CFFC: Bridges to…Adventures

It’s been awhile since I have participated in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, but I am back in time to contribute to this week’s bridges!

Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA
Budapest, Hungary (over the Danube River)
Looking down from the top of the Melk Abbey, Austria
Regensberg, Germany
Cologne, Germany with its famous cathedral spires in the distance. On this bridge, many lovers had put…
thousands of love locks!
One of many canal bridges, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Pegasus Bridge, Normandy, France

Bridge over the moat at Caen Castle, Normandy, France
Maisons-Alfort, suburb of Paris
Covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa

CFFC: Which Way Thru the Seasons

Cee’s series featuring other challenges this week has the theme Which Way. This challenge includes streets, walkways, waterways – any “way” on which people travel.

Winter, spring, summer or fall – there’s always something interesting to experience on roads and sidewalks in every season.

Snowplow path
Downtown Mt. Prospect after dark in February
Springtime at Chicago Botanic Garden
What would spring be without those dotted masses of dandelions?!
Late summer stroll in a Tacoma park
Late June in a Wurzburg park (Germany)
Street musicians hope for tips from passersby in downtown Nuremberg
Red carpet in Cabourg, France
November on Clearwater Park walking/biking path (Mt. Prospect)
Shadowy street, October in Chicago

Squares That Didn’t Make the Cut

I’m finally jumping in to Becky’s October square challenge: Squares of the Past!
When I do an ongoing challenge, I create a folder especially for that challenge, and often the pictures I add never “make the cut.” So I’m going to begin with the Squares in those folders which I didn’t include originally.

These “bright squares” were all taken at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington in September of 2019.

SYW: Neighbors, Mirrors and Make-Up

Monday = Melanie’s Share Your World!

QUESTIONS: 

How well do you know your next-door neighbors?   Do you like them?   (credit to Cyranny for the question)
I do know our next door neighbors, George & Gail, but not very well. We have not lived here very long. At our former residence, I knew most of my neighbors, partially thanks to their friendliness and partly due to the annual block party. My next-door neighbor was a horticultural landscaper and she helped me start and expand my garden. Our neighbors across the street invited us to their New Year’s party every year, as well as their daughters’ graduation parties. These neighbors, in particular, were ones that I’d always stop to talk to. So yes,, I liked them.

Do you have a full length mirror?  (credit to Sadje for the rest of the questions)
Yes. After we had lived here for several months, I got frustrated about not having a full length mirror, since at our old house, we had two of them, one on the second floor and one on the first floor. So we finally bought one when we were shopping at Target or Meijer. It’s now hanging on the outside of our bathroom door.

(for the ladies)   How long do you spend putting on make-up in the morning?
None. I don’t wear make-up and never have. Anytime I tried to wear makeup, it would get in my eyes and irritate them. But even if it didn’t irritate my eyes, I wouldn’t bother with make-up unless I had a really noticeable zit (which invariably happened on picture day at school!).

How many items of clothing are in your bedroom (or closet) and not hung up?
Usually none, except for clothes in the hamper. But right now there is an outfit I want to wear again, but I didn’t want to wear it to exercise today and I was going to the fitness center. Just a pair of pants and a shirt.


GRATITUDE QUESTION (as always optional)

Do you have a happy place?
Anywhere there are flowers and nature.

Here I am at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma in 2019, where we visited a beautiful botanic garden. This arbor was the entrance to it.

CFFC/CMMC: Oranges & Holes

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week has the topic of hole/whole. And for her newest challenge, Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge, the topic is orange.

Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah is a wonder of geological formations called “hoodoos.” These orangish sandstone shapes were carved over millions of years through water and wind erosion. Besides being orange, look carefully to see the holes!


Another beautiful national park in Utah is Arches National Park, named for the many arches carved by nature into the orange rocks. The first picture below is an iconic image, which many people have seen on calendars or posters. I had to use my telephoto lens to get a good shot of this beautiful arch, because without an arduous climb we could not get very close to it! The second photo is another of the park’s arches, which form a type of hole due to erosion, out of the whole rock!

Pumpkins, when they carved, become jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. At night you can see the light of the candle glowing through the holes!

Chihuly piece at Museum of Glass in Tacoma

Orange foliage with “holes” between the leaves!

I keep this (whole) water bottle next to my bed.

It has a hole in the top where the straw goes in!

CFFC: Animal Art

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week has the topic Non-Alive Animals. Of course, any representation of an animal has a real animal in mind as the artist creates it. But the rendition may be very close in appearance to the real animal, or it may be whimsical, or abstract. It all depends on the craftsman’s talent and point of view.

