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

Hunting Daffodils - Ikebana Show - GPC & Gardens SPRING 2026 - MyShadowProductions #223

Happy Spring all you Bloomers :) !!

Inside GPC at the Spring Flower Show

Let’s start with this, I need to correct something from my last Post so I can sleep again :) lol

In the last Post I wrote about kneeling on the ground and pruning faded growth on Hibiscus plants, WRONG ! They were Penstemon digitalis (Perennial known for its tall spikes of white, tubular flowers that attract pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds), perfect plant for a garden named “Pollinator Beds”.

You may not have noticed, but I take a lot of pictures :) Sometimes it is cool to see things in the picture that I had no idea were there. Here is one example:

There has been plenty of rain in the Chicago area over the last month and Spring has been Springing. The last 5 days though, the “growth” and “blooms” have been almost “visible” and “audible” if that makes sense?

For this Post I have been waiting for some words of “wisdom” and “humor” and “interest” to bloom in my head but no luck so far :)

I do have some Videos to share though, letting the pictures do the “talking”.

Video 1 : Hunting Daffodils Spring 2026 This video even includes another “Hunter” crossing my path :) Includes Daffodils at Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago Botanic Garden, Grant Park in Chicago, Morton Arboretum and Mt St Mary park in St Charles, IL and Central Park NYC (from a Follower, THANKS !).

Also, can you spot the picture in the Video of just “Wild tulips”?, I thought they looked like a daffodil :)

Video 2 : lkebana Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden. What is Ikebana? CLICK HERE to find out and then see what you think of the arrangements in the Video.

Video 3 : Garfield Park Conservatory & Gardens Spring 2026. 

The Conservatory’s “Backyard” - under appreciated in my opinion.

Due to the many recent rains the Fox River is flowing pretty fast and full. In Aurora at least, the fast flow and deep banks seem to accommodate the volume of water without flooding.

Here are a few photos from my walk today.

Until next time, happy living, planting, blooming and weeding wherever you are !!

(dandelions, creeping Charlie and bind weed are loving the rain here :)

FULL BLOOM AHEAD !!

New Popotillo, The Little Prince, Morton Arboretum & 2025 Photo Review - MyShadowProductions #217

Howdy to all, hope you remember me, I haven’t Posted since last year, haha :)

Welcome to 2026 with MyShadowProductions :)

I ended 2025 sending one of my photos to my Popotillo Guy (doesn’t everybody have a Popotillo guy?) to create a custom “Straw Painting” for me.

This link will show you my previous Post about Popotillo/Straw Art/Straw Marquetry. The post has a link for a Wikipedia history of the art and also a link about the family of Popotillo artists that have made Popotillos for me.

This is the picture I sent via WhatsApp:

Garfield Park Conservatory - Artist’s Garden
Purple Flowers are Mexican Bush Sage

This is the finished product, simply amazing!! Not “exact” but “exactly portrayed”.

Size is 8.5 inches x 11 inches

Enlarged Section to Show Detail

I still kick myself for not reaching out to the Artists when I was in Mexico City in February 2024 and asking for a visit and viewing of how they create the “straw paintings”. This is definitely on my list the next time I am in Mexico City!

Changing the subject, have you ever heard the question “Has the sheep eaten the flower?”, me either until a friend mentioned the book “The Little Prince” (a children’s book for adults :), I googled it and was able to find it immediately and after a quick review I could tell it was my kind of book, short, easy to read, with pictures and according to my friend, “a message”. (Danke schön)

I am not a big reader but once in a great while I can be literate :)

Here are a few “messages” that stood out to me as I enjoyed a quick read on Christmas morning:

“The Grown-ups are very strange.”

“The thing that is important is the thing that is not seen.”

“But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.”

“One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed.”

and

“Has the sheep eaten the Flower?”

Here is the cover:

CLICK HERE to Read The Book.

There is no requirement for submitting a Book Report but the Final exam will definitely have a question or two about The Little Prince :)

Now, let’s start the New Year off right with a couple of Videos created from my photos adventuring around the Chicago area.

Click Here for Morton Arboretum with (Dec 7) and without (Dec 21) Snow, nothing spectacular but for me there is always something that catches my eye. I was fortunate again to spot a few deer and give them something to wonder about :)

For another Video, I went to Chicago and made my way to the Field Museum. I don’t know what it is about me but I find it hard to patiently walk through a “museum” absorbing/reading all of the available information but I still enjoy it. One fact that I remember reading is that Flowering Plants only started appearing 130 million years ago, but maybe 300 million years?? Either way, much earlier than “Humans”, possibly explaining why “flowers” are much more interesting than “humans”, I didn’t say that!, thinking doesn’t count, right?! :)

Click this Link for The Field Museum Video. (Complete with Kazoo music, when is the last time you heard that? :)

I haven’t done this in the past but in this Post I will try a quick 2025 in review using the iPhotos app suggested photos for each month, you might even be able to name the location of the pictures (if you have paid attention to my previous year’s ramblings/posts, haha :)

View 2025 Review now!

                  HAPPY NEW YEAR !!