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Take Three Thursday: WSH Heart

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I’m joining Mary-Lou for her Take Three Thursday meme with three choices for #23:  “A Heart,” all found on our trip to Morocco.

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Tracy spotted this one on a tomb in the Fes Mellah (Jewish Quarter). Notice the French rather than Arabic. The French held a protectorate in Morocco from 1912-1955. They are responsible for building much of the modern parts of the main cities in Morocco, and French is still spoken by many Moroccans. The French influence is still felt throughout the country. In addition to the public schools, there are both French and American schools. These are private and lessons are taught in French or English, respectively. The two official languages in Morocco are Arabic and Berber. The Berbers represent nearly a third of Moroccans, but their language did not become one of Morocco’s official languages until 2016.

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This was one of the walls in the restaurant in Fes where we stayed, and had one of the best meals on the tour—a sea bass tagine.

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I took several photos of these two storks in their nest, and truthfully, didn’t notice that their heads formed a heart until I uploaded the photo.

I still have six more prompts for the Winter Scavenger Hunt to share, and will be back with those in the next day or two.

 

Winter Scavenger Hunt: Photos from Morocco

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Today is the first post to share the photos I found for the Winter Scavenger Hunt while we were in Morocco. There are multiples for some prompts, but I thought it would be a good way to share some of our trip.

Men at Work is the first prompt. We saw many, many men at work, but the most arduous jobs, in my opinion, were those in the tannery in Fes. These men work hour after hour, day after day, in very unpleasant working conditions. When we were in Fes, it was quite cold, and most of us were bundled up. These men were standing in huge vats of dyes, and working out in the open.

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The second prompt is Luggage. One advantage of being on a tour is that our large suitcases were taken from our rooms to the bus. We took care of hand luggage (in our case, backpacks). Nothing was loaded on the bus until you arrived and indicated that all your luggage had arrived.

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Domestic Trivia is the next prompt. On our way to the dunes to see the sunset, we stopped at a nomads’ camp in the desert. I felt like it was intrusive to take photographs, but our guide said we should feel free as he provides them with some income in exchange for our visit. One of the women was making a rug on a loom. Many of the rugs are used by the nomads themselves, but others are sold to rug cooperatives, two of which we visited while we were in Morocco. 

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A Winter’s Tale is prompt #3. When we were leaving Fes to travel south to Erfoud, there had been an unusual amount of snow. The night before it was uncertain whether any of the passes over the Atlas Mountains would be open. In the end, one of the two roads was open. When we got about halfway to the pass, we were stopped and had to join a caravan of vehicles waiting to go over the mountain. The plows were clearing the road, and the road was not wide enough for the plows and the larger vehicles, like our bus.

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Prompt #5, Passengers, was an easy one. I could have taken any number of photos in the airports or on our bus. 

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I failed to get a photo from our trip for #6, Wrapping Paper, but I have one that I’ll post at the end of the hunt. Number 7 is On the Water. Although both Rabat and Casablanca are on the Atlantic Ocean, it wasn’t until our last day of the trip that I saw enough of the ocean to get a good photo. We had lunch on the harbor on our last day.

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Prompt #8 is Silver, and again, there were many opportunities to take photos, and I have many. This one is a set of perfume holders in the governor’s home in Salé where we had lunch on our first day in Rabat. We saw similar silver vessels used other times to sprinkle rose water on your hands as a way of greeting.

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I’ve divided up the prompts into three posts, so I’ll be back soon with the next installment.

 

Take Three Thursday and Winter Scavenger Hunt

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When we left for Morocco, I thought I would try to find each item on the Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt on our trip. In fact, I did find every one of them, but failed to take a picture of one—wrapping paper. I bought a dress for Hannah in a wonderful shop in Marrakesh run by disabled Moroccan women who use their profits to provide health care and preschool education for their children. Their handmade clothing and home accessories were beautiful, and they wrapped Hannah’s gift and tied it with a bow (another item on the list.) I gave the gift to Hannah, however, without taking a photo of the package.

