Into the blue

The weather lately has matched my mood :) Though the chillness in the air persists, and we haven't really "Marched" into spring yet, days are beginning to get longer and the light has been cheerful. Anyone who has been following this blog for some time ..and oh, by the way, the blog is three years old now....what started as an attempt to find beauty in my immediate surroundings from behind the lens is now my way of connecting with like-minded virtual strangers who soon end up becoming friends :) and through good times and bad, in sickness and in health, this blog has been a source of joy.........but I drift. What I was going to say before I got carried away, that anyone who has known me for a little while will know my penchant for all things blue.........so while going about my life, when I chance upon a blue as special as the one in the top shot, it is nothing short of serendipity for moi :)

Regarding the move, I quit my job last week. My first-ever affair with corporate America lasted precisely a year.....For now, I have decided to find my niche in the non-profit world and will be moving to Central Pennsylvania at the end of this week to start work in a hospital there. A part of me is stoked about the move, while the other is anxious about some changes that are tied to this decision of ours........We intend to tackle these challenges one at a time and I am going by the faith that our challenges won't outlive our determination.......:)

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies" :)

"Let it snow!"

I never thought that my stay in this part of the world would be this short...........I did not come down with plans to settle down here but this has to be the shortest-lived home for me ever.........About a year back we came to the snow-laden, bone-chilling Midwest, to an unassuming town that I had not heard of before. My biggest excitement was that it was close enough to Chicago to be able to visit my childhood friend on weekends, and the fact that our brand new jobs would enable us to afford small luxuries that our student pay-checks could not. On the professional front, I was ready to enjoy any work that came my way.......I had my initial share of hiccups and disappointments but eventually I think I can say that it all came around. I did learn some, if not as much as I wanted to.........Life outside work was even more fun :) Every little flicker of change that changing seasons brought lifted my spirits.......some of the friendships I forged here will last me a lifetime, if not longer........and the trips we made to some far-flung corners and others next door are still fresh in my mind.........I just went through the entire gamut of images I have amassed here.......am sharing a precious few......before I move on to the new place for newer adventures in a coupla weeks.

"March into spring"

"Wild Summer"

"A taste of summer"

"The evening air was warm, the northeast wind soft"

"Catch a whiff of fall in the air"

"Nature’s own fireworks"

"Back to where it all started from" :)

Out in the cold

Time for reality check!!!! Freezing temperatures outside needed a mention before we continue with the trip images....... Remember the stumps? They are back, this time with ermine hats :)

Doesn't Old Man Winter get tired .....painting this pristine beauty across the landscape.....he does it week after week in these parts......

Though I love the beauty of an all white facade of that farm building, I get the urge to paint it red, every time I pass it on my way to work.My fetish for colors!!!!!!! :)

"Cool" Couple ;D

I stepped out this morning with a promise to myself to find color in my ice-d surroundings. Little did I know that I will chance upon more than I bargained for (in a positive way, of course) :) I am having one beautiful weekend here....wish you the same :)

Musk Thistle

Yet another un-inspired week.......yet again I had to dig into the archives.
The summer that went by was a special one. I went wild trying to catch all the wildflowers around moi, some of which never made it to the blog. These musk thistles have been begging to be flaunted here. The transformation of green-with-red-edges core into satin smooth pink fibers is so pretty that I simply refuse to use words like weeds, invasive or noxious species for them.
We leave tomorrow for a li'l road trip up north.....hoping to get away from all that's "invasive" and "noxious" around us :)

Autumn's splendor

Fall colors are not passé yet, are they??? Indulge moi for a little more time till I get done with the colors of a season that had me and my camera truly, deeply, madly EUPHORIC........remember, we moved here from Florida where "autumn" is a foreign term!!!! :)

A cozy weekend.......

spent indoors......Time to snuggle and indulge in some weekend woolgathering :)

This lamp had such warmth about it on the grey winter-y weekend we just got done with.

