There is a lovely park near here, known as Clearwater Park. It’s a great place to walk, on a sloping path that loops around the edges of the park, which contains two ponds. In the ponds there is often wildlife – ducks, geese, herons and egrets. These photos were taken in a late afternoon in July, right after a rainfall.
Posted for Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere challenge.
CFFC: White Is…
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge continues with her color series and this week is WHITE.
Snow white
Flowery white
Bridal white (two weddings)
Swan white
Architectural white (two styles in Amsterdam)
Somber white (American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, Normandy, France)
Leisure white
Lawn ornament white
Prickly white
Styrofoam white
FOTD: Pumpkins for Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to all and may you have the most delicious pumpkin pie!
For more Thanksgiving flowers and plants, go to Cee’s FOTD 11/28/19.
Weekly Prompt: Clock the Time
The Weekly Prompts from GC and Me theme is Clock the Time. These photos of clocks are all from our 2019 summer trip to Europe. Most of these clocks are on tall towers. Interestingly, they all use Roman numerals (except the one on a sign), which until recent times was actually quite common.
On the Rhine River in Germany
The clock is only one of many interesting details on this church steeple!
Miltenberg, Germany
Regensburg, Germany – not Roman numerals exactly, but sort of…
Schärding, Austria – clock on a sign!
Melk, Austria – Melk Abbey
Cruising the Danube in Austria – another intricate church steeple!
FWWTW: Thanks, Adam!
This is in response to Fandango’s weekly “Who Won the Week” challenge.
My vote goes to Adam Schiff, who spent the whole week exercising extreme self-control while sitting next to Devin Nunes with his ridiculous invective (and Schiff probably wanting to strangle Nunes!). Finally, in his concluding remarks, after we had heard the riveting and credible testimony of Fiona Hill and David Holmes, Adam Schiff was eloquent and spot on. He talked about the “indignation” of his Republican colleagues and the White House, but he finally allowed his own, justifiable indignation to be publicly aired! The Republicans, Schiff made clear, have no defense and have not been able to question the veracity of the witnesses’ testimony. His criticism of Trump and his lackeys was excellent as he laid bare the sham of their attempt to blame and exploit Ukraine to cover their own corrupt intent. When he finished his speech, I stood up and applauded!
If I were to choose a concept that won the week, it would be commitment to one’s patriotic duty. Schiff mentions Vindman and also praises Hill and Holmes for being unbiased and nonpartisan in their own commitment to a sense of duty.
Here’s the video link:Â https://youtu.be/t4ssrr2OsQ0
AOTD: Chipmunk
I got a good shot of this cute little chipmunk at Rocky Mountain National Park.
Posted for Betty Louise’s Animal of the Day 11/24/19.
FOTD: Plethora of Dahlias
Posted for Cee’s FOTD 11/25/19.
Lens-Artists’ Challenge: A Frigid 2019
Climate change has actually brought colder weather to the Midwest. The winters of 2014 and 2015 were characterized by long periods of below-0°-F temps and a few major blizzards. I was still working in a school at that time and we had many “snow” days (actually extreme cold days)! The reason given for these periods of extreme cold was the “Arctic vortex” (also known as “polar vortex”). What that means is that a trough (remember isobars on weather reports?) of cold weather has moved down from the Arctic over the Midwest. This phenomenon is due to the weakening of the normal Arctic weather systems, that generally circle the poles, because of warming temperatures in the Arctic, a sure sign of climate change. Here’s a map that shows this.
This map is actually from a day in January of this year, because it is happening again! In fact, I have calculated that there have been only 6 1/2 months between the last snowfall of last winter (April 14, 2019) and the first one of this winter (Oct. 31, 2019)! It is rare to have snow in Chicagoland as late as April and as early as October. We have already broken low temperature records this autumn!
Lens-Artists’ Photo Challenge #73 is COLD. Very appropriate! Here is a gallery of photos from 2019’s coldest & snowiest months (so far – it’s not December yet!). The latest and earliest snowfalls are shown with an exact date.
January
February
March
April 14, 2019
I left church on April 14 to find my car covered with snow that had fallen in the two hours I was there!
October 31, 2019
November
Some of the ducks were swimming in frigid water while others stood on the receding layer of ice on the pond. This photo was taken on Nov. 19.
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FOTD: Dahlia
Go to Cee’s FOTD 11/24/19 to see many more beautiful flowers!
FOTD: Dahlia
See more flowers at Cee’s FOTD 11/23/19.
Wanderlust and Wonderment 