Over the next few days, I’ll be posting the photos for the scavenger hunt that I found in Morocco since the end of the hunt is coming soon. For today, I have three photos to link to Mary-Lou’s Take Three Thursday meme. All were taken on the day of our trek to the  Sahara Desert and are for item #13 A line of . . . Camels!

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(This photo took the most courage. I was on one of these camels, and had to let go of the reins long enough to extract my phone from my pocket!)

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Take Three Thursday: Storks

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We’re home. It was a fabulous trip, and it far exceeded our expectations. Morocco is a country of great contrasts in geography, and incredibly rich in history and culture. I’m just beginning to sort through the 1500 photos I took over two weeks time. Granted many are duplicates, and many are easily tossed, but it’s going to take awhile to pare them down to a reasonable number to keep and print. I aim for about 100-150, although I’ll keep more than that for memories sake.

I thought I might use Mary-Lou’s meme, Take Three Thursday, to share a few isolated photos over the next few weeks. When I was growing up, one of my favorite books was The Wheel on the School.  When I read that storks were frequently seen in Morocco, I was hoping to see one. It didn’t take long. Our very first day in Rabat we visited the Chellah Kasbah, and there they were. 

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It rained most of the day in Rabat, but it didn’t diminish our enjoyment. It made for pretty dull looking skies in the photos, however. 

Take Three Thursday: Christmas Decorations

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I’m joining in with Mary-Lou today with her Take Three Thursday meme at Patio Postcards. Every week I intend to join in, and so frequently it just doesn’t happen. If she continues it next year, I’m hoping to be more consistent. 

I LOVE Christmas and Christmas decorations. Like many folks, I’ve pared down the decorations over the last few years, but that hasn’t kept me from picking up a few new ones. This year I found a delightful tin house and church one day when I was “window shopping” with a friend; both are candle holders. Before I had time to decide where to put them, I found a tin lamp at Pottery Barn. It was on sale, and I had a coupon, so I got it for less than half price. I love the three of them together on the side table in the dining room.

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I’m not counting the next photo as one of the three, but wanted you to see the darling deer ornament I picked up at Crate and Barrel in October. He was the perfect finishing touch.

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Next up, an oldie but goodie. Ten or fifteen years ago, I picked up a centerpiece at Pottery Barn. We had it on the dining room table each year, and there was no need to splurge on fresh flowers for Christmas dinner. About three years ago it began to looked very “tired” and I took it to a local florist who transformed it. It’s now way more beautiful than the original. I took this photo one morning because I loved the light shining on it. 

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Lastly, a white poinsettia that sits on the end table in the living room. This, too, had beautiful light one sunny morning.

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Winter Scavenger Hunt: Part 1

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There’s been no snow to speak of yet. Luckily the storm moving up the East Coast isn’t going to get as far west as Rochester. They’re predicting several inches by early next week, though, so I think winter’s on its way. We had blue skies with lots of sunshine today so I thought I’d look around the house while there was some decent light for photographs and see what I could find for Eileen’s Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt.

First off #8: “Silver.”

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This silver bowl was a wedding gift. For the last several years I’ve filled it with bells and ornaments. This year I found this silver bell garland at Crate and Barrel. I just love it!

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And three predominately silver ornaments from our tree.

Number 19 is “A pair of . . .”

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One of my favorite pairs of gloves. I put them on the typewriter that sits on the dresser in our front hall at Christmas.

Number 13 is “A line of . . . “

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This line of leather camels has resided on the window sill for many, many years. Tracy’s mom and stepfather brought them back from Egypt when they visited there.

The first item I found for the scavenger hunt was last night on our way home from friends. We passed this amazing display of blow-up Christmas decorations. It’s perfect, I think, for #17 “Many.”

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Another view:

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Number 11, “A book shop” is probably the most interesting item I’ve found. I was at Barnes and Noble this morning to pick up a book. A volunteer from Wild Wings, a group dedicated to the care and housing of injured birds of prey was there as a fund raiser. 

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I have ideas for several more items, and know that some of them will be easy to find in February when we’re away. For now, I’m glad to have five crossed off the list. The scavenger hunt goes from now until the 21st of March, so if you’d like to join in, there’s plenty of time. The list is right here.

