chicago in photographs

Back to Chicago. I wanted to share some of my vacation photos. I wish I could have had more time to see the sights.

Our first day in the city, we walked up to the Navy Pier and took an architecture cruise on the Chicago River. I snapped this picture before we boarded the boat.

This was my favorite skyscraper I saw on the cruise. There are two identical buildings and they're called Marina City. It reminds me of the Jetsons. I think it's really cool because each building has condos, plus parking, a grocery store, bars, dry cleaners, restaurants, and even a bowling alley. It's really a mini city.

After the river cruise, we walked up Navy Pier and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant right by the Ferris Wheel. I really enjoyed the pier, even if it was a bit kitchsy.

This is the new Trump tower, right near our hotel. It is really a sight to see.

We of course went to the Art Institute and I was very excited to see Grant Wood's American Gothic.

We also saw Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.

I love Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and this is one of my favorites of his, Au Moulin Rouge. It's a self-portrait of him at the Moulin Rouge in Paris. I love the lighting on the dancer's face.

I accidentally set off the alarm trying to get a picture of this, Vincent Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles.

And of course I saw Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte. It is very striking in person and absolutely enormous.

It was very foggy and cloudy when we drove out of Chicago. All the skyscrapers were completely covered!

my yarn stash

I am currently working on establishing a good yarn stash, so I never run out of a knitting project.

I keep my small stash in this cloth shopping bag from Sweden.


This is a very luxurious baby alpaca yarn that I think I'll use to make a scarf. It is incredibly soft and warm, without being itchy. The colors are a beautiful grey-blue.


This yarn by Paton is a soy/wool blend that is supposed to be excellent for felting. I love the colors, they remind me of a sunset. I'll probably use this to make a couple felted pot holders.


Isn't this a pretty pink? It makes me think of watermelon. It's an alpaca yarn and I'll probably use it for a scarf.


I'm not sure what this yarn is...probably wool? I love how chunky it is. It's not very much, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

growing and growing...

My garden is really starting to explode! Things are sprouting and blooming all over the place. I fear it's too late in the season to start with seedlings, but the cactus, succulents and herbs should all do fine inside. Still, I find it's so much fun to plant seeds in soil and see how they progress each day, even if a green sprout is all that results.

Look at all the crazy stuff happening in my pot of donkey tail! Lots of new little...what would I call them? Sprouts?

Not sure what these beautiful white blooms are, but they pop up every year in the beds. They look really pretty for a day or two, then they turn the bush into a droopy mess and shed their petals until the bed looks like it's been toilet-papered.

Excuse the dirt under my fingernail (I was gardening after all). My poppies keep blooming beautiful orange and yellow flowers. You can see this orange one struggling to free itself.

Hopefully I'll have some delicious, fresh strawberries soon! The berries are all green and still on the smallish side.

Can you guess what this is? It's a cactus! What variety, I don't know (the seed packet was a mixed variety) but how cool that I am growing a CACTUS from seed!?

Two more little baby cacti are popping up in this pot. I've never quite seen seedlings like this before!

Another cactus...

This pot may look familiar. It once held my lovely lavender plant, which did not survive its temporary abandonment. I replaced the lavender with a pretty measly looking rosemary plant. I can't wait for this one to bulk up and grow more.

Hens and chicks are such neat plants and easy to care for. I really love succulents!

This is a tomato plant. You can see something is digging around in there...

This basil plant finally sprouted after two months. Nothing beats fresh basil eaten with tomato slices and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Hopefully this can grow more so I can it enjoy it before tomatoes go out of season.

Chives! These sprouted within days and are growing very quickly. I'll have to transplant them very soon.

My very old cat, Cricket, likes to join me on the porch when I'm gardening. He also likes to bat around the poppies, which he was doing moments before.

These are the pepper pots, still looking pretty much the same. One pot is empty, though...

Because I transplanted it to a bigger pot. I really, really want some Cayenne pepper before the summer has ended.

I planted some cilantro seeds in here. I love Mexican and Thai food, for which cilantro is a key flavor. It's one of my favorite herbs and I can't wait to have some. No movement from the pot yet.

I had some random flower seed packets laying around and I planted the cornflower in this pot. Look at all of them! I'm considering moving them to the beds.

And we are joined again by Cricket. Forgive his manginess. He's usually very clean, but he's been enjoying the great outdoors the past few days (which consists of crawling around in the bushes and beneath the deck).

Any idea what we have here? Delicious, wonderful eggplant! There are so many little seedlings. I think I might have to transfer them to a bed.

the earth laughs in flowers

A second visit to Penn State's Arboretum yielded new, exciting blooms to photograph. The rose garden looks amazing!

a rainy day in my "garden"

My garden is really just a bunch of pots. I like it that way; they are portable and can be taken inside when the weather turns bad. This year I've found that I have somewhat of a green thumb. I love planting things and watching them grow! In addition to what I have, I want to plant some eggplant, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs (rosemary, basil, Thai basil, Italian parsley, chives, cilantro).

Last summer some wild strawberries popped up in our flower beds. They came back this spring and have completely taken over everything!

My Swedish ivy is looking very sad and neglected. I'm nursing this back to health.

Iceland poppies are so beautiful, and like the pansies, these are thriving in the weather. They've already bloomed once and they're set to bloom again soon.

My grandma had a pot of donkey tail in her front yard. I loved it as a kid; it was huge, very mature, and they looked like little green bananas. Mine is still very young, but has grown a lot.

I'm not sure what species of succulent this is, but I like it. It's really grown since I first got it in September. I want to get an aloe vera plant as well.

My sad pot of lavender is dying/already dead. I'm trying to nurse it back to health, but if all else fails, I can pick up another plant from Lowe's.

This is a cactus kit, but nothing exciting has yet happened. Cactus can take over a hundred days to germinate, so there's still time.

I found this hot pepper kit at Lowe's. The ones on the left are Portugal Hots and the ones on the right are Cayenne. The center pots are Santiago. No movement from them yet, but I'm still holding out hope.

This pot of pansies was a surprise from my step-mother. They have been thriving in this rainy, cool weather.

My mom's strawberry pot just bloomed! I can see tiny little green berries in the center of the flowers.