Hi again.  It's Friday and time for our Project 52 Weeks' blog post. Repetition. That's this week's challenge as set forth by the Beautiful Beasties Network. We've really been trying to play by the rules here but this week we may have taken more than a little creative liberty.  Last weekend we saw our first tulips poke their happy green sprouts above the soil and temperatures rose to 75.  Winter coats, boots and sweaters all went back into storage. I even started applying suntan lotion on my hikes around the lake with the critters.Monday came. And with it a dramatic REPETITION of Winter.  Mimi was not amused by my interpretation. I'm so inspired each week by the ...

Hi, and thanks for stopping by.  I'm happy to be back in the blogroll after a short sebbatical. This week's photographic challenge was "RURAL".  Having grown up surrounded by cornfields in the Midwest, "RURAL" is where I feel most comfortable. In our accelerating world, I have an insatiable craving for wide open spaces and communion with nature.  Oreo is my faithful companion on long walks at dusk across our rural lanscapes. We have nice conversations while chasing the last few golden rays of the day.  Even with his crippled back legs, he always leads the way, alert to the wonders along our path and ever-conscious of my presence a few paces behind.  This is the view ...

It's Friday, and once again it's time for the Beautiful Beasties Network's 52 Weeks' Challenge.  This week's theme is: CIRCLES.  And for a good portion of the week we were definitely running around in circles searching for hula-hoops + frisbee's.  Anything round.  Our favorite neighbor, "Jake-Boy" visited us while his parents escaped the cold for a few days.  About Jake I could easily say: THE BUDDHA WEARS FUR!  I looked down at him one morning and realized that he had given me the answer to our challenge each morning of his visit upon awakening.  He was not impressed with our leisurely breakfast routine.  Here is Jake with his CIRCLE OF LIFE. ...

Hi Again!  This week's post is coming to you one more time DIRECT from the North Pole!  According to the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday: "Chicago’s 73.4 inches of snow so far this season, which the weather service counts as autumn through spring, stands at the fourth-most since 1884. That’s slightly less than during 1969-70, which saw 77 inches. The only two years above those were in 1977-78 at 82.3 inches, and in 1978-79 at 89.7 inches total."By mid-day Wednesday we were at 75.2 inches! Our challenge for this week was to shoot action, and I have to admit that I cheated.  Just a little.  I was traveling last week, so I had to dive into my archives to pull up ...