Small Animals

Looking through some animal photo collections, I found this pair of images of raccoons. He certainly found himself "up a tree" here!

Five Bucks

The herd at Cedar Park had at least five stags when I was there. That was the first time I saw five bucks without a photo of Lincoln!

Deer Closeup

Yes, the deer at Cedar Park Cemetery are indeed this tame in terms of not spooking with a person quite near. I did move gently and non-threateningly, but these are not superlong telephotos. I really was able to get up close to both does and stags.

SUNDAY POSTER

Good advice from Mark Twain, a famous world traveler.

Poster: Light Trumps Darkness

Thanks for Facebook friend Ana Ward, who posted this fine quote yesterday, I have a brand new poster that really goes to the feelings of the season.

Friendship Poster

In honor of the holiday weekend, we are posting special new posters each day. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Prayer

Happy Thanksgiving to all. This card was developed for LivingWell Cancer Resource Center in Geneva. I wrote the poem a year ago and took this picture several weeks ago. Enjoy!

More Deer

The tame deer at Cedar Park almost seemed to be posing for me.

Thanksgiving Poster

We must always remember that Thanksgiving is certainly about Thanks . . . but it is also certainly about Giving!

Deer at Cedar Park

A visit to the graves of family in Cedar Park Cemetery near Blue Island Illinois offered an opportunity to see several deer, quite calm and unfazed by cars and people. The deer are a common sight at that resting place.

SUNDAY POSTER #3

I had no plan for a third poster today . . . until The Amazing Race had this quote and sent me to the photo collection to find this look at Pompeii's Forum and Mt. Vesuvius.

SUNDAY POSTER #2

It was the last leaf on a large tree in Meacham Grove, Bloomingdale.

SUNDAY POSTER #1

I was in the car, I wa listening to Simon & Garfunkel, I knew I had a New York bridge pic jsut waiting . . . .

Switching

As we headed south on the Alaska Railroad, we were warned that we would be literally sidetracked in favor of other trains. It was fascinating to watch the switching procedure, completely without modern assistance, as a member of the train staff would get off, walk back, flip the switch by hand, and climb back aboard.

Still On Track

Two more photos from the Alaska Railroad, a scenic trip from Denali south to Whittier.

Railroad Day

No reason, it just felt like a railroad day today. These images were collected in Alaska in 2008.

Meacham Grove

Last week's unseasonably warm weather sent me off to find some fall color at Meacham Grove here in Bloomingdale. While many leaves were already gone from the trees, lots of color was left in the plants and in the sunset.

POSTER

I know it is not Sunday, but a great quote was posted on Facebook this morning by my cousin Cathy Sholtis, and I knew I had a photograph ready for it. Took this is an DuPage County Forest Preserve just last week. Had to post today!

Balance

One of the four clowns was relatively quiet early in the performance, a part of the joking but not in on the juggling and so forth. And then came the balance board and the unicycle; suddenly the clown in the reddest red was the star of the show!

Contact Juggling

One of the gravity demonstrations by the Ringling Bros. Clowns involved blindfolding an audience member and juggling over and around her, all with the expected jokes and fun.

SUNDAY POSTER #2

SUNDAY POSTER #1

Last night's full moon, coupled with a suggestion for a quote from a Facebook friend. Within 16 hours, a photo is a poster already!

Laws of Gravity, Clown Style

The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey clowns at DuPage Children's Museum gave a clown-style demonstration of various principles of gravity, some through juggling, and one through the ceremonial dropping of the pants.

Clowns in Naperville

With the circus in town, a troupe of Ringling Bros. Clowns entertained at the DuPage Children's Museum. They used slapstick humor to demonstrate principles of gravity.

Hadrian's Gate

Climbing down from the Acropolis, taking a look back, there was the final major sight to see on the three-weeks-plus trip from Rome. At the bottom, near the hotel, a small park area is gated by Hadrian's Gate. Our final day on the trip finished at Hadrian's Gate, and our final day in Rome had included a visit to Hadrian's burial place in Rome. Another circle closed before one final great dinner and a long flight home. Thanks to Trafalgar Tours and Princess Cruise Line for the two segments of our trip of a lifetime!

Parthenon

The climb finished, we saw the Parthenon and the other buildings, once a bustling center of the city and now a memorial crowded with an international set of visitors. Cranes stood at attention in many locations on the Saturday we spent in Athens, and the view of these ancient structures was a fitting capstone to our three and a half weeks in Europe and Asia.

The Upward Trail

The climb up to the top of the Acropolis is quite a workout, well worth the effort. Here we see some sights on the upward climb, which is on a winding partially hard surfaced staircase and trail.

Finally, Athens

We had landed in Rome, unquestioned center of civilization twenty centuries ago. We had bus tours all over Northern Italy for more than a week. We boarded ship and set sail for the Holy Land. We had visited Galilee and Nazareth and Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We had trekked into the Sahara Desert to see the ancient Pyramids. We had stopped at beautiful Santorini. And finally we disembarked in Athens with but one day left on the long journey, so of course we headed for the Acropolis.

At the foot of the huge hill was a classic Greek Theatre, and I love to notice that the special seat for one of the priests of Dionysus is the best-preserved portion of the theatre. And then for the climb up the hill and to the other side of the massive wall.

SUNDAY POSTER

Another poster constructed on a photo from this summer in the Holy Land.

SUNDAY POSTER

A poster built on a photo from the trip to the Holy Land this summer. Two posters this weekend as we turn toward wintry weather.

Old Family Winery

Our last stop on the island of Santorini was an old family winery, where we had some tastings and a chance to see some interesting sights. Here we see a wine collection setup under a vat used for pressing grapes by the feet, and the racks in the storage area.

Shortly after we boarded ship for the final time. In the morning, we debarked in Athens, which we will see in the next post.

Mosaics

High above the Mediterranean, a church on Santorini features mosaics and paintings as beautiful as many of those we had seen earlier on the trip from Rome through Jerusalem.