It is June Already - MyShadowProductions #207

Well, as the title says, It is June Already! 

I know that is not a “surprise” to anyone but sometimes it helps to just say it!

I hope everyone is doing good and feeling healthy.

Do you remember in MyShadow Post #191 the photo and brief description of Bench #12 at Garfield Park Conservatory (GPC)? Click this link to refresh your memory :)

I checked in on the Bench and thought I would give an update that it is “alive” and slowly changing with the seasons. Check out the photo below if you want to have a “little fun” finding the “changes” :)

I have a few Videos to share this Post, a couple from the familiar Morton Arboretum and  GPC and something a “little different” from a Day Trip to the Skokie NorthShore Sculpture Park. (Friendly reminder, in my opinion the Videos are best viewed on an IPad or Laptop.)

First, Click Here for Spring Colors at Morton Arboretum during the first few weeks of May.

Watch out for the Red Wing Blackbird near the end of the video.

Also, I was happy to see the Dogwoods blooming but my photos do not do them justice. The white was very visible from a distance but for some reason they are muted in my photos?

The Buckeye tree “flowers” were cool too and Cadence landed for a visit along with a few other “Characters” that will be a future Post :)

Second, a Day Trip to the Skokie NorthShore Sculpture Park with a little bit of Rogers Park neighborhood and Evanston with Lake Michigan. By the way, if you watch closely, I just noticed that Yours Truly is reflected in one of the Sculptures :)

Click Here for a Link to my Post about Yoko Ono’s Skylanding Sculpture.

The third Video, just a Click away, is a mix of photos at GPC throughout the month of May (that rhymes:) 

I continue to be surprised by the variety of trees, plants, flowers and colors that are available at GPC, in what I consider to be an “Oasis of Sanity” in ChicagoLand.

The other day, IPhotos brought up some “memory” photos from Denver, and this was one of them:

I wonder if the Blue Bear would be interested in peaking through the glass at GPC?

Would Chicago’s version be an Orange BEAR (go Bears!:) or maybe just a Blue Cub bear (go Cubs!) or…………..(use your imagination:)

Have a Great Day and Week !!

(Just a Suggestion:)

Tulip Hunting & More - MyShadowProductions #206

Hello everyone and hello to May as well !!

Kind of like the typical internet search “……… near me”, I tried to visit several places (near me) for a variety of Tulips and believe me there are plenty more locations that I wasn’t able to get to. Of course there are many other Spring actors with equally cool “displays” but this year I “focused” on Tulips. Other ideas could be daffodils (more later in this post), lilacs, red bud trees, magnolias, phlox, dandelions :), etc.

I saw Tulips in Geneva, IL at a private residence, Lilacia (Tulipia?:) Park in Lombard, IL, along The Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave) in Chicago, the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago and at the Phillips Park - Sunken Garden in Aurora, IL.

I am guilty of the old warning about “a watched pot (tulip) never boils (blooms)”, but Mother Nature eventually ignored me and went Full Bloom Ahead :)

CLICK HERE for a Video created from my photos while “hunting tulips near me” :)

I hope that wasn’t TU much :)

I will say you’re welcome ahead of time, I wasn’t able to use Tiny Tim’s song of “Tiptoe Through The Tulips” for the video’s background music, but of course you are free to Google it and play it while you view my Video :)

Last summer, a Contractor for the City started a rehab project of a block long Prominade (sidewalk) along the East side of the Paramount Theater complex. The sidewalk is mostly cantilevered over the Fox River between E Galena Blvd and E Downer Place. I am always interested in construction projects and this one provided me an opportunity to take pictures as the work started and progressed. It was an opportunity because it is only a block from my apartment and an area that I walk past/through almost daily.

That being said, I can’t let the photos “go to waste” so I have made a Video of the work from start to finish. The project started in late July, 2024 and finished in April, 2025.

Click here to see the Video.

Hindsight tells me that it would have been nice to have some pictures during the inactive winter months showing the snow and ice on the River, oh well, my work in progress continues :)

On a different note, last November I shared a photo of a volunteer event that I participated in at Garfield Park Conservatory working with students from Leif Ericson school which is about 0.7 mile south of the Conservatory. There is an almost continuous “ribbon” of daffodils that have been planted/extended over the years between the Conservatory, through Garfield Park and to the School. This latest planting brought the “ribbon” to the edge of the School Grounds. Here are a few photos to help describe what I am talking about :)

Also, This Video shows a variety of daffodils within the Garfield Park Conservatory and then the “ribbon” to the School.

Ok, that is officially way too much rambling :) but sometimes it all has to come out!

Let’s All Have a Great Week !!

HAPPY EARTH DAY 2025 - MyShadowProductions #205

Hello again and Happy Earth Day 2025!

I just want to share via video a somewhat hodgepodge of photos that I have taken of “earthly” things around this area of the earth where I live :)

CLICK HERE for a Video created from my photos.

Have a great time exploring your “earth” and ….

FULL BLOOM AHEAD !!