Hamming it up

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Tiger
Brookfield Zoo

Spring is a great time to see all of the animals at the zoo. Some animals need to be kept indoors all winter and once they come outside, they are very happy. The lion and the tiger were outside and active last weekend. Usually they are asleep somewhere where you can only see part of them, but not on Saturday.

This tiger was perched up on the rocks where he surveyed all who strolled by. At one point he looked over toward me and my camera, looked right into the lens and stuck his tongue out!

Thanks a lot!

Tulip Time!

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Tulip Garden
Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, Illinois

A walk through Chicago's Brookfield Zoo in the spring unveils lots of interesting things. First, the flowering bulbs are everywhere. These tulips were blooming in a small garden off the south gate of the zoo. Lots of other colorful gardens were taking shape too.

Some of the animals that have been locked up inside all winter are now outside. The lion, leopard, camels and tiger were all active on Saturday! They usually sleep quite a bit in the summer, but they were happy to be outside and soaking in the sunshine.

Anchor Rode

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Anchor Rode and Shank
Navy Pier, Chicago

This 8 ton anchor belonged to the USS Chicago and now sits on Chicago's Navy Pier.

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It's amazing a boat could float with such a heavy item aboard, but what's even more amazing is how this anchor could be raised and lowered as needed. I guess 8 tons is feather light compared to the ship's displacement of 13, 600 tons!

Commissioned in 1945, the USS Chicago was the third ship to use this name. The current is a submarine still serving the country. The ship was classified as a heavy cruiser with a length of 674 feet and a beam (width) of 70 feet. In World War II, the ship engaged in battle off the coast of Japan targeting warehouses and oil tanks.

In 1964, the USS Chicago was recommissioned as a guided missile cruiser and served in the seas during the Vietnam War.

The ship was turned into scrap in 1992, after a failed attempt by the city of Chicago to have it towed to Navy Pier as a memorial and museum. At the very least, the anchor was saved, placed on display at Navy Pier, and dedicated on November 11, 1995.

Ever Changing

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Indiana Dunes
Michigan City, Indiana

Emptying into Lake Michigan, this small stream carries all kinds of minerals and tannins toward one of the great lakes. The mouth of this stream seems to change every week as the waves from the lake and the erosion from the stream move the sand and form different patterns and channels to the lake.

Glowing Shadow

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Floating Leaf and Shadow

I thought this was interesting when I saw it the other day. This old leaf was floating in a slow stream and casting a shadow on the bottom - pretty normal. But as I looked at the shadow, the reflection of the sunlight on the water's surface was outlining the shadow. Pretty much like sunlit waves and ripples casting white reflections on the bottom of a pool.

Spring Morning

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Small Stream Entering Lake Michigan
Michigan City, Indiana

A small stream ends it's journey through the Indiana sand dunes at the shore of Lake Michigan. I'll certainly have to explore this area a lot more!

St. Louis Canyon

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The Boys Running Around St. Louis Canyon
Starved Rock State Park

I've been to Starved Rock State Park quite a few times, but I really never explored the canyons until last February. This week, the weather was warm enough to melt the ice covering the narrow paths, but cool enough to keep the crowd away, and wet enough to keep the waterfalls flowing! Last time, we couldn't even walk around the canyons due to the ice on the paths. One slip and the family could fall 80 feet down. The paths at points are around 4 feet wide with sheer drops on the side.

We decided to take the hour drive and explore St. Louis Canyon, an 80 foot deep canyon carved in the limestone and sandstone. At this moist time of year, the waterfall was flowing perfectly into the canyon, but at first as you enter the canyon you can't see it, the rock walls curve toward the waterfall obscuring the view until the last minute. Then, as you round the curve, the waterfall makes a huge impression!

Multi-colored rock lines the canyon, and the floor is comprised of fallen stone and light colored sand. The walls are dotted with trees, moss and ferns - even now in the cold weather!

Well worth the trip, especially when it has been raining a couple of days before, the canyons at Starved Rock are a great place to visit year-round.