 

 

Take Three Thursday: Outdoor Christmas Decorations

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Despite many good intentions, I have not gotten a blog post up in nearly a week. I thought a good way to get “back into the game,” would be to join Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards for her Take Three Thursday meme. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I did a lot of inside decorating. It’s not done because we’ve had serious issues with the lights on our Christmas tree. After many hours and multiple phone calls, Tracy has finally given up trying to fix the ones we have and is now trying to replace the strings that blink incessantly off and on with lights the same size with the same quality of light. Not an easy task. I’m hoping it will all get resolved before Monday when one of my book groups meets here. 

We stayed away from the stores and the malls on Black Friday, but did venture out to the Garden Factory for poinsettias, a cyclamen, and an outdoor arrangement for the front garden bed.

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We had hoped to find an evergreen ball to hang on the wrought-iron hook, but they didn’t have anything of interest. The next day, however, when I pulled into the Wegman’s parking lot to buy groceries, I found just what we wanted. One of the things we love about this is that it is clearly visible to us from the kitchen table.

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The last decoration near the front door is a beautiful new McKenzie-Child wreath. It’s original price was way over our budget, but I picked this up at the warehouse sale for a tiny fraction of the original cost. What I like most about it is that it is clearly visible from the street. Our previous wreath was a simple grapevine wreath with red berries which you really couldn’t appreciate unless you came to the front door.

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It’s quite a bit more ornate than my usual style, but I’m really glad I purchased it. My Christmas cards are nearly finished, and hopefully Tracy will have the envelopes ready for mailing by early next week. This weekend I have several Christmas crafting projects I want to get started as well as starting to wrap gifts for the grandchildren. 

Take Three Thursday: Three Views

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I’m joining in with Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards for Take Three Thursday. I have three different shots of the same subject from our trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. I loved the beautiful red vines twisted around the stone railing.

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So I’d be curious to know which one you prefer.

Chicago Botanic Garden—Mostly Photos

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It’s been a crazy few days– lots of social engagements and the usual volunteer commitments have meant very little time at home. So here’s a post I thought I’d have up early last week! We’ve made many trips to the Chicago Botanic Garden in summer, spring, and winter, and it’s always been beautiful. Although I hoped for more colorful foliage, autumn was also lovely there. I thought I’d share some of my favorite views.

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I loved the layers of greens and the hanging pinecones. 

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In addition to the beautiful grounds and garden displays, they have a marvelous collection of bonsais. I’d never seen one with berries before.

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The flowers on this bonsai were lovely.

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And this zinnia was stunning:

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I saved three photos for tomorrow’s Take Three Thursday post, so I’ll be back again quickly.

Three on Thursday: A Walk in the Park

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I’m joining in with Mary-Lou for her Three on Thursday where she’s making an effort to notice some of the more ordinary aspects of life. I took a walk in one of the smaller parks in our community earlier this week. I was looking for photos for an online class, some of which you’ll see when I post about the class. In addition, I took a few photos I liked that don’t work for the class at all, so thought I would share three of them today.

It was good I went a bit earlier in the week. It has already started to rain, the wind is blowing, and by morning we’re told to expect some snow, and to break the long-time record for coldest temperature for the date. Yikes! I’m not ready for this.

These photos, however, show a much more tranquil picture of the environment.

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What fascinated me about this photo were the shadows cast in the water by the plants.

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Five in Five: November

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It’s November 5th, and I have my Five in Five for the monthly meme at itchifingers, hosted by Sandie. Tracy and I spent one afternoon last week at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I don’t believe we’ve ever been there in the fall before. Although there weren’t many trees that had turned color, there were many beautiful displays. I’ll be back later in the week with some more photos of these gorgeous gardens. But for now, five (in five minutes) from my favorite display at The Enabling Garden, a hands-on teaching garden that encourages gardening for people of all ages and abilities.

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I loved the stem on this pumpkin.

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The light on the doors is what prompted me to take this photo.

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This last one has a green gourd that looks like an animal with a long tongue!

