Flowers

I was downtown for dinner the other evening at the Union League Club. These flowers were fresh and they smelled soooo nice. Since we had snow last week, this is as close to Spring as I can get right now!

Yoga Monk

I do not know much about Yoga....but my daughter loves it....keeps her flexible and fit and whatever else she says it does. She invited me down for a yoga class with a master monk...(ok I am not sure what he is really called....a monk is what I heard)....and I went yesterday to the University of Illinois to take this class with her.The monks were in orange as a sign of celibacy and rejuvenation (I think). While it was a gentle, relaxing 1 and 1/2 hours, I still don't think I will be taking up yoga....My body just does not move that way anymore....

A Foot bridge

As I've mentioned, Inverness is acre minimums lots. In the older, more established parts of Inverness, it can look very rural. I have always liked this view as I drive by and I am showing it to let you know that our snow from yesterday did not last long!
For a smile, you might enjoy this .

Good Morning

I guess the good news is we don't have to snow blow it and the sun is shining so it will melt.....but I have to tell you, my love of snow is dying a fast death this winter. I am really looking forward to hanging my flowers back on this shephard's hook sometime before July!

The Board of Trade

Hubby and I had dinner down in Chicago last night and we had to walk down what is known as the Financial District of Chicago. The tall building at the end of the street is the Chicago Board of Trade building.

ABC Wednesday J is for Jeep

I saw this Jeep while we were out in San Francisco.....Boy, was "J" harder than I thought! I can't wait to see what I could've done if only I had thought of it! Visit Mrs. Nesbitt to see who is doing ABC Wed.

Statues on Michigan Ave.

These leg statues are on Michigan Ave. in Chicago across from my Korean foreign exchange daughter's apartment....This is at
Roosevelt and Michigan. I could find absolutely nothing on these on Google but I did find them interesting.
(Thanks to Kris and Tom for finding out what these are!)

Flashlight Display

Saturday, I found myself in Evanston, Illinois near Northwestern University. This display is found in the Progress Gallery at 824 Noyes Street. It is quite a nice display of flashlights as well as the Gallery displays prints of artist Robert Reddy,who was trained as a painter and has been working in the digital realm for 19 years. Some of the flashlights on the wall date from the late 1890's. I was just amazed. The art work was awesome as well but I did not take a picture of them.

Happy Easter!

This is as close to spring flowers that we have! These are on my kitchen table. Hope you have a Happy Easter!

The first day of Spring

From grass to snow in a 24 hour period....welcome back to Inverness!

Baha'i Temple

Today you find me back on the North Shore of Chicago in lovely Wilmette, Illinois. Today is known as Naw-Ruz, the Baha'in New Year. (The Baha’i New Year’s Day is astronomically fixed to begin the year on the spring equinox. Naw-Rúz is one of the nine holy days of the year when work is suspended.You can follow the link if you want to know more!) My daughter has a friend who invited us to share this day at the Temple...so we did. This is a picture as we walked to the Temple and I apologize...I really needed my tripod but didn't have it....so I went with the blurry effect! (But it seemed appropriate with the moon over the temple!)

City Hall

I have a few more pictures I want to share from San Francisco and then back to the dreary Midwest! This is City Hall in San Francisco. While this is a stunning building, I took this because the trees are all sycamores. Now, the sycamores that live in the Midwest look something like this(although this one is in Arkansas,thanks Annie!).....so I was very surprised to see them pruned at the top. A very interesting look. I wonder what they look like in the summer.

ABC Wednesday I is for Illinois

I bet you thought I would do Inverness!
I live in the state of Illinois and this was taken at a University of Illinois football game last fall. (The Fighting Illini is what the University is called in the college world!)On Dec. 3, 1818, Illinois became the 21st of 50 states. The nickname is The Prairie State, the motto is 'State sovereignty, National union', the origin of the name of Illinois came from Algonquin for "tribe of superior men".
Make sure you try and visit all the ABC participants over at Mrs. Nesbitts place!
Have a great day.

Also, just an FYI or my pet peeve...Illinois is pronounced the French way ....without an "s"... ill-a-noy.

The Pacific Ocean

I couldn't go all the way to the west coast and NOT get a picture of the ocean. This is the Pacific Ocean...

Grizzly sisters

One of the highlights of my San Francisco trip, was going to the San Francisco Zoo where I met up with fellow blogger AVCR8TEUR and enjoyed a wonderful day taking pictures and getting to know everyone. One of the things I learned (really I had no idea how lacking in knowledge I am ! )was how California got the name the "Golden State". I would have assumed it was from the gold rush of 1849. Not so! They got it from the Grizzly Bears that turn a beautiful gold shade in the weather. As they would come across a field the humans could look out and see a "sea" of gold across the field of the Grizzly's.
These 2 sisters were at the zoo and waiting to be fed. I see now why the Golden is impressive. Imagine a field of 50 bears and you can see why it would be "golden". Amazing, they knew even then that blonde's have more fun.
Have a great day!

