Fall Colors in Schaumburg, Illinois

 Good morning,

These are a few more images of our road trip to Chicago.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Schaumburg, Illinois. 

 The Fall color around the hotel was spectacular. 

 As we walked through the parking lot and around the hotel,

 there were gorgeous Fall colors on the trees in every direction.

 My Honey and I were in a photo wonderland.

 This is the Wildfire Restaurant where we ate both nights that we stayed at the Hampton Inn next door.  We had cod the first night, beef the second night.  Outstanding food!

 The roses in front of the restaurant were fading and this bee was slow moving.  Fall is surely here.

 After a walk around the hotel and over to the restaurant, we had to go back to Busse Forest to see if we could get just a few more pictures. 

 Today there was a lone white crane across the water.

 It was a little earlier in the afternoon this time.

We had all of our geese in a row...

...then they suddenly took flight, circled, then flew off into the distance.

We've enjoyed our short visit to the Chicago area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Bushnell Natureview 8x40 Porro Prism Birding Binocular

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Busse Forest West

 Good morning,

Here we are in Des Plaines, Illinois, on the way to a meeting and what do we see along the roadway, but a caboose.  I immediately thought of another blogger who just had a caboose ride and posted great train images on his blog.  So, the image above and the following image were taken with Grenville of Frog and PenguINN in mind.  Grenville and Beatrice have had some wonderful images of their travels in Maine on their blog.

 As we neared our meeting site, a Metra train blocked the intersection so that we could enjoy looking at it for three or four minutes.  ;)

The birds were also enjoying the view while I played with my new camera.

Finally, we got to our meeting, got through our meeting, and were free to go in search of some pictures on this beautiful Fall day.  

On the way from our hotel in Schaumburg to Des Plaines, we had passed the entrance to Busse Forest and Ned Brown Meadow so we headed back in that direction.

It was late afternoon by the time we got there, but we took advantage of the short amount of time that we had.  My Honey had brought his Canon 7D, but I left my big Canon (50D) at home so that I could try out my new Canon PowerShot SX210IS with the 14x zoom.  What I love about this new little baby camera is that it is powerful, yet small enough to fit into my pocket.

 As soon as we pulled in we saw this old hornet's nest. I doubt I would have been comfortable getting this close while it was inhabited.

There were quite a few people using the park.  This is a bike path that was also being used by people on roller blades.

 At the entrance to the park, the bike path parallels the road.  We started to walk down this way to take pictures of a bridge over Salt Creek, but the mosquitoes were so bad we decided to head back the other way.

 I had so much fun working with my new camera.

 These pictures were taken from 20 to 25 yards away, zoomed and cropped.

 This guy was so busy burying nuts he didn't care that I was snapping pictures.

I'm happy with the way this shot with the back light came out.

 This twisted tree trunk is unique.  Is this the normal way this tree grows?  

 Have you ever worked very hard to set up a camera shot?  If you look closely, you'll see there are Canada Geese over there on the island in the middle of the traffic turn-around.

 My Honey and I were walking smoothly not to disturb the geese, but at a steady pace to move to where there would be no cars in the picture when the black car pulled in and parked exactly where we were going to shoot.  It happens.  ;)  It's still a very nice picture.

 We moved down to the other side of the parking lot to Salt Creek.  The park would close at dusk and the light was fading fast.

 This family had arrived for a few last minutes of fishing before the light disappeared. 

 Across the water were more Canada Geese making plenty of noise.

This is the last shot before we saw the police were ready to close the gates to the park.  Perhaps we'll be able to return to take more pictures another day.  This place is just gorgeous just a few miles from the City of Chicago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 SPIDER SPINCAST 5BB KIDS FISHING REEL MODEL STSC550 NEW

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chicago Road Trip

 Good morning,

My Honey and I needed to go to Chicago for a short meeting recently.  Sure, we could have hopped on a plane, but since the weather was nice and the trees were still pretty we opted for a road trip from Cincinnati to Chicago.

 The weather was perfect which was a nice change from our last drive home from Florida.

 Soon we were in the Hoosier State.

 The Indiana countryside is a photo treasure of little churches,

 beautiful countryside,

 and picturesque farms.

