Autumn Starburst

An Autumn burst of color

Summer Stargazing

Stargazer Lilies. A summertime scent-sational flower.

Ramp-a-liciously Spring

OK. Forget what the weather is like, now it is really Spring because Ramps are in season. Ramps are a wonderfully earthy cross between garlic and an onion and are the first green edible item to emerge after the long dark winter days of root vegetables (really, how many ways can you make potatoes, carrots, and onions). Seasonal eaters REJOICE!

Ramps may also be responsible for the name of this city. You see, the Potawatami word for wild onion (also skunk, but we choose to ignore that translation) is Checagou. Apparently the area had a lively crop of ramps "back in the day", giving the area a distinctive fragrance.

Happy Spring!

Autumn, Michigan-style

What can I say? The trees are gorgeous in Michigan.

Autumn Crunch

One of the many leaves I went crunching through this past weekend on a visit to the other side of Lake Michigan.

What's Blooming?

Treated myself to a macro lens and went over to Millennium Park's Lurie Garden to practice. I think I'm going to have fun with this lens.

Pale Coneflower

Ornamental Allium

Betony

Sunset Lit Flowers

The way the sunset hit these flowers really enhanced their colors and created a cool shadow-filled background.

What's Blooming?

Crocuses are coming up in the Lurie Garden section of Millennium Park. I hope they are hardy because the forecast is for plunging (from 70 to 30) temperatures and snow this weekend.

Please look for the little bee enjoying lunch in the garden. It is to the left of the most open crocus in the photo above.

Winter Garden

One of the many things I like about Millennium Park is that it is landscaped to look very pretty in all the seasons. This side garden, dusted in snow, is a little peace and quiet amid the urban roar.

Leaf Prints

Even when the leaves blow away, they leave a reminder. I'd not noticed this before!

Colors of Autumn

Today's photo is a collection of the colors of Autumn from various places around Chicago. The one non-Chicago photo is the large tree with the moon, which is from the other side of Lake Michigan. But if you could see across the lake, you could probably see the Chicago skyline from St. Joseph, Michigan.

Click to enlarge photo

Clockwise from top left

Orange leaves in the water in Calumet Park, Yellow Gingko Leaf in Grant Park, Red Japanese Maple Tree in the North Center Neighborhood, Pink vine near 63rd Street Beach, Bare tree and moon near St. Joseph, Michigan, Rust leaves near Montrose Harbor

Autumn in a Garden

A beautiful Autumn day at the Osaka Garden in Jackson Park.

Scary Tree Gnome

Jeepers it's a Creepy Peeper!

Did you ever walk down the street, glance over and see something very unexpected? That's what happened to me. I was not expecting to see a ghostly ghoulish mask somehow embedded into a tree hollow.

But there it was. So, of course, I took a picture!

What's Blooming: Plan B

I was going to post the last sunrise of summer (Autumn arrives at 4:18pm CDT today) but Chicago has a really thick fog near the lake so Plan B is a late summer flower collage.

At the top is a not-yet-ready to fall apart dandelion. So few seem to have all their feathery seeds left (the birds have been eating them as they come through). At the bottom are some bright purple and cheery yellow wildflowers from the Magic Hedge area. I think I need to purchase a wildflower identification book. I'd really like to know what I'm photographing.

Trees To Infinity

I was going to call this post "Tunnel of Trees", but this stretch of trees doesn't come close to rivaling a beautiful stretch of road in Northern Michigan known by that name. And it did kind of look like the trees continued in these straight rows out to infinity. The shadow patterns on the ground also caught my attention.

What's Blooming?

Wildflowers! It's rather lovely over on Northerly Island. Here is a sampling of some of the flowers decorating the area.

(Click to enlarge the photo)

Feathered Friends: Green Heron at Eggers Grove

Eggers Grove (also called Eggers Woods) is part of the Lake Calumet area -- a wooded, marshy, and prairie nature preserve in the middle of a highly industrialized area of Chicago. It's in the East Side neighborhood on the southeast side of Chicago -- over in the land of the alphabet streets: Avenue A, Avenue B, Avenue C, etc. (Street names start around the letter K).

I'd never been there and was pleasantly shocked at what we found when exploring. Part of the Eggers Grove area is a lush green marshy jungle (see the second picture); the other part is an open prairie area.

In the marshy section, we found this Green Heron hunting for its lunch. I have to admit, I do wonder about Green Herons. Here it is hunting in this cloudy water marsh. Previously we saw one by the North Branch of the Chicago River (also kind of a cloudy water area). These type of birds must have cast-iron digestive systems.

(Click to enlarge the pictures)

I have a few more pictures of the Green Heron at Eggers Grove at my bird-watching site, which is here.

The Grand Entrance

This is the entrance to the South Shore Cultural Center. It's right at the southern end of the Lakefront Bike Path so it's a nice rest stop before heading back north on a bike trip.

What's Blooming?

The Lurie Garden at Millenium Park is in bloom! The Garden is designed to change seasonally and highlight the Chicago motto (Urbs in Horto, or, City in a Garden). Two of the many pretty and interesting Spring plants are Meadow Sage (the deep purple flowers - with and without bees) and Prairie Smoke (with the pink plumes).

(click the photo to enlarge)

Confetti Tree

I don't know what these trees are called but the flower petals are small, white, and round. When they blow off the trees, as they did in the Aon Center Plaza, they look like confetti has been liberally sprinkled all over the ground and in the water fountains. It's rather festive -- though that is probably not an opinion shared by the groundskeepers who use leaf blowers to clear the "confetti" off the sidewalk.


Here is the culprit: