Morton Arboretum Phenology - Chicago Pedway Stained Glass - Marquette Building Mosaics - MyShadowProductions #221

  Hi everyone !!

In my last Post I mentioned some “new words” for me. 

Equanimous, was pointed out by a friend and means calm and in control of emotions, you have to admit that sounds like a great idea!! There is an old fashioned word that can mean the same thing (maybe?), how about COOL ?

The 2 other “new words” for me are Phenology - the study of recurring plant and animal life cycle events and Quercus - the botanical genus of trees and shrubs in the beech family (Fagaceae), commonly known as OAKS.

So, my new volunteer activity at Morton Arboretum is Phenology Monitoring for eleven Oak Trees (Quercus 4), March thru November. Once a week +/- “visit” my trees and look for; breaking leaf buds, leaves increasing in size, pollen, flowers, fruit (acorns) and ripeness, leaves changing color, falling fruit and/or leaves, etc. Basically for me, an excuse/incentive to get out and walk :).

Who knows, it might even help me become EQUANIMOUS or Cool ??

Click Here for a Video created from my photos as I started the Phenology adventure including sights walking to and from “my trees” :)

Did you notice the Pine Cone Art in the Video?

MyShadow has some Pine Cone Art in his gallery :)

Now, do you remember my visit to Macy’s and the Tiffany Mosaics? There is an exit from Macy’s in the basement that enters a section of the Chicago Pedway (Pedestrian Way). It is a 5-mile network of underground tunnels and overhead bridges connecting over 40 blocks in downtown Chicago, click here for more details.

My short visit was to get a brief introduction of the Pedway and to see the Victorian Stained Glass exhibit. This Video will give you an idea of “underground Chicago” and a peak inside the Marquette Building, with the Tiffany glass mosaics depicting the 17th century Mississippi River expedition of Father Jacques Marquette and explorer Louis Joliet. There are also some cool bronze reliefs of some Indian Chiefs that roamed the area.

 

CLICK HERE for more info on the Marquette Building which is also architecturally significant.

If you are Irish and like college basketball, March can be pretty interesting. One out of two for me, I am not Irish but I do like college basketball (not the announcers, not the players screaming, not the hype, :) ……… (go ILLINI !!)

For the Irish and “Wannabe Irish” and in celebration of St Patrick’s Day, the Chicago Plumbers Union has been dying a section of the Chicago River GREEN since 1962. Against my better judgment I decided to venture that way to see how they accomplish the feat. I got to the DuSable bridge on Michigan Ave around 8:30 am to get what I think was a pretty good spot along the railing, for the 10 am start. The crowd spreads for blocks and blocks (8?) along both sides of the River from Columbus Drive west to Orleans Street. 

I didn’t hang around after getting my videos of the Green Dying, as I turned around from the railing at the River, all I could see was people, people everywhere :) I didn’t get photos or videos of the crowd just slowly made my way back to Union Station to Head West to Aurora :) Online estimates of the crowds entering downtown Chicago for the River Dying and the St Pat’s Parades say Iike 400,000+ people, insane! (in my equanimous opinion :)

The green dye lasts for several hours (not days) and is purported to be 100% eco-friendly. Watch this Video for the dying as I saw it.

Even the Garfield Park Conservatory joined in the dying (a first for them I think?), they dyed the pond in the Fern Room GREEN !!

 

All of that happened and also March 20th ushered in another SPRING, Mother Nature just keeps on giving !!

If everyone does a good job “absorbing” this Post (a lot of videos and links?? :) then there will be future Posts with Orchids, Flowers inside, then Outside, Colors wherever, last year MyShadow Hunted Tulips, this year I am hunting ……… ??

Like the Flower Buds say:

FULL BLOOM AHEAD !! ☘ 🏀

Chicago Architecture Center - Fulton Market District - Gin Alley - Wooden Alley - MyShadowProductions #220

Hola everybody and Welcome to the month of March !!

First off, I want to share some photos that allow the colors of tan and brown to be center stage and not competing with all the other “pretty colors”.

MORTON ARBORETUM 

Garfield Park Conservatory & Gardens 

Quaking Aspen Buds

I have been “struggling” with putting some Videos together but it’s “now or never” (not really, but the weather is warming up and that means more time outside :) so I am going to post them and hope for the best.

