Weekly Header Challenge -- Fun Fun Fun

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 ~ Fun Fun Fun

Chosen by Tom.

This week's theme gave me an excuse to go back through all my photos from the year and reminisce about the fun times.  I admit there weren't too many, since this was--and continues to be--a rough year for us.  There were, however, wonderful moments of levity which I share with you today.

For my header, even though it was hard to crop, I chose this photo of me having fun for my 50th birthday.

I'm totally claiming credit for this image, because even though Fernando snapped the shutter, I set everything up for him!

Here are some other "fun, fun, fun" times from my year...

Fun with a can of whipped topping.

Ice cream at the lake is always fun!

Below was my first experience with a handgun (a revolver).  I loved it, and loved that I was actually good at it.  Look at that grouping!  And, I did it in a summer dress!  It was so much fun that we shoot fairly regularly now.

After helping a friend move, Fernando and Thomas had fun with the dolly at the storage facility (taken with my phone).

When we get together with Allie's family (Jake's girlfriend), we always have fun.  This is another one taken with my phone.  It seems that fun is generally spontaneous and my phone is more readily available than my camera.  :)

Fun is when a friend's adult daughter invites you over to teach you how to make bubble tea (a Taiwanese beverage).  It was interesting!

 Bubble tea.

Finally, it is fun--and heart-melting--to watch your adult son charm two little girls into hanging out with him while at a friend's house for a sing-along event.

 Coloring time together!

Aren't they simply adorable?


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- 50

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 ~ 50

Chosen by me.

Here is my uncropped header image and the reason I chose this week's theme:

This is Cake #2 made by my friend Becki--she sent it home with us after a surprise party.

I turned 50 a few days ago!  Yes, hard to believe since I still feel like I'm 16 on the inside--though my body tells me differently, lol.  Our town turned 50 this year, too, and they put up large "50" signs around town to celebrate.  I thought we'd visit one of the signs and have a photo shoot.  Although I didn't snap the shutter, I fixed all the camera settings and gave Fernando photography lessons with each pose.  This is one he did a good job on.

For my 50th, I decided I'd have more than one day to celebrate this milestone.  Here are a few treats from this past week!

Andy's Ooey-Gooey Concrete.

Here's Becki's first cake.

My friend Tressey brought these over for me.

I have more pictures of my birthday week--which isn't over yet--but I'll save those for another post.  Hope you enjoyed my birthday week sneak peek!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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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 -- 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 -- 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 -- Something Red

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 ~ Something Red

Chosen by Mac.

Thank you, Mac, for choosing a bright theme in the middle of our dreary winter!  Here is my header, which I originally cropped this way (in the header, it's cropped a bit more):

 Trio of red spring flowers.

Here are the rest of my red images to brighten your day!

Street sign at my alma mater.

Punch at a barn wedding.

Baby rhubarb in early spring.

More spring flowers.

 
Now, on to summer...

Dessert at Treats 'n 'Tiques -- the cherry on the top of summer!

Fireworks on the lake.

Tomatoes, peppers, and basil.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Evening Window Shopping | Paris Travel

Looking across the Seine River to Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame.

Our Silver Paris

Welcome to my Paris travel journal,

where I share our experiences of our special journey to Paris.

Please use these posts as a guide for your own travels

to this amazing and wonderful city!

Or simply read, and dream...

What do you do on a cold evening in Paris?  Well, the two of us went out and got ice cream.  Hey, we're Chicagoans, and 50-degree temperatures are nothing when it comes to ice cream.  I hope you're not tired of reading about us walking down to Ile St. Louis and Berthillon for glace!

Berthillon -- sorbets et glaces.

From Berthillon, we headed straight north, cross pont Louis Philippe, and onto rue du pont Louis Philippe in the 4th Arrondissement.  It was time for a different walk home, even with the cold.  This rather short rue was a delight, with lots of little shops and window displays all lit up for us to admire and linger over.  We loved finding a chocolatier, and oohing and aahing over the yummy delights.

Items on display in the window of a chocolatier along rue du Pont Louis Philippe.

You might want to study the above photo more closely.  Check out those dark and milk chocolate pieces with the orange flower on top.  Yep--they are shaped like cicadas.  Maybe it's a weird French thing; the chocolates we bought from another chocolatier were in the shape of fish.  I guess they like unusual designs.

More of the display at the chocolatier.

A lover of music, I lingered for a long time in front of this particular shop below.  They had instruments of all kinds--several I had never seen before--and old and new ones, too.  Neat, huh?

Looking into a music shop along the rue du Pont Louis Philippe.

I thought of my friend's daughter, Diana, when I saw this display at a papeterie (stationery shop).  Little books about birds and butterflies, letter openers, stationery, cards.  Delightful!

The window display at a papeterie.

In case you're wondering where Heaven is, we found it.  ;)

We found Heaven!  (It's a hand-made clothing store.)

I love the name of the street in the above image.  Here is what the street sign says:

allée des Justes

en hommage aux justes que sauverent

des juifs durant l'Occupation

Street of the Righteous

In homage to the righteous who saved

the Jews during the Occupation

Such a rich history, even in the names of the streets!

From rue du pont Louis Philippe, we walked til we hit rue de Rivoli, and turned right.  We stopped at an Armani store, mostly because Fernando noticed that there really is such a thing as European man bags.  (Whenever he carries my purse for me, he jokes to others that he has a European man bag.)  And, not only do they have them, they have Armani man bags.  :)  So I took a picture.

Even Armani makes European man bags. :)

In the tradition of totally confusing Paris streets, rue de Rivoli turned into rue Saint Antoine, and we soon recognized the column at place de la Bastille.  After a long exposure shot--along with a kiss--we turned and made the short walk home from there.

Night view of the column at place de la Bastille, taken from rue Saint Antoine.

 
Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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