Twin Peaks

This was taken from the opposite side of San Francisco in a place called Twin Peaks.....The road you see is the road we took (in a bus!) to get to the top. Quite a nice view. It is where the communication tower is located. If you enlarge it, you can see the Bay Bridge on the right and also all the cargo lifters that are located in Oakland. Apparently, Oakland is where all the ships go to unload and then they move items back over to San Francisco. The things I've learned!

Golden Gate again

We went from one side of town to the other. San Francisco it 7 miles by 7 miles....not that big for a major city! If you look very very closely, you can see the communication tower waaay back on the hills. We were there and then drove here.
My post from yesterday, Lynette found what the statue is. And I quote from wikipedia:
A sculpture, "Cupid's Span" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, was built in 2003 along the Rincon Park area. Resembling Cupid's bow and arrow with the arrow implanted in the ground, the statue symbolizes the place where Tony Bennett "left his heart". Thanks Lynette!

An interesting statue and the Bay Bridge

This is statue of a bow and arrow near Fisherman's Wharf. I couldn't find any information on it but you know I like statues. I like this more for the picture of the Bay Bridge in the back ground. The Bay Bridge connects Oakland and San Francisco. It is a double decker bridge and it is quite amazing. A little bit intimidating to drive over what with all the distractions around you! There is a $4.00 toll charge to cross this bridge. Fortunately, you only pay one way....so I guess it really works out to be $2.00 either way!

Civic Opera House

I was downtown Chicago last night and passed right by the Civic Opera House, which is on the Chicago River.

The Civic Opera House is an opera house located at 20 North Wacker Drive in Chicago. It is part of a building which contains a 45-story office tower and two 22-story wings. This structure opened on November 4, 1929 and has an Art Deco and Art Nouveau interior.

Its opera house has 3,563-seats, making it the second-largest opera auditorium in North America. While built for the Chicago Civic Opera, it was purchased by and is the permanent home of the Chicago Lyric Opera.

ABC Wednesday H is for Hallway

It's ABC Wednesday. This hallway has lots of Hanging pictures. I found "H" a challenge this week. I hope you have time to go over and visit Mrs Nesbitts place to see what others have come up with!

Alcatraz Island

This is the view of the island you can see as you approach Alcatraz via the Alcatraz Cruise Line. All I really knew about Alcatraz was from the movie Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood. I would highly recommend you read this to learn more. One of the things I never knew was there was a small population of families of the guards that also lived on the island. The children went to school via the ferry and it was a much sought after place to live with a waiting list since it was so inexpensive. The things you learn....

I left my heart.....

in San Francisco!! Not really.....but it sounded good! I have been on a quick whirlwind tour of San Francisco....one of the highlights of my trip was meeting up with a fellow blogger (Hi avCr8teur!) and had a wonderful time...Lots of fun and I will show more photos as I wake up! This is a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Alcatraz Island.

Period glass

Ok I am not sure what this pink glass is called, but my friend that collects Santa's also collects this. It is in her dining room and she has some lovely pieces.

Icey water

It was pretty warm here the other day. Most of our snow has melted. The down side of that is the ground is pretty frozen and the culvert's are full of water and the water is not moving where it needs to go....I guess...I am not part of the army corp of engineers! This culvert does go to the wetlands but not yet! It looks a bit cold for me!

ABC Wednesday G is for Glass

(This was taken before I got my new camera!)
This is a piece of Green (thanks happyone!)Glass from the Blenko Glass Company in Milton, West Virginia. It is not very far from where I grew up. The glass is all hand blown and all made in America. I have quite a few pieces and I love them all.

Drop over to MrsNesbitt's place to see all the participants of ABC Wednesday's!

More reflections

I loved the reflections in the windows on this Inverness house. The lovely color is from the sun...you know...that thing that glows in the sky. We haven't seen much of it around here for a while.

Wetlands

This is a wetlands not too far from my house. Inverness actually has quite a few of these areas. I love the Adirondack chair and bench in the snow. Do you see them?

The sun does live here

I grabbed my NEW camera and did a point and shoot when the sun decided to come out for a bit yesterday. Now, if it would just melt some of the snow......

Theme Day: Graffiti or Street Murals

 
This is an abandoned business but I have always liked the murals or wall art!
There are over 144 blogs participating. It should be an interesting visit around the world. Enjoy Theme day!

