Japanese Lantern Hibiscus

Taken at the Lincoln Park Conservatory.

I love my new camera!

I finally got my dream camera, the Nikon D80. I still have much to learn about it, but for now, it's a lot of fun.




A lot of fun.



I mean it!

Nanas

The Three Graces, by Niki de Saint Phalle. A few more shots can be found here.

These are some of the "nana"s on display at the Niki in the Garden exhibit at the Garfield Park Conservatory this summer and fall. I love the style and joy of their forms, and I especially loved the way the artist herself described them:

"Nanas are like goddesses to me, even superwomen of the sort, primitive tribes idolized. Perhaps they're aggressive -- that's what some men think. They certainly know what they want, but they are warm, not mean."

There were many other nanas exhibited, and I'll be making a return trip this month with my new camera to get better shots of them. I wasn't thrilled with how some of them came out, and it certainly wasn't the nana's fault! They were glorious.

Sunflower

A new breed, called "Autumn Beauty", being grown at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The colors are untouched in Photoshop.

The Police Concert at Wrigley Stadium

We attended The Police concert at Wrigley Stadium on Friday, July 6th. We paid a lot for tickets on the field -- the first and last time I will ever do so, mainly because there just isn't another band in the world I would want to see as badly as I wanted to see The Police reunited -- but they were worth every penny. It was an experience I will never forget.

As my husband noted, The Police are no longer the tightest band in the world, but I gotta tell you, it just didn't matter. They were together, and as ornery and individualistic and hot and weird and charismatic and fascinating as ever, and everyone just wallowed in the nostalgia and the moment. The crowd around us was in turns hilarious and annoying (the weird dancing couple! the Block of Wood!), and provided all of us with stories for years. I danced and laughed and sang along (wildly off-key) to my favorites, AND I didn't fall asleep once! Yay for me!

I'm kicking myself for not sucking it up and buying a tiny new camera in time that I would have snuck in my pocket like the dozens of people around me did. But I did get a few with my camera phone, three of which are worth posting. They're still not very *good*, but I like them.

Oh, um. None of them actually have any members of The Police in them. Heh.

The Stage During Roxanne



Hand Upraised at the End of the Concert

(These are the guys behind us, who provided much of the entertainment of the night with their group-sing and group-swaying and general joy at being there. At the end of the night, one of the guys confessed to us, "Aside from my wedding, this was one of the greatest nights of my life! I've been singing to these songs since I was ten years old!" Hahahaha, me too, buddy. Me too.)


The Crowd Behind Us



It was so, so, SO GREAT. I'm so glad we went.

Fireworks!

Gotta post again tonight with these. Four other shots are available in the Fireworks set on Flickr.

Happy Fourth of July!

I could have framed this better so the flag was completely in the picture, but this is still one of my favorite shots from the July 4th parade in Glenview last year. The expression on the little kid's face is priceless.

The rest of the set is here; I'm hoping to have time today to get some more shots at this year's parade. Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Underside of a Fern

The Garfield Park Conservatory always seems to have such fascinating patterns on their leaves.

Top of a Totem

Part of the Niki in the Garden exhibit at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Artist is Niki de Saint Phalle.

I have been taking photos again! Now I just have to find the time to clean up and post them -- I've amassed quite a few. Good thing I have this month off to work on them!

Just your ordinary dewy petal

Nothing spectacular about this shot; I just like the intensity of the shade of blue.