Three Explorers

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Boys at the Mouth of the Stream
Michigan City, Indiana

Last Sunday was a great day for exploring the beach and dunes along the southeastern part of Lake Michigan. Temperatures in the 60's and sunshine really felt nice after a pretty cold winter. The last time I walked along the beaches in this area, it was 2 degrees above zero with 40 mph winds! What a difference a six weeks makes!

After climbing Mt. Baldy (the 125 foot tall sand dune in Michigan City, IN) we walked southwest along the beach to view the dunes and all of the fun things that washed ashore during the winter months. We aimed for a small point that projected into the lake about 1/4 mile ahead of us; it looked like a good spot to stop and turn around. Once we arrived at the point, we noticed it was an alluvial fan created by a small stream that cut through the sand dunes and emptied into Lake Michigan.

The stream traveled through the woods and picked up a rich, brown color from the tannins in the leaves. This brownish water mixed with deep blue and teal colors of Lake Michigan and created some interesting color bands in the water, the perfect backdrop for a photo of the explorers who discovered the stream.

St. Joseph Lighthouse

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The St. Joseph Michigan Lighthouse

The St. Joseph, Michigan pier has two range lights that guide boaters to the harbor. Line both lights up and you're heading directly into the harbor. The outer pierhead light is shown here in the foreground. It was built in 1906 and is constructed of steel. A year later, the inner light was completed. This lighthouse is almost identical to the lighthouse in Michigan City, Indiana; no doubt it was designed by the same architect.

Sunday was a great day to finally explore these lights up close.

Tropical Blue

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Large Piece of Driftwood
Lake Michigan

Sunday was a great day for a drive to the beach. After months of cold weather, ice and snow, I finally got to see Lake Michigan liquid again, without the fear of falling into it.

Tiscornia Beach in St. Joseph, Michigan was the second destination of the day. After climbing the 125 foot tall Mt. Baldy sand dune in Michigan City, Indiana, we headed northeast to St. Joseph for some additional sand dunes and blue waters. Following a winter of high winds and pounding surf, the beach was littered with driftwood and other debris, making a walk along the beach quite interesting! We found lots of interesting shells and rocks, the skull from a woodchuck, and two ancient stone beads from the native American tribes that lived in the area.

There air was calm, so waves were non existent, and both the sky and water were a magical blue color that could fool anyone into thinking they were in the tropics.

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Lonely Tree on Mt. Baldy
Michigan City, Indiana

If this is any indication of the summer to come, get out the swim gear and hiking shoes, cause it's going to a great season!

First Colors of Spring

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Winter Acronite blooms in the forest.

It must be spring! While walking through the woods yesterday, I noticed some color amongst the brown leaves - flowers! These are always the first flowers I see each year - right before the Siberian Squill blooms.

As usual, the flowers were the only source of pollen for the many bees that survived the winter, so lots of busy bees were helping themselves.

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This time of the year is really interesting for nature walks. Each day I'll see something new - new flowers, plants, bugs, leaves... it's easy to spot now because nothing has grown tall yet. In a few weeks the changes will be much more difficult to find because they'll be covered by undergrowth and leaves

A Restful Place

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A Serene Place Along Rock Creek

A hike on the self-guided trail along Illinois' Rock Creek is very calming yet can be quite exhilarating. I didn't run into a single person for hours, didn't hear any cars or trucks - only the sounds of nature and the running water. The climbs down to the creek from the top of the 50 foot tall limestone canyon was at times quite the adrenaline rush - especially if you didn't take the well-worn route and climbed the rocks.

Views like this one made it all seem worthwhile once I got to the bank of the creek. I know many people have been to this exact spot before, but it certainly isn't a place that is easy to get to. Perhaps in dryer weather, the creek is lower and one can walk all along the bank and not wade in the water, but in early spring, with cold water, I wasn't about to walk along the water.

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These roots sure wound their way into the limestone.

From this vantage point, Rock Creek looks pretty small, but this was taken from about 40 feet above the creek, on a limestone bluff. I was holding the camera in my right hand and a tree in the other. about 4 inches to my right was the steep drop off to the creek.