Adelaide, Australia by Gordon, Albuquerque (NM), USA by Helen, Aliso Viejo (CA), USA by Rodney, American Fork (UT), USA by Annie, Anderson (SC), USA by Lessie, Arradon, France by Alice, Ashton under Lyne, UK by Pennine, Athens, Greece by Debbie, Auckland, New Zealand by Lachezar, Austin (TX), USA by LB, Bandung, Indonesia by Guntur Purwanto, Baziège, France by PaB, Belgrade, Serbia by BgdPic, Bellefonte (PA), USA by Barb-n-PA, Bicheno, Australia by Greg, Boston (MA), USA by Fenix, Boston (MA), USA by Sarah, Whit, & Leyre, Boston (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Brighton, UK by Harvey, Bucaramanga, Colombia by Fernando, Budapest, Hungary by Zannnie and Zsolt, Budapest, Hungary by Isadora, Buenos Aires, Argentina by Karine, Canterbury, UK by Rose, Cape Town, South Africa by Kerry-Anne, Chandler (AZ), USA by Melindaduff, Chateaubriant, France by Bergson, Cheltenham, UK by Marley, Chicago (IL), USA by U R us, Chicago (IL), USA by b.c., Christchurch, New Zealand by Michelle, Clearwater (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Clearwater Beach (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Cleveland (OH), USA by iBlowfish, Cologne, Germany by April11, Coral Gables (FL), USA by Jnstropic, Detroit (MI), USA by Taittems, Dunedin (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Durban, South Africa by CrazyCow, Evry, France by Olivier, Forks (WA), USA by Corinne, Glasgow, Scotland by Jackie, Greenville (SC), USA by Denton, Grenoble, France by Bleeding Orange, Guelph, Canada by Pat, Helsinki, Finland by Kaa, Hobart, Australia by Greg, Hyde, UK by Gerald, Inverness (IL), USA by Neva, Jackson (MS), USA by Halcyon, Jefferson City (MO), USA by Chinamom2005, Joplin (MO), USA by Victoria, Juneau (AK), USA by Gwyn, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Edwin, Kyoto, Japan by Tadamine, Larchmont (NY), USA by Marie-Noyale, Le Guilvinec, France by ds2944, Lisbon, Portugal by Sailor Girl, Lisbon, Portugal by Jsaltao, Lodz, Poland by ritalounge, London, UK by Ham, London, UK by Mo, Mainz, Germany by JB, Maple Ridge, Canada by Susan, Mazatlan, Mexico by Kate, Melbourne, Australia by Mblamo, Melbourne, Australia by John, Memphis (TN), USA by SouthernHeart, Menton, France by Jilly, Mexico, Mexico by Poly, Mexico City, Mexico by Carraol, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Greg, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Mitch, Monte Carlo, Monaco by Jilly, Montréal, Canada by Douber, Moscow, Russia by Irina, Mumbai, India by Kunalbhatia, Mumbai, India by MumbaiIteanu, Naples (FL), USA by Isabella, Nashville (TN), USA by Chris, Nelson, New Zealand by Meg and Ben, New Orleans (LA), USA by steve buser, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK by Cassie & Chris, Niamey, Niger by Dinabee, Norwich, UK by Goddess888, Nottingham, UK by Gail's Man, Ocean Township (NJ), USA by Josy, Paris, France by Eric, Pasadena (CA), USA by Petrea, Pasadena (CA), USA by Can8ianben, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia by Murphy_jay, Pilisvörösvár, Hungary by Elise, Port Angeles (WA), USA by Jelvistar, Port Elizabeth, South Africa by Sam, Port Vila, Vanuatu by Mblamo, Prague, Czech Republic by Honza03, Quincy (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Radonvilliers, France by Deslilas, Riga, Latvia by Prokur, Rome, Italy by Giovanni, Rotterdam, Netherlands by Ineke, Saarbrücken, Germany by LadyDemeter, Saint Louis (MO), USA by Strangetastes, Saint Paul (MN), USA by Kate, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation by Lark, San Antonio (TX), USA by Kramer, San Diego (CA), USA by Felicia, San Diego (CA), USA by Zentmrs, Santa Fe (NM), USA by Randem, Seattle (WA), USA by Kim, Seattle (WA), USA by Chuck, Seguin (TX), USA by Thien, Selma (AL), USA by RamblingRound, Sesimbra, Portugal by Aldeia, Setúbal, Portugal by Maria Elisa, Sharon (CT), USA by Jenny, Silver Spring (MD), USA by John, Singapore, Singapore by Keropok, Sofia, Bulgaria by Antonia, St Francis, South Africa by Sam, Stavanger, Norway by Tanty, Stayton (OR), USA by Celine, Stockholm, Sweden by Stromsjo, Subang Jaya, Malaysia by JC, Sydney, Australia by Sally, Székesfehérvár, Hungary by Teomo, Terre Haute (IN), USA by Zann, Terrell (TX), USA by Bstexas, Terrell (TX), USA by Jim K, The Hague, Netherlands by Lezard, Tokyo, Japan by Tadamine, Torun, Poland by Torun Observer, Toulouse, France by Julia, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina by Jazzy, Twin Cities (MN), USA by Slinger, Vienna, Austria by G_mirage2, Wailea (HI), USA by Kuanyin, Wassenaar, Netherlands by Rich, Wellington, New Zealand by Jeremyb, West Paris (ME), USA by crittoria, West Sacramento (CA), USA by Barbara, Weston (FL), USA by WestonDailyPhoto, Wrocław, Poland by Loompi, Yardley (PA), USA by Mrlynn,