On Monday, Ludwig hosts his weekly challenge Monday Window. I looked in my archives and kept coming across window pairs. Here are a few of them, taken in Brazil, Mont St-Michel (France), Amsterdam, and Germany.
Monday Window: Windows in Pairs
Architectural Pink
Jude’s Travel Words blog’s Life in Colour challenge this month is the color pink, and this week’s focus is on pink architecture.
I found a lot of pink buildings (and other colors) in Germany, when we were on a river cruise. These three are in Bamberg.
More in Nuremburg
Here’s a lovely balcony in Regensburg.
These are in Passau.
And finally, much closer to home, is a pink painted shop in Highwood, Illinois.
Here’s the doorway:
L-APC: A Change of Scenery During the Pandemic
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #140 is called A Change of Scenery. This week’s host, Wandering Dawgs, says:
I have the honor of hosting this week’s Lens-Artists photo challenge. If you are able to do so, we are challenging you to get out and look for a change of scenery. You don’t have to go far from home. It can be in your neighborhood, town, or even a car ride away. Maybe there is a nearby park you haven’t been to in a while, or maybe you’ve been wanting to try a different route on your walk, run, or bike ride. If you are unable to get out right now, we’d love for you to browse through your archives to feature images from places you have visited in the past when you needed a change of scenery.
We have made a few day trips into the city of Chicago and out to the western and northern suburbs. Here are some “changes of scenery” that we experienced during the pandemic.
In April, we got into the car and just drove. We ended up in Woodstock, IL (where Groundhog Day was filmed). We turned right at this bridge to get to the town.
It was early in the pandemic and few people were out. Woodstock’s downtown has many historic buildings, including an opera house turned theater where musicals and plays are performed. This photo shows the historic town hall – the little building to the right was the original town hall!
In May and June, we visited natural wildlife areas, hoping to get some good photos of birds and other wildlife. We went to Cuba Marsh Forest Preserve twice.
We also went to Volo Bog wildlife preserve, but saw mostly frogs and some pretty flowers, including some wild irises.
In September, we drove out to the western suburbs to see a few places we had read about in the local newspaper. In Wheaton, we explored “Cantigny,” the estate of Col. Robert McCormick, named for Cantigny, France where McCormick had shown exceptional leadership and bravery during World War I. He and his wife are buried on the estate, above the scene of the gardens and pond.
The Inverness Town Hall is notable for the four silo-like towers that dwarf the building itself.
Twice in the fall we visited St. Charles for a sculpture park there. The first time it started to rain before we had seen all the sculptures, so we went back a second time. The main attraction is a sculpture of the Humpty Dumpty-like Mr. Eggwards, who sits on a stone fence alongside the park.
The Chicago Art Institute had reopened with an extended stay of a Monet exhibit, but we went on the one day of the week that it was closed! So we went to nearby Millennium Park instead, and took in the Art Institute on another day. Although it was a beautiful sunny day, we saw few people, because it was during the autumn surge of Covid-19. Most people were not venturing out in order to avoid crowds – which we avoided too, since there weren’t enough people there to be a crowd! Here is the famous “Bean,” our nickname for the Cloud Gate sculpture. Usually one can walk around and under it, but it was roped off.
Now that spring is here, we will soon be venturing out again to explore more of our environs. Since we are fully vaccinated, we may even risk a 2-3 day weekend trip!
L-APC Checks and Stripes
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week has the topic Checks or Stripes.
Square Up: Abandoned
There were some buildings in downtown Des Plaines that were going to be demolished in order to build a new mixed-use complex. I snapped a few photos of these boarded up and locked up buildings.
Vacant buildings, once someone’s home or workplace…
…now abandoned.
Once a thriving community of monks and pilgrims in Egypt, now bricked up.
This is day 15 of Becky’s January Square Up challenge.
Looking Up! Part 2
More views looking up at what is above us for Becky’s January Square Up Challenge!
Sometimes we see trees against a brilliant blue sky in spring:
Perhaps there’s a birdhouse – or two – in the tree:
Looking up at towering monuments against the blue sky:
Looking up at animals who live above us:
Square Up: Old Houses
Dale and I are getting ready to sell our house. We moved to a retirement community in August of 2019, and shortly afterward our daughter and son-in-law moved into our house. They have been renting, but are now ready to buy it. They have done a lot to fix the house UP. Part of this was transforming the rooms with their own décor, but there have been some plumbing problems, too, because it’s an old house. (Guess who had to pay for the plumbing upgrades???)
You might say our old house, built in 1924, is a fixer-UPper, and I have no doubt that if we had tried to sell the house on the market, we would probably have to do a lot more renovations than we are getting away with. So, in honor of old houses that are worth saving, my contribution to Becky’s Square Up challenge today is fixer-uppers.
If the people who live in these houses were trying to sell them, they would be considered fixer-uppers!
Below is another photo of this houseboat, which I couldn’t make square.
CFFC: Bridges
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week has the topic of Bridges.
Upstairs Downstairs
Years ago, there was a popular Masterpiece Theatre series called Upstairs, Downstairs, examining the lives of the British upper class (who lived upstairs) and their servants (who lived downstairs). The popularity of that series inspired more recent series on this subject, including Downton Abbey.
Those of us who had young children in the 1970s or later cannot have been completely ignorant of the popular children’s series Sesame Street. There was a silly series called “Monsterpiece Theatre” with a sketch entitled “Upstairs, Downstairs.” It showed the Muppet Grover climbing a staircase while a deep voice intoned, “Upstairs…” and as he went back down again said, “…Downstairs.” I think Sesame Street was made to appeal to parents as well as their children. Many of its sketches and songs have stuck in my mind to this day – and now my son is 35!
So even now, when I think about staircases, I can hear that voice in my mind, proclaiming in a serious, deep voice, “Upstairs…downstairs.”
So for Becky’s January Square photo challenge with the topic UP, here are some squares of stairs (hey, that rhymes!) going up.
State capitol, Des Moines, Iowa 
Staircase up to a girls’ school, Old Jerusalem, Israel 
Stairs to Dome of the Rock plaza, Jerusalem, Israel 
Twisty staircase at a mall, Tel Aviv, Israel 
Blue stairs, Des Plaines, Illinois 
Marskburg Castle, Germany 
Entrance to the church at our niece’s wedding, somewhere north of Tacoma, Washington 
Polar bear enclosure stairs, Brookfield Zoo, Illinois 
Numbered stairs, coliseum of ancient Roman city, Caesraea Maritima, Israel
CFFC: Vertical Challenge
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week has the theme columns and vertical lines.
