Jellies is More Than a Grape Flavor

I took a trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago this week.  I finally got to see the "Jellies" exhibit.  It was fascinating to watch these creatures. It has been one thing on my bucket list to be able to see and photograph them.  The entire museum was amazing.  I know about your every day bass, whitefish, salmon and cute little Nemo, but here are so many fishes, so many sizes, so many colors, so much variety from all over the world. Sea life is not just fishes either.  From whales and sea lions and penguins to sea horses and sea dragons and jellies.  Also snakes and sea turtles and little poison dart frogs.  Then there is all the plant life as the multicolored coral reefs.  This is all stuff we don't generally see, all tucked away in our rivers, lakes and oceans.  On the fifth day God created whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly.  And I was surrounded by them....AWESOME!

 

 

Inspired by the Olympics

The winter weather has been lingering on.  So what is a person to do? Well, I have been watching the Olympics this past week and they are pretty inspiring.  Say,  I still have my old cross country skis in the attic.  Could I still possibly use them?  I hate to say that the last time I used them was in my mid 20's, but hey, why not give it a shot.  I waxed them up and headed to Illinois Beach State Park.  The first time on them was not too pretty.  I probably didn't wax my skis quite right and I spent more time on the ground than skiing.  And my gear is pretty old and so the rubber lock releases broke off as did the pole baskets.  The next day at work I was pretty sore, some serious muscle strain.   I came home and watched a few videos on You Tube on how to wax skis and how to ski correctly.  I went out today and things were a bit better.  I had a goal of going around one trail at Illinois Beach and I made it.  Senior Olympics here I come!  Ha! 

Extreme Window Frost

What is there to do on a cold winter afternoon?  I did something I haven't done in years.  Took pictures of window frost.  The last time I did it was when I used a film camera.  All of our downstairs windows have been replaced since that time and so there is no window frost.  We do still have some older windows upstairs.  With the cold weather we have had this winter I was able to think again about doing some shots.  And now digital is great as you can see immediate  results and make changes as needed to get the picture.  Lenses have also improved.  I have a 1:1 close-up lens.  I used some of my older close-up filters with this to get an even closer look and it was pretty easy.

 

Winter Sports

At this time of year many people are in watching the Superbowl playoffs.  I prefer to do some outdoor sports.  And what better thing to do than to go photograph the American Bald Eagles at Lock and Dam 14.

Winter Walk through the Ravine

After a snowfall last week I took a walk through the ravine a block from our house.  I found some beautiful things to take pictures of.  It just shows that you don't have to travel to distant places to get nice photographs.  A local place can be great too.  Just get out and take advantage of various weather conditions in the different seasons.

Christmas Ornaments

 


It seems there is an unlimited variety of Christmas ornaments.  It is fun to try to uniquely capture some of them and then do a little creative work in Photoshop.
 

The Big Hill

I hate to divulge my age, but I have to say that I haven't been sledding in over 40 some years.  I remember a park near our house where I grew up that we would go sledding as kids.  I also remember going to my Grandma's house in Portage, WI for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  There was a very steep hill from the hospital that all of us cousins would tote the toboggan up and take a ride down.  That was some trip!  And a bit dangerous as it was a city street we went down crossing several streets as we went.

Where we live now there is a park across the ravine with a nice hill.  The kids like to go sledding there especially when we have a bit of snow like this year.  The ravine is a nice place to take Sebastian for a walk.  In winter, not too many people take the trail through the woods and so I can let him loose.  He loves to run through the snow.  Last week, I took him down the hill to the ravine and we walked west to the end of the trail and out the ravine. We then headed around the block and walked on the other side of the ravine going east until we reached the park and the snow hill.  It was empty this day, no kids in sight.  On the top of the hill to the right was an orange plastic sled in pieces.  On the left side of the hill was a black sled.  Hmmm....I wondered what was wrong with it that it was left here.  It looked fine.  I looked down the hill and around and could not see anyone who  the sled could belong to.  An urge came over me and I got on the sled and with Sebastian in tow we went down the hill.  It was quite fun.  I decided it needed a second try and so I toted the sled up the hill and this time I let Sebastian loose and went down the hill with him running behind me.  I decided it was worth one more ride and so I went up again for a third ride down the hill.  Then it was time to finish our walk through this end of the ravine and head for home.  Another adventurous and memory jogging day.