An unusual fence

This house is just up the street from the seven dwarf house.....Not very good quality...I mean, I WAS driving --but it is an unusual fence....

A gingerbread house

I noticed this house while driving.....it just struck me as a very interesting roof....

An evening walk

My daughter, the "green" girl, was delighted to see that this grass has not been mowed on this empty lot in our subdivision. Much better for the environment, saves on gas and resources.......I didn't want to burst her bubble and tell her that the village will come and mow it next week since there is a law that grass can't be higher than so many feet....but maybe I would be wrong and our village has gone "green"!

Two Bees in a Bush

There were 2 bees in my bush so I tried to get a picture of them....better if you enlarge to see them...but I think my next purchase is going to have to be a telephoto!!!!

A new season of bocce ball

Here is a different perspective of our backyard....you can see the Japanese Lilac in the corner....but this is our portable Bocce Ball court (made by my husband out of PVC pipes!).It is a great game for all ages...but if you do invest in a set....the heavier more expensive balls are really the only way to play. Target sells a plastic set but not one an adult would like to do and for those of you that asked...yes, it has rained a lot here-hence the lush looking lawn--- and no we don't use fertilizer(other than the dogs!) or weed killer on the acre of land we ourselves mow.....actually, it is nice to get on the tractor and just mow in peace and quiet!

Japanese Lilac Tree

This is a Japanese Lilac tree and it is in our backyard. It doesn't really have a lilac smell like the lilac bushes seem to but it is a lovely tree.

The Hall of Mirrors and I don't mean Versailles

I told you I was in Cincinnati for my nephew's Master opera concert a couple weeks ago and the hotel we stayed in was called the Netherlands Hotel...owned by the Hilton Corporation...this is their Hall of Mirrors.....it is quite the hotel...my sisterinlaw loves this place and I can see why!

An unusual sky

This is what the sky looked like the other day. I am not officially doing sky watch but thought I would post this in honor of all the sky watchers over at Tom's place.

A summer jazz concert

There is an outdoor music park in Highland Park, Illinois....it is a place called Ravinia and we usually go once or twice in a summer season. Tonight, some friends from work met at Ravinia to listen to Gilberto Gil....a very nice Brazilian musician....we usually bring something to share and a few bottles of wine. One of my co workers is a wine connoisseur and brings some FABULOUS wine. We had a great evening this evening and I am sorry Peter...but I really don't know how to put it into by computer...something to work on!

ABC Wednesday V is for Vodka

Not that I am a big hard liquor fan, but these bottles of vodka caught my eye at the grocery store....I only like a little vodka in my tomato juice! Stop and visit at Mrs. Nesbitt's place to see what other participants have come up with for "V"!

Blenko Stained Glass

I was over visiting at Greenville Daily Photo and Denton's post reminded me of the lovely Blenko stained glass display....I love stained glass and am amazed it has been around for such a long time!

A Suspension Bridge

The light was very flat when I took this photo, I apologize for the bad quality but I loved this bridge. It is in Cincinnati,Ohio and it connects Ohio to Kentucky over the Ohio River....which was very swollen that day. This is known as the John A Roebling Suspension bridge and you can go here to read more about it and see a better picture of it!

Blenko Glass

I've posted about Blenko glass before (here as well)but I was in West Virginia and went to the plant....unfortunately , they weren't actually blowing it the day I was there....but here is a display of some of the glass they blow. It is really an interesting place. Go here if you would like to see more and yes....I did add to my collection!

Two Bloggers at lunch

To all of you that wanted to see the photo that our waiter took when Kelly and I met for lunch....here it is! (I didn't say that Philip was an excellent photographer but he did okay on this photo.) We had a great lunch even with the exciting entertainment we chatted about yesterday! It was so much fun to meet a fellow blogger and chat--notice the camera on the table!--On a side note, the river you see in the background is the Fox River (I think!) and it is very swollen and engorged from all the rains here. It was one of the fastest moving rivers I have seen recently.

A blogging lunch

I had an opportunity to meet up with a fellow blogger that lives near me(Hi to Geneva Daily Photo Blog!). We had a wonderful and very eventful lunch. This is Philip, our waiter, and he was kind enough to snap a photo of the 2 of us as well as letting us snap him. Just before this photo, the excitement in the restaurant was an elderly lady had collapsed over her lunch and my fellow blogger is a first aid responder and called 911. Yes, the para medics came,(as well as a doctor was there having lunch and gave immediate treatment)and they came in with the stretcher and took her to the hospital. She appeared to be fine --or at least alert and awake--as she left. No, we didn't snap away as the paramedics rushed around....although we did get a picture of the equipment and stretcher.....we plan to get together again....but hopefully without the paramedics!

The West Virginia Capitol Building

I went to visit my mom over the weekend in West Virginia with my Motherinlaw, niece and #2 son. We went to see the Capitol building but because it was 96* outside, we decided to do a drive by instead of a walking tour....It is one of the prettiest capitols in the United States...but then I am a bit biased!

ABC Wednesday U is for United States Postal Service

The United States Postal System is really an awesome system. It has been in existence since 1776 when Ben Franklin created it under the Second Continental Congress. It really does work very well and even though I use UPS, I always use the United States Postal Service for regular letters and most of my packages. They are wonderful. This is the symbol for the USPS....have a look at others around the world and what they have done for "U" at Mrs. Nesbitt's!

A wolverine

The Visitor Center had all these animal skins for kids to learn from. This is the skin of a wolverine. Michigan is known as the Wolverine State and the University of Michigan mascot is the wolverine. You can read more about wolverines here if you are interested. We were just having fun playing with the skins!
This is a black bear skin.

A Scarlet Tanager

If you look very closely(better if you enlarge it), you will see a red bird known as a Scarlet Tanager.
"A striking black-winged red bird, the Scarlet Tanager is a common species of the eastern forest interior. Despite its brilliant coloring it is often overlooked because of its rather secretive behavior and its preference for the forest canopy." This is from all about birds. My daughter leads a bird walk every week in the summer where she has worked for the past 4 years and she noticed this when we were in the forest. I, of course, could not see it until it had almost flown away....not a very good bird watcher am I?

This is the inside of the church from yesterday. Very small but very lovely. The prayer is a Native American Prayer. Hope you like it.

A church in the forest

When my daughter and I were in the old growth forest, we walked to this church. It is a replica of the church the loggers used to attend at the turn of the century. It is really lovely. I will show you the inside tomorrow.

ABC Wednesday T is for Teddy

My great nephew, Teddy, just turned one....This is his attempt to eat his birthday cake! Make sure you visit Mrs. Nesbitt to see other good "T"s today!

A 400 year old hemlock

This is one of the many trees in the old growth forest....hemlock. What I know is that if you have hemlocks, the needles drop off this tree to the soil and make the soil acidic. This forest actually had a logging cabin museum in it so I imagine that some of this was logged at one point but not all of it. Hence the name, old growth forest in lower Michigan. Interesting.

An old forest

Last week, I took the daughter back to Michigan for her summer job. On the way there, the newly graduated Natural Resource and Environmental Science Major, wanted to stop and see this forest. It is the oldest growth forest in lower Michigan. So, we stopped and saw some wonderful old trees.