ABC Wednesday O is for ORANGE

 
Orange bowling balls, orange shirt...I just couldn't resist....but I REALLY like the pink and white BOWLING shoes!

Our First Frost....

 
Our first frost.....Simon was not sure what to do about it..He has been in Texas most of his life....I can hardly wait until it snows to see how he does!

Out my front bedroom window

 
Once the leaves drop, you can see the house across the street. Otherwise, we look pretty alone where we are! The leaves are dropping much faster than I would have imagined. I don't think my sugar maple will be as vibrant red as it usually gets. I will keep you "posted"!

United Photos of the World

I am inviting you to visit the blog, United Photos of the World . I was invited to join this team of world bloggers by Quintino, the chap that thought of it from Portugal. It is worth a visit. I hope to see you all there.

Queen of all Saints Basilica

 
This is one of the Basilica's in the Chicago area. There are 60 basilica's in the United States and 3 in the state of Illinois. This is where my husband grew up and went to church.

PS The score for the football game: University of Illinois-28
Ball State University-17. Go Illini!!

Tailgating...

 
For a girl that is not a big fan of football, I am off to another Illinois football tomorrow. One thing that fans do is they "tailgate". This is where you bring food and drink and chairs and tables and open your car trunk and eat and party. "Tailgating" is a BIG deal for some people and they go all out with barbecue and beer, for one. They arrive early and enjoy themselves, go to the game and come back and party some more. We are not that serious of a tailgater....we usually bring chicken wings, salads, beer, and brownies. This is a picture of the parking lot where we tailgate.... You might notice in the background, the cranes by the football stadium. They are remodeling part of the stadium. On one crane they have the Illinois flag and the other is the American flag....these seemed very high to me until yesterday's photo!!

Not for the faint of heart

NO, this is NOT me...nor will it ever be. I can hardly look at this without wanting to lose my breakfast(and lunch and dinner). I found this picture of someone who is waiting to parachute off the New River Bridge in Fayette County, West Virginia. This would require more than I have in me to do this!!
(I found this picture here...I had no idea how many people(crazies in my mind lol!!!) would want to do this.) NOT. IN. THIS. LIFETIME.

ABC Wednesday New River Bridge

This is the New River bridge in Fayette County, West Virigina ( I am originally from this lovely state)...It is featured on the State quarters. This past weekend was "bridge weekend" where parachutists jumped from the bridge. Go here to learn more about one of the oldest rivers in the world.

A view from the top

 
This is the view I see when I look out my side bedroom window.I am waiting for the leaves to change!!!

Fall Decorations

 
You too can have this display in your yard if you would like to buy it! We were at an outdoor market and they had many different things for sale and this scarecrow was one of them.

Bocce Ball

 
Bocce Ball is an Italian lawn bowling game..

In answer to some of you questions....you can go here and here to read about bocce ball but the way we play is on grass in our backyard and it is a lot of fun because many (up to 8) can play at the same time....my husband was a very good husband and made me a portable, put awayable bocce ball court ( and it is regulation)out of PVC (plumbing )pipes...we actually play this a lot as it requires little skill in order to have fun. And since our yard to not perfectly flat....we have a great time....in this photo the question is which color ball is closer to the pallino (thanks Fenix!)? Sometimes it requires a drink or two to discuss it.....

My back yard.....

 
The white pvc pipes are our Bocce Ball court.....portable and put awayable in the winter!!! The sun hit this tree(which is in my neighbor's backyard) and I just liked how this looked......

An abandoned gas station

 

This used to be the closest gas station to our house...it is technically in Inverness. It changed owners a few years ago and it has been downhill ever since....The thing that surprised me is that it was also a little grocery/snack place and when it closed....the milk in the refrigerator was still there a year later.....Abandoned and smelly I'll bet!!

M is for Mondrian ABC Wednesday

 
This is the picture I look at every day as it is across from my desk. Go here to learn more about this painter.

Pumpkin patch

 
While we were out and about Saturday, we saw this pumpkin patch. I am not a farmer but I don't recall having seen White pumpkins before seeing these....I am sure they are just a different variety.....but they caught my eye.

