Here are a few of the close-up shots that I took while I was at the Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens last week. I made two trips there, one so that I could take my time and get plenty of pictures, and the other with the family to just enjoy the show.
Isn’t nature wonderful! With so many different shapes, colors and sizes, these orchids are truly astounding. The show runs through March 22nd so if you are in the area, I can definitely recommend a visit. You will not be disappointed.
Feelin’ Groovy is the theme for this year’s Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden with an emphasis on all things 60’s and 70’s. As you will see, they captured the mood perfectly and as always, the arrangements were absolutely stunning.
With some great music from the 60’s and 70’s playing in the background, we wandered around from room to room, feeling quite nostalgic as we took in all the colorful sights and listened to songs by Otis Redding, The Beatles and others from that era. The atmosphere was one of pure joy as people could be heard singing along to some old favorites.
The Orchid Show runs through March 22nd so if you’re in the area, I can highly recommend a visit. With 10,000 orchids on display, this spectacular show is not to be missed. I’ll be posting more pictures soon with some close-ups of these gorgeous blooms.
Macrame and flower power! Can you dig it?
I haven’t done much photography lately as I’ve been busy doing edits on my latest book, Dreams. However, I did receive an honorable mention for two of my pictures in competion at our local camera club recently.
After the Rain
Dear Dahlia
I don’t go out on nature walks as often as I used to, which makes me sad, but it’s good to know that sometimes you don’t even need to leave the house to enjoy the wonders of nature. Over the past few months, we have seen some amazing sights in the sky. Everything from rainbows and spectacular sunsets…..
to the kind of natural phenomenon that I have never seen before, like the Northern Lights….
and sundogs. It was fairly early in the morning when I saw this strange sight. At first I thought it was the sun trying to break through the clouds but it didn’t seem like it was in the right place. Then I got a better look and it was a reflection of the sun along with a rainbow only with ice crystals.
As part of a long-standing tradition at this time of year, our Garden Club provides the local Historical Society with two festive floral arrangements for the Dietrich Friedrichs Historic House Museum.
We had a great time putting together foliage and dried flowers donated by members of the Garden Club and topping the arrangements off with ribbons and bows. The result was very pleasing.
It’s time once again for Becky’s Square Photo Challenge and this month the subject is Shadows. Going through the photo files, I found quite a few shadows at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
A few weeks ago, we took a trip to the Morton Arboretum where they had an exhibition of sculptures called Vivid Creatures. I always enjoy the artwork displayed in these natural settings and although there were only five pieces on show, they certainly added to the enjoyment we get from visiting this beautiful arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.
These vivid creatures are the work of Portland artists Heather and Fez BeGaetz and include a white-tailed deer, a brittle button snail, a fox squirrel, a blue dasher dragonfly and a sandhill crane, all native to northern Illinois.
Many months of work went into designing, planning and fabricating these giant sculptures that are up to 23ft tall, and which were inspired by some of the creatures that the artists saw on an earlier visit to the arboretum.
Each sculpture is supported by a skeleton of sheet metal and connecting rods made with 80 per cent recycled steel. They are then covered with crumpled aluminum foil and finally spread with a cement-based sculpting medium. After two days of open-air curing, the pieces are fully weatherproof and as hard as stone.
Although most of the pieces were easily accessible, we had to work a bit harder to see the fifth one which was on top of, for us, quite a steep hill. But we finally made it, and it was well worth the effort. Thankfully there were a few seats at the summit, so we were able to take a rest and enjoy the view.
The last time we visited the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art some years ago, it was located in Elmhurst. They have since moved to a new home in Oak Brook, so we thought we’d check it out. The new facility seems much more spacious and gives the exhibits the room and light they so richly deserve, to be seen to their best advantage.
For those of you who are not familiar with this form of artwork, lapidary art involves cutting and polishing gemstones and other natural materials to make jewelry, sculptures, vases and the like.
Lizzadro has a beautiful collection of Chinese snuff bottles. I’ve tried to use pictures that are new to the blog but it you’d like to see other examples you can follow this link to Treasures of the Lizzadro.
Cameos carved on a background of agate and adorned with diamonds or pearls are part of the Lizzadro’s cameo collection which also includes skillfully carved bowls and dishes.
One of the reasons for our visit was the fact that we’d been tasked with taking our 7-year-old homeschooled granddaughter out for the day to see something educational and this seemed to fit the bill admirably. Coupled with a crash course on digital phone photography at the camera club the previous evening, between the two of us we took several hundred pictures at the museum.
The museum has 20 dioramas that feature miniature animals and birds carved from various gem materials. These were two of my favorites.
The ivory carved puzzle ball was created in Guangzhou, China. This multi-layered piece was carefully crafted to allow each of the 24 spheres to move freely inside each other. I can only imagine the kind of patience it took to carve this. If you want to learn more about how it was created, you can follow the link Puzzle Ball.
The highlight of the visit this time was the Altar of the Green Jade Pagoda. It is the largest jade carving outside of China. It took 150 skilled craftsmen 10 years to carve this masterpiece from a boulder of the finest jadeite found in Myanmar in 1915. It stands 5ft tall and consists of 1000 intricately carved pieces. It debuted at A Century of Progress World Exposition in Chicago in 1933 and after several appearances at various expositions was donated to the Oakland Museum in California in 1968 and eventually gifted to the Lizzadro Museum in 2018.
More on the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art in a future post.
Now that the nights are becoming much cooler, the Butterflies and Blooms exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Gardens has closed for the season, so I was glad that I managed to see these beauties on my visit there in August.
This is always one of my favorite stops in the Garden. It’s fascinating to watch these little gems of nature fluttering around and, more importantly from a photographic standpoint, basking on a leaf or flower.
And while some of them were beginning to look a little ragged, many were still in good shape. Butterflies and Blooms will be back again in May, so something to look forward to in the spring.
Hooray!! I’m finally out and about and able to get to some of my favorite places. The theme at the Chicago Botanic Garden this summer is Patterned by Nature, displaying skillfully designed plantings, installations and the patterns in the flowers and plants themselves.
Instead of walking the entire route around the Garden, I’m now limiting my focus to one or two particular areas during each visit and enjoying the flowers along the way.
There was an excellent example of the Paisley pattern worked in succulents and other plantings surrounding the fountains in the Circle Garden.
There are plenty of patterns to be seen in the butterfly garden. I’ll be featuring some of these beauties in an upcoming post.
And there are several interesting exhibits featuring fashion and transformational art. More on these in an upcoming post on my other blog Getting The Picture. The Pattern theme will continue in the Garden through September 21st.
a photo journal from the corner of Columbia and Pacific (Southwest Washington coast)
Framing the Ride, Capturing the Story
I just want to tell you stories...
Retired and Enjoying Every Minute of It
Life is a patchwork of moments — laughter, solitude, everyday joys, and quiet aches. Through scribbled stories, I explore travels both far and inward, from sunrise over unfamiliar streets to the comfort of home. This is life as I see it, captured in ink and memory. Stick around; let's wander together.
Inspired by Dogs & Nature
A photographic journey.
Some of my photographs and tales from the local area
#LivingwithLyme
The Nature of Things 