Look Away

Thaw

(Edited to add: Well, that didn't last long. As I type this it is 10 degrees and snowing outside. It was fun while it lasted.)

N-ice

We got a bit of an ice storm last night/early this morning. About a half an inch. I don't mind it because it's kind of pretty and it means I don't feel guilty about just bumming around at home. John and I lounged on the couch drinking coffee and talking for a good hour this morning. Very nice.

But I did venture out for a minute to capture some of it.

Plucked

"Look What I Found!"

What 3 year old can resist a slimey worm?

Red

Hopper

Yello

Visitors!

Our friends Mitch and Kathleen came to visit us this past weekend from Chicago. They were the first in a string of 3 visitors we will have in a row. We were so excited to see them because we were starting to feel a little disconnected. It was a gray, rainy weekend but we didn't care.

We went downtown to the Old Market on Saturday and walked around. There was a little farmer's market that was very cute and, as Kathleen put it, "wholesome".

How cute is this guy organizing his tomatoes? Dressed up like a conductor.

My brother told me that it looked like nobody ever hung out in the Old Market. The last time I took pictures down there it was like 6:00 on a weeknight and I avoided getting people in my shots. So this time I tried show that the Old Market is not a ghost town. It's actually very lively and there are always street musicians and people eating outside.

I had to have them

Our Neigh-bors

HA! I crack myself up! Unfortunately it looks like I am not the first person to think of this hilarious pun.

Whoooaaaaa those are some pretty horses. Ha!
They mane-ly graze in the evening. Ha Ha!

I give you all permission to never speak to me again.

Shrine

Yesterday John and I went to a state park near Omaha to do some hiking and just be outside. On the way there we stopped by a beautiful structure called the Holy Family Shrine. It's a church that was recently built on a hill amongst natural prairie grasses and wildflowers. It's open to visitors and we had been wanting to stop by and see it.

Normally there is a stream of water running through this crack in the walkway but they were working on it while we were there.

Water runs underneath the alter

Water runs in these holes under the pews

When we were back outside I bent down to take a picture of the church and realized my head was about 4 inches from this! That thing was at least 2 inches across. Guh-ross.

Later in the day, on the other side of town we saw this praying mantis

I think he was looking for the Holy Family Shrine.

At the Lake

John's sister Lori visited us from Omaha this weekend. On Saturday Kaido, Laura, and Julia invited us up to their family's lake house for the day. We had a great time and I took a million photos of the beautiful Julia. Here are some favorites:

On the boat

Pretty

Big Move

If you know me in "real life" then you know that John and I are moving to Omaha, Nebraska in about 3 weeks. I haven't talked about here at all, but for those of you who visit Look Away and have never met me, this is your official announcement. John is from Omaha and his whole family lives there (parents, 3 sisters, 6 nieces and nephews). So we are heading west to be closer to family and live life at a slightly slower pace.

We made a quick visit to Omaha this weekend (by car) to take care of some minor details such as finding somewhere to live. We were so busy while we were there that I didn't take many photos. But here are some from the trip:

Sunset on Friday night (taken from a gas station in Iowa)

Our future residence:

I had an interview downtown on Monday so John walked around the area and took some photos

On the way back to Chicago we headed into a huge storm in Iowa. We pulled off the highway and onto a gravel road so I could get these shots:

Back in the car

On the Deck

Camping Trip

As you know from my last post, John and I went on a camping trip this weekend. We didn't plan it out too much because it was kind of a last minute trip. We intended to spend two nights camping in Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin, but we had to change plans a little. The campsites were full so we headed north a about 30 minutes to Buckhorn State Park. They had some open sites so we decided to spend one night there and try our luck at Devil's Lake the next morning (they put us on a waiting list). Buckhorn was nice and we had a great time, but it wasn't exactly what we had been envisioning. First of all, they didn't have showers and second, the sites were "cart-in". This means you have to park your car, put all your gear in a cart and walk about 100 yards on a trail to your site. It wasn't bad, but just a little inconvenient.  However, we did get a nice shoreline site on a little lake. IT was verrry buggy though.

