GPC has FLOWERS - Shimmering Summer at Chicago Botanic Garden - Bonsai at CBG -- MyShadowProductions #229

Howdy All !! You already know this but it’s SUMMER :)

Summer means a lot of things in a lot of different places and in a lot of people’s lives. At Garfield Park Conservatory and Gardens I think it means a wide variety of flowers in their unique way (I can’t define it, it just feels “unique”). 

When I say “flowers” I am including perennials, annuals, flowering trees, temporarily outside desert/tropical plants, invasives, aggressives, native, non-flowering plants, volunteer sprouts and even weeds.

This just happened in Spring didn’t it? Yes, and the Spring blooms have faded and made room for Summer’s blooms and their riot of color or just a calm, subtle burst of just the right color in a planned or unplanned setting.

Click Here for a Video created from my photos of the Summer Flowers at GPC (I didn’t get them all, it seems to change daily).

At the Chicago Botanic Garden this Summer they have an art installation called EVANESCENT by Ateler Sisu. “They are giant, inflatable, and iridescent sculptures that look like real soap bubbles”. Some are 26 feet tall and each of the dozens of “bubbles” mirror the sky, trees and visitors and shine in many colors. Pretty impressive but in my opinion Mother Nature just welcomes the “guests” and puts on its own Shimmering Summer Show.

This Video created from my pictures on a hot Summer Sunday will hopefully give you an idea of the Shimmering Summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Chicago’s Botanic Garden also boasts a collection of over 200 Bonsai. They rotate them in an outdoor display during warm months and have a show in the winter. I walked through the recent display of 18 bonsai trees and you can CLICK HERE for BONSAI Video created from my photos.

Meanwhile, work continues on the “controlled” demolition of the loft building near the Green Line Station on N Clinton St. It has been interesting to watch twice a week as I head to GPC. Looking forward to making a Video from start to finish :)

I saw this boat while walking back towards downtown from the Lakefront Trail:

CIAO FOR NOW !! Have a GREAT WEEK !!

YouTube Screenshots Video - Ontario Street - Smoky Scenes - MyShadowProductions #228

Hi Everybody !!

In case you’re wondering (lol), I do not have any July 4th fireworks pictures or videos (except 2 pictures of pictures of past Navy Pier and Chicago River fireworks), this year rain delayed the local fireworks show for a week and I wasn’t around for the rescheduled date. But, you know what? The sun continues to rise and set on schedule so there’s probably/hopefully a “next time”.

I do have a photo from a fountain in the Palm House at Garfield Park Conservatory (GPC) to help honor/celebrate our country’s 250th year of independence.

Made with pennies 

Now, I want to share another YouTube Screenshots Video that I made from a YouTube channel that I like to watch. The Video is called “Walking An Alien World” by Milosh Kitchovich, Amazing Places on Our Planet.

Do you know where the “alien world” is? Take a guess when watching the Video (no cheating by googling one of the pictures:) and I will put the answer at the very end of this Post. *

CLICK HERE for MyShadow’s Screenshots Video.

If you want to see the original full video by Milosh, here’s the Link.

Chicago is not an “alien world” (I know that’s debatable :) but for me there are a lot of new sights, all I need to do is ride the Metra from Aurora to Union Station and then start walking. I have some pretty familiar “routes” for volunteering at GPC, shortest path to the Lake, Ogilvie Transportation Center (OTC) for more trains going north, Luke’s on Jackson, Arturo Express on Canal, to the “RiverWalk”, etc.

For variety and new sights all I need to do is take a different street and sometimes just walk on the opposite side/direction of a familiar street and things are “new”. 

On Sunday, June 28 I chose to walk north from Union Station, a quick stop in OTC and then north to Ontario St then east to the Lake. Ontario St cuts through the River North area and along with a few of its side streets offered some interesting “Chicago things”.

Centennial Fountain

Click Here for my Video created from my pictures that day.

More recently there have been a few days where the air quality and visibility have been affected by smoke from Canadian wildfires. It wasn’t necessarily that exciting but it did offer an opportunity for pictures in a “different light”. My advice, usually ignored :), was “just don’t inhale”!

This Video from my photos will hopefully give you a little idea of some smoky times in the Aurora and Chicago area. It includes Aurora and the Fox River, Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Bean, Maggie Daley Park, Monroe Harbor, Buckingham Fountain, Printer’s Row, a chicago dog and milkshake break, etc. 

I have more, but I will ramble about them in the next MyShadow Post, fair warning :), Summer is Shimmering, Bonsais too, GPC has FLOWERS, the Canal St demolition project is moving along and …………….

CIAO FOR NOW !!