A funny clock and tag........

 

We had lunch here yesterday because we couldn't resist this sign. It was a nice "pub" with German beer and it was very good!!!

I have been tagged by Marie in Montpellier. Thanks Marie!

These are the rules.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs

Here's 8 Random Facts about me:
1.I used to work at Disney World.
2.I wore braces as an adult.
3.I am a convert to Catholicism.
4.I am the middle of 3 girls.
5.I don't like chocolate all that much.
6.I love books.
7.I have 14 nephews and 10 nieces, 1 great niece and 1 great nephew.(plus 4 that have been added by marriage!)and I adore them all.
8.I am not a fan of reality TV but I sorta like Dancing with the stars!

These are the people I tag:
1.North Bay Ontario
2. USAIncognito
3. Jeffrey-
4.Liz-
5. Daniel J. Santos
6.Tiago-
7.Portuguese Man of war
8. R&R Netherlands-
Actually, it is hard to pick only 8....consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!!!

My 100th post

 
Yeah!!! It's my 100th post!! The fireworks are for a touchdown at the University of Illinois football game but I thought it was appropriate for my 100th celebration!! Make sure you click on the photo to enlarge it and really see the detail!!

 

Picture that the crowd is going wild and the cheerleaders are screaming and doing their stunts...you might think it is for the University of Illinois football team but I like to think that the "I" on their uniform is for Inverness and they are cheering because it is my 100th post!!!!! But you can think what you'd like.
Thanks for coming and visiting and leaving your comments. I have truly enjoyed doing this and meeting all of you. Thanks to Denton for all his help and Eric and Igor for starting the City Daily Photo Blog. I have learned so much.And you have all inspired me to try and be a better "point and shooter"!!! You all are wonderful!!
Just in case you can't tell...the colors for the University of Illinois are orange and white and a little blue!!!

An Inverness Maple

 

I was surprised to see this tree start to change the way this one did.....from the inside out! I can't wait to see what it looks like in a week or two.
Comoe back tomorrow for my 100th post!!!

An Inverness tree

This is a red bud tree that is in our back yard. My husband took a notion to trim the trees and the results are mostly ok.....read here to learn what happened to my crab apple tree.

ABC Wednesday My Library

 
My "L" word...Library....and you thought I would do Labradors!!!
This is the libray where I work.

On the street where I live....

 
This is the street I live on...

A bunch of clouds...and a plane

 
This intersection is on my way home...just before the Palatine Park District horse stable......I took this because there was an airplane with an advertisement behind it...I couldn't make out what it was.Can you find the plane in the sky?

Another headstone

This is one of the older headstones in the little cemetery in my subdivision.

Fall folaige

 
It has been an unusual weather year. I was surprised to see this sugar maple start to change its leaves like this.

Chief Illiniwek

Somebody recently mentioned--maybe me!-- how "politically correct" we are now in the world. This is a picture of Chief Illiniwek...the symbol(NOT mascot) for the University of Illinois. There has been much controversy about this character(for 20 years) in the world of political correctness. As of February 27 , 2007, he is no longer allowed to be part of the University of Illinois tradition. To read more about this long standing tradition, go here.
Whether you are a fan or not, Chief Illiniwek was a welcome addition to the football games and basketball games. I am going to an Illini(University of Illinois) football game today and will miss that this does not happen.

Harvest Day Mass

 

Our church celebrated a Harvest Day/Saint day Mass. It was obviously outside and this was one of those times my husband could not believe I was going to "whip out my camara" during MASS and take a photo......so I waited until almost the end--notice the empty chairs in front of me!

ABC Wednesday K is for

K is for Knots and Keys. This is MC Escher's famous Knots picture. He is more famous for his House of Stairs or The Tower of Babel but I like this one. These are the keys I have to carry around at work everyday....and they were convenient to photograph!

Another grave

 

This is the newest grave in the cemetery. This just looked so neglected. The whole cmetery is a sad, neglected place. It also has grave stones that face willy nilly and in very bad disrepair.