The next day we went back to Devil's Lake, but again, they were full. So we decided to just spend the day there and head back that evening. Of couse I have pictures for you! We brought both cameras and used them both. I'll post a few of my favorites and you can check out the whole bunch on my Flickr Set.

The Other Side

John and I went to the lake on Sunday for a little while. I shared the camera a couple of times so John could get me on the "other side"

Edge of the World

Flora

I didn't plant these but a girl in our condo building did! They sit in our backyard.

Storm Front

I sent this one to my NBC5 boyfriend Brant Miller (love you Brandt!) for his "Weather Photos" segment but I didn't make the cut. But I will keep trying. One day I WILL get a photo on air.

Empty Pots

Hopefully by the end of the week these will be full.

Peoria Pioneers

Orchids

Sunday Walk Along the Lake

Weekend in Peoria

John and I went to Peoria this weekend and stayed with my dad. The following are some of the things we saw:

The Cats (Lucy and Shadow)










Around the House












Glass Show at the Peoria Art Guild








Icy Trees

Obviously it was a lovely weekend.

Guest Photographer

My dad Steve drove to Galesburg, IL yesterday and took some nice photos of the icey conditions along the way.

Day-After-Thanksgiving Hike

Michigan Trip

This past Sunday, John and I took a little road trip to Michigan. We planned to visit an apple orchard and a winery and just enjoy the fall weather and colors. Neither of us had been to Michigan (not that I remember anyway) and it turned out to be a very nice day. Unfortunately, the orchard that I had researched and planned our morning around is CLOSED ON SUNDAYS.

Their website does not list their days or hours of operation anywhere. I was pretty annoyed by that, but luckily the winery we planned on visiting was open, and wine makes everything better. So does brie cheese and crackers. The winery is called The Round Barn Winery. It was given that name because, guess what, there's a round barn on the property.

The tasting room was in a different building, but the cute round barn is used for weddings and events. When we went inside to look at it, there were still some decorations from the previous day's wedding. So I stole a program. Is that wrong? Maybe. But it was cute and there were about 20 extras!

We walked around the vineyard for a while and enjoyed the nice weather and scenery.

And then we saw a snake. Aaaah Snakes on a Vine!

(he's right above the leaf in the bottom center of the photo)

If you'd like to view more photos from our Michigan day trip, go here.

On Sunday John and I took advantage of the nice weather and went to the Chicago Botanic Garden. We parked about a half mile away and rode our bikes in to avoid the $12 parking fee. We also listened to some live bluegrass.

Every day as I approach our neighborhood on my way home from work I spot a few sunflowers that have managed to sprout up near an old industrial building. Their surroundings are ugly and run down but they always command my attention. Today the pull was too strong to ignore and I stopped to photograph them.

New England Trip

I've finally uploaded our New England Pictures to Flickr. They can be viewed here.

Here are a few of my favorites:

He's Back!

John returned from Mexico on Thursday night! He took lots of great pictures and thought I would share some of them here. I am only going to post a few and then give you a link to the whole set on Flickr.

The link to the whole set is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23581123@N00/sets/72157594218085263/

Plants on our deck

Omaha

We had a very nice visit in Nebraska. Highlights include: a cookout, swimming, baseball, fireworks, live patriotic music, cute kids, a movie, and frisbee in the park. It was pretty much as "All American" as you can get.

John's family is the most musically talented family in the universe and it doesn't stop with his generation. They just keep coming, and they start 'em young!

Proof:
(click on image below to see the full strip)

We went to an Omaha Royals game which was also the site of some awesome fireworks. After the game we got to sit on the field to watch them because our seats happened to be in the danger zone. The grass was amazingly soft and green.

Ohmygodsocute:

John and I went to Fox Lake this weekend. Our friends Kaido and Laura have access to a relative's lake house and boat so they invited us up. It was really beautiful and relaxing.

In case you need a hot dog while you're in the middle of a lake:

Cray rainbow ring around the sun:

These were given to me by our neighbor who has bushes full of these peonies in his backyard.