It was hard to choose photos for this post – so many to choose from! Everywhere I go, locally or abroad, there is animal art. Animals have been subjects for every kind of art imaginable for thousands of years…

Such as the first known painting in the world, a painting of Egyptian geese on papyrus at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo,

and the god Horus, usually represented as a hawk, at the Temple of Horus in Edfu, Egypt.

Also at the Egyptian Museum is a throne of King Tutankhamun, whose tomb was not found until 1922, with most of its grave goods intact – it hadn’t been subjected to many tomb robberies!

This elaborate throne contains many symbols and images of gods, such as twin lions on the front. One of ancient Egypt’s sacred symbols was the scarab beetle, depicted in the cartouche on the front of the arm; the hieroglyphics within the cartouche generally are names of kings, so this may have been Tuthankhamun’s. Embracing the throne of either side are the wings of the vulture, a bird considered to be a protector of kings. In this case, he represents the king-god himself, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

The ancient Chinese civilization also had many animal representations, one of the most common being the guardian lion. This one is in front of a restaurant, House of Szechwan, in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Generally depicted in pairs, guardian lions stood in front of imperial palaces, tombs, temples, government buildings, and the homes of the wealthy. The concept was to show the emotion of the animal, in this case ferocity, as a symbol of protection.

Deriving from this Chinese custom, there are people today who have a pair of lions as lawn ornaments, like this one in Des Plaines. He might look more ferocious if freshly painted!

Here are another example of a Des Plaines lawn ornament, this cute little bird sitting on an orb.

There were many whimsical animals on display for sale or as decoration in the charming small town of Poulsbo, Washington, north of Tacoma.

In Evanston, Illinois, there is a little known museum called the American Toby Jug Museum, which we discovered during Chicago’s annual Open House in October. Toby Jugs are ceramic figures, usually depicting well known persons, but also animals. The history of the toby jug, or philpot, dates back to 18th century potters in Staffordshire, England and was popularized by colonists in the United States. The top of each toby jug has a spout for pouring, but nowadays, these figurines are primarily for ornamentation or collections.

After the wedding we attended near Poulsbo, Washington, we spent a day in Tacoma before returning to Seattle for our flight home. There is a beautiful Museum of Glass there, which has many objects designed by the famous Dale Chihuly, but there is also a fine collection of glass sculptures by other artists, such as this beautiful horse.

Horses are the subject of many works of art, including statues of famous heroes mounted on horses in many European cities, but I am only including two 2-dimensional renditions, one a drawing of a palomino I drew a few days ago, and another one at a short film display at the Ij (Eye) Museum in Amsterdam.

While in Amsterdam, we visited the Oude Kerk, the oldest building in Amsterdam, founded circa 1213 CE. Under the seats of the choir were unique carvings – some rather bawdy! – including this one of a pig.

Most people love animals, and there are many examples of whimsical animals to delight human sensibilities. In the gardens behind Melk Abbey in Austria are some cute creatures, mostly fantastical combinations of human and animal, but there was this turtle:

In Passau, Germany, which we had visited the previous day while on our Viking European cruise, while walking around town on our own, we came across a dachshund museum! Big and little dachshund statues were in front of it.

Who could resist being delighted by several painted cows in the town across from Mont St-Michel in France? Here is one of them, my personal favorite (I love that bright blue udder!).

Our daughter loves Hello Kitty, and for her bridal shower, Hello Kitty was the theme! I bought these as party favors.

Some animal sculptures are cute,

At Mount St. Mary Park in St. Charles, Illinois

but some can be a bit intimidating!…

Giant spider at Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, Iowa

and some are reminders of favorite movies, such as this groundhog in Woodstock, Illinois, where Groundhog Day was filmed.

CFFC: Vertical Challenge

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week has the theme columns and vertical lines.

Column at a kitschy Egyptian-themed site, Wadsworth, IL
This single pillar in a Grayslake, IL park is the only remnant of a factory that had previously been on that site.
Memorial to fallen soldiers, Inverness, IL
Columns at the manor at Cantigny, the estate of Robert McCormick, Wheaton, IL
Base of a stairway railing, Cantigny
Satellite communications tower, Rolling Meadows, IL
Decorative bamboo stalks, annual orchid show at Chicago Botanic Gardens
Orchid show, Chicago Botanic Gardens
Vertical blinds at a friend’s house in Des Plaines, IL
Columns at Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Israel
Cloister columns at the Abbey, Mont St-Michel, France
Snail clusters on a pillar, Mont St-Michel, France
Abbey, Mont St-Michel, France
Cathedral of Cologne, Germany
Organ pipes, Bamberg Cathedral, Germany
Sculpture fountain at Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA
Forecourt columns, Philae, Egypt
Gated doorway, Philae, Egypt