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You can check out other 5 in 5 projects right here.

 

Five in Five: September

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It’s very warm and muggy here today. The effects of Irma seem to be much warmer weather and a higher level of humidity. A small price to pay given the destruction she reeked on Florida and some of the southern states. Until yesterday it has been, however, much cooler than normal, dropping into the 40’s at night. I’m beginning to see leaves turning color and signs that fall is upon us. The flowers in my garden and on the patio are still going strong. Usually by now I would have replaced many of the summer planters with mums, but not this year. 

For this month’s, Five in Five, I decided to capture some of those gorgeous blooms. I’ll be missing them soon enough.

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Actually the focus is on our new glass hummingbird which hangs with the basket of impatiens which are still going strong. We can see this from our kitchen window and are enjoying the new addition.

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The hydrangeas in our front yard were planted last fall, so this is their first blooming season. These were a deep purple just a few weeks ago. This beautiful transformation was certainly unexpected.

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We’re even getting new buds and blooms in the patio planters.

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One reason I love geraniums is their long-lasting nature. They just keep blooming and blooming, both in our pots and in our patio bed.

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The ornamental pepper plant adds a huge pop of color to the patio.

I’m linking up with Sandie at itchifingers who kindly hosts this meme each month.

Five in Five at The Heritage Gardens

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Although I don’t often check my email on my phone, as we approached Cape Cod last week, I decided to see if there was anything of interest, and indeed, there was. Anne from Artful Journey had sent me an email suggesting we stop at The Heritage Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts if we had time. Since we had a couple of hours to kill before we needed to line up for the ferry to Nantucket, we decided to explore. It was a fabulous suggestion. The gardens are beautiful and it’s just the beginning of hydrangea season there. I’m a huge fan of hydrangeas, and need to take some photos of the beautiful hydrangea tree Matt planted in our front yard last fall as well as the more traditional ones that now grace the new landscaping. Even my huge hydrangea that has failed to bloom for three years is loaded with blossoms this year.

Here’s an introductory photo from The Heritage Gardens, followed by five photos of the gorgeous hydrangeas. I have more photos from the garden that I’ll share in later posts.

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In addition to the beautiful gardens, they also have a lovely outdoor cafe where we had an excellent lunch, an art gallery, a carousel, and an antique car museum. Plenty to explore on another trip. I also found two more items for the Summer Scavenger Hunt. I can’t think of a better way to have spent our time.

I’m linking this post to Sandi’s Five in Five. Take five photos in five minutes; you have until the 25th of the month to link them up to Sandi’s post, and you can check in there for more inspiration.

Summer Scavenger Hunt 2017: June Report

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Thanks to Mary-Lou at Patio Postcards we have a list for a Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. I’ve managed to tick off 11 of the 25 items this month, and should be able to find a few more on our trip.

Number 1: Something fuzzy-a catapillar. 

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Number 2: Bubbles.

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Number 3: Web. I have two, one from the zoo playground and one very dirty web I found on the dock’s ladder at Honeoye Lake. I’ll still be looking for a cleaner web.

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Number 8: Rust. I have two for this one as well. The first on a wooden barrel at Caroline Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and the second on a railing going down to the lake at the cottage on Honeoye.

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Number 10: Something Yellow.

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Number 11: Summer toy-a bubble maker.

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Number 13: A Dome-the inside of the dome at the Lyric Opera House where I was a House Host during the Landmark Tour.

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Number 16: A baby–this one was easy! Here’s Hannah at almost six months.

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Number 17: Circles or crosses in architecture–from Fort Mississauga in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

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Number 19: Feet of man or beast; hope feet of a woman counts. I couldn’t help but notice the variety of colors on my niece’s toes.

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And finally, Number 21, a plaque:

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You have until September 30th to find the items on the list, which you can access it right here, so if you’d like a photographic challenge, please join in. It’s become a topic of conversation with my friends and family over the years. Everyone wants to know what’s on the list, and is eager to contribute ideas. It’s thanks to Jade and Sarah that I have the web photos. I might have seen them, but they noticed them before I did.