On February 15th I took a Day Trip from Aurora to the Chicago Architecture Center passing “Architecture” as I walked from Union Station to the corner of Wacker and Michigan Ave. The Center contains a lot of information about Chicago’s history shaping the present day Chicago.

Click Here for my recording of an 8 minute Video that plays in the Center about every 20 minutes. The “lighting” is a bit distorted at times because I recorded with my phone but I think the “story” was very interesting. Listen for the 3 nicknames given Chicago:

“City of the Big Shoulders - “Lightning City”  - “Porkopolis”

The present exhibit at the Center is titled “The Disappointed Tourist”. 

It was a little overwhelming to try and “read” every painting but I did see one “place” that I saw before it was “removed”, the Chesterfield Mall Carousel.

This one also caught my eye :)

CLICK HERE for a Video created from my photos walking to and visiting the Chicago Architecture Center.

OK, back to the present, I read that Chicago has over 1,900 miles of alleys and I was wondering if any of them would be worthy of photos by MyShadowProductions? :) I will keep my eye out for more but I found 2 (with the help of an internet search); Gin Alley in the Fulton Market District area (more photos in the summer and at night might be interesting) and Wooden Alley (see description below):

This Video visits both Alleys and captures some local sights nearby each of them.

I think that is all for this Post but I do have a little bit of a question?, realization?, observation?, ………….? There are 26 letters in the English language alphabet and there are hundreds of thousands of words and most only “use” 10 to 30,000? I just learned a few more, Phenology and Quercus (which I will share more about next time) and equanimous which sounds like a great adjective/idea/goal to “live”.

Before I go, a little more on GPC (Garfield Park Conservatory) :), the Spring Flower Show is off to a good start and the Tulips have popped up in the Artist’s Garden:

March 4, 2026
What Colors This Year ??

FULL BLOOM AHEAD !!

Another “TIFFANY DOME” - Portugal Paint by Number - New Idea - MyShadowProductions #219

Howdy everybody!! 

I think I am staying with the “Shadows Into Light Two” font, seems a shame to veer away from the “Shadow” connection :) I will continue as well to use the ROCK SALT font for the end of my posts :)

Also, I just want to remind everyone that I “create” my Posts on my iPad and sometimes when the Post is viewed on a phone some of the formatting may be out of line. I will try to prevent that but please understand.

The Video in my last Post ended with “To Be Continued” because I have another “Tiffany Dome” to share. This one is in the Macy’s building, also in downtown Chicago. Macy’s is in the old Marshall Field (not related to Sally, Wrigley, Soldier or Corn Field :) Building, an architectural gem!!

Here is a description of the Tiffany Dome:

Please pardon my “dome” shining in the reflection :)
Also, it was unveiled 48 years before my Birthday.

Click Here for a Video created from my Macy’s/Tiffany Dome photos and a walk to the Lake for some Sun, Snow & COLOR! (Feb 1, 2026)

Next, I managed to finish my Portugal picture Paint by Number painting :). In my last Post I gave some wrong information, the correct site I ordered from is MAGIC CANVAS, please do yourself a favor and try a painting of one of your favorite pictures.

Here is the original picture and my finished product:

You can see that the colors do not always “translate” exactly but overall “it works”. I took some “artistic liberties” as well; I added a centuries old Boulder to the beach, raised the water level in the Atlantic about one foot, stirred up some waves, adjusted the sun to reduce some shadows, hurried Spring by adding some yellow flowers, adjusted the clouds and called in a few birds. It gets “hard” for me to put down the brushes and call it “finished” but eventually I “sign it” and hang it on the wall :)

CLICK HERE to see the process :) One of the pictures is out of order, see if you can spot it (clue - paint color #8:)

Now for something new I want to try. I got the idea from my grandson Sam. Sometimes he watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my TV, but he watches it through the camera on his iPad. He then takes photos or screenshots that he likes to look at later :). My idea is to take some screenshots from YouTube videos that I like to watch on my iPad and then make a Video like I do with my pictures. I know it’s “cheating”/“kind of weird” but it might be a good way to recommend a YouTube Video??

2 Teaser photos in Corsica by “But What’s Out There?” YouTube channel.

So, here it goes, a Video from 2 YouTube Videos by “But What’s Out There”, both on the French island Corsica.

If you are interested in watching the YouTube videos here are the links:

#1 - Hiking the GR20 in Corsica

#2 - Hiking the West Coast of Corsica

I hope 2026, it is mid February already, has been kind to you and until the next time -

FULL BLOOM AHEAD !!

FONTS - PAINT BY NUMBER - CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER - Other Stuff - MyShadowProductions #218

 Hola everyone! This is big news, I am trying a different FONT for my Blog Posts this year. (Caveat) ??

Hola everyone! This is big news, I am trying a different FONT for my Blog Posts this year. (Rock Salt) ??

Hola everyone! This is big news, I am trying a different FONT for my Blog Posts this year. (Dancing Script) ??

Hola everyone! This is big news, I am trying a different FONT for my Blog Posts this year. (Merriweather) ??

Hola everyone! This is big news, I am thinking about trying a different FONT for my Blog Posts this year. (Shadows Into Light, Bold is the font I have used since Post #53, July 15, 2021), but who’s keeping track?

I can’t decide, imagine that :) Any thoughts??

It looks like tomorrow, as I write this section, (Friday January 23) will be one of the coldest days this winter here in Aurora, IL so I will most likely be inside with plenty of time to procrastinate a decision :)

Luckily I planned ahead a little bit for the “cabin fever” days. I have a Custom Paint By Number that I have been painting away on :) I ordered one from Canvas by Numbers. I chose a picture I took in Portimão, Portugal on Praia dos Trés Castelos (Three Castles Beach). 

If you were following my Portugal trip Blog Posts you just might remember that there were A LOT of pictures to choose from :) I don’t know if I chose the “best one” but I know that I remember taking that picture and something about the view stayed with me! That trip was last year January 21 to February 6. I really enjoyed it and feel like I found a good bit of variety. 

Click this link for the Portugal Posts. Please make sure to click on “Older Posts” at the bottom of the scroll so you can see all the Portugal Posts :)

Ok, are you ready for my first day trip of 2026? On January 2 I took Metra into Union Station and then walked about 30 minutes to the Chicago Cultural Center. The “main attraction” there is the World’s largest Tiffany Glass Dome, yes, really! The building has a very unique and interesting history and has a second dome that is very impressive itself.

The largest Tiffany Glass Dome in the world is located on the 4th floor of the Cultural Center’s South Wing in Preston Bradley Hall. The dome measures 38 ft in diameter and spans more than 1,000 sq ft. The dome contains approximately 30,000 pieces of Tiffany Favrile Glass, cut in the shape of fish scales and framed in cast iron.

The dome includes signs of the zodiac at its apex. I know I am a Libra and that usually means Scales but I had to google the chart below to find Libra on the Dome. Do you see you? :)

The “other” Dome, is actually a little larger but not “Tiffany” glass. This dome is in the North Wing of the Cultural Center in the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Hall and has 50,000+ pieces of glass and 40 ft in diameter..

Click Here to learn more about the Chicago Cultural Center, also known as “The People’s Palace”. 

This Link will let you “walk through” the Cultural Center in a Video created from my photos.

I hope you enjoyed the Video. Google Photos has added more music choices to their Highlight Video tool, good news for MyShadow. The music I chose for this video (Top of the Morning * TrackTribe) caught my ear, it just sounded a little “different” and as it played I expected Bob Seger to start singing at any time :) 

Remember, my brain is slowly “freezing” with the “fresh cold air”!

Speaking of Bob Seger it has been a long time since I linked one of his songs in my Blog. 

Well, let’s change that, Click Here for “Till it Shines” by Bob Seger. One of several cool lines in the song, in my opinion, is “Like an Echo Down a Canyon, Never Coming Back as Clear.”

Changing the subject a little/lot :), the past few Wednesday and Friday mornings (my usual days to venture into Chicago for volunteer shifts at Garfield Park Conservatory) it has snowed a little bit, subtle reminders for me to really appreciate the “nature” inside those panels of glass.

Here are a few photos that I took while helping out in the Fern Room and the Palm House.

I couldn’t resist, Click Here for a quick Fern Room and Palm House visit :)

It never gets old to hear the kids (“adults” too:) say “WOW!!” when they walk through a door!

Please have a great week and, if it’s on your radar, enjoy the NFL Conference Championship games (be nice BEARS fans, there are a few fellow readers from the LA area, Denver area, Seattle area and the New England area). At least we know that the “best” team is watching too :)

FULL BLOOM AHEAD !!