Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Places People Visit

This week, Cee is looking for colorful pictures of places people visit for her Fun Foto Challenge, so yesterday I took a trip to my favorite place to visit, The Chicago Botanic Garden, to see what I could find. Last year, more than one million people visited the Garden which has 50,000 members, one of the largest memberships of any U.S. botanic garden.

Despite the cooler temperatures there were still a good number of visitors at the garden yesterday, all of us enjoying the sun and making the most of these last nice days before winter finally sets in.

With more than 380 acres to traverse, it would probably take most visitors an entire day, if not more, to see absolutely everything that the garden has to offer. There are, after all, more than 2.6 million living plants in the garden.

Here are a few more facts and figures that are worth bearing in mind while visiting the Garden. The Chicago Botanic Garden opened to the public just over 40 years ago. There are 27 separate gardens and 4 natural areas situated on or around nine islands with 6 miles of lake shoreline. There are 9 laboratories inside the Plant Conservation Science Center and the Garden is one of only 17 public gardens to be accredited by the American Association of Museums.

 

The Garden grounds are open from 8am to 5pm during the winter. There is a $25 parking fee on weekdays and $30 on weekends so if you live in the area and are likely to go there more than once a year I can strongly recommend purchasing a membership which gives you free parking.

For more information on The Chicago Botanic Garden visit their website at The Chicago Botanic Garden.  And for more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Places People Visit.

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Frog Soup

The color for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is lime or light green and since I was hoping for an opportunity to share the following pictures this seemed like the ideal time, even though they may not strictly be considered that exact shade.

On a still and steamy day at the tail end of August, the turbid waters of the pond at Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg resembled nothing so much as frog soup. Everywhere you looked there were hundreds of these curious little creatures, peering out of the water or perching on lily pads.

There has always been a special place in my affections for these little guys. They have kept me company during many peaceful moments at the water’s edge in various nature centers, gardens and parks. There’s something very companionable about spending time with a frog, both of us sitting there thinking our own thoughts.

“What is this woman doing???  She’s been sitting here for ages, just watching! I don’t think she’s a threat but every once in a while that shiny thing she’s holding gives off a flash of light that, I have to say, is a bit disconcerting. Any of you chaps know who she is?  No, well just ignore her. Perhaps she’ll go away.”

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Lime or Light Green.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Leaves or Trees

This week, Cee is looking for leaves or trees for her Fun Foto Challenge so here is my take on the subject.  Like many people, my favorite time of year for viewing trees is in the Autumn when the colors are at their brightest.  Although the Chicago Botanic Garden is not chiefly known for its variety of trees, there is still plenty of fall color to be seen.

One of my favorite times to visit Morton Arboretum in Lisle is in the Spring when the blossom is on the trees.

Another good place to see Autumn color is at local Forest Preserves such as Busse Woods in Schaumburg.

Looking at trees from a slightly different angle at River Trails Nature Center in Northbrook.

Trees are remarkably resilient, finding a foothold even in the most inhospitable of places such as this rock in The Garden of the Gods in Southern Illinois.

Even in death, trees hold a certain fascination for me, telling their history through rings and roots.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Leaves or Trees

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Wildlife

Here is just a sample of the wildlife that we see from our window here in the NW suburbs of Chicago.  Not included are the deer that on the rare occasion take a stroll down our road, the skunk that lives under our front doorstep, coyotes that sometimes trot past the house after a night of hunting small animals, the many different varieties of birds that we see on a daily basis and an eight-legged possum, reported by my father, that turned out to be two of these creatures following very closely one after the other.

The term ‘wildlife‘ would seem to be something of a misnomer as all these creatures appear to have made themselves quite at home in our backyard.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Wildlife

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Tahquamenon Falls

This week’s ‘alphabet with a twist’ segment of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is looking for a Q and, going through the photo files, I discovered some images from a trip we made last year to Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan.  The month was August and the weather was hot so it was refreshing to watch the water pouring over the Falls.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter Q – Simply needs to have the letter Q

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Polar Bears

The Chicago Bears may be a dismal disappointment (again) this year, but these Chicago bears are anything but.  A firm favorite with visitors to both Lincoln Park and Brookfield Zoos, the Polar bears are always a big attraction and never fail to please their fans which is why I picked them for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter P – Needs to have at least 5 letters and start with P

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Orchids

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is asking for a word that includes the letter O and, with winter on our doorstep, I took a look back at an event held earlier this year at the Chicago Botanic Garden that has me looking forward to the next orchid show which will be held February 10 – March 25, 2018.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter O – Needs to have the letter O anywhere in the word