 Here I managed to capture an image of geese that had just taken flight from this field.

 We had soon passed Indianapolis and could tell there had been more rain here this summer than there had been in Southern Indiana and Southern Ohio.  The grass was still green and the leaves were an array of Fall colors, not just yellow and brown as they were closer to home.

 This farmer is growing crops and electrical power.  We saw hundreds of these windmills in Northern Indiana.  The last time I saw so many together was when we sailed into Copenhagen, Denmark, more than 10 years ago.

 These always remind me of giant Tonka Toys.  ;)

 After a few hours of beautiful farms,

 we moved on to I-80 West toward Chicago.

 Huge power lines feeding these northern cities were everywhere.

 And, after passing the Illinois Institute of Technology and suddenly having the metro rail system appear along the highway,

 downtown Chicago rose over the horizon.

My Honey and I get a kick out of vanity license tags and have a special plate on our car, but not like this one.  It was hard to get this picture as this young lady sped past us, but if it's too small to see on your screen, it says, "I LUV ME".  Yep, that's a vanity plate all right!

We had arrived in Chicago.  ;) 

I'll leave you on that note for today.   We plan to go on a photo shoot away from the highways while we're up here, too.

Very best,
Lois

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WORLD'S FAIR CHICAGO ILLINOIS 1833 1933 A CENTURY OF PROGRESS VINTAGE POSTER REPRO 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did YOU vote today?

Good morning,

I rarely get so serious on this blog, but today the topic is very serious.  Today's article is mainly for my US Citizen readers, but my friends and relatives in other countries are welcome to comment, also.  These are not partisan thoughts, these are US Citizen thoughts.  I know and live with people from many different countries throughout the year and I know how much they all love their countries.  We in the USA love our country, too.

It's Election Day in the United States of America.  If you are an US Citizen are you registered to vote in today's elections?  Did you research the issues and vote early, today, or will you vote by the end of the day?

I am proud of the United States of America.  I am grateful to our military, some of them my relatives, for keeping us safe.  I am proud of our flag.  Voting is our cherished right, duty, and obligation.

My Honey and I follow politics and issues very closely and we both have voted in today's elections.  Whatever the outcome, we know we have played our part in the choices for the future for this great nation of ours. 

If you don't vote please don't complain about politics and what happens to our country. 

God Bless America.  We certainly can use all the blessings we can get especially at this time in our history.

Lois

---------------------------------------------------

Wood Wall Art Flag

---------------------------------------------------

Home and Family - A Relaxed Day

 Good morning,

Yesterday was one of those wonderful home days.  My Honey and I travel a great deal so when we get time at home to just enjoy being here, bake something special, and be with family it is priceless to us.

This morning I awoke to find this Betty Crocker Cookbook open to the Banana Bread recipe.  There also happened to be four very ripe bananas leaning up against it. 

 This was all laid out on the kitchen counter (surely by daughter Catherine) so I took the hint and made banana bread.

 My only change to Betty's excellent recipe is to add 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.  That's my Mom's old Mixmaster still cranking out good stuff after all these years.

Yum! 

We already had plans to go out to dinner with daughter Catherine, Aunt Carol, and another friend so the day was mine to enjoy.

It was a wonderfully relaxing day.  I made another green hat like one I made several months ago and gave away.  I liked the hat and had another ball of the double strand thread so thought I would make the hat for my gift box.  This is a small size and will be good for a young girl. 

 When evening came we drove to the Hollywood Casino on the Ohio River in Indiana.  The sunset was gorgeous.

 This is Catherine on her cell phone...

 ...trying to connect with all the people in our dinner party...

 ...under Dad's watchful eye.  ;)

Catherine had put this dinner event together because of a special dinner offered at the casino.   After dinner we spent about an hour in the casino at the penny slots.  As a group we came out even which is just fine.  My idea of a big night gambling is $10 in a slot machine for as long as it lasts.  Then I'm happy to watch.

After dinner we went home and had some coffee and banana bread.  A boring day?  No way!  Days like this with family are priceless.

Very best,
Lois

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Sunbeam 2371 Mixmaster Stand Mixer, White

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~