Misinformation

    For the Holiday season, I like to peruse different papers and websites to find different activities/events that we may enjoy. Some of the events we plan ahead of time and tickets are bought, and others are 'spur of the moment' ones.
    Dec.24 was cold, but since it was a beautiful sunny day, it seemed a shame to spend it all indoors. I had read that from Dec19-Jan.2 the Lincoln Home National Historic Site had a decorated neighborhood to walk through that was free and no ticket needed. I was interested to see if they kept to 'olde time decorating' or a modern style. So, spur of the moment, we decided to check it out. When we got there we put 2 hours worth of money into the parking meter. We walked to the edge of the neighborhood and did not see any decorations, so we went inside the visitor center.

    I asked the 'visitor services' for directions to the decorated neighborhood and she looked at me like I had 'lobsters coming out of my ears'!! I was informed that the only Holiday decorating they did was inside Lincoln's Home :-( We could have taken a tour of it, but we had our hearts set on being outdoors. We decided to walk thru the neighborhood anyway. The houses did have wreaths on the doors, so whoever wrote the 'Holiday Happenings' blurb, must have thought that constituted as a neighborhood holiday decoration display.

    The others read some of the display signs, as I took a few pictures. With the trees bare, it was nice to be able to get better views of the houses.

   When we finished walking thru the neighborhood, we figured there was probably more than an hour on the parking meter. So, off to the capitol we go :-) Walking along this street, I start noticing...

   some pretty interesting signs. After taking a picture of this one, I got a bit behind...

   and had to speedwalk to catch up with the others and decided not to take any more pictures (or look at) of the signs.

 We decided there was not enough time to go inside the capitol and walked around the area in front of it instead.

As we walked back to the car, we agreed that we enjoyed our outing very much, despite the misinformation.

One of many beautiful churches in the downtown area.

Now, I am looking forward to revisiting the National Historic Site and exploring downtown Springfield in the future at my own pace...which means lots of picture taking :-)

Unexpected Tranquility

A few days before Christmas an ice storm came thru our area. Between the ice and the very cold temperature, I was not too adventurous and only took a few photos from around our yard.

I probably should have taken this plant inside weeks ago!

Since the holiday poinsettia display was almost over,I had been mulling over whether or not to go. I almost let the coziness of being inside with family stop me. At the last minute I decided to go and asked if anyone else was interested. No one was, so my trusty camera and I went for an outing. I am barely out of the car and already I am very glad I came. With only one other car in the parking lot, I knew it was not going to be crowded. In other parts of town the ice on the trees caused quite a bit of destruction, but here it added to the serenity of the area.

 As I was coming into the building, a couple was leaving. I had the whole place to myself. I passed by the orchids...

 and entered the 'Candy Cane Land' poinsettia display. I enjoyed taking my time to see all the tree decorations and all the different varieties of poinsettias.

I would have really liked it if they had dimmed the overhead lights and only have the Christmas tree  lights and the string of lights up above on.

Tropical plants are tucked in and around the poinsettias and trees.

One of many candy canes

Thru the door on the other side of the room I saw the soft lighting that occurs near sunset and this scene; which lured me back out into the cold....

and while walking around here in the stillness ...

except for a very slight breeze....

 creating a relaxing 'tinkling' from the overhead branches...

 I felt like I was  in a 'cocoon' of beauty.

 It was hard to leave this unexpected tranquility, but the very coldness of the air finally made me want to go back into the warmth of the greenhouse.

As I warmed up, I spent some time with the orchids.

not an orchid

 When it was time to leave, I slowly walked back to the car feeling very blessed to have had this 'tranquil moment'.

Good Beginnings/2014

    A perfect way for me to start off a new year is by enjoying the company of family and friends and appreciating the beauty around me. So 2014 has started with a trip to Mom's house, where some of us were able to gather for a visit.There is quite a hub-bub of activity between playing games, being silly, talking, eating and hanging out; most of the time all these activities are being done simultaneously!!
 
Sometimes this multipurpose table is 'computer central for gamers'...

Very focused gamers :-)

a good place for board games...

Sky was a serious contender in this game!!

Martha got to join in the activities by Skype.

I wonder if they feel like they are being watched?

Table is now in transition for its original use, a dinner table. In about 2 minutes the table is cleared of computers and filled with family eating together :-)

Gabriel and Sky getting a head start.

Muscle showdown!

Andrew maintains his 'gaming focus'....but his arm muscles are still evident :-)

Skype chatting

Sometimes there is a bit of a lull in activity.

Geoffrey says I need to let people know when I am going to take a picture....I don't think it helped here :-)

All too soon, it is time for us to head back home. The snow held off until after we got back to start up. By the time we left to meet with Phillip for dinner, there was enough snow to be pretty, especially, with any lights still going.

A dusting of snow on the hummingbird.

The next day a fun pattern of snow and shadows in the backyard.

Very cold looking now, but the flower pots are on standby for spring!

up close of flaky snow

interesting lighting on our back deck

Yep, 2014 is off to a great start!!