This would make a difficult puzzle!

Six-Word Saturday 12.3.22

Never go out without a cap.

Six-Word Saturday 10.15.22

Wordless Wednesday…morning

Thursday doors…odd and more in Illinois

Let’s start out with an odd door for Becky’s SquareOdds, although I don’t think Dan, our host for Thursday Doors will find it odd. This is the back door of one of the BNSF trains taking passengers into and out of Chicago, in this case to and from Aurora, Illinois while stopping in Naperville where we lived. The trains before 8:30 am came from Aurora, stopped in Naperville, and then went directly to Union Station, taking about half an hour. Catch one later and you’d see every stop between Aurora and the city and believe me, there were lots of them, making your trip somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half. It was well worth it to board early, then have coffee or take photos while waiting for the stores or attractions in the city to open!

Moving on to non-square doors, I want to remind you that it’s not always about the doors themselves.

Although this Naperville house was directly across the street from a ridiculously enormous mansion, it was much more attractive and livable in my eyes and I loved everything about it, from the round window, to the enormous porch, to the attractive door. This house felt like a home; the other looked like an expanded ego in building form.

Giants from squares past: trees

Needless to say, NOT from Arizona, although we did get a huge thunderstorm and hard rain (for about half an hour) yesterday. Loved it and I loved these trees from my old haunt in Illinois, McDowell Forest Preserve.

for Past Squares 10.8.21

In lieu of a beanstalk and peeking at blue

I think if I were Jack, I’d prefer climbing this sturdy tree rather than a flimsy beanstalk. Just saying.

I remember nothing about this photo, although I see it’s sidewalk sale time, but there’s some blue which is what’s needed. 🙂

Classic blue doors

Today I offer you two sets of two blue doors from Philadelphia (with the red, white, and blue hiding behind the TREE.) Red, white, and blue is seen in the second shot as well on a classic car in a Fourth of July parade. Hats off to our veterans!

Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight. ~John Ruskin

Ethereal trees and corporeal children

All that needs to be said: trees and blue. 🙂

Lens-Artists Challenge #156: black and white

Anne Sandler is our guest hostess this week, (thanks, Anne), asking us for black and white photos. I remember when there were only black and white photos (as well as film and no digital.) So I’m taking a break from watching the replay of stage 13 of the Tour de France to gather some of my favorite black and white photos. Not true; I’m doing both. 🙂

Anne asked us to talk about our post-processing but I do virtually none and have no fancy editing apps. Here’s what I told her in response to her post:

“Some were taken with an iPhone and other than cropping, sometimes adding a frame or vignette, or making them black and white, I do very little. I don’t have Lightroom, Nik or any of those things. I use Picasa (free) or Pixlr (also free.)”

One of my favorite photos is this lone grocery cart in the middle of a flooded parking area in Naperville, Illinois.

A quiet moment in the Art Institute of Chicago, rendered in black and white. I love the sweep of the staircase and the single woman making her way down.

Shell and shadow on a beach at Cape May, New Jersey.

A foggy morning in Cape May. I waited for the ghostly carriage to come careening through the mist but I waited, thankfully, in vain.

If there’d been a deer nearby, I could have had a photo of a literal deer in the headlight but it, like the coach above, never materialized.

As always, thanks so much for visiting and for commenting. The conversation makes it all worthwhile because I love to know what you think, what you like, why you like it, and what it makes you think about.

Morning trees and cool blue

I see lots of morning trees as that’s not only my preferred time of day to be out but also because I always wake up early.

Some cooling blue in downtown Naperville. The fountain looks much like a dandelion and is a place where moms and children enjoy congregating. Don’t you love those sunglasses?