A Carrot, a Butterfly, and Dinner with Friends

August 8.

I wandered out into my garden to take some macro pictures for you, and started with the carrots, because they're growing!!!  Look at that carrot--isn't it beautiful?

As I rounded the corner of the strawberry bed, this beautiful butterfly landed in the dirt.  What a great photo opportunity--and I promptly forgot about the rest of the garden.  Such is my aging mind!

A little later, my "big sister" Lori came by, and we chatted for so long that I invited her and her hubby to stay for dinner.  She ran home and got her chicken and other yummies, and we grilled the meat.  Lori made sangria with fruit from her son Bryan's Wisconsin farm.

Food and drink--no pictures of us or our friends!  We had a wonderful time catching up, eating on the patio and enjoying the beautiful summer evening together.


Back to life,
Christine

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The Lake -- Day Four

Wednesday, July 22.

I wanted to go to the farmers market in Watertown with Mom this morning, so I drove with her in the Suburban, and even though we went in late we found a parking spot on the street right in front of the busy market!  I took my camera and shot a few from the hip.  Farmers markets are a fun place to bring a camera!

Back at the lake, Delbert (family friend) brought his log splitter to split new logs for Dad's firewood stack.

Allie's aunt left before Mom and I got back; I was upset that I wasn't able to say goodbye to her and her family.  We had a relaxing afternoon, though, and Fernando grilled ribs for dinner.

A cold front came through that evening, so no dock date with the sunset.  But, a day at the lake is better than a day anywhere else!!


Back to life,
Christine

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Random Signs of Spring

Mid-March.

I desperately wanted it to be spring already!  So I grabbed my camera and headed outdoors to see if I could find some signs of the elusive season.  Here's what I discovered.

Rhubarb barely poking its head out of the ground.

Garlic starting to come up.

Dead strawberry plants hang over the edge of the garden bed...

...but other strawberry plants are growing!

Day lilies are a sure sign of spring.

Moss in my porch garden looks otherworldly close up.

Hardy daisies are popping up in the front yard.

I found an autumn leaf stuck in the English thyme.

French sorrel is coming up red!

Little promises of daffodils!

Oregano is also a hardy herb.

Maple trees are budding.

I encountered some very promising signs of spring, which brought on the below:  Fernando grilled burgers for dinner!

Then, of course, a few days later, it snowed.

Such is spring in Chicagoland!


Back to life,
Christine

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Cold Weather Grilling

Being an obsessive sort, I am completely determined to catch y'all up--yes, all two of you--on our lives!  Here is my next installment...

April 5.

Still amidst the winter thaw, I was desperate for some warmer weather.  On the first day we could remotely say that it warmed up, I sweet-talked Fernando into grilling dinner.  Woo-hoo!

Fernando is my Grillmaster.  The family and I bought this grill for him for Christmas, and I don't even know how to turn the thing on.  It's his baby.  See how the shelf there is crooked?  This grill took a fly-and-spill during a severe thunderstorm.

Here's where the grill ended up; I saw it lifted completely off the ground and thrown down onto the patio.  That's when we all hollered to head for the basement.  Here is is, summer of 2011:

Anyway, despite being banged up and thrown around, the grill still works.  Here's what my Grill-Man grilled:

Super yum!!

A few days later, on April 8, I spent a chilly few minutes outdoors to try capturing the opposition of Mars (earth was exactly in the middle lined up with Mars on one side and the sun on the other).  It was a no-go for pictures (no remote shutter release plus the "stars weren't aligned" in my back yard), but I did manage to capture this one.  The moon is the bright one.

The warm (haha) weather was not to last, so that was the end of that for a while.  :)


Back to life,
Christine

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He is Risen!

I'm finally blogging about Resurrection Sunday!  It's so hard to play catch-up; I've taken so many photos and I want to document everything.  :)

Resurrection Sunday is so special, with starting the day at church.  This is what it's all about--Jesus triumphed over the grave!  These stained glass windows, though beautifully reflecting the light, cannot begin to show the Light of the world.

For the afternoon, we had our family over for celebration and a meal together.  Though our meal is non-traditional for Resurrection Sunday, we had a barbecue, as we did last year.  It was so nice having Fernando as grillmaster.

My sister-in-law went out to check on the chicken she brought for the grill.

Fernando dished up ribs, chicken pieces, bratwurst, and the chicken roaster.  :)

Always diligent, Fernando cleaned up the grill.

There was no time for pictures during the meal, but I most definitely had my camera out afterwards.  My dad was turning 80 (!!!) later in the week, and we surprised him with streamers and balloons, and of course cake and ice cream, and strawberries with fresh cream.

Happy Resurrection Day (very late)!  And Happy Birthday, Dad!!  Love you!

 
Back to life,
Christine

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Jump, Grill, Jump!

I've taken so many pictures of my boys jumping--trying to figure out camera settings to get good action shots for a photography class assignment--that I need to go ahead today and feature them in this blog post.  So, in honor of Daylight Savings Time (a little late!), jump ahead!!

While they were jumping, Fernando grilled for dinner.

Danny and Thomas decided that one sawhorse wasn't challenging enough, so they tried two.  They're very athletic.  :)

Fernando is the ultimate Grill Master.  I don't even know how to light his grill.  I like it that way.

Thomas is very flexible.  I don't know how he achieves these positions!

A beautiful sunset with an incoming storm ended our day of jumping and grilling.

Back to life,
Christine

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