Hidden gold

Not all gold is obvious. You’ve heard of people panning or mining for gold, haven’t you? You have to take a closer look to find gold here but it’s there.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #164 – Looking Up/Down…in the city

Guest hostess Sofia’s theme this week is “Looking Up/Down.” Let’s look up and down in two different cities, starting by looking up in Chicago (and no, it’s not a photo of the Bean this week, although I was seriously tempted because it’s so photogenic!)

A bit further in the walk near the art museum, look down. What a contrast to what you see when looking up! Chicago and its metropolitan area do a wonderful job of providing green spaces even in the heart of the city and there are a plethora of parks, especially in DuPage county where we lived. (Isn’t “plethora” a great word?”

In Philadelphia, we can calmly look up and down in the same photo…and see the same thing, just in reverse.

That’s it for today. For all of you in the U.S., happy Labor Day. I hope you have some wonderful plans. For the est of you, I hope the same. 🙂

Lemon tree very pretty and reflecting a bit

Who else remembers the Peter, Paul, and Mary song “Lemon Tree?” As with all their songs, the melody was lovey, although I had to disagree with the last line of the chorus:

Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat
Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat

Okay, perhaps you don’t actually eat a lemon on its own, but the fruit is pretty darn good! I start most mornings with a glass of warm water and the juice of half a lemon. I also sometimes make a ginger-lemon drink that’s very good and good for me. This lemon tree is at Queen Creek Olive Mill. They grow quite a bit of what they use/sell at the mill store.

And for “blue” this week, let’s venture to a completely different sort of surroundings, to downtown Chicago once again where there are plenty blues for today.

Trees as frame and the cycling blues

During my recent trip back to Illinois, I naturally had to take another photo of one of my favorite spots in the park, which works well for showing how trees can lead the eye while creating a beautiful frame for a photo. In this photo, there aren’t a deer and a rabbit, but there are two birds. 🙂

If you’re in Chicago and want to get around without braving the traffic or spending a week’s wages on parking, you can rent one of these blue bicycles, my first entry for this month’s Life in Colour color. And speaking of cycling, anyone else watching the Tour de France? What a first week it’s been!

Urban

for One Word Sunday: urban

Pink Martini

One of our favorite groups is Pink Martini, a group that can do all types of music in all sorts of languages on all kinds of instruments and all superbly. I’ve been privileged to hear them more than once, this time with my husband in Chicago where they also brought along the Von Trapp grandchildren. It was marvelous and naturally the stage was lighted in bright pink.

for Life in Colour: pink and Squares: bright

Blob

for One Word Sunday: blob

WNDRful yellow

Just some of the interactive and dazzling fun at the WNDR Museum in Chicago. And of course for today it’s yellow. I’ll be out most of the day on an road trip, driving north to Flagstaff where I plan to meet a fellow blogger, Lisa at Micro of the Macro. In addition to meeting my first Arizona blogger in person, I’ll be getting to see snow, both of which have me excited. Will you find out more? Of course you will! But I won’t be around much today, so enjoy your day while I enjoy mine.

Lens-Artists Challenge #132 – Striped & Checked

Ann-Christine has set forth a challenge of stripes and/checks this week, so let’s go hunting. Or should I say let’s check it out? 🙂 Although we now live in Arizona, I’ve lived in the Midwest with four seasons all my life. So as odd as it seems to many people, I miss winter. So my stripes are from Illinois winters, while my checks are from downtown Chicago. Feel free to curl up with some hot chocolate or hot coffee or tea while viewing.

Snow with the remnants of irises.

From “my” park, a place I miss with a deep longing.

Our neighbors’ fence.

The big city. Not in winter.

Travel photo 1

These are challenging times and Su at Zimmerbitch has passed on a challenge to me: join her and other bloggers posting a travel photo a day for ten days. No explanation or back-story required, just an image.

Of course, challenges only get passed on if other people join in, but I, like Su, feel hesitant about asking people to join in. I’ll ask Ann-Christine if she’d like to participate, something to lighten the grey days in Sweden by escaping elsewhere. Also, she’s the one that asked me whether I was going to post more photos of The Bean in Chicago. So A-C, if you’d like to participate, we’d love to have you. If not, just enjoy my first photo.