Light and Shadow

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Railroad Electric Pole Along the Illinois and Michigan Canal
Lockport, IL

Walking along the I and M Canal path, one can often see the "modern" mode of transport the railroad. The railroad replaced the canal and eventually lead to its demise, so it's ironic to me that these two modes of transport are often right next to one another. It seems the railroad simply laid tracks next to the canal - how simple. A lot of the digging and blasting was already done for them, and towns sprouted up along the canal as it was built and used.

If you think about it, Rt. 6, and I-80 run pretty much parallel to the canal for a while, and the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) is built on the remains of the I and M Canal, so even modern car and truck traffic is following the same path dug by hand in the 1800's.

Fall into the Canal

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Falls spilling into the Illinois and Michigan Canal
Lemont, IL

On the second I & M Canal photo group meet up, we traveled the canal towpath east from downtown Lemont, Illinois, about 1.5 miles to a small stream that emptied into the canal. I can't find the name of this stream, but I did find its source about 2 or 3 miles up stream.

The canal was cut through the limestone bedrock in this area, so at least the canal did not need to be lined with limestone! Lots of limestone quarries were located here, and have long since filled up with water, creating some very nice fishing holes.

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Rocky Shore of Consumer's Quarry
Lemont, Illinois

One can still see evidence of the quarries all along this part of the canal. The Great Lakes Quarries Recreational Area is a park created around these old quarries and the I & M Canal. It's a mix of nature, including a natural limestone fen (or wetland), the man made canal, and heavy industry along the Sanitary and Ship Canal just in the distance. A fen is very common, but limestone fen is a rare thing indeed. Water bubbles up from the shallow limestone bedrock in this area creating this unique habitat.

Rock Creek

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Rock Creek Canyon

The colorful limestone cliffs line the banks of Rock Creek, part of the Kankakee River State Park in Illinois. This creek carved it's way through the limestone until it reached the Kankakee River. It's a bit difficult to walk along the bank of the creek without getting wet, and the main trail is at the top of the canyon, so you have to climb up and down the canyon walls to get from place to place. Rock climbing is not allowed, but obviously everyone does it.

There are plenty of breathtaking views of the creek from the top of the limestone cliffs, and the views aren't so bad once you get down into the canyon either!

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Rock Creek Falls

The Rock Creek Falls cascade gently over a natural drop in elevation of the limestone. The falls can be seen from the top of the canyon some 50 feet above.

Semphore Relic

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Old Semophore Signal Tower
Dwight, Illinois

On a recent drive through Dwight, Illinois, I spotted three of these odd structures along the Amtrak tracks. It appears they once held the old semophore signals before electric signals were used.

Michigan City Lighthouse Watercolor

The art bug is really biting me. I hope it doesn't wear off too soon. It's been years since I actually sat down and painted, then I tried a watercolor of the Wind Point Lighthouse and now a week later, I decided to create one of the Michigan City, Indiana Lighthouse.

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Finished Painting
Watercolor on paper.

Here's the painting with the reference photo (one I took a few months back).
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I'm still trying to get used to painting with washes rather than opaque colors that hide what's underneath. It's an unpredictable medium to an extent, the colors blend the way they want to; the trick is to control it as best you can and use the nature of the paint and water to your advantage. They still control me most of the time, but I'm sneaking up on them.

More works to come!

Egg Coloring

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The Boys Coloring Easter Eggs

It never fails, we seem to color way more eggs than we can eat! That's okay, it's all part of the East fun. We colored over six dozen eggs (probably more like 9 dozen!!) for Easter. That makes lots of egg salad, and deviled eggs for everyone at the beginning of this week!

Chris, Mike and Dan had a great time coloring the eggs, fingers, hands, faces, shirts, table and floor. Fortunately for us this year, they didn't really make a mess - they are getting older.

Tightly Wound

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Vines and Metal Band
Silo, DuPage County, Illinois

On an abandoned farm near Naperville, Illinois, a vine has worked its way under the metal band that holds together an old concrete stave silo. The meandering vines offset the perfect vertical and horizontal lines of the silo.

I'll bet it will be interesting to see when the foliage comes back in the spring.

It's the First Day of Spring!

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February Day
Naperville, IL

....and it's supposed to get cold and snow! We could get a few inches of the white stuff over the next couple of days.

I'm tired of snow already - let's get on with spring.