No Fixed Plans

  Chicago Botanic Garden This week Cee's challenging bloggers to share photos that consist of one color. Here's a few I found. Thailand To see more interpretations of the prompt, click here . 

 Some people are concerned about privacy online and computer security. I didn't realize how Google goes after all your online activity no matter where.

  Work in Progress, Melbourne Sami invites bloggers to share photos of murals for the Monday Murals. I saw saw this when I was in Melbourne 4 years ago. Click here to see more Monday Murals. 

 

  Every week Sepia Saturday bloggers are challenged with a visual prompt like this week's which is above. Inspired by another Sepian inspired me with Thanksgiving Day photos. As this picture shows children react differently to being seated at the children's table away from the adults.  Delano, Jack, photographer.  The children's table at the Crouch family Thanksgiving Day dinner. Ledyard, Connecticut . United States Connecticut Ledyard New London County, 1940. Nov. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017793114/. Little context given for this picture, but I love the hats. It looks like a fun party. Harris & Ewing, photographer.   Children Wearing Costumes Seated at Table . United States, 1928. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016888749/. They're all smiles at this children's table. I'm not sure why they'd eat a bird with all it's feathers still on. Thanksgiving Picture. (n.d.) Loretta Brady's Pinterest.com Board How'd you like sitting a

  Jinan, China Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link at No Facilities anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). Click here to see more marvelous doors.

Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some timely catching up with friends (old and new)! November 19 If we were having coffee, I hope we'd be beside a roaring fire. It's cold outside. Some days it's been below freezing and while it didn't stick we have had snow. I learned that one of my students from Afghanistan's siblings are out of Kabul and are now safe in Greece. She lives in Canada and hopes her family can be reunited there, but the main thing is that they're safe. As of Thursday we had no idea whether we'd be required to work on Thursday. Via our grapevine, I'd heard that we wouldn't have to, but according to my supervisor The Management hadn't made up their minds, they "like to keep us on the edge of our seat." That's very much a flat footed answer. Thanksgiving is just a week away. Those who submitted requests for leave are in the dark as to whether they'll get any. November 2

 

  Every Monday is brightened with Sami's Monday Mural challenge. This week I'm sharing a mural I saw in a temple in Phnom Penh. To see more murals, click here . 

 

  Thanksgiving comes to the US on November 25th so I'm departing from the suggested prompt (see below)  to share illustrations of Thanksgiving. Above there's a political cartoon which  shows Uncle Sam, Columbia, and Puck sitting at a table, ready to enjoy a Thanksgiving turkey dinner in a gallery with paintings on the wall in the background; Uncle Sam is gesturing toward these paintings, which show Irish uprisings and unrest in England, volcanoes in Java, earthquakes in Italy, "Cholera" as the grim reaper in Egypt, French colonialism, anarchy in Spain, German militarism, and Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, standing on the body of a peasant in a painting titled "Russian Reform". On the far right, at a dock labeled "U.S. Navy", a ship in disrepair leans to one side. A bulldog gnaws on a bone labeled "New York" beneath a bench on the left. Keppler, Joseph Ferdinand, Artist.  Thanksgiving / J. Keppler . , 1883. N.Y.: Published by Keppler &a

Sculpture Saturday is an opportunity for photographers to share some 3D art with the world. To join, you need to:  Share a photo of a sculpture on your blog.  Link to City of Springs, the new hub for the challenge.   Give it a try. It's fun.

Chicago's Lincoln Lodge For this weekly challenge every Friday morning Xingfu Mama challenges us to post photos of something you'd sit on.  To play along: Create a post with a photo of places one sits or might sit, or art about sitting, and maybe a little background or story about the spot or a picture of the view. Add a tag “Pull up a Seat”. Add a link to your post in my comment section, either by writing a comment with your URL or by creating a pingback (when you create a link to my post within your post with the chain icon in the editor). Mine's from a comedy club in Chicago, the Lincoln Lodge.  

  Cee inspires blogger every Wednesday through her Midweek Madness Challenge to share photos based on her photo below. I went with an old wood burning stove I saw in Old World Wisconsin. To see more CMMC photos, click here . 

  Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link at No Facilities anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). Mine's from Chicago. To see more doors from all over the world, click here . 

  Hosted by Sami of Colourful World, Monday Murals is a fun way to start your blogging week. I'm sharing a mural I saw in Jinan. It's a bit abstract but you can see that it's four fish in a river.  To see more murals, click here . 

 

  Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some timely catching up with friends (old and new)! If we were having coffee, I'd like to be sitting by a fire. The weather has gotten cold, below freezing some nights. Friday we had a bit of snow and tonight the  meteorologists  predict more. I hope it's a fluke. I'd tell you that this morning I went to my first meeting for my township's Humanitarian Services Commission. I've joined the group and I'm charged with researching and evaluating charities that have submitted grants to the township. It's a new endeavor and I think it'll be interesting. I won $100 for doing a survey for a well known magazine. Whoopie! That's always nice. We only had to work 8 hour on Veteran's Day! Two hours off. Although since it was dark and cold out, I didn't do anything special. Most jobs require people to work on Veteran's Day, but few government jobs do. I'm glad for th

  My contribution to the Which Way Challenge this week is a path in Australia, along the Gold Coast. To see more ways, click here . 

 I find these beautiful, serene videos the ultimate de-stressor. Sure, they're romanticized and I doubt she's all on her own building and farming, but the are a thing of beauty. You'll find many more of her videos on her YouTube channel.  

In honor of Veterans' Day (aka Remembrance Day or Armistice Day) I'm sharing photos of Civil War and WWI veterans. Also, I'm adding my grandfathers' WWI draft cards and some WWI poetry videos. To see more inspired nostalgia/history click here for Sepia Saturday goodies. Glenney, S. W, photographer.  Unidentified Civil War veteran / S.W. Glenney, Waterbury, Conn . United States, None. [Waterbury, conn.: s.w. glenney, between 1879 and 1885] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017659657/. Bain News Service, Publisher.  Pershing Veterans . , 1918. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014706939/. Borah, C. W, photographer.   Two unidentified Civil War veterans / C.W. Borah, photographer, S.W. corner High & Town Streets, Columbus, Ohio . United States, None. [Columbus, ohio: c.w. borah, photographer, s.w. corner high & town streets, between 1880 and 1910] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017660606/. Harris & Ewing, photographer.  Young veteran soldier in

  Grant, Lincoln Park, Chicago Sculpture Saturday is an opportunity for photographers to share some 3D art with the world. To join, you need to: 1. Share a photo of a sculpture on your blog. 2. Link here to No Fixed Plans, the new hub for the challenge. Give it a try. It's fun.

 Siegried Sasson's "Aftermath" Wilfred Owen's "The Sentinel"

  Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link at No Facilities anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time). This week I'm sharing a church door I saw while I was walking down Fullerton in Lincoln Park. To see more doors, click here . 

  Cee's challenging bloggers to post blue photos. Mine's of some public art on Michigan Avenue in Chicago a couple years back. To see more blue photos, click here . 

  Ukrainian Village, Ukrainian Catholic Church      Here's my entry for Sami's Monday Mural challenge. It's the interior of Sts Volodyrmyr and Olna in Chicago's  Ukrainian Village. To see more murals, click here . 

 

  The photo above inspired me to find some photos of people riding donkeys. Here's what I found in the Library of Congress archives.  Horydczak, Theodor, photographer.  Soldier and child. Man in uniform with child riding donkey . United States, None. ca. 1920-ca. 1950. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2019677714/. he Ambulance of the Hillmen. American Red Cross nurse at Tirana, Albania, unloading a patient from the mountain ambulance of the hillmen, a donkey. Riding astride a donkey is the smoothest and easiest method of travelling in the rough trails of the mountain country. There are few roads in Albania many miles to the American Red Cross hospitals . Tirana Albania, 1920. [January Date Received] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017671326/. Dalrymple, Louis, Artist.  Our Don Quixote / Dalrymple . , 1899. N.Y.: Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2012647373/. Pughe, J. S. , Artist.   Transformed / J.S. Pughe . , 1904. N.Y.: J. Ott