Blue magic

Did having the blues ever feel so good! ;D

My favorite color: I don't think I have ever met a blue that I did not like. This one makes me sing :)

Dressed for the occasion

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live." - Lin Yutang
Today, the weather was fair though the breeze hinted at the chill of days to come and we made the best of that extra one hour we gained: we spent it doing (what we love the most)........nothing :)

Salmon pink sunset

The sunsets here may be no match for the brilliant coastal sunsets we were used to while living in Florida but they are beautiful nevertheless. Anyway, what's not to like about sunsets. I love yellow-gold-sienna ones as much as this soft-delicate-blushing sunset we witnessed on a blustery evening last weekend. With all the winds blowing over the weekend, I am surprised that there are any leaves left on the trees. But some of the resilient ones are still putting up a show....and I am not done with them......not yet! :)

Exuberant :)

"Autumn -the year's last, loveliest smile." - William Cullen Bryant
I love change of seasons. I had been missing it for too long.... but when gold and crimson maple leaves cartwheel in the air and cluster around my feet, along the sidewalks, in the doorways of houses, on our cars........I tell myself I will part with the other three in a jiffy, if only it could be autumn around moi year long!!!!!!
They must be the luckiest people in the world to have that happy, colorful driveway all to themselves. Yes, it's a private driveway and yes, I envy the owners.

Main Street, Galena

About 85% of the buildings in the city of Galena are on National Register of Historic Places. Brick buildings are always a welcome sight and Main Street had ample of well-preserved ones.........

Weekend Getaway

It's back to grey skies today here but this weekend was too beautiful to spend it indoors. So we decided to drive a coupla hours north, along the Mississippi river to Galena. Its cluster of rolling hills and farms looked like a patchwork quilt and reminded me of Z's Villigen.

Amber and red

The dying light lends its amber glow to the leaves, just before the sun calls it a day...................... and needless to add, I can't think beyond red, yellow and orange these days :)

Mellow Deep

As mornings get crisper and the landscape around moi transforms into a vivid palette, I feel like painting my blog in rich autumn hues. The colorful denizens of Harley Davidson museum will have to wait.............:)

Fields of sunshine..........

The mood here in Central Illinois, right now is golden :) Soy fields are all sunshine.......the whole agrarian landscape is radiant with their confident splash of yellow :) And with all those smilies that I am using as punctuation marks in this post, you can see that their positive energy is not lost upon me....these bright hues in yellows, greens and reds (of barns and buildings) feed my color-fetish. Have a beautiful SUN-day :)

Sunday w(h)ine :)

This weekend was short and swift, like every weekend :( As Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes often moans "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want". We did find some time to do some nothings, though (if not all). Sunday was spent at a local vineyard. It was a beautiful day and I am glad we chose to spend it outdoors :)

Mellow warmth

This fall will be my first "real" autumn in this country and I can feel the intense anticipation building within me....... And I swear on my way to work today, I spotted some leaves that have already turned red (not yellow, not orange, but a deep shade of red). I would have thought it's too early but then what do I know about fall, having lived in Florida for the last three ones!!!! :)

Anyways, when I stepped out a coupla days ago to shoot in that "golden hour" when the fading sun bathes the entire landscape in a light so lusciously honeyed, I knew I'd be happy with whatever magic my camera makes. Honestly, I love that cognac glow in the first one and the warmth of the others makes me want to raise a toast "To Light! To Life!" :)

Illinois Rocks ;DD

As I keep insisting, Illinois is not as flat as most people will like to believe. Well, now I have evidence to go with my claims : the canyons (:D) we encountered while hiking at Matthiessen State Park, last weekend. I know they are not a patch on the grand idea of canyons one may have, nothing grandiose about these formations but I think they are beautiful and do bear in mind, they are right in the midst of corn country. What's more, now I can truly claim that "Illinois rocks" ;DD

PS: The light at Lower Dells, by the time we reached them was nothing to be glad about.....and it shows in the pics and no, I am not doing manual on my camera yet .....So critics, cut me some slack there! :)

From my "corn-y" corner of the world :DDD

My pastoral romance with Mid-west continues.
Aren't you tempted to sing along with me........ :)
"There's a bright golden haze on the meadow,
The corn is as high as an elephant's eye,
An' it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky."