Cave-In-Rock

240-acre Cave-In-Rock State Park is located in Hardin County, in the southern tip of Illinois, on the banks of the Ohio River. It's most famous feature is the 55-ft wide limestone cave which was formed by wind and water erosion, and also affected by the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811-1812. Historically, it was a hide-out for outlaws, desperadoes, bandits, serial killers, river pirates and highwaymen over a period of time from the 1790s to the 1890s.

Family Plot - 2

What happened to winter? January has come and gone without the fierce cold we usually have this time of year. Today was in the 50s and tomorrow is supposed to reach 60! This is strange.  Not that I'm complaining, but without the killing cold weather, there will be an over-abundance of insects this spring.


This is a scene from our only snowfall so far this winter.  It's a small, very old family cemetery on the Woodson-Winchester blacktop. Vandals and frost heave have toppled the stones in the past, so they're now propped upright with the help of steel fence posts.

The Road Going

This is our road going out. The little road off to the right goes down into a farm field. Behind me, as I'm shooting this picture, our house sits up on a ridge. At the top of the far ridge is our closest neighbor's house. The road continues on another quarter mile past them. The entire road is one mile, round-trip --- and because of the two hills, it's a pretty strenuous hike. It's a good thing I have a big dog to pull me up them.

Come Back Here!

It is a happy talent to know how to play.  

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

Luck

Lincolns's New Salem State Park, Petersburg, IL

 Shallow men believe in luck.  

Strong men believe in cause and effect.  

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

If We Falter

Statue at Lincoln's New Salem State Park, Petersburg, IL

America will never be destroyed from the outside. 

If we falter and lose our freedoms, 

it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

~Abraham Lincoln~ 

All in the Details

Here is a detail from one of the Victorian 

bandstands in Jacksonville's Community Park.

At Nichols Park

Bandstand at Nichols Park, Jacksonville, Illinois

This is the bandstand at Nichols Park. 

I love the little curlicue thing on top.

Big Eli

At the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, W.E. Sullivan, owner of the Eli Bridge Company in this town, was fascinated by the original ferris wheel. His first “Big Eli” made its debut in Jacksonville’s Central Park in 1900.  This family-owned business still makes carnival rides over a hundred years later.

Welcome to Jacksonville

Community Park, Jacksonville, Illinois

I had to stand in the middle of the busy intersection of Main Street and Morton Avenue, the two north-south and east-west thoroughfares of this small mid-western city, bright and early on a Sunday morning when traffic is sparse, to get this shot of the Big Eli ferris wheel and the entrance to Community Park.

Maintain the Right!

"Civil War Monument" Central Park, Jacksonville, IL

 "The strongest reason for people to retain 

the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, 

to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

~Thomas Jefferson~

Cat Fight!

It is impossible to keep a straight face 

in the presence of one or more kittens.  

~Cynthia E. Varnado~

Common Looking People

Wisconsin Concrete Park, Phillips, Wisconsin

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.
~Abraham Lincoln~ 

Every New Year

Be at war with your vices, 

at peace with your neighbors, 

and let every new year find you a better man.

~Benjamin Franklin~ 

A Woman's Work is Never Done

Lincoln's New Salem State Park, Petersburg, IL

The obvious and fair solution to the housework problem is to let men do the housework for, say, the next six thousand

years, to even things up.  The trouble is that men, over the years, have developed an inflated notion of the importance of everything they do, so that before long they would turn housework into just as much of a charade as business is now.  They would hire secretaries and buy computers and fly off to housework conferences in Bermuda, but they'd never clean anything.  ~Dave Barry

Let 'er Buck

Tiny detail from a wall at the Dickeyville Grotto, in Dickeyville, Wisconsin, featuring a tourist's collector's plate from Miles City, Montana.

Dark Stars

The Mormon House, Bentonsport, Iowa

This is what's left of the Mormon House in Bentonsport, Iowa (when I was there in 2006). This little village was platted in 1839, before Iowa even became a state. Mormons, passing through on their way west in the 1840s, built many of the historical buildings still standing in the village today. This white stone structure once had a second story and was used by Mormon craftsmen as a dormitory while they worked in the area.

Unity

Dovetail joinery on a cabin at Lincoln's New Salem State Park, Petersburg, IL

Unity to be real must stand 

the severest strain without breaking.  

~Mahatma Gandhi~

A Unique Minnesota Inn

Lanesboro is a historic village nestled in the Bluffs of the Root River Valley in southeast Minnesota. I really enjoyed my stay at the Stone Mill Inn & Suites. This is a historic 1885 limestone building which was originally a feed mill. My room, the Egg Suite, was in the lowest level of this 4 story building.  Here was where they used to store and candle eggs in the olden days, because it was underground and naturally cool.

COMMENT: For some reason, I am unable to use my comment form. But I'd like to thank you,
Chrissy, for stopping by.  I went to your blog and saw what a lovely home you have. It's nice to meet a fellow painter --- your work is so vibrant and colorful!
 

Garden Fairy

Garden Fairy, Bentonsport (Iowa) Rose Garden

Garden fairies come at dawn,
Bless the flowers... then they're gone.
~Author Unknown~

Gazing

Gazing globe at the beautiful Dickeyville Grotto in Dickeyville, Wisconsin.

Fancy Manes

 

At the Wisconsin Concrete Park in Phillips, Wisconsin, the artist, Fred Smith, used beer bottles stuck upside down in the concrete form to represent the roached manes of horses.

Be Content

Be content with what you have, 

rejoice in the way things are.  

When you realize there is nothing lacking, 

the whole world belongs to you.  

~Lao Tzu~

Cat Up a Tree

KittenYahoo

The reason cats climb is so that they can 

look down on almost every other animal 

- it's also the reason they hate birds.  

~K.C. Buffington~

January Picnic

Today we had some trees removed from the yard and a picnic afterward. Who ever heard of a January picnic? Unbelievable! (I heard on the news it's too warm for Montreal's annual ice sculpture festival too.)

Pretty Kitty

My kitty, KatMandu

Cats never strike a pose 

that isn't photogenic.  

~Lillian Jackson Braun~

Why Pay War Prices?

Part of the antique "general store" decor 

of a room I stayed in at a Bentonsport, Iowa B&B.

3 Little Birds

Don't worry 'bout a thing ---

Cos every little thing's gonna be alright...

~Bob Marley, from the song "Three Little Birds"

Wood Man

Wood carving in Bentonsport, Iowa

If we had no faults of our own, 

we would not take so much pleasure 

in noticing those of others.  

~Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld

Ripple

Detail from my favorite Grateful Dead t-shirt

“There is a road, no simple highway, 

between the dawn and the dark of night, 

and if you go, no one may follow, 

that path is for your steps alone”

~Jerry Garcia~ from the song "Ripple"

Happy New Year - 2012 A.D.

New Year's Day:  Now is the accepted time 

to make your regular annual good resolutions.  

Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.  

~Mark Twain~