* The locations of the Screenshots Video are The Bisti Wilderness Area, Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Area (Valley of Dreams and King of Winds) and The De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area, all in New Mexico, USA.

Phenology Day - June Blooms Continue - The INK Filter - MyShadowProductions #227

Hello again everyone !!

As I write, scribble, one finger type this Post, the month of June has ended, the second half of 2026 is beginning and Spring has turned to Summer without skipping a beat. You might think that Mother Nature has been through this a few million times before but with never ending variety and tricks with sun and water.

Parts of that variety are the world’s Oak trees, belonging to the genus “Quercus”. Google says there are between 500 to 600 species of oaks worldwide and North America counts about 90 of those.

My volunteer opportunity at Morton Arboretum this year involves Phenology Monitoring of a group of 14 (corrected), oaks, Quercus 4. There are about 35 groups of trees, Elms, Maples, Oaks and 2 separate observers per group.

So far, I have “monitored” 15 times and will continue about every 8-10 days until December. (So my goal of walking more at Morton Arboretum is working :)

Not a lot to write home about or even to “blog” about :)

Basically, leaf buds form in the Spring, opening to leafs that grow in size and eventually turn colors and “fall” to the ground. Also in the Spring there are flower buds (some oaks every year and some every two years) there are flower buds that open, flower, release pollen and produce fruit (acorns) that ripen and “fall” to the ground. Human scientists think they need to “understand” all of this and untrained volunteers like me provide “data” to muddy the waters :)

The following Video - Phenology Day was created from my photos during a couple of recent visits to the Morton Arboretum to give a quick look at the different leafs.

Not to be outdone but the perennial plants and “weeds” continue their personal routine reacting/growing from the changing daylight, temperatures, rain, weeding by volunteers :), etc.

Click here for June BLOOMS Continue !!

Milkweed

In the past I have experimented a little with the Filters that IPhoto and Google Photos offer and now I noticed in iMovie that after a picture is uploaded there are Filter options available. One of those is the INK Filter. I am curious what type of photos this filter would be interesting to apply. With that in mind I created a Video using the INK Filter of a variety of my pictures and pictures that friends have sent me time from time.

This is one example of an original picture and the Ink Filter applied:

See what you think of the INK Filter, a Video.

There has been plenty of hot, humid days, thunderstorms, people saying “stay hydrated” :), etc. as Summer is here, no time like the “present” to enjoy !!

LET’S BLOOM 4th !!!

Passing Storm - Sunday Walk in Downtown Chicago - First Week of June - MyShadowProductions #226

Hello again !! Happy mid June :)

I don’t think this Post will have a “theme” (do any of my Posts?:) but it turns out that when I started sorting through my pictures to make a couple of Videos there was more than I expected. Basically what I mean by that is the Videos are longer in minutes than I anticipated :)

Good or bad, exciting or mundane, bright or dull, busy or calm, interesting or boring, and to use an overused phrase, “it is what it is”. I don’t even know if I can finish that thought so I will distract you by offering what I think is a “get up and go” song from Bob Seger called American Storm, and a few pictures I took from my east facing, 8th floor windows of a Midwest storm moving east from Aurora.

Partial Rainbow 

Click Here for American Storm by Bob Seger! One cool line of many, is:

“Everybody casts a certain light”……. 

Speaking of light, the daylight gets close to its longest this time of year and the growth around us is nothing short of amazing !!

As a follow up to all the Spring Blooms in May I made the following Video with my random early June pictures at Aurora, Morton Arboretum and Garfield Park Conservatory, with a little “wildlife” mixed in. 

The First Week of June, this years’ unique version, a small slice of the big picture we all experience, if we choose to !!

My next Video was created from my pictures on a mostly sunny Sunday in Downtown Chicago. I walked from the Adams St exit for Union Station a little south to VanBuren St then east to the Buckingham Fountain and the Lakefront Trail then north past DuSable Harbor, Polk Bros Park, Ohio St Beach, the Chicago River and back to the train.

The picture in my last Post about a damaged building near the Clinton St Green Line Station is a continuing story. The building is being “demolished” but in a very surprising and “controlled” way and I am trying to get pictures and videos of the progress a couple times a week as I make my way to Garfield Park Conservatory.

Here’s the latest photo:

Ok, that’s it for this Post and I want to make a suggestion to everyone who is still reading (thank you) after all the chatter above :)

How about finding a big, clean (or muddy) puddle and JUMP IN IT !! If you do it, you will know what I mean !!

SPLASH and BLOOM !!

Pardon the shovel handle :) I took a quick break from weeding :)

Salt Cedar or Tamarisk Trees