until it mysteriously died last summer.  I did get one harvest out of it, and I sauteed the leaves to top my ravioli.  It was heavenly!  I think I'll plant some sage again this year.

My veggie gardens are a treasure, and of all my favorite places, it's the one place I "travel" to most frequently.  I can't wait to sit down and plan this year's garden now!!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Recent Photos

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 ~ Recent Photos

Chosen by The Headbangers.

With the absence of our friend and fellow photographer Craver, we have an open theme slot from time to time.  This week is the first open slot, and everyone agreed on Photos Taken in the Last Month.  This is a perfect theme for my Midwest photographer's heart because spring is coming!!!!  There are signs everywhere, and I was out this week and last taking pictures.  Here is the image I used for my header, full of lovely green color and the promise of spring:

Moss in my front porch garden.

I took the above photo at ground level, with my 100mm macro lens.  I set the aperture to f/7.1 to get a bit of depth, but since the camera was on the ground, it's still a very dreamy image full of bokeh.  Shutter speed was 1/80 second; another reason for balancing the camera on the ground--sharp focus.

I continued to wander around my front and back yards to see if there were other signs that spring is on its way.  Here are a few more signs!

Daylilies popping up in my back yard patio garden.

Oregano peeping through in my front yard brick garden.

Buds on one of the maple trees in my front yard.

Here are a few images I took last week, on the first beautiful spring day of the year.  Fernando and I dropped Thomas off at Universal Technical Institute, then headed down the road to visit the Morton Arboretum together.  Not only did we visit, we purchased a two-year membership!  This beautiful preservation is filled with collections of trees and plant life, and the foundation offers educational classes, a library, a photography society (I want to join!!), and lots of other programs.  It's a beautiful place to wander, bird watch, and take pictures, of course!  Since it's not even a mile from Thomas' school, we will have plenty of opportunities to visit, explore, and relax.

Bench and Meadow Lake.

I think this is going to be my favorite tree in the Arboretum!

One last picture, at Lake Marmo in the Arboretum, with the melting snow and rushing water.

Ah, Spring, how I love thee!!


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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Winter's First Snowfall

Thought I'd share the images of our first snowfall back in November.  The flakes were falling fast and hard, big fat flakes drifting around in that way that makes you want to bundle up and wander outside to catch some on your tongue.

My autumn bench now has its winter coat.

First snowfalls are one of my favorite things about winter.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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June Garden Tour

I post a lot of garden pictures on my family blog.  But, every once in a while, I like to feature some of those images here.  That's mostly because I have Millie.  She's my 100mm macro lens.  (You know by now I name my camera; some of my lenses have names, too.)

I dropped her a few weeks ago, right on our concrete patio.  Ouch.  She seems to have weathered the fall, except when I have her aperture wide open (f2.8).  So I bump her up to f4 and higher, and she works like a charm.  Yeah, I know, I know.  I can't afford to have her fixed, since I just paid to have a different problem fixed with two lenses--one of which was Millie.  So I'm making do.  I guess you can tell me in the comments section below if she's still doing a good job for me or not.

This onion appeared in my butternut squash bed--it's from last year!

When I first started gardening and had some garlic growing, I called my friend Becki in utter confusion when I noticed the below growing.  Did I miss something?  What were those things at the tops of my garlic??

They're called garlic scapes, and eventually turn into the flower--a mini garlic head--with seeds that will become the next year's garlic crop.  You can actually cut these off and cook with them, though I haven't tried it yet.  I had so many garlic "seeds" last year that I should be able to cut off some scapes one year and try something with them.  I've read that they're a real delicacy nowadays, selling for high prices at farmers markets.  Hmm, another money-making venture?  :)

I couldn't let a garden post go by without a few flower shots, so here they are--my day lilies by the back yard patio.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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March Snow is the Best

I love March  snow!

Especially this particular snowfall.  Flakes floating straight down in big, wispy clumps, and not just a few inches, either.  Enough snow to tromp through with my new boots on.

I bundled up and clomped around the back yard.

 Pine tree on the other side of the fence.

Winter yucca.

My special spot in the back yard.

Then, I tried to go through the gate at the back fence, but it was stuck.  Determined to explore the church side of our fence, I simply kicked as much snow as I could off my boots, walked through our house, out the front door, and around the outside of the fence to the church side.  Like I said, I was determined.  :)

It sure was pretty back there, down the tree-lined path along the row of fences.

Along our back yard fence.

Gently falling snow, peaceful and comforting.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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