The first snowfall of the season is always pretty. Even if, like me, you’re not a fan of winter. HOWEVER… the older I get, the more firmly I believe that snow is just as pretty when viewed from inside. Today I have yet another reason to love my sunroom.
This isn’t the end, but you can see it from here. Work has begun on Phase 4, the final phase, of Maples at the Sonatas. I know it’s too soon to get all nostalgic about this. So I will spare you those posts until later in the journey. For now, I’ll just share a visual progress report. Here we are—Maples at the Sonatas—from the air. Three pictures taken from three small airplanes in three different […]
Are you as ready for a break from winter as I am? Is the lack of sunshine getting you down? Does your world look like something like mine—gray, dark, and dismal—day after day after day? Then let me make a suggestion. You may want to head to Rockford to visit Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens’ orchid exhibit. “In Full Bloom: The Orchid Exhibit” opens today and runs through March 7. It is well worth the hour’s […]
Shadow is a seeker of light and of heat. During the daytime, I often find her napping in a pool of sunlight on a bed or a rug. On cold winter nights, she will sit quietly in front of the dark fireplace, waiting for me to turn it on. She understands what it means when I walk over and flip the switch. The word ambience is not in her small cat vocabulary. She doesn’t know […]
My neighbor Tom prefers living off the beaten path—taking the road less traveled, if you will. Sometimes that even means constructing the trail himself. And that is fine with him. He and Brenda moved into their Portico a year ago. Their Phase 3 lot nestles along the treeline at the edge of the Maples. A few steps beyond their courtyard is a low stone wall marking the line between our property and undeveloped land owned […]
According to Twitter, today is World Lion Day. If there’s any animal deserving of its own day, surely it would be king of the beasts. Aren’t they gorgeous? I would have loved to visit these guys today, but my schedule didn’t allow for a trip to Brookfield Zoo. And it really wasn’t necessary to drive a couple of hours anyway. I have two of their smaller cousins, household-size lions, living with me. So I called […]
This time the forecast was right on. Several days ago, the weather man began talking about significant snow heading our way. When I woke up yesterday, a heavy snow warning had been issued. The disturbance was even given a name, Winter Storm Bella. And yesterday at 6 pm, precisely the time predicted, the flakes began falling. Snow fell fast and furiously—at times more than an inch per hour. City snow plows and our snow contractor, […]
I can’t remember the last time I saw a hot air balloon from my home. They are a rare, but beautifully welcome, sight around here. Sadly, I didn’t see the one that flew over late Sunday afternoon. The best I can remember, I was home at the time, so I’m not sure why I missed it. But my neighbors, Diana and Bill, were enjoying the early November warmth in their screened-in porch and noticed the […]
Here’s another glimpse into Woodstock’s colorful past. I wish The Rat Hole still existed. What fun it would be to drop in for a drink and rehash last night’s Republican candidates’ debate. Many things have changed since the 1800’s, but apparently politics is not one of them. This is the earliest known photograph of Woodstock. The east side of the Square along Benton Street is depicted, circa late 1840s. The “Rat Hole” saloon is shown […]
It’s a beautiful fall day in Maples at the Sonatas. I’ve begun posts like this before, and probably will again, because our community is lovely during all of the four seasons. But today is an exceptional, bright, peaceful Sunday. It’s the kind of day that begs for photos to look back on when the winter snows begin to fly. Before you read farther, you may want to take another look at this post from October […]
Cats are difficult to photograph. At least, for me they are. My two are often so cute/playful/beautiful/cunning/charming that I plead with them to hold the pose long enough for me to grab my phone. They almost never do. But this morning, for whatever reason, Shadow decided to cooperate, and here’s the result…. Well, here’s the result after I chose the best of three shots, cropped it, and played with the color. I don’t mean to […]
What a lovely setting for watching an eclipse. Soon folks will gather and the lights will go out. Another memory made at Maples at the Sonatas. Photo by Sylvia
It’s record-settingly official. The Chicago area just survived its cloudiest June on record. Books close on Chicago’s cloudiest Junes on record and one of its wettest; May-level chill settles in as July 2015… http://t.co/znnu4eCmIv — Skilling (@Skilling) July 1, 2015 If you were to read the entire post, you would find all the depressing statistics. If that sounds too gloomy to tackle, here are the highlights—or, should I say, lowlights: Last month our total sunshine […]
My neighbor Barb had a gift to share with us at Coffee and Conversation this morning. She brought photos that her son-in-law, a private pilot, took while flying over our neighborhood last month. It was fun finding our homes and other familiar locations in the prints. At the suggestion of several neighbors, I’m posting the photos for anyone who might be interested. Thanks, Barb! (As always, click on a photo to enlarge it.)
Christmas is a truly magical time in Woodstock, IL. And the magic is centered in the heart of our town, the historic Woodstock Square. During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, workers string thousands of lights in the trees on the Square and on the buildings surrounding it. Then, on the night after Thanksgiving, Miss Woodstock flips the switch. This year more than 2,000 people were there to ooh and ahh at the beauty. Rather […]
The white stuff has returned. Seemingly within minutes—and four days before Thanksgiving—our late fall views were covered with huge white, windblown flakes. My sun room looks more like a snow room right now. But it’s toasty and warm inside, a welcome haven from the snow. Just ask Shadow.
Wishing you a very happy Halloween — from our mascot, Healy… … and the winners of our costume contest.
Potpourri. Any mixture, especially of unrelated objects, subjects, etc. Photopourri. A mixture of unrelated photos. These have only two things in common. All were taken in my neighborhood. All were outtakes, not fitting in any of my posts. But I like each too much not to share. Sylvia captured this dramatic picture of clouds rolling in just before a summer storm. A few lucky neighbors-to-be in Phase 3 will have a view of this peaceful […]
Maybe it’s the sunshine today. Or the bluest of skies, or the vibrant colors of October. If there is such a thing as a photogenic fall day, this is one of the best we’ve had. I couldn’t wait to put on my walking shoes and grab my camera. I was on a mission. I would wander our community, snapping photos of anything that caught my eye. I would try to use little details to capture […]
Tonight’s spectacular sunset as seen from my patio.
